Arty Farty Friday ~ Paul Signac, Félix Fénéon, Scorpio, Anarchy.

Paul Signac: born on 11 November 1863 in Paris, France into a family of prosperous shopkeepers, thanks to whom whom he had the luxury of financial independence. No starving artist in a lonely garret was he then! His original plan was to study architecture, but the French Impressionists caught his imagination, led him along a different career path. He's remembered for being one of the originators, along with Seurat, of the technique in art known as pointillism.

Politically he was an anarchist, as were many of his friends, including Félix Fénéon and Camille Pissarro.

When I called up a Google Image page of Signac's works one of them immediately caught my eye: a portrait of his friend, Félix Fénéon, influential critic, anarchist and champion of the avant-garde; "a kind of cultural terrorist" who may have been involved in actual terrorist acts. Fénéon worked in the War Ministry by day, but by night morphed into a bohemian and anarchist art critic.

His 1890 painting, above, is strangely titled Opus 217. Against the Enamel of a Background Rhythmic with Beats and Angles, Tones, and Tints, Portrait of M. Félix Fénéon. The title refers to the combination of sounds, lines, and colors that symbolist artists drew upon to convey the inner world of their subjects. Signac suggests his subject's theatrical personality and creative energy as he strides across a stage to offer a flower to an unseen figure, against a kaleidoscopic backdrop of swirling colors. Signac is said to have based this design on a Japanese print. The stars in the lower right corner may be a reference to Fénéon's interest in the United States; the critic apparently cultivated a resemblance to Uncle Sam, complete with top hat and goatee.

The painting stood out for me because it seemed somehow 'out of time" among the rest of his works. It reminded me of some of the artwork around the time of the Beatles' heyday, in the 1960s. Signac died in 1935 by the way.

A quick look at Paul Signac's natal chart (see it here at astro.com)

Updated with Signac's natal chart calculated using the Koch system rather than Placidus houses (see comment by mike below):

Wow! Sun, Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and north node of Moon all in Scorpio with Aries rising. Pluto, ruler of Scorpio, is opposing some of the Scorpio planets from Taurus. Venus and Saturn in artistic Libra, and Uranus, planet of the avant-garde in Gemini. Without knowing more about Signac's personality it's not possible to see how such a heavy load of Scorpio manifested. It doesn't appear to have done so in his paintings. Perhaps it emerged from his draw to anarchy, and anarchists then?

Félix Fénéon ( his natal chart is at astrotheme here)was of the same Uranus in Gemini generation, born 2 years before Signac. He's more of a Cancer/Pisces/Leo guy though. Possibly the Watery link (Scorpio/Cancer/Pisces) was their immediately felt compatible connection.

Russell Brand - one more time

The Guardian ran a follow-up piece by Russell Brand yesterday, commenting on his interview with Jeremy Paxman and some of the results, including the accusations of hypocrisy and sexism. The piece reassured me that my gut feeling about him was not far off the mark. I've copied a few snips, with focus on answering some of the anti-Russell comments which have appeared all over the net recently, including in some comments here.

He begins:

I've had an incredible week since I spoke from the heart, some would say via my arse, on Paxman. I've had slaps on the back, fist bumps, cheers and hugs while out and about, cock-eyed offers of political power from well intentioned chancers and some good ol' fashioned character assassinations in the papers.

Re Hypocrisy

Obviously there has been some criticism of my outburst, I've not been universally applauded as a cross between Jack Sparrow and Spartacus (which is what I'm going for) but they've been oddly personal and I think irrelevant to the argument. I try not to read about myself as the mean stuff is hurtful and the good stuff hard to believe, but my mates always give me the gist of what's going on, the bastards. Some people say I'm a hypocrite because I've got money now. When I was poor and I complained about inequality people said I was bitter, now I'm rich and I complain about inequality they say I'm a hypocrite. I'm beginning to think they just don't want inequality on the agenda because it is a real problem that needs to be addressed.

It's easy to attack me, I'm a right twerp, I'm a junkie and a cheeky monkey, I accept it, but that doesn't detract from the incontrovertible fact that we are living in a time of huge economic disparity and confronting ecological disaster. This disparity has always been, in cultures since expired, a warning sign of end of days. In Rome, Egypt and Easter Island the incubated ruling elites, who had forgotten that we are one interconnected people, destroyed their societies by not sharing. That is what's happening now, regardless of what you think of my hair or me using long words, the facts are the facts and the problem is the problem. Don't be distracted. I think these columnist fellas who give me aggro for not devising a solution or for using long words are just being territorial. When they say "long words" they mean "their words" like I'm a monkey who got in their Mum's dressing up box or a hooligan in policeman's helmet.

When I first got a few quid it was like an anaesthetic that made me forget what was important but now I've woken up. I can't deny that I've done a lot of daft things while I was under the capitalist fugue, some silly telly, soppy scandals, movies better left unmade. I've also become rich. I don't hate rich people; Che Guevara was a rich person. I don't hate anyone, I judge no one, that's not my job, I'm a comedian and my job is to say whatever I like to whoever I want if I'm prepared to take the consequences. Well I am.

Re sexism:

One thing I've learned and was surprised by is that I may suffer from the ol' sexism. I can only assume I have an unaddressed cultural hangover, like my adorable Nan who had a heart that shone like a pearl but was, let's face it, a bit racist. I don't want to be a sexist so I'm trying my best to check meself before I wreck meself. The problem may resolve itself as I'm in a loving relationship with a benevolent dictator and have entirely relinquished personal autonomy.

