Wikileaks cable

The Wikileaks cables
ISSUE WHAT WE LEARNED KEY QUOTE READ MORE
Afghanistan

Concern among the US and other foreign officials over the fitness of President Karzai to govern.
"[Karzai is] a paranoid and weak individual unfamiliar with the basics of nation-building."
July 2009 cable published by the Guardian
China

The US urged China to stop a shipment of missile components from North Korea to Iran in 2007, and also expressed concern over Chinese computer hacking.
"The best way to prevent these shipments in the future is for Chinese authorities to take action."
November 2007 cable released by the Guardian
Germany

In 2004, a German citizen was snatched in Macedonia and allegedly taken to a secret prison by the CIA. In a separate cable Chancellor Angela Merkel is labelled "Risk averse and rarely creative".
"Our intention was not to
threaten ... but rather to urge that the German Government weigh carefully implications for relations with the US."
June 2007 cable from the US embassy in Berlin concerning the CIA row
Iran

A number of Arab leaders called on the US to attack Iran to stop its suspected nuclear weapons programme. President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad is also referred to as "Hitler" by the UAE defence minister. In a cable from April 2008 the Saudi ambassador in Washington, Adel al-Jubeir, recalled King Abdullah's "frequent exhortations" to the US to attack Iran.
"[King Hamad of Bahrain] argued
forcefully for taking action to terminate their nuclear program, by whatever means necessary."
November 2009 cable details Arab views on Iran, published by the New York Times.
Italy

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is described as "feckless and vain" and had profited from a "nefarious connection" with Russian PM Vladimir Putin.
"Berlusconi admires Putin's macho, decisive, and authoritarian governing style, which the Italian PM believes matches his own."
January 2009 cable speculates on the relationship between Berlusconi and Putin published by the New York Times.
Libya

Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi relies heavily on his long-time Ukrainian nurse, described as a "voluptuous blonde".
"Gadaffi has been described as both mercurial and eccentric, and our recent first-hand experiences
with him demonstrated the truth of both characterisations."
September 2009 cable on Gadaffi published by the New York Times
North and South Korea

China was becoming frustrated with North Korea's behaviour and was coming round to the view that the Korean peninsula should be reunified under Seoul's control in the long term. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is described by US diplomats as a "flabby old chap".
"We need to solve this problem. It is very troublesome," China's ambassador to Kazakhstan told the Americans.
June 2009 cable published by The Guardian
Mexico

The Mexican army was failing in its fight against drugs cartels.
"Mexican security institutions are often locked in competition... information is closely guarded, and joint operations are all but unheard of."
January 2009 cable published by The Guardian
Pakistan

US and British diplomats feared that Pakistan's nuclear material could fall into terrorists' hands and that the US had been trying to remove highly enriched uranium from a research facility since 2007.
"The UK has deep concerns about the safety and security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons."
September 2009 cable published by the Guardian
Russia

The country is descibed as being a corrupt, autocratic kleptocracy centred on the Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. A separate cable describes President Medvedev as "Robin" to Putin's "Batman".
"[Spanish prosecutor Jose 'Pepe' Grinda Gonzalez] stated that he considers Belarus, Chechnya and Russia to be virtual 'mafia states'."
February 2010 cable published by the Guardian
Saudi Arabia

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warns that donors in Saudi Arabia are the "most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide".
"More needs to be done since Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for al-Qa'ida, the Taliban, LeT, and other terrorist groups, including Hamas, which probably raise millions of dollars annually from Saudi sources, often during Hajj and Ramadan."
December 2009 cable published by the Guardian
Spain

Embassy claims Rolls-Royce lost out on a key contract with the Spanish military following lobbying of Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero by Washington.
"Moncloa - the office of the President - overturned the decision and it was announced that GE had won the bid. The Ambassador is convinced that Zapatero personally intervened in the case in favor of GE."
Cable published by the Guardian
Sri Lanka

President Mahinda Rajapaksa was responsible for alleged war crimes, according to a January 2010 cable sent by the US ambassador.
"There are no examples we know of a regime undertaking investigations of its own troops or senior officials for war crimes while in power."
January 2010 cable published by the Guardian
UK

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown was perceived to be "finished" by US diplomats in summer 2008, while the UK also kept quiet about a loophole allowing the US to continue storing cluster bombs on its territory despite an international ban.
"A terrible by-election defeat in Scotland has left the Labour Party reeling and fuelled fears among MPs that Brown's premiership may now be beyond repair."
July 2008 cable published by the Guardian
UK - Royal Family

