Journal
Let’s take a look at what we can expect in the future….
This is the beginning of a transitional period; increased instability and uncertainty as the birth pangs of a new way of life. Much of this will be perceptual rather than actual.
Investigations! Hearings! Lots of political crap for the coming year, but absolutely NOTHING will come of any of it. This is not a judgment about the truth or fallacy of any accusation of impropriety but more a statement about the vulgar and calculated tactics - and the cowardice - of those who hold elected office.
Politics will be at center stage all year; first for the hearings, later for politics. And in the area of politics, we will expect some major surprises for those seeking the presidency and for those who already hold office.
The war/occupation in Iraq will continue to drag on with even more soldiers sent and increasing frustration among the American public. Toward the end of the year, things may seem to improve a little. Threats to end it all will amount to nothing.
Wars and rumors of wars… the drumbeat for new invasions, attacks will increase. New straw men, new scare stories. It’s all in the cards.
Expect another panic cry of epidemic this year. Bird Flu may be the culprit but nothing will come of it.
Increasing signs of instability in the American economy - including a declining dollar - will not stop the stock market from having a record year.
Industrial accidents will have a banner year, causing some people to notice that the government no longer does much of anything to protect workers. There will be deaths, there will be talks of reform. Nothing will be done.
US prison populations will reach crushing levels. Already America imprisons more people than any other country but this year the crisis will cripple state budgets.
Wildfires and forest fires due to drought will be the chief disasters of the year. Some will jump on this to call attention to global climate change while others will dismiss it as just coincidence.
Corruption in government will be highlighted, and some may go to prison. The big boys will stay safe for the most part. However, expect some sudden departures from office both in the USA and abroad, like rats deserting a sinking ship.
Steroid and other drug use in professional sports will become a topic for the handwringing folk. This is more about perception than reality. Nevertheless, the public will demand a human sacrifice so some athletes may go to jail.
Expect some terrorist scares - but actual attacks are unlikely, or at least, nothing big. They will be more useful another time…
Tainted food, contaminated medicine… Americans will learn that they can’t trust anything anymore. But shutting their eyes will be so much easier.
Finally, I’m concerned about an assassination attempt in the latter part of the year. I don’t think anything will come of it, but this is another sign of worldwide political upheaval.
It’s an old question. Many people think that abstract art isn’t art. Some people think that when I draw people it isn’t art. Everyone seems to have an opinion of what is NOT art.
Art, painting, drawing, or CREATING, is basically anything someone thinks of as art. There doesn’t have to be universal agreement. If we needed everyone to agree on what is art, NOTHING would be art.
I found the idea of Art as The Machine We created to be a most interesting creative concept. Here we find that art is sculpted into something useful. We don’t think of it as art when we do it. It’s just a machine. But with time, it becomes art. It’s a lot to think about.
Storm Sunset At Misty by Pagani
Since my fourth birthday, when I found myself sitting on a curb contemplating the nature of time, I’ve realized that my brain is wired a little differently than the rest of the world. Some would just conclude that I must be crazy, but that would be an over simplistic analysis. By that standard, Einstein and da Vinci were crazy, too.
As a person born with a hyperactive analytical mind, I spend more time thinking about deep things than the average person. I probably do as much in depth analysis in a day as the average person does in a lifetime. There is no bragging here; only a realistic statement of the facts.
You might conclude that this is basically worthless. After all, I’m not rich or famous, am I? No, I’m an outsider..an outcast. For every person who believes I am a genius, another thinks I’m deranged. And if money is the standard of human worth, perhaps I have nothing to show for my brilliance.
Well that much is at least partially true. However, whether my labors will be worth something is a tale that can only be told with the passage of time. I write things, and someday what I write might mean something. I don’t only write, however, I also invent.
One of the things I invented many years ago was a referential form of comedy I called abstract expressionist humor. I gave it that name because it involved short statements that were very funny - IF you knew something. Ignorant people would simply be perplexed.
An example of abstract expressionist humor: “This just in: Thousands of atheists riot in the streets after discovering a blank sheet of paper on a cartoonist’s desk.” If you don’t know much about current events, you won’t get the reference. If you do, you’ll laugh.
Nobody understood abstract expressionist comedy when I invented it, but that was a long long time ago and today abstract expressionist humor (although seldom called by the name I gave it) is the number one most popular style of humor with generation Y folk. Some contemporary popular examples: “Tom is NOT My Friend”, “More Cowbell” and “Pedro Lacks Political Experience”. If you know stuff, they are funny; if you don’t they’re just words: Much like abstract expressionist painting.
I also invented object-oriented/ perceptual puzzle abstraction as a method for developing an abstract expressionist painting using logical methodology in order to produce a piece of abstract art that bears an actual physical relationship to subject matter as well as a specific intent. It is true, most people don’t “get it”, but I believe that someday this will be seen as a revolution in abstract art. Again, only time will tell of course.
I continue to look for new and creative things to do; I labor to expand the grand unification of practical metaphysics and traditional religion, and I philosophize on the meaning of life.
To many, these things will be seen as useless. But I believe that something better than that will come of my work - even if it is not in my lifetime. And I’m certainly in good company.