The following paras I especially admire:

Whilst travelling between gigs I had my second notable encounter. One night late at the Watford Gap I got chatting to a couple of squaddies, one Para, one Marine, we talked a bit about family and politics, I invited them to a show. Then we were joined by three Muslim women, all hijabbed up. For a few perfect minutes in the strip lit inertia of this place, that was nowhere in particular but uniquely Britain, I felt how plausible and beautiful The Revolution could be. We just chatted.

Between three sets of different people; first generation Muslims, servicemen and the privileged elite that they serve (that would be me) effortless cooperation occurred. Here we were free from the divisive rule that tears us apart. That sends brave men and women to foreign lands to fight their capitalist wars, that intimidates and unsettles people whose faith and culture superficially distinguishes them, that tells the comfortable "hush now" you have your trinkets. It seemed ridiculous that refracted through the power prism that blinds us; the soldiers could be invading the homeland of these women's forefathers in order to augment my luxurious stupour. Here in the gap we were together. Our differences irrelevant. With no one to impose separation we are united.

I realised then that our treasured concepts of tribe and nation are not valued by those who govern except when it is to divide us from each other. They don't believe in Britain or America they believe in the dollar and the pound. These are deep and entrenched systemic wrongs that are unaddressed by party politics.

The symptoms of these wrongs are obvious, global and painful. Drone strikes on the innocent, a festering investment for future conflict.

How many combatants are created each time an innocent person in a faraway land is silently ironed out from an Arizona call centre? The reality is we have more in common with the people we're bombing than the people we're bombing them for.

MILLION MASK MARCH

I'd overlooked that today is
5 November - Guy Fawkes' Day in the UK. I've just read about the
Million Mask March taking place in cities around the world.

Supporters of the Anonymous hacktivist collective are holding rallies all around the world on November 5, Guy Fawkes Day. They are protesting against what they see as the rule of greedy corporations and corrupt governments around the world.

http://rt.com/news/anonymous-protest-live-updates-232/

Live updates at the link above. Note: Russell Brand is taking part in the London March!
Good on y'all!

Ender's Game

We saw Ender's Game at the weekend, were not much impressed. Neither of us had read the book by Orson Scott Card - I'd never heard of him, nor of his book. We try not to miss any sci-fi movie doing the rounds though. Rather than straight-ahead sci-fi, it's another in the slew of "young adult" speculative fiction currently enjoying popularity in book and film form. Half an hour in I had it labelled as "Harry Potter in Space". The book, published in 1985, itself adapted from an earlier 1977 short story, came well before Potter arrived on the scene, so perhaps I should say that Harry Potter was Ender Wiggin in Fantasy Land.

There are "messages" and "themes" in the movie (bullying, violence, and how it influences children, empathy, ruthlessness, isolation, manipulation) threaded through a tale of war with a desperate hostile insect-like race with whom humans were incapable of communicating or understanding. After devastating attacks by the alien species, narrowly defeated thanks to a particularly skilled commander, fifty years have passed with no further attacks. However, the world has united under a militaristic power who are preparing plans to prevent any future invasion. Groups of super-skilled children are being cultivated (specially bred?) in the hope of finding a new commander. This film's focus is on the training of an especially gifted child to be that commander.

War, in Ender's Game, is unlike any war we've seen in movies so far - it's total drone war on a massive scale.

Details in the novel missing from the movie, due to time constraints, meant that seeing the film "cold" with no previous information left some odd gaps and incongruities. A lot of time is spent watching Ender play video games; that soon had us both yawning. It seemed like time squandered, when more detail from the book could have been included.

I won't give away the juice of the plot, there are pages and pages of reviews and discussion on the net already. Just a word about performances. The young actors acquitted themselves well enough, I guess. Asa Butterfield carried the movie's weight manfully, but at times was too inscrutable (and inexperienced?) to convey all the stuff I believe the novel had included. The senior crew: Harrison Ford, Sir Ben Kingsley and Viola Davis all seemed rather wooden to me, cardboard cut-outs - oddly so in fact. Why Ben Kingsley, with fully tattooed face, and news that he was descended from Maori warriors, sported a weird South African accent I've yet to discover.

All in all I found Ender's Game to be rather peculiar, a bit like a phone call when the sound is breaking up, catching the odd word and inflection here and there but never quite getting the intended message.

Something worth mentioning here is the threatened boycott of the movie by various gay groups, due to the book's author's homophobic rants and views on gay marriage. I didn't see any sign of homophobia in the story as presented, nor in any reports of the novel's content, or the sequels which followed. I sympathise with views of gays on this, but also have to realise that many, many great authors, painters, singers, musicians, composers have, in their time, espoused views which are very different from my own. It can be hard to do, but unless we try to differentiate the person from their work, whatever it be, we shall miss a lot that is worthwhile. In a strange way, too, kind of in reverse, this reminds me of the questions raised by comments in the weekend's post regarding Russell Brand - his on stage persona compared to his political views.

Secessio Plebis

While looking into the history of the Ludii Plebeii (Plebeian Games/People's Games) which historians tell us took place from today, 4 November in 3rd century BC Ancient Rome and continuing through 17th November, I came across mention of the secessio plebis (sounds like some kind of physical affliction!)