The Duke of York criticised the Serious Fraud Office probe of an arms deal between BAE and Saudi Arabia and spoke in a rude manner during an official engagement.
"[Prince Andrew] railed at British anti-corruption investigators, who had had the 'idiocy' of almost scuttling the Al-Yamama deal with Saudi Arabia."
October 2008 cable published by the Guardian
United Nations

Diplomats were instructed under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's name to collect DNA samples, fingerprints and credit card details of key UN officials.
"Reporting officers should include as much of the following information as possible... organizational titles; names, position titles and other information on business cards; numbers of telephones, cell phones, pagers and faxes; compendia of contact information."
July 2009 cable on UN espionage published by the Guardian
United States

US State Department asks US missions for list of key facilities around the world it describes as vital to its national security and provides 2008 list.
"BAE Systems (Operations) Ltd., Preston, Lancashire, United Kingdom: Critical to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter..."
February 2009 cable published by Wikileaks

MARROW OCTOBER ISSUE NOW AVAILABLE

HERE'S A SNEAK AT THE FASHION SHOOT.
Photographer: Lucy Fulford (third year BVA Dunedin School of art, Photography)
Make Up: Sam McCarthy sam.a.mccarthy@hotmail.co.uk
Hair/Designer : Samuel Ralph sammyjon7@hotmail.com (1st Year Bachelor of Design in Fashion, Dunedin Fashion school)
Designer: Sam Thorpe http://pavementparade.blogspot.com/ (1st year Bachelor of Design in Fashion, Dunedin Fashion school
Models: Harveen Dhalwai & Rachel Chin.
Words: Hana Aoake

For this assignment first year fashion design students were permitted a colour palette of black and white and the use of cotton fabrics. Having such strict limitations would leave many with an array of emotions, probably centred on frustration at being so limited creatively. For Sam Thorpe, this challenge presented him with an opportunity to push himself further. The design of his trenchcoat was aimed at emphasizing a feminine silhouette and is reminiscent of the tailored sophistication and glamour of such women as Marlene Dietrich and Jacqueline Kennedy. He also designed a simple shift dress, evocative of dresses worn by the likes of Edie Sedgwick and Twiggy. The look he has created exudes cohesion and femininity. He also appears to have been influenced by designers such as Ossie Clark, Pierre Cardin, André Courrèges,Oleg Cassini and Hubert de Givenchy.
The look created by Sam Ralph illustrates an ability to manipulate and contort proportions, a focus on detail and is an accentuation of a look devised as an embodiment of innovation and the avant-garde. The designer has accompanied the highly embellished jacket with a flattering figure-hugging silhouette, the multi functional belt screaming high fashion. His look is couture, with a clear resemblance to designers such as Martin Margiela and Gareth Puget, yet also highly functional.

New Works by Devon Smith

03 November at 17:30 - 28 November at 00:00
Solander Gallery
218 Willis Street
Wellington, New Zealand


New works by Devon Smith.

Opening function is the 3rd of November.

http://solandergallery.co.nz/

Also showing will be new print work by Alex Milsom and Fleur Williams.

SITE 2010

SITE10 is the showcase for final year Dunedin School of Art Students. The whole school turns into a gallery and is open to the public 12.00 - 4.00 daily from Saturday 20th - Thursday 25th November.
Works include: ceramics, electronic arts, jewellery & metalsmithing, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture and textiles.
Many pieces will be for sale.



20 November at 12:00 - 25 November at 16:00
Location Dunedin School of Art
Reigo Street
Dunedin, New Zealand

Lets Roar Loudly! Exhibition & Symposium

21st - 30th October 2010
84 Lower Stuart Street, Dunedin
Opening Wednesday 20th, 5:30pm BYO

This group exhibition offers a view of feminism through many lenses. Exploring themes of play, the body, imagination, gender politics and identity the artists seek to foster participation in useful conversations about the role of feminism in contemporary society.


http://letsroarloudly.blogspot.com

AWESOME ALL AGES GIG!!! with The Communist Rainbow Relationship & QTPI

Records Records is shutting down soon :(.


Two great bands from Dunedin shall be playing there on the 22 October · 18:00 - 20:30

One of which is Dunedin's seminal no-wave kittycore band QTPI (http://www.myspace.com/qtpisilentpaws) returning from their brief hibernation period.

