Scenes from "The Somnambulist"

Ralph Gibson

Random Dialogue

[an office with five rooms]

"Do you know who the previous tenants of this space were?"

...

"It was Amnesiacs Anonymous - an organization dedicated to the forgetful."

...

"It's obvious to any observer. Where else would you find an Exit sign above the only door in or out?"

Fading Light

Eromanga Sensei

Here Comes the Rain Again

Musaigen no Phantom World

Refraction

The shadow of a raindrop is light.

Images of Love

Individual (fragment)

Individualism plays a big role in the US, from the founding of the country to the way companies advertise in the present day, and is the zeitgeist upon which capitalism and meritocracy rest. The evolution of society is greater than the accomplishments of any one individual¹; arguably, humans need to cooperate in an almost ant-like way, though, with the added psychological complexity that comes with all parties feel they are receiving something more immediate than the longer-term, bigger picture goal.

Industrialization continues to progress with robots and AI performing increasingly complex tasks, in some cases, more affordably than a human being. If new jobs are created in the process of more simple jobs being replaced by machines, it's unlikely that the person who filled the replaced role would have the education, skill, or opportunity to fill the new and more complicated role. There is fear as to what humans will do when machines replace them in the majority of jobs; however, I believe that is the moment when Individualism and the individual will truly reveal itself². When meaning and purpose are no longer fed through a job, and basic services are still provided in an almost effortless way, people will need to individually confront their existence. A grouping mentality, though satisfying in a shallow and short-term way, will likely be just a psychological band-aid in coping with a radical change.

---

¹ Admittedly, the accomplishments of multiple individualistically-minded people yield the result of advancing society, even if their pursuits are performed out of single-mindedness.

²  The individual may come about sooner than a machine driven society through virtual reality. This may be Individualism in a more Solipsistic sense.

Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem

Kyoukai no Kanata Movie: I'll Be Here - Mirai-hen

Love and Life (fragment)

It's one of those decisions you make, like a fork in the road, consciously or unconsciously. You end up far along one of the paths and if it turned out to be the wrong one, you have to hope that it loops around at some point. Maybe it will rejoin the main path prior to the fork. It goes something like this, and I wind up in my head more than my body.

Summer's Close

Eric Nash

Images of Love

Spirit of Winter

I was once in love with the Spirit of Winter.

Long legs leading to long slender arms,
small hot center of a dying star
within the cold space of body,
a bare twig in one hand,
withered spring buds in the other.

I'm at my weakest in Summer, he said.
And he smiled, though warmed through like a stone,
those arms embracing the plants he cared for
with a touch not hot or cold, but like the air,
without them shrinking back from frost.

In Winter I could touch you only briefly
before the warm roots within me cooled.
You stood apart, head lifted to the passing of woodsmoke,
delicately stepping over Summer's bones.
You shook the snow off to no avail.


(In the style of Dorianne Laux)

Tonight, Tonight

I'm leaving this here as a buoy, a stake dropped that sinks halfway in the sand of time.

Jessica said she's getting married.

Kyoukai no Kanata: Shinonome

Icebreaker

The inevitable question comes up: What do you do? The intended meaning being for a "living" (viz. for money). The answer will be interpreted under that Western societal assumption¹.

'I'm a writer.'
'Oh, what have you published;' or, 'Have I heard of your work?'

The conclusion drawn from the answer is that the activity must result in receiving compensation, in this case through the act of publishing, or acknowledgment within certain circles. "Fame and fortune" is very much a Western obsession², and through Google Books one can see the phrase itself has been consistently publicized going back to 1800³.

There is also an identity crisis in the answer. Rather than responding with what one does, the activity becomes the self-definition of who that person is and not simply an activity. 'I am a writer' instead of 'I write.' This also isn't a very accurate portrayal of a personality. Writers may share some common traits, but their chosen genre and syntax reveals much more about their personality than the overarching theme of writing.

---

¹ Admittedly, other geographic cultures may be focused on income or fame inducing activities. All cultures likely have activities that are enjoyed without producing income or fame. The question is if discussion centering around remuneration and renown is a ubiquitous human trait or something culturally specific. I would venture that most cultures consider such discussion impolite, which is why Western society dances around what it really wants to know with banalities such as 'What do you do.'

² Although it's probable that each term may hold a different meaning in other cultures, or that the English meaning referenced here is attached to a different word in other languages. In fact, upon translation of the phrase, one can see the following: a steady decline in use in French, negligible usage in Russian, no usage in Hebrew, and peak usage in German in the 1940s followed by a steady decline. Spanish usage showed a steady increase through time, and simplified Chinese ran hard with the phrase beginning in 1980.

³ Consistent over the long-term with a very gradual and bottoming downtrend. Since 1960, the phrase has enjoyed a steady increase in literary use and is currently close to a peak usage not seen since the early 1900s.

Daft Punk's Electroma

A movie about being unable to handle the failure of being something other than what you are.

 

 

 

Substance D

"I saw death rising from the earth, from the ground itself, in one blue field, in stubbled color."
- Philip K. Dick, A Scanner Darkly

 

Frisbee by Atey Ghailan

Runaway

Bonny Doon by Aron Wiesenfeld

and they still control the world

. . . I open the mail,

drinking delicious coffee, delicious music,

my body still both light and heavy with you. The mail

lets fall a Xerox of something written by a man

aged 27, hostage, tortured in prison:

My genitals have been the object of such a sadistic display

they keep me constantly awake with the pain . . .

Do whatever you can to survive.

You know, I think that men love wars . . .

And my incurable anger, my unmendable wounds

break open further with tears, I am crying helplessly,

and they still control the world, and you are not in my arms.

- Adrienne Rich, Love Poem IV

“It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Images of Love

No One Claps Anymore

Granted, we have become accustomed to many conveniences, it is our current environment. Although granted, not to be taken for granted.

Every day, people sit on cushioned seats and are Aladdined through the air, safely to their destination:

Picture someone using an airplane bathroom mid-flight.
Now strip away the airplane.

We have mastered the art of controlled explosion, and are able to go long distances in a few hours or a day. We have coded sand and used it to communicate around the world.
How could anyone not clap?

There is always an old man cursing at his smartphone.

*******

I would like to accept pleasures when they present themselves and have the willpower to say 'no' or 'enough,' to enjoy pleasure without attachment. I would like patience to allow situations to become what they will.

Things are always what they seem - at first
At an appropriate time,
a bad thing may serve a good use
and a good thing becomes a curse
And after that time, none of it will matter
in the same way pieces of water,
replaced by other pieces of water,
are all still the stream
Context is everything

The world is very tolerant and forgiving. It will produce something like tobacco, without connotation, and the world will allow someone to use it until cancer and poison destroy function, and the world will take that body into itself, and even cancer and poison can become a flowering bush, a fruiting tree.

Using Apartments as an Example

What we have is a culture that fills its balconies up with outdoor furniture and cooking appliances and aesthetic artifacts, then places a satellite dish in order to stay indoors.

It felt as if one's entire world was one, long Sunday afternoon. Nothing to do. Nowhere to go.

Atey Ghailan

Say "I Love You"

R.O.D.