Secessio plebis was, in 20th century terms, Ancient Rome's version of a general strike.
It was

".....an informal exercise of power by Rome's plebeian [non-aristocratic, 99%] a general strike taken to the extreme. During a secessio plebis, the plebs would simply abandon the city en masse and leave the patrician order to themselves. Therefore a secessio meant that all shops and workshops would shut down and commercial transactions would largely cease. This was an effective strategy in the Conflict of the Orders due to strength in numbers; plebeian citizens made up the vast majority of Rome's populace and produced most of its food and resources, while a patrician citizen was a member of the minority upper class, the equivalent of the landed gentry of later times. Authors report different numbers for how many secessions there were. Cary & Scullard (p. 66) state there were five between 494 BC and 287 BC."
(Wikipedia)

Might there be some hints here, echoing through the centuries, for we plebs of 2013's equivalent of the Roman Empire? I shall leave passing readers to tease out any broad similarities of circumstance there may be to today's USA. We're all about cycles on planet Earth, cycles of the seasons, of the Moon, of man's inhumanity to man, of all history.

More from about.com

"Magistrates, judges, and priests of the new [Roman] republic mostly came from the patrician order, or upper class. Unlike the patricians, the lower or plebeian class may have suffered under the early republican structure more than they had under monarchy, since they now had, in effect, many rulers. Under the monarchy, they had endured just one. A similar situation in ancient Greece sometimes led the lower classes to welcome tyrants. In Athens, the political movement against a hydra-headed governing body led to codification of laws and then democracy. The Roman path was different.

In addition to the many headed hydra breathing down their necks, the plebeians lost access to what had been regal domain and was now the public land or ager publicus, because the patricians who were in power, took control of it to increase their profits, running it by slaves or clients in the country while they and their families lived in the city. According to a descriptive, old-fashioned, 19th century history book written by the H.D. Liddell of Alice in Wonderland and Greek Lexicon fame, A History of Rome From the Earliest Times to the Establishment of the Empire, the plebeians were mostly not so well off "petty yeomen" on small farms who had needed the land, now public, to satisfy their families' basic needs.

During the first few centuries of the Roman republic the number of chafing plebeians increased. This was partly because the plebeians' population numbers increased naturally and partly because neighboring Latin tribes, granted citizenship by treaty with Rome, were enrolled in the Roman tribes.

The plebeians were oppressed by hunger, poverty and powerlessness. Allotments of land didn't solve the problems of poor farmers whose tiny plots stopped producing when overworked. Some plebeians whose land had been sacked by the Gauls couldn't afford to rebuild, so they were forced to borrow. Interest rates were exorbitant, but since land couldn't be used for security, farmers in need of loans had to enter into contracts (nexa), pledging personal service. Farmers who defaulted (addicti), could be sold into slavery or even killed. Grain shortages led to famine, which repeatedly (among other years: 496, 492, 486, 477, 476, 456 and 453 B.C.) compounded the problems of the poor..........................."

Weekend Pics & Mixes

Another insight into where Russell Brand is coming from these days - in an interview with Jake Hamilton:

I've seen a few articles presenting a definite churlish or peevish anti-Brand posture this week, sadly mostly from those of the left (well, kind of left) who should be supporting him. Same ol' same ol'. "Lefty" purists, "lefty" minority groups, "lefty" so-called inellectuals who see Russell's words as undermining their own platforms; whereas in truth he is trying to assist them by using his celeb-status (or notoriety if you like) to thrust their point of view much further forward than they could ever do themselves. He's not looking to be their leader or take their place - he's acting as a megaphone for them.

See also THIS earlier post.

I read that The Sound of Music is comin' around again, this time on TV (NBC) with (gulp) Carrie Underwood as Maria. Now Carrie Underwood, once upon a time American Idol, currently country music royalty, has a great voice and super looks but....Julie Andrews she ain't!

I've never been a big "S of M" fan, had to be dragged to see the movie, long ago and under protest, by a boyfriend who had a crush on Julie Andrews. Needless to say, our relationship didn't last! Still, over the years I've mellowed a little towards that twee old movie, enough so to cringe when considering an American country artist playing an Austrian nun. Maybe she'll surprise me.

My favourite song from the film:

(Click on any image for a bigger version)

Husband found a few bargain-priced tin types on our last trip. This one needed some restoring; in the process a wonderful little face appeared.

Shopping in glitzy city malls isn't our style these days. For one thing we'd miss the joys of easy-going small town retailers such as those below, snapped by husband on our wanders around small town USA -

I noticed this comment during an internet wander yesterday, thought how well it describes the vicious circle and cycle in which so many people in this country find themselves now.
Thanks to commenter "Derpasaurus" for the loan of their words:

What people don't realize is the cyclical nature of small-town, low-wage business. You have 3 gas stations, 2 grocery stores, a slew of fastfood places, and a Walmart. Sprinkle in some home healthcare services. Each of these employers offer the same low pay, no benefits, and next-to zero opportunity for advancement. But, you don't have the capital to start your own business or move, so your only option is to get to flippin' burgers or stocking shelves. You make just enough money to spend it at Walmart, Racetrac and Taco Bell. The employees of those stores make just enough money to spend at your store. The government provides food stamps for all of you, keeping the grocery store in business.

