“Having a wonderful time—wish you were her…”

Falcon Lake, Manitoba

Word just in from “my muddy little half-brother” John Paul, who it seems is getting faster with age… he just finished in 2nd place(!) in the latest Manitoba Cup race at Falcon Ridge Ski Resort—the only one to beat him in the ‘Expert Men’ category was Paul Benson, who races at the Elite/Nationals level. Congratulations!

When he’s not on his mountain bike or chasing after his hyperactive kids, JP can be found at the controls of Private Ear, a new recording studio in Winnipeg where he is an audio engineer and partner (producing albums for the likes of The Waking Eyes).

(that’s my wee bro with the determined look on his face, number 303…)

Shiraz, Iran (Circa 1370)

I’m certainly no expert in the field—but for the past few years I have quite enjoyed Persian poetry, particularly the works ascribed to Khwāja Šamsu d-Dīn Muḥammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (Persian: خواجه شمس‌الدین محمد حافظ شیرازی), typically known by his pen name Hāfez, born in 1315 in Shiraz and passed on in the same locale 75 years later. Hāfez (often also spelled Hafiz) became the most celebrated Persian lyric poet and is often described as “the poet’s poet.” Here’s a sampling of why I really like this particular righteous old bard…

+  +  +

The small man builds cages
for everyone he knows.

While the sage,
who has to duck his head
when the moon is low,
keeps dropping keys all night long
for the beautiful rowdy prisoners.

(Dropping Keys)

+  +  +

Even after all these years,
the Sun never says to the Earth
“You owe Me.”

Look what happens—
with a Love like that,
It lights the whole sky.

(The Sun Never Says)

+  +  +

God and I have become
like two giant fat people
living in a tiny boat.

We keep bumping into
each other and
l
a
u
g
h
i
n
g.

(Two Giant Fat People)

 Hong Kong

Excellent graphic depictions of various global statistics by recent Central St. Martins graduate Toby Ng. See more here.

Tiananmen Square, Beijing, 20 years ago today… (photo by Jeff Widener)

Winnipeg, Canada

Geez Issue No. 15—Gullibility

We’re bombarded with a non-stop, high-gloss, soul-numbing onslaught of messages. Many of these messages, whether in word or image, aim to connive, cajole or coerce us. How do we cut through the crap, analyze the agendas and keep from being suckered?

This issue of Geez will consider how to navigate the info-saturated world. How can Geez help readers become a community of resistance against the media-driven, consumer-oriented messaging madness? Help us with analysis and avenues for change. We’re looking for:

•  your deconstruction of imagery used in ads, brochures, fundraising letters, news reports, or elsewhere;

•  your ad jams;

•  your exploration of the particular uses of images in churches, monastic communities and other religio-spiritual settings;

•  your images that illustrate your own efforts to talk back to the noise, jam the message machinery, subvert media agendas or escape the mental clutter.

Deadline: June 25, 2009

Pay: We offer a modest honorarium for published material.

Files: Please send small files or links to online galleries.

Unfortunately we are not able to respond to every pitch. If you do not hear from us within six weeks of the deadline, assume we were not able to use your idea or article. Send emails to: stories[at]geezmagazine.org  Send regular mail to: Gullibility Issue, Geez magazine, 400 Edmonton St., Winnipeg MB  R3B 2M2, Canada.

Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba

Yesterday evening I had the chance to install the Fishfly Weathervane I built a few weeks back… it’s now swiveling atop the Fishfly Gallery (where Ev exhibits some of her ceramic works). About two meters in overall length, the assemblage piece incorporates a variety of found junk and old objects—the body is a piece of driftwood decorated with brass strips from a hideous old wall clock, the large wing is cut from an old steel snow shovel, the two smaller wings are halves of a hammered brass plate, the head is a copper bowl (with drilled looney-coin eyes), antennae are the ends of two fishing rods, legs consist of old bits of rusted pliers and a rod handle, the hollow aluminum tail strands are from Ev’s old TV antennae (she tossed her set out years ago). The gleaming beast straddles an old railing banister tipped with a wood-fired ceramic arrowhead, and the swivel mount re-purposes an old roller-skate wheel (with nice friction-free bearings).

A number of people have already expressed interest in other commissioned weathervanes… time will tell where this may lead.

Paris, France

Mijn Schatje (aka Marie Blanco Hendrickx) is a young, highly successful artist with a distinctive style. I posted a few of her illustrations on this blog last month after she was listed in the Netdiver Powagirrrls* directory.

Today I received a very interesting e-mail entitled “Is Mijn Schatje an art thief?” from an anonymous source claiming that Mijn takes her archetypic doll faces (mostly Asian ball-jointed dolls, or BJDs) and other components of her work from photographs by other artists without permission and without giving credit to the original creators… the site offers numerous examples (with overlays demonstrating the appropriation process in a compelling manner) along with a variety of postings by and on behalf of “the people responsible for the sculpting, delicate painting, and painstaking photography of these labor-intensive creations.”

Homage? Appropriation? Certainly not coincidence…

*(I have just received a related post/link from Carole Guevin at Netdiver that opens a debate online; also a link to QBN where Mijn’s plagiarism is in hot discussion).