Friday 31 August 2007

More Guerrilla Advertising


29th August 2007
More Guerrilla Advertising
Submerged Hoarding/ Loo

These two adverts show advertising agency, Contract’s striving efforts to find unique ways to advertise for Fame Adlabs, a huge five screen multiplex in Mumbai, India. Their determination to present advertising in unexpected places in unsought of ways is particularly inspiring to me and another example of this new wave of guerrilla advertising.

The first advert shows a billboard for the release of global disaster movie, ‘The Day After Tomorrow’, submerged into the sea. The title and release date of the film is just visible above the waves. Conveniently, a small buoy used to tie boats to, appears next to the billboard with the similar resemblance to a submerged skyscraper. I think this advert placement is extremely clever and witty, it echoes wonderfully what the movie is about.

The second advert by Contract, of similar calibre, is to show the release of the film ‘Spiderman 2’. Placed in the male toilet of the cinema, a urinal placed at a height, separate from the others, has a small poster alongside it, denoting the film title. The idea that there is a toilet that only Spiderman himself could use is not only amusing but also, impossible to ignore, and therefore very effective in its purpose.

These types of ambient advertising appeal to me as it involves an interactivity with the viewer that is impossible to ignore. The audience has to pay attention to these adverts, it is unavoidable and therefore, extremely effective in getting its message out.

Guerilla Advertising, Amnesty International

27th August 2007
Guerrilla Advertising, Amnesty International
Wrong Colour/ Wrong Opinion/ Wrong Faith

This campaign for Amnesty International placed plastic hands grasping on drains, with “Wrong Colour/ Wrong Opinion/ Wrong Faith” branded across them, giving the impression that someone was trapped behind the bars of the drain. I think this is a simple yet effective way to drive how the horrific fact that in too many places around the world, people are being punished and locked up for having a certain belief or looking a way that differs to the regime under which they live.

According to Jurgen Krautwald of Amnesty International, the aim was to draw attention to human rights violations. After design agency, Michael Conrad and Leo Burnett, placed these hands to drains around Frankfurt’s most frequented crossroads, 860 people signed up for Amnesty International subscription lists to protect against all countries that arrest or torture people due to their faith, opinion or colour.

I feel that this type of ambient advertising is becoming more detrimental to grabbing an audience’s attention. Consumers are becoming much more in control of the media they consume, advertisers can no longer rely on spoon-fed messages to mass audiences in the television, press and poster.

The concept of guerrilla advertising really inspires and excites me. The idea that designers can now place these forms of advertising in our every day world so that we are interacting with it, makes the message not only more interesting, but significantly unavoidable.

This types of advertising is pushing the boundaries of creativity, with the solutions often being extremely clever and witty and in some cases, deeply shocking. A sense of interactivity with an advert makes the issues it is presenting seem, perhaps, more real and believable. For example, ‘Smoke Box’, an anti smoking campaign by Dentsu Young and Republican for the Singapore Cancer Society, showed smoking areas surrounded in yellow box outlines of coffins, reading “Designated Smoking Area”. This, to me, is a much more persuasive method than simply writing “Smoking Kills” on a pack of cigarettes. This sort of advertising is much more close to home; it is interacting with your life.

What I particularly appreciate about guerrilla advertising is the simplicity. Nike hired KesselsKramer agency to design their very simple adverts around Amsterdam. Chalk ‘goals’ appeared on brick walls around the city accompanied by the classic Nike tick. The concept of ‘Just Do It’ was amplified through these simple drawings, encouraging kids to create their own football pitch.
The simplicity in this form of advertising, combined with well-observed wit, creates articulate and intelligent results. Guerrilla advertising is interacting with the consumer directly, whether they want it to or not. It is unavoidable.

Jan Saudek, Photography




16th August 2007
The Photographs of Jan Saudek

Jan Saudek was born in 1935 in Prague. He is known in the West as the leading Czech photographer. His work is noted for its portrayal of painterly dream worlds, often showing nude or semi nude figures surrounded by bare plaster walls or painted backdrops. His photographs eco studio and tableaux work of 19th century erotic photographers like Bernard Faucon.

What I love so much about Saudek’s work is the conflict between reality and dreamland. His images often show a brutally natural image against an otherworldly, artificial background. I feel the contrast between these two very opposite themes is extremely effective, and creates a very intriguing effect.

Another aspect of Saudek’s work that I take inspiration from is his use of close-ups, where he focuses on a specific aspect of the human body. ‘The Days of the Sixties’ shows a close up of a female torso being grasped at by the hands of a man. He is digging his nails into her flesh. In this image we see a brutal rawness that is common of Saudek’s work. The image is so close up we can see the veins in the man’s straining hands and the blemishes on the woman’s skins as it is being pulled; it is an unabashed, honest photograph.

By using this method of zooming in, Saudek is creating the impression that he has cropped the image. It is as if the viewer is not allowed to view the whole scene but only what the artist wants us to see. However, I feel that Saudek’s close-ups do not take information away from an image but rather they exaggerate the overall feel of the photograph. I feel that Saudek’s photographs create a certain intimacy with the audience and this I feel particularly engaging.

Jan Saudek encourages me to not be afraid of creating images that are slightly obscure and conflicting. I aspire to creating the intimacy and natural feel, even though it is created in an artificial way, as shown in his images.

Nice Weather For Ducks, Animation



12th August 2007
Nice Weather for Ducks
Lemon Jelly

Airside and Nigel Pay were commissioned to design the video for Nice Weather For Ducks by Lemon Jelly. This psychedelic animation reflects this band’s unusual, eccentric style. When I saw this video I was drawn to its myriad of ‘trippy’ colours and flowing shapes.