Everyone, except the one or two managers in each store, makes the same low wage and gets the same government benefits. They drive the same kinds of low end cars, if they can afford it, and live in the same kind of trailers and duplexes. They're all fiercely competing for the one promotion, knowing that 99% of them will never see one. While the corporate heads of whichever company they work for have golden parachutes strapped to their backs.
And this, my friends, is the end game of capitalism. The finish-line to our race to the bottom. Where 5 or 6 companies dominate the market, socialize the costs, and privatize the gains.

This corner of south-west Oklahoma is catching up with Autumn, at last:

Arty Farty Friday ~ All Saints' and All Fashions by Friant & Gervex

A single painting, chosen for a reason, from each of two French artists of the 19th century. Émile Friant and Henri Gervex - two gifted painters mostly forgotten now, amid the glut of other French and European artists of that era, possibly sidelined too due to their more traditional mode, as new techniques and styles began to emerge everywhere at that time.

This painting, by Émile Friant (16 April 1863 – 9 June 1932) is chosen to mark the day: 1 November, All Saints' Day, in France, La Toussaint.

(Click on image for bigger version.)

 La Toussaint

This (below), by Henri Gervex (10 December 1852 – 7 June 1929) attracted me because it reminds me of a current PBS TV drama series, screened Sunday evenings. The drama titled The Paradise, an adaptation of Émile Zola's novel, Au Bonheur des Dames, relocates the story from France to a Victorian fashion store North East England. Gervex's painting portrays a fashion designer's salon rather than a fashion store, but it does have the same "feel". The painting's title Cinq Heures Chez Paquin can be translated as 5 o'clock at Paquin's Salon, though some sources have it as "5 hours at Paquin's". I suspect 5 hours' shopping would be too much for any mortal, especially wearing those voluminous gowns!



Click on it for a bigger version

Cinq Heures Chez Paquin

Henri Gervex blotted his metaphorical copybook at one point in his career with a painting titled Rolla (1878), based on a poem by Alfred de Musset. It shows a prostitute and her client. The painting was rejected by a jury of the Salon de Paris for its immorality, but lent its painter a certain amount of notoriety in the city. See here - scroll down.

Bram Stoker & Dracula for Fright Night

Hallowe'en! There'll be lots of youthful Dracula types abroad tonight, looking for treats or tricks. This is a good time to take a look at Bram Stoker, author of Dracula and other stories touching on the weird and the occult.

Wouldn't you have guessed that he was born with both Sun and Moon quite close together in....Scorpio? 8 November 1847 in Clontarf, near Dublin, Ireland. His time of birth isn't known, but the Moon would have been in Scorpio whatever the time, and quite likely not far from his natal Sun.

Mercury, the writing planet in Sagittarius, in helpful trine to Uranus, planet of the eccentric, unexpected and futuristic can clearly be seen coloring his weird and wonderful tales, blending with Scorpio's sinister darkness. Jupiter, planet of publication and exaggeration forms another helpful trine, this time to to his Sun (and maybe to Moon), reflecting the spread of Bram Stoker's stories both before and after his own death.



In the south-west Oklahoma town where we live, Bram Stoker was remembered a couple of years ago a in this Hallowe'en display in someone's front yard.




Inspiration for Stoker's famous Gothic novel Dracula came from a visit to Whitby - I know it well, or used to. It's a town on the north-east coast of England, not too far from my own old hometown.

(Whitby)" is an ancient village first settled in the 5th or 6th century AD. In 637 AD a Catholic abbey was built nearby.... In 1077, the abbey was rebuilt in the foreboding gothic style of the medieval time. Now, the abbey ruins (see above) brood on the outskirts of Whitby. The commanding presence of towering stone façades pierced with sightless arches can cast the eerie shadow of folklore on even the most unimaginative mind.

It was into this harbor of history and myth that Bram Stoker sailed in 1890. He had been working on a novel inspired by Hungarian adventurer Arminius Vambery who had regaled Stoker with eastern European tales of the blood-hungry living dead. Whitby proved to be the perfect setting for Stoker to derive some of the more intriguing details for his book. He was so impressed by the surrealistic, menacing aspects of the immense stone abbey and St Mary’s Cathedral looming over the small town, that he used Whitby in his novel Dracula as the place where the seductive Count meets and kills Lucy.

While in Whitby, Stoker stayed at a small inn on the river. Every evening at dusk the local pigeons would sit on the window ledge and tap mindlessly at their reflections in the glass. Stoker incorporated this sound into his novel as Dracula tapping with long, sharp nails on Lucy’s window, demanding entrance. The bats residing in the stable behind the inn lent another aspect to Stoker’s main character: his ability to shape-shift into not only bats, but also black dogs and mist. (Right: Christopher Lee as Dracula)..............................
Stoker visited Whitby several more times over the next few years. The novel Dracula was completed and published in 1897 to little acclaim. The book did not become widely popular until Hollywood began filming versions of the work in the early 1900s, a few years after Stoker’s death in 1912.
(Read the rest HERE)

A postscript for astrology buffs: in another of Stoker's books, "The Jewel of Seven Stars", at chaper XVI, Powers - Old and New, one of his characters has something to say about astrology:

