The Magic of the Cities.

Zen promotes the rediscovery of the obvious, which is so often lost in its familiarity and simplicity. It sees the miraculous in the common and magic in our everyday surroundings. When we are not rushed, and our minds are unclouded by conceptualizations, a veil will sometimes drop, introducing the viewer to a world unseen since childhood. ~ John Greer

Friday, May 30, 2014

Bear Mountain



PHOTO FRIDAY
THE CURRENT CHALLENGE
Fri May 30, 2014
This week’s challenge:


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Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Kitsch


-iPhoneography-

Kitsch gets a lot of attention in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, so you should make sure you understand the basic concept. Kitsch is a German word that's been adopted by a number of other languages, including English. It refers primarily to art that is overly sentimental or melodramatic, and so refers to aesthetics. What's interesting is the way Kundera uses the concept in his novel, not to talk about art, but to talk about political ideology.

To begin, Kundera asserts that kitsch is an aesthetic ideal "in which shit is denied and everyone acts as though it did not exist". He's not just speaking literally here, but about all the bad, disgusting, negative, violent, depressing things in the world. "Kitsch excludes everything from its purview which is essentially unacceptable in human existence".

Kundera then moves on to politics. "Kitsch is the aesthetic ideal of all politicians and all political parties and movements," he says. He gives the example of politicians kissing babies as the ultimate kitschy political move. 

So how does one fight kitsch? One answer has its roots in the original, artistic definition of kitsch as sentimental or hokey art. From this perspective, beauty is the enemy of kitsch. The other answer has its roots in the political definition of kitsch as forced conformity. In this sense, someone who insists on individuality is the enemy of kitsch.
Milan Kundera - The Unbearable Lightness of Being


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Monday, May 26, 2014

Connections



“I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because it's such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive, but I have photographs of her.” 
― Ellen DeGeneres



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Saturday, May 24, 2014

Incantations I




'Chapter 1.
He was too romantic about Manhattan, as he was about everything else.
He thrived on the hustle bustle of the crowds and the traffic. To him, New York meant
beautiful women and street-smart guys who seemed to know all the angles...'.
Manhattan by Woody Allen


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Friday, May 23, 2014

Sand



“How inappropriate to call this planet "Earth," when it is clearly "Ocean.”
― Arthur C. Clarke


PHOTO FRIDAY
THE CURRENT CHALLENGE
Fri May 23, 2014
This week’s challenge:


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