The animation begins with an old, bearded man, who looks like George Harrison crossed with Jesus, sitting on a park bench in the rain, singing: “All the ducks are swimming in the water, tra la la la tra la la la…” The sky is stormy and the whole shot is in monochromatic greyscale, until one colourful raindrop falls from the sky and creates a burst of rippling colour. The film becomes a myriad of psychedelic rainbow colour, with even the old man appearing an ever-changing shade of red. The whole thing looks like a lava lamp, with constantly varying colours flowing into each other, with often perfect symmetry. Watching this film is like looking through a kaleidoscope. As the bearded man looks at the magical land that surrounds him, he rises into the air as black silhouetted animals follow. The animation shows the animals dancing in perfect symmetry as if watching synchronised swimming, until they all gather on a lit up disco dance floor. With the bearded man in the centre, they all begin to dance around. The films ends with the man flying back to his park bench and the shot turning into the same black and white as before.

This animation really appeals to me. I like how the designers have created such an obscure piece of art that clearly reflects Lemon Jelly’s weird yet wonderful style. By creating an animation, which acts as a kaleidoscope, with the use of symmetry, the designers seem to have created something which flows into itself perfectly. Watching this film is like going on a journey, the colours stream in and out of each other, creating a constant sense of movement and change.

Travel Photography



16th July 2007
Lonely Planet Photography


Have a look at http://www.lonelyplanetimages.com/homepage.html

I’ve always used Lonely Planet guides when going abroad because of their detailed inside knowledge, but what really appeals to me is the high quality of travel photography. Even now, as I am travelling around India I am using the Lonely Planet guide, so feel this would be an appropriate blog entry.

I’m extremely interested in photography, with my main interests lying in travel photography. What particularly engages me is the various representations of different cultures that you find in this genre. I find it interesting how photographs can be constructed in such a way so that the reader can relate to them; even if the country is completely alien to theirs, they can still acknowledge similarities in human behaviour. The issue of human interest is a significant aspect in travel photography and is especially apparent in the Lonely Planet travel guides I have looked at. It seems important to show everyday people in a way that we can relate to; readers begin to understand that the people in the images are just like them, and therefore, this new, foreign country becomes less daunting and more welcome and accessible. The Lonely Planet claims that it shows “connection, travel’s most rewarding gift, encouraging appreciation of the similarities we share in a world of different culture, experiences, circumstances and environment” (Lonely Planet, One Planet).

I am currently compiling my own photography portfolio with the intention to have my work displayed in bars, cafes etc, hopefully resulting in selling some of my images. I have already entered various competitions and received positive feedback and acknowledgement. My portfolio is based on a travel theme, with images from India, Croatia, America, Prague, Malta, Greece, UK etc. and I look to the Lonely Planet guides for inspiration. By taking advice from these photographs I hope to broaden my knowledge on how to take more natural images, which truly reflect the nature of the culture.

What I find most appealing about the Lonely Planet photography is that they are not overly stereotypical of the country even if they do show some iconic, popular imagery. It’s how Lonely Planet shows the every-day, almost mundane aspects of a country which I find most inspirational; the realism in the images is what I aspire to. Lonely Planet are also not guilty of just showing the positive, ‘airbrushed’ sides of a country/culture, for example in the Lonely Planet One People publication, we find not so conventional images. For example one photograph shows Israeli soldiers having a break “between clashes with Palestine youths” (page 139, Lonely Planet (2006): Lonely Planet: One People, Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd, Victoria, Australia). The photograph is captioned explaining how “ten minutes later these soldiers find themselves in the midst of a gun battle.” In my own photography I try to take images that are not so conventional, that reflect a culture in a more abstract fashion rather than just displaying the obvious stereotypes.

Lonely Planet have published a wide range of books including ‘One Planet’ and ‘One People’, which are books dedicated only to photography. They also have a website which is devoted to the stock library. The range of photographs (by a wide range of artists) is quite remarkable, ranging from breathtaking landscapes, market scenes, architecture, animals and people. I find the images of people extremely interesting, and is the subject I feel most drawn to when taking my own photographs abroad. People are interesting subjects for photography, especially in terms of travel; looking at so many different faces, full of life and varying character, allows the viewer to have a certain empathy with the image, we can relate. The Lonely Planet images have shown me new and different ways to take photographs of people, which differ from the norm, and allow me to take more interesting images.

Lonely Planet has inspired me to strive to really capture a culture and its people’s personalities in the most natural and accurate representation possible.



Coffee and Cigarettes



11th July 2007
Coffee and Cigarettes
Jim Jarmusch, 2004

Coffee and Cigarettes is a black and white movie comprising of eleven short films with nothing in common except they somehow involve coffee and cigarettes. The film came out in 2004, but the first few scenes were filmed as far back and 1986. When I saw this film a few months ago, I was drawn to its monochromatic, vintage look and its well-observed humour in a myriad of different conversations with often very dissimilar and conflicting characters. This film points out the social event that has sprung from spending time drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes and it becomes immediately apparent to the viewer that these two things serve a purpose far more cultural than nutrition or addiction.

The film boasts an eclectic cast of high calibre actors and musicians from Roberto Benigni, Cate Blanchett and Steve Buscemi to The White Stripes, Iggy Pop and Tom Waites, and even though some scenes may appear unremarkable, all capture Jarmusch’s, well-observed realism and gritty wit as shown in films such as 'Broken Flowers'.


Storylines vary from the humouress to the banal. We see an overly caffeinated Robert Benigni, with his coffee