".........Once, in the midst of a most learned dissertation on the growth of Egyptian Astrology, he broke put on a different subject, or rather a branch or corollary of the same:
'I do not see why starlight may not have some subtle quality of its own! We know that other lights have special forces. The Rontgen Ray is not the only discovery to be made in the world of light. Sunlight has its own forces, that are not given to other lights. It warms wine; it quickens fungoid growth. Men are often moonstruck. Why not, then, a more subtle, if less active or powerful, force in the light of the stars. It should be a pure light coming through such vastness of space, and may have a quality which a pure, unimpulsive force may have. The time may not be far off when Astrology shall be accepted on a scientific basis. In the recrudescence of the art, many new experiences will be brought to bear; many new phases of old wisdom will appear in the light of fresh discovery, and afford bases for new reasoning. Men may find that what seemed empiric deductions were in reality the results of a loftier intelligence and a learning greater than our own. We know already that the whole of the living world is full of microbes of varying powers and of methods of working quite antagonistic. We do not know yet whether they can lie latent until quickened by some ray of light as yet unidentified as a separate and peculiar force. As yet we know nothing of what goes to create or evoke the active spark of life. We have no knowledge of the methods of conception; of the laws which govern molecular or foetal growth, of the final influences which attend birth. Year by year, day by day, hour by hour, we are learning; but the end is far, far off. It seems to me that we are now in that stage of intellectual progress in which the rough machinery for making discovery is being invented. Later on, we shall have enough of first principles to help us in the development of equipment for the true study of the inwardness of things."

Word Magic

I needed to retire to a spare room, far from my computer, while a couple of guys steam-cleaned the living room carpet on Monday morning. I took with me a couple of slim, tatty old paperback books which had been sitting on a shelf beneath my computer for years: The Ordeal of Change and The True Believer, both by Eric Hoffer, both originally published in the mid-20th century.


As I read the following my mind slid back to other words read recently, words of Chris Hedges, words of Russell Brand - two very different sources featured in posts in the past couple of weeks. Words to stir the blood, to energise the mind, to encourage thought, to reassure that there are others out there who feel as we do..... There is magic in words.

Mr. Hoffer suggested:

Nothing so baffles the scientific approach to human nature as the vital role words play in human affairs. How can one deal with a physiochemical complex in which reactions are started and checked, accelerated and slowed down, by the sound or image of a word - usually a meaningless word?

It is of interest that the practice of magic where nature is concerned - the attempt to manipulate nature by words - rested on the assumption that nature is not unlike human nature, that methods of proven effectiveness in the manipulation of human affairs may be equally potent when applied to nonhuman nature. It can be seen that such an assumption is the mirror image of, and not infinitely more absurd than, the assumption implied in the scientific approach that human nature is merely an aspect of nature.

We know that words cannot move mountains, but they can move the multitude; and men are more ready to fight and die for a word than for anything else...................Words and magic are particularly crucial in time of crisis when old forms of life are in dissolution and man must grapple with the unknown. .............A movement is pioneered by men of words, materialized by fanatics and consolidated by men of action.
― Eric Hoffer, The Ordeal of Change

Words: "abracadabra", "ooo-eee-oo-ah-ah-ting-tang-walla-walla-bing-bang" - two silly examples of magic words, the first from stage conjurors' playbooks, the other from an old pop song The Witch Doctor. They are throw-backs to an ancient belief that words and/or sound could indeed bring about change, drastic change even.

Words put together with talent and skill can sway human nature, for good or ill....(hmm a rhyme!) Full effects of words only become visible when the time is right though. More wise words from Eric Hoffer, this time from The True Believer - Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements:

"For men to plunge headlong into an undertaking of vast change, they must be intensely discontented yet not destitute, and they must have the feeling that by the possession of some potent doctrine, infallible leader or some new technique they have access to a source of irresistible power. They must also have an extravagant conception of the prospects and the potentialities of the future. Finally, they must be wholly ignorant of the difficulties involved in their vast undertaking. Experience is a handicap."

Words, for now, are all we have.

Mercury Retrograde Tales

Mercury Retrograde time has come around again. Two coincidences to report. I'll call them coincidences, astrologers might call them examples of the kind of techno-hiccups that are said to be common when Mercury is (apparently) moving in retrograde motion. It isn't really, just looks that way from where we stand.


First coincidence began just before the retrograde period, when we were away from home recently. Listening to an audio book on the car's CD player: Shoot the Moon by Billie Letts, something I'd picked up long ago in a junk store for use on a long trip. We were enjoying Lou Diamond Phillips' entertaining narration. When I reached to insert the next CD, felt a slight, unusual resistance. I exerted a little gentle force (big mistake). With CD inside the whole thing jammed up. Later efforts to retrieve the disc failed. We had to make do with a set of indifferent radio stations for the rest of the trip. Back home, after a week or so, husband took the car to our Chevvy dealer who gave him the sad news that, unless the disc could be released with "a good ol' bang" (it couldn't), the only solution would be a new unit.....upwards of $300. That news served to fire up the husband! When he got the car home he found a suitable slim tool and, with surgical precision, felt around the CD slot opening, lifted and teased until the disc re-appeared. Wondrously, when other discs were tried, the player still worked. The imprisoned CD must have been a rogue disc then - looked fine though, and did play well on our separate CD player. There's nothing like the threat of a bill for $300+ to get things moving! That story began before Mercury Retro, and ended more or less just as apparent Mercurial back-tracking had begun.