The other one is pop band The Communist Rainbow Relationship (http://www.myspace.com/thecommunistrainbowrelationshipfuckyes) (you can also download their single @ http://proxymusic.bandcamp.com/track/two-horse-pony-losers)

Starts at 6:00! Everyone is welcome to enjoy the music!

link to location (http://maps.google.co.nz/maps?hl=en&safe=off&gl=nz&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=393+Princes+Street.+Dunedin%2C+New+Zealand&fb=1&hnear=Dunedin&cid=0%2C0%2C14798786624768505909&ei=U5C7TPaJKIeisQP5zKWFDw&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CBcQnwIwAA)

This will be an awesome gig with awesome vibes!

Interesting Facts about Friedrich Nietzsche

One day while walking on the streets, philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche saw a man whipping a horse because it wouldn’t move. The beast was clearly unable to move, and Nietzsche threw himself between the horse and its tormentor — and fainted. When he awoke, he was never the same again.

Most people would applaud his kindness to the horse, but not Nietzsche. In his eyes he had betrayed his own principles by stooping to pity, a common emotion he believed the enlightened man should avoid.

He apparently understood at that moment that he was not the Superman he preached, and though he was temporarily more energetic and healthy than he had been his entire adult life, it was an energy mixed with insanity as he wrote letters to national leaders claiming to be the world’s savior. Soon he degenerated, mindlessly staring and mumbling, and died 11 years later.

Nietzsche was brilliant but often misunderstood because he used brief, pointed comments called aphorisms that were intended to jolt people and make them think. If taken at face value many of these aphorisms seem hard and cruel. Perhaps for this reason Nietzsche was a popular philosopher in Nazi Germany, where he was used to justify the Nazis’ actions.

One advantage of his aphoristic style, however, is that it is easy to read. Compared with the almost-incomprehensible works of some other philosophers, Nietzsche’s writing is direct, and often funny, especially in “Thus Spake Zarathustra” (1885), his most famous work.

Nietzsche’s philosophy is based on two themes: God doesn’t exist and people are driven only by the desire to obtain power.

Despite all the talk about morals, he argued, morals don’t exist and we shouldn’t pretend they do. Morals are just a facade to cover up people’s real motivation: the desire to control other people and prevent other people from controlling them. He called this the “Will to Power” and claimed that all attempts to construct societies without realizing the centrality of this will to power are doomed.

And since God didn’t exist, he argued, Christianity was just a ploy to keep power in the hands of the majority who resented the few who were more suited to rule.

Another of Nietzche’s concepts is that of the “Superman.” People, he argued, stop short of their potential by needing to be comfortable, or by feeling sorry for themselves. This is why he disliked democracy: it gave power to those who hadn’t proven themselves fit to govern. Man, he said, should become Superman by overcoming his fears, comforts and petty concerns.

Though Nietzche has been used as justification by totalitarians, he was also an inspiration to Sigmund Freud and Jean Paul Sartre. Nietzche argued that people’s expressed reasons for their actions are not their real motivation, and that people can make something of themselves by an act of the will. Freud picked up on the idea of real reasons behind stated reasons to develop psychoanalysis, and Sartre picked up on Nietzche’s idea that man becomes something as he acts.

A group exhibition by Deano Shirriffs, Jimi Bellaney & Lars Preisser @ Modaks Cafe

Tūrangawaewae : A Place to Stand. A group exhibition by Deano Shirriffs, Jimi Bellaney & Lars Preisser @ Modaks Cafe

Opening - Friday 24th September 5.30pm - 9pm (ish)
featuring some Art, Music & Booze

exhibition runs till 24th October

Artworks in the exhibition inspired by the concept of Tūrangawaewae

Tūrangawaewae is one of the most well-known and powerful Māori concepts. Literally tūranga (standing place), waewae (feet), it is often translated as ‘a place to stand’. Tūrangawaewae are places where we feel especially empowered and connected. They are our foundation, our place in the world, our home.

Embrace Noir

I go back to the scene where the two men embrace
& grapple a handgun at stomach level between them.

They jerk around the apartment like that
holding on to each other, their cheeks

almost touching. One is shirtless, the other
wears a suit, the one in the suit came in through a window

to steal documents or diamonds, it doesn't matter anymore
which, what's important is he was found

& someone pulled a gun, and now they are holding on,
awkwardly dancing through the room, upending

a table of small framed photographs. A chair
topples, Sinatra's band punches the air with horns, I

lean forward, into the screen, they are eye-to-eye,
as stiff as my brother & me when we attempt

to hug. Soon, the gun fires and the music
quiets, the camera stops tracking and they

relax, shoulders drop, their jaws go slack
& we are all suspended in that perfect moment

when no one knows who took the bullet--
the earth spins below our feet, a blanket of swallows

changes direction suddenly above us, folding
into the rafters of a barn, and the two men

no longer struggle, they simply stand in their wreckage
propped in each other's arms.

