US Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump proposes a wall along the US-Mexico border, funded by Mexico, to keep illegal immigrants out of the US. Greece is uneasy about the recent flood of refugees from the civil unrest happening in neighbouring Macedonia. Syrian and Iraqi borders are porous and leaking escapees from the ISIS caliphate conquest… Continue reading The other side of Wonderland
Month: August 2015
Sunshine Sketches of the Wild, Wild East
“Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows.” This was the catchphrase for the 1930s US radio show, “The Shadow“, as well for the 1994 film of the same name, starring Alec Baldwin and Penelope Ann Miller. I was reminded of this phrase when driving back to Landschlacht yesterday after… Continue reading Sunshine Sketches of the Wild, Wild East
An artistic temperament?
It seems at times that all kinds of odd characteristics and behaviour go with the job of being an artist… French Impressionist painter Claude Monet (1840 – 1926) was working on a group of winter landscapes. The pictures were set in very beautiful and spectacular mountainous countryside and featured an oak tree and a river.… Continue reading An artistic temperament?
The Emperor’s New Culture
Fort Worth, Texas, 1989: We are driving at a furious pace on the interstate. Another argument ensues between ex-fiancee sculptress Susan and I over artistic responsibility. I express disgust that one painting, American Barnett Newman’s Voice of Fire, an abstract painting of three vertical stripes – the outer two blue, the inner one red –… Continue reading The Emperor’s New Culture
Public dis-service
It never ceases to amaze me just how many people serve the public who are inappropriate for their jobs. They act as the front lines for their organizations yet represent these organizations in the worst possible light. They clearly find customers to be annoyances at best and best avoided when possible. And one sees this… Continue reading Public dis-service
The Last Castle
There is an old story, a rumor really, that spread during the 1980s that was meant to discourage promiscuity / slutty behaviour by young ladies. A young American lady on her last night in Rome decided, in a state of increased intoxication, to allow herself to be seduced by a pair of handsome Italian men,… Continue reading The Last Castle
An enlightened age?
Perhaps doing a double shift outside alone in the Starbucks Kiosk is not a good thing for me, because it leads me to thinking about things and the way perhaps they should or could be. I confess the older I get, the more confused I become. Now while some folks suggest that this is the… Continue reading An enlightened age?
Eleanor of Arborea
“Sardinian women are amusing, so brisk and defiant. They have straight backs, like little walls and decided, well-drawn eyebrows. They are amusingly on the alert. Like sharp, brisk birds they dart along the streets. You feel they would fetch you a bang over the head as leave as look at you. Tenderness, thank heaven, does… Continue reading Eleanor of Arborea
Under the skin
Oh, narrow, dark and humid streets rising like crevices to an unforgiving sky. I long for a Cathedral, a fine old pagan stone fortress, just for its refreshing cold atmosphere. I would even settle for a baroque, homely, altar in a corner hole in the wall, just to squat in the corner and enjoy the… Continue reading Under the skin
Why we walk backwards
Female deities with inscrutable smiles, the Stele di Nora (a stone tablet showing in Phoenician characters the first recorded occurrence of the name “Sardinia”), and spindly, highly stylish, innovative and quirky bronze statuettes of varying sizes are just some of the things possible for viewing at Cagliari’s Museo Archeologico. This is Sardinia’s premier archaeological museum… Continue reading Why we walk backwards