Second coincidence: Three or four nights ago our VCR (or is it VHS? ) machine simply stopped working. After attempting a clean-up job and various twiddles and tweaks, nothing improved. It has given good service for more than 8 years, perhaps it has simply worn out. We decided to visit local and neighbouring junk, thrift and pawn stores to find a replacement; we both recalled having seen piles of 'em waiting for buyers in the past. Not so now. We could find narry a one. A Goodwill store had one machine working, but marked "Not for Sale". Although there are mountains of VHS tapes of movies and concerts still around at bargain prices, that which is needed to play the tapes has gone the way of dinosaurs. E-bay does dinosaurs. I found one there - one with no bids and 20 minutes to go before the auction closed. I bid, 1 cent more than the given bottom rung, and won. So we wait, and hope that Mercury Retro will not impede delivery, or receipt of said machine in good, working condition.

RUSSELL BRAND ~ "he's a darling, he's a demon, he's a lamb"

When I read him I'm confused
Out of focus and bemused
And I never know exactly where I am
Unpredictable as weather
He's as flighty as a feather
He's a darling! He's a demon! He's a lamb!

He'd outpester any pest
Drive a hornet from its nest
He could throw a whirling dervish out of whirl
He is gentle! He is wild!
He's a riddle! He's a child!
He's a headache! He's an angel!
He's............... Russell Brand

As I read the New Statesman piece, carried at Common Dreams on Friday, written by British actor/comedian Russell Brand the words of a song from "The Sound of Music" kept floating into my head. I've parodied them above, with apologies to Oscar Hammerstein II .

It's a l-o-n-g piece for ADD-afflicted internet inhabitants, but it's one I couldn't stop reading halfway, as I do so many others. Brand's piece at Common Dreams is headed: "Before We Change the World, We Need to Change the Way We Think.......On revolution: 'We no longer have the luxury of tradition'".

Before I go any further, I'm leaving a link to an antidote for any hint of Brandish hero-worship a passing reader might detect: Douglas Valentine's piece at Counterpunch is a knock-down, drag-out put-down of Russell. I don't agree with Mr Valentine, though do admit that there's an occasional whisper of sense in what he writes as, I feel pretty sure (and this is important) that Russell Brand would too.

Russell Brand: the guy is Gemini incarnate....really! The Trickster, brilliantly fluent, ridiculously talented, flawed mouth-on-a stick. But make no mistake, in this piece Brand is making more sense than any dozen of mealy mouthed pundits you'd care to bundle together. And he's funny with it....that is very hard to do for most of us struggling non-Gemini mortals. Several commenters have described his piece as "stream of consciousness stuff". I've never been reliably sure what "stream of consciousness" looks like until now!

I've chosen a few quotes from the piece to share its flavour, and to spice up this post. It was hard to choose, there are so many quotable chunks. I highly recommend reading the article in full. Sometimes the piece relates to British political figures, but mostly his remarks apply to the USA also, and the rest of the world for that matter.

To give some idea of the subject matter, some random paragraphs - not always chronological:

The serious side:

First, he excuses his wealth:

I should qualify my right to even pontificate on such a topic and in so doing untangle another of revolution’s inherent problems. Hypocrisy. How dare I, from my velvet chaise longue, in my Hollywood home like Kubla Khan, drag my limbs from my harem to moan about the system? A system that has posited me on a lilo made of thighs in an ocean filled with honey and foie gras’d my Essex arse with undue praise and money..............

.......The right has all the advantages, just as the devil has all the best tunes. Conservatism appeals to our selfishness and fear, our desire and self-interest; they neatly nurture and then harvest the inherent and incubating individualism.

I imagine that neurologically the pathway travelled by a fearful or selfish impulse is more expedient and well travelled than the route of the altruistic pang. In simple terms of circuitry I suspect it is easier to connect these selfish inclinations.

These problems that threaten to bring on global destruction are the result of legitimate human instincts gone awry, exploited by a dead ideology derived from dead desert myths. Fear and desire are the twin engines of human survival but with most of our basic needs met these instincts are being engaged to imprison us in an obsolete fragment of our consciousness. Our materialistic consumer culture relentlessly stimulates our desire. Our media ceaselessly engages our fear, our government triangulates and administrates, ensuring there are no obstacles to the agendas of these slow-thighed beasts, slouching towards Bethlehem.

(After a visit to African slums, seeing emaciated children there, and on return home attending a fashion show with stick thin models who deliberately starve themselves):

...I could not wrench the phantom of those children from my mind......I felt the integration; that the price of this decadence was their degradation. That these are not dislocated ideas but the two extremes are absolutely interdependent. The price of privilege is poverty. .....To have such suffering adjacent to such excess is akin to marvelling at an incomparable beauty, whose face is the radiant epitome of celestial symmetry, and ignoring, half a yard lower down, her abdomen, cancerous, weeping and carbuncled. “Keep looking at the face, put a handbag over those tumours. Strike a pose. Come on, Vogue.”

Suffering of this magnitude affects us all. We have become prisoners of comfort in the absence of meaning.

The "spiritual" side:

For me the solution has to be primarily spiritual and secondarily political. This, too, is difficult terrain when the natural tribal leaders of the left are atheists, when Marxism is inveterately Godless. When the lumbering monotheistic faiths have given us millennia of grief for a handful of prayers and some sparkly rituals.