Nick Flynn


IMAGE: Louise Bourgeois "Triptych for the red room"Etching and watercolor, Collection Xavier Tricot, Ostend.
1/3

A Poison Tree

I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears,
Night and morning with my tears;
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright.
And my foe beheld it shine.
And he knew that it was mine,

And into my garden stole
When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

William Blake



Photo: Penny Siopis: Three Trees, 2009, ink and glue on canvas, 783⁄4 by 981⁄2 inches; at Michael Stevenson.

Diane Arbus

Little Eva 'Locomotion' compare to Sylvie Vartan's 'Le locomotion'

MARROW ISSUE FOUR ART

ALBERT ELBAZ

Albert Elbaz is a designer hailed as 'revolutionizing' women's fashion with his simple, yet feminine dresses. He is artistic director of Lanvin, a couture house started by Jeanne Lanvin in the early 1920s. His designs are considered to be a throw back to casual, 'sporty' designs of Jeanne Lanvin. His designs are worn by celebrities such as Kate Moss, Chloé Sevigny & Sofia Coppola.

He is a Moroccan-born Israeli designer. After serving in the Israeli defense forces, he attended the Shenkar College of Engineering and Design in Ramat Gan. He moved to New York city in 1987 and designed for bridal manufacturing designer, before working for Geoffrey Beene. In 1998 he began designing ready-to-wear women's clothing for Yves Saint Laurent. Elbaz was set to take over as head designer of YSL when Saint Laurent retired. This was no to be. The Gucci group limited took over YSL and with Tom Ford as head designer, Elbaz was fired. However he was appointed artistic director of fashion powerhouse Lanvin in Paris October 2001. He has won many awards, such as the international Award (Council of Fashion Designers of America) in June 2005 and was named Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur, Paris, January 25, 2007. He was also in 2007, Elbaz was listed among Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World.

Nan Goldin

“It is very important to me that everybody that I have been close to in my life I make photographs of them. The people are gone, like Cookie, who is very important to me, but there is still a series of pictures showing how complex she was. Because these pictures are not about statistics, about showing people die, but it is all about individual lives. In the case of New York, most creative and freest souls in the city died. New York is not New York anymore. I’ve lost it and I miss it. They were dying because of AIDS.”
- Nan Goldin

IMG: Nan one month after being battered, 1984
IMG 2: Picnic on the Esplanade, 1973
IMG 3: Greer Lankton, 1981
IMG 4: Greer and Robert on the bed, 1982

Leonard Cohen, 'Beneath my hands' and 'so long marriane'

Beneath my hands
your small breasts
are the upturned bellies
of breathing fallen sparrows.

Wherever you move
I hear the sounds of closing wings
of falling wings.

I am speechless
because you have fallen beside me
because your eyelashes
are the spines of tiny fragile animals.

I dread the time
when your mouth
begins to call me hunter.

When you call me close
to tell me
your body is not beautiful
I want to summon
the eyes and hidden mouths
of stone and light and water
to testify against you.

I want them
to surrender before you
the trembling rhyme of your face
from their deep caskets.

When you call me close
to tell me
your body is not beautiful
I want my body and my hands
to be pools
for your looking and laughing.

IMAGES FROM VIDEO ARTIST, PIPILOTTI RIST

“The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you’re uncool.” LESTER BANGS, ALMOST FAMOUS

Cindy Crawford and k.d.lang playing with gender roles.
K.d.langs 'Ingenue' is one of the most truly mind-blowing and beautiful albums ever made.
'Outside Myself' will tear your heart out.

MARROW MAGAZINE FRIDAY THE 13TH RELEASE GIG

MARROW MAGAZINE PRESENTS:CONNIPTION, THE DOYLEYS, SYNESTHESIA AND OLD PSYCHIATRISTS CLUB [WITH A DJ SET FROM STRANGER DANGER]. IN ASSOCIATION WITH MINT DVD RENTAL, LANYOP GALLERY AND BLACKSTAR BOOKS. AUGUST ISSUE OUT FRIDAY 13TH. AT REFUEL AUGUST 13TH, 2010. DOORS 9PM. STUDENT/UNWAGED $2, WAGED $5. COME PARTY

Jessica Kitto

Jessica Kitto

Second Year BVA Jewellery, Dunedin School of art.

‘Bones’

This piece consists of French knitted tubes, embedded with hand carved bones. The bones were originally made of stone and carved with a diamond headed drill. They were made to appear delicate and thus representative of the body’s fragility, with the knitted tubes encasing the bones evoking, in contrast, a sense of physical comfort and warmth. Through the use of wool the piece is designed to ‘snuggle’. The knitted tubes also act as a form of protection for the bones, alluding to the anatomical formation of the human body. The selection of colours reflects this idea of anatomy, the deep red is symbolic of the inner workings of the body; both the red and white representing the protective and functional quality of human flesh and blood. ‘Bones’ is a particularly interactive piece due to the fact it can be interpreted as you will and in that it is a three dimensional object that, when worn, acts as an experience evoking a particularly physical response due to its emphasis on the corporeal.

“All these things you’ve given me”

“All these things you’ve given me” consists of every piece of jewellery the artist has ever been given by significant loved ones. Every piece holds a sentimental value to the artist and is specific to a memory or an emotional attachment she has to the particular person from whom she received it. The piece was constructed through linking one piece to another. Each individual piece holds up another, so if one falls down, it won’t be alone. The work can also be likened to a spider web, the web like formation associated similarly, to how we each carry distinctive memories or attachments, which define who we are. The subjective nature of the piece means that it is both unfinished and cannot be worn by other people, due to the emotional attachment and significance the artist has to each individual piece. The more the piece grows the more emotionally heavy and unwearable it becomes to anyone, but the artist.

N.B.
1: Bones
2: All these things you've given me

James Bellaney

These are pieces from my favourite Dunedin-based artist, James Bellaney. Bellaney is a fourth year painting student at the Dunedin school of art. Stylistically, Bellaney’s work is reminiscent of the intimacy felt in Surrealist automatism, American action painting and Abstract Expressionism. This is evident from the quality of his work, which has the appearance of being somewhat considered, yet spontaneously gestural and improvised. Bellaney’s creative process involves methodically moving the paint by means of splashing, staining, stumbling and dripping across the working space. Often it appears as though he is using seemingly random tools, as opposed to the more traditional paint brush.Upon viewing him work, his figure is reminiscent to that of to Hans Namuth’s photographs of American Abstract expressionist, Jackson Pollock. Bellaney, not dissimilar to Pollock and other artists, such as transgressive artist Vito Accohi, Australian artist Dale Frank, Paul McCarthy, Pablo Picasso (particularly the film featuring him paint on glass) and many kinetic sculptors use art to convey ranging emotions and subsequent reflections upon their individual lives. However Bellaney’s pieces have a quintessential spiritual quality, which I believe is apparent because of his Maori heritage. This sense of spirituality I would liken to not only his works kinetic flow of energy (a reference to music and surfing), but also the strongest of his influences comes from his own environment, nature. As a sense of the calming waves and aggressive internal conflict merge together to create a chaotic rhythm of his perceptions of his own environment and sense of identity.

N.B.
1. A Hans Namuth portrait of Jackson Pollock (1950), http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/namuth/pol3nam.htm
2. Bellaney at his performance-based exhibition at none gallery earlier this year
3. Piece from the collection, 'Natural landscapes'
4. Piece from the collection, 'Corrosion'