The only systems we can afford to employ are those that rationally serve the planet first, then all humanity. Not out of some woolly, bullshit tree-hugging piffle but because we live on it, currently without alternatives. This is why I believe we need a unifying and in - clusive spiritual ideology: atheism and materialism atomise us and anchor us to one frequency of consciousness and inhibit necessary co-operation.

In 2013 (another made-up imaginary concept) we cannot afford to giggle, drivel and burp like giant, pube-covered babies about quaint, old-fashioned notions like nation, capitalism and consumerism simply because it’s convenient for the tiny, greedy, myopic sliver of the population that those outmoded ideas serve...........

We British seem to be a bit embarrassed about revolution, like the passion is uncouth or that some tea might get spilled on our cuffs in the uprising. That revolution is a bit French or worse still American. Well, the alternative is extinction so now might be a good time to re-evaluate. The apathy is in fact a transmission problem, when we are given the correct information in an engaging fashion, we will stir.

Now there is an opportunity for the left to return to its vital, virile, vigorous origins. A movement for the people, by the people, in the service of the land. Socialism’s historical connection with spiritual principles is deep. Sharing is a spiritual principle, respecting our land is a spiritual principle. May the first, May Day, is a pagan holiday where we acknowledge our essential relationship with our land. I bet the Tolpuddle martyrs, who marched for fair pay for agricultural workers, whose legacy is the right for us to have social solidarity, were a right bunch of herberts if you knew them. “Thugs, yobs, hooligans,” the Daily Mail would’ve called them. Our young people need to know there is a culture, a strong, broad union, that they can belong to, that is potent, virile and alive.

(My highlight)
But we are far from apathetic, we are far from impotent. I take great courage from the groaning effort required to keep us down, the institutions that have to be fastidiously kept in place to maintain this duplicitous order. Propaganda, police, media, lies. Now is the time to continue the great legacy of the left, in harmony with its implicit spiritual principles. Time may only be a human concept and therefore ultimately unreal, but what is irrefutably real is that this is the time for us to wake up.

The revolution of consciousness is a decision, decisions take a moment. In my mind the revolution has already begun.

If I believed in spiritualism I'd suspect that the spirit of comedian Bill Hicks, who left us much, much too soon, had been in contact with Russell Brand....or maybe Bill Hicks and George Carlin got together in the ethers and decided enough was enough, something simply had to be done, a new messenger had to be appointed.


ASTROLOGY

I made a point of describing Russell Brand as "Trickster" at the beginning of the post; astrologically he is. Sun and Mercury in Gemini. I've posted a 12 noon version of his natal chart, no time of birth is known. I'll link, at the end of the post, to two websites where interpretation has already been done. For me, other than his "mouth-on-a-stick" Sun and Mercury in Gemini, I'd focus on the three planets in Aries, (Moon would have been in Aries, whatever time he was born), and on the fact that he's "unearthed" - no planet in an Earth sign unless an Earth sign (Taurus, Virgo or Capricorn) was on the ascendant as he was born....chances of that, I'd say, are slim!

The three Aries planets bring a fresh child-like streak into his nature, enthusiasm for his subject, whether nefarious, sexy, or serious. I like the freshness and a rather strangely innocent feel to him- don't know how else to describe it, but have recognised it in those with Aries strong in their natal charts - a lot, love it! That's not to say he's always all that's wonderful. He's not - far from it. I was disgusted by reports of a mean prank he'd played on a fellow-actor some time ago. Aries childlike-ness can, and does, go right over-the top at times. Because of his writing though, he's forgiven - not forgetting the interview in the video below, from British TV. Interviewer, Jeremy Paxman, well known in the UK for his penetrating interview style when dealing with politicians, took on Russell Brand. I suspect Jeremy has a warm spot for Russell and his views, though it didn't seem so at times.

For more on Brand's astrology:
See Adam Sommer's article at Reality Sandwich
and
My Encounter with Russell Brand  by British psychic Michelle Knight.  

GM Foods, Monsanto, Corporations - Oh My!

Two blog friends and regular commenters have given me a heads up on issues involving GMO - genetically modified organisms - in the food chain: GM crops. I've been aware of, but not especially motivated to write about the topic before now. I realised that GM foods form simply another tentacle of unfettered corporatism, this tentacle has Monsanto at its heart. I prefer to criticise and rant about corporatism, the oligarchy and capitalism as a whole, rather than focus on any of the many separate tentacles of this fatal disease. Perhaps I've been too blasé in this case, so have done some research.

It has to be kept in mind that while corporate conduct - Monsanto's conduct in particular - has been, and continues to be despicable, as most corporate conduct is, that is not the whole story.

However unwelcome genetic modification of crops may be to people in the USA and Europe, all relatively privileged people, there are hungry people elsewhere, starving people....there are some here in the US too. If elements of Monsanto's high-handed objectionable work can provide any relief for starving humanity somewhere on the planet, it'd be wrong to dismiss their efforts outright. Millions of starving people will increase, in time, to billions struggling to survive. If Monsanto would concentrate their efforts towards staving off just that eventuality, more people might be prepared to support them.

All genetic engineering isn't bad. Modifications can change plants and animals in a number of ways: modified corn produced to resist a certain weed killer is not the same as rice reprogrammed to contain more vitamin A. Two sides of the coin: beneficial/risky.