Beach Boys, Surfin' safari

Mid-year funk

The Mid-Year Funk
Anon
I am so disillusioned. God, how trite. I offend myself by my own lack of originality. Still, I may have a legitimate problem. I’m in a mid-year funk, a big one. A funk of Holden Caulfield and Esther Greenwood proportions. Actually no, my chemical imbalance is not quite so dramatic. Depression comes in degrees, of course, and I’ll concede that my current mental state is probably on the middle to lower end of the scale, similar to Holden and Ester in substance (adolescent angst and confusion, an inability to see where I’m going, who I am and what I want to do) but not degree. Really, the most difficult part of the whole thing is not so much the depression and apathy in themselves but my inability to see a way out of them, because they are terribly inconvenient. I have so much work to do. Mountains and mountains. Not just uni, either, but extra-curricular activities and friends and exercise and self-improvement. I feel like, actually I know, I’m not reading enough or writing enough or getting out there enough. The dichotomy of it is, I care so much about all this and yet simultaneously I don’t care at all. I just want to sleep for a thousand years, lie in bed with the shutters closed and three big blankets on top of me, curled up, warm, protected, oblivion.
Other people seem to be on their game, seem to know what they’re doing. I guess that’s a lie, we always compare our insides with other peoples outsides. But logic aside, I feel like an utter fucking mess. I don’t know how to eat properly, or work properly, I don’t know how to sustain relationships or how to deal with love and sex. I don’t have a fucking clue, I’m just kind of guessing most of the time and feeling completely out of place. I know that wallowing in this pool of self-pity I must sound incredibly whiney, that Sartre would be distinctly unimpressed, but for some reason I just can’t be bothered caring.
So how to get out of this mid-year funk and get my mojo back. Maybe when you feel like this - you’re depressed but not clinically so - you just have to go through the motions until you eventually start to care and feel passionate again. Recognizing that it’s all chemical can be helpful too, apparently. Expose yourself to as much sunshine as possible, try to sleep enough, exercise and eat well. Try to laugh, don’t watch too much TV. Fuck, I don’t know. It is so hard figuring out how to live sometimes. I think I know what I want to be, I have an idea of it and yet also an awareness that life is happening right now. That’s the paradox I guess, life always feels like it’s going to happen, like you will make it happen, sometime in the future. How can this ‘present’ be me fulfilling my life when it is “gone in the instant of becoming” and often just feels so banal and pathetic? I feel so often that the life I’m living is to be, rather than in the process of being. But then I think the word ‘being’ implies the static and this is obviously not the case as life is constantly in flux. Even in terms of other people – we think their personalities are static and easily categorized but what defines a person is really so much more complex - we are all constantly changing, we are not set actors in a pre-scripted drama:

“He used to wonder at the shallow psychology of those who conceive the Ego in [people] as a thing simple, permanent, reliable and of one essence. To him, [a human] was a being with myriad lives and myriad sensations, a complex multiform creature that bore within itself strange legacies of thought and passion...”

Maybe it is more accurate to say we are not being but constantly becoming. It’s good to look at it that way, it seems somehow more accurate in that it suggests progress, development - that all these things are a part of living and that the more active you are in becoming the more you are really living. It is also suggestive of the reality that life is constant interaction – you are never going to reach that ultimate goal, that pinnacle of being. Rather you will always be interacting, changing, growing, developing. Every day and every moment is a process.

Oh man, that all sounded so good in my head. So why does this thick blanket of ennui continue to smother me?

C’est la vie say the old folks, I guess.



N.B:
1. J.D.Salinger, Catcher in the Rye
2. Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar.
3. William James, The Principles of Psychology (1890). Vol. 1. Chapter XV: The Perception of Time
4. Oscar Wilde The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) pp137

MONICA KING

Charles Bukowski

Alone with Everybody

the flesh covers the bone
and they put a mind
in there and
sometimes a soul,
and the women break
vases against the walls
and the men drink too
much
and nobody finds the
one
but keep
looking
crawling in and out
of beds.
flesh covers
the bone and the
flesh searches
for more than
flesh.

there's no chance
at all:
we are all trapped
by a singular
fate.

nobody ever finds
the one.

the city dumps fill
the junkyards fill
the madhouses fill
the hospitals fill
the graveyards fill

nothing else
fills.

"Ugliness is in a way superior to beauty because it lasts."

Branusci's 'The Kiss'

Maria Callas sings Puccini's 'Madame Butterfly'

Maria Callas sings Puccini's Madame Butterfly.
"I must pursue her, even though I damage her wings."

YES

Nausea

Jean-Paul Sartre

Nausea

“I jump to my feet: if only I could stop thinking, that would be something of an improvement. Thoughts are the dullest things on earth. Even duller than flesh. They stretch out endlessly and they leave a funny taste in the mouth. Then there are words, inside the thoughts, the unfinished words, the sketchy phrases which keep coming back... I think that I don’t want to think, I mustn’t think that I don’t want to think. Because it is still a thought. Will there ever be an end to it. My thought is me: that is why I can’t stop. I exist by what I think... and I can’t prevent myself from thinking... My saliva is sugary, my body is warm; I feel insipid. My penknife is on the table. I open it. Why not? In any case it would be a change. I put my left hand on the pad and I jab the knife into the palm. The movement was too sudden; the blade slipped, the wound is superficial. It is bleeding. And what of it? What has changed? All the same, I look with a feeling of satisfaction at the white paper, where, across the lines I wrote a little while ago, there is this little pool of blood which has at last stopped being me. Four lines on a white paper, a splash of blood, together that makes a beautiful memory.”