The fact that GM crops have been engineered to withstand high application rates of toxic chemicals is an attendant problem, as well as the fact that any new gene used to make fruit ripen more quickly would be likely to reduce its nutrient value....and flavour.

Most GM crops require, or allow, more pesticides and herbicides to survive, and so embed themselves in food; some of it washes off to pollute groundwater and streams, then kills off fish, affecting birds, killing insects the birds eat, and so on. Many GM crops produce sterile seeds, robbing farmers of opportunities to renew their crops as farmers have done for centuries, forcing them to buy a new store of seeds. Follow the money -again!

A current concern in the USA is that foods containing GM ingredients should be clearly labelled as such. That's a reasonable step to take, but whether it would make enough difference to cause Monsanto to change its ways is another matter.

Once again, it's balance that is missing. If corporations were better regulated Monsanto's activities and results of same, would be subject to closer scrutiny and limitation. I feel that it's more important to put stronger focus at the core of the wrong: the corporations and unfettered capitalism.

There are numerous photographs of protesters from US and Europe marching against Monsanto and GM foods - an example shown earlier in this post. Numerous photographs of marchers against fracking, Keystone XL oil pipeline, and other tentacles of unfettered corporation disease are also online. If all those protesters were to combine their strength, along with those who support The Green Party, Justice Party, socialists, anti-war and other left wing groups, there might be an outside chance of making a lasting and more powerful impression....and at the at the very least of waking more sleepers to join them. They are few, we are many. ...or would be if we would all wake up and work TOGETHER instead of splintering into diverse groups!

Arty Farty Friday ~ Fred Marcellino

Fred Marcellino, abstract impressionist painter, illustrator/designer of album and book cover art, children's book illustrator and and writer, was born this day, 25 October in 1939 in Brooklyn, New York; died in 2001 - far too soon, aged 61.

He changed the way book covers and jackets for contemporary fiction are designed.

From Obituary here

"In the 1970's Mr. Marcellino, a classically trained painter and recipient of a 1963 Fulbright scholarship, challenged the strict marketing conventions for packaging fiction and nonfiction blockbusters, which then required gigantic type for the author's name and a small, literal illustration of the plot or theme. Although these covers grabbed attention, they usually offered little aesthetic value.

Mr. Marcellino introduced subtly painted and smartly lettered miniposters, creating an alluring graphic personality for best-selling novels by writers like Tom Wolfe, Anne Tyler, Milan Kundera, Judith Rossner and Margaret Atwood. He proved that an elegant jacket could be as effective a marketing tool as a garish one.

Mr. Marcellino could "in one image, translate the whole feeling and style of a book,'' said Nan Talese, who was the editor of Judith Rossner's ''August'' and Margaret Atwood's ''Handmaid's Tale'' for Houghton Mifflin."

A few examples of his book cover illustrations:

Some of his children's book covers and illustrations:

A quick look at Mr Marcellino's natal chart, set for 12 noon as no birth time is available.

Five, maybe six depending on Moon's position (which isn't known precisely without a time of birth)
are in Mars-ruled signs: Scorpio and Aries. This indicates an energetic, enthusiastic and passionate nature, a blend of impatience, impetuosity and an urge to dig deep into issues. The only personal planet outside of the Mars-ruled group is Mars itself in Aquarius.

Outer planets were in Taurus, Leo and Virgo.

Uranus (planet of the avant garde) in Taurus lay opposite Venus and Mercury in Scorpio. Venus being planet of arts, Taurus its ruler. Hmmm. I think that here was a need to bring something new (Uranus) to "tried and true" style (Taurus), via design (Venus). Exactly what this artist did for book covers.

Fred Marcellino's official website.

9 -UP

Today/tomorrow marks the 9th anniversary of my journey and setting foot, to remain permanently, on American soil. Coincidentally, while searching on a Brtish-Ex-Pats' forum for information on the wisdom or otherwise of renewing a British Passport, I spotted a thread titled "YOU KNOW YOU'VE BEEN IN THE USA TOO LONG WHEN......"
That thread stretches over nearly 100 pages, occasionally descending into ribaldry as Brits, thrown together, are wont do. I've picked out a round dozen fairly inoffensive examples of ideas put forward, in honour of my US anniversary.


YOU KNOW YOU'VE BEEN IN THE USA TOO LONG......

If you start buying into this 'freedom' crap

When British Tories look quite sensible

If you believe USA is the 'leader of the free world' and the only place with rags-to-riches stories

When you start to fantasise about what you could do to get deported....(or start spelling fantasise as fantasize)

When your first thought on being approached by a police officer is "don't do anything to startle him and make him shoot you"

When you see nothing wrong with the fact a lot of police officers are too fat to get out of their cruisers, let alone chase down a suspect. Luckily they can just shoot first and ask questions after. Not having a problem with this is also a sign you've been here too long

When you stop trying to convert $ to £ every time you buy something

When your fork lives in your RIGHT hand (left hand for lefties!)

When you start eating that Kosher Dill spear they serve with a sandwich, something you originally thought was repulsive

When you think taking home over half your dinner in a to-go box is perfectly normal

If you start saying "different than ..." instead of "different from ..."
(PS: on this one: not me - not ever!)

If you drive a Suburban and have a concealed weapons permit (PS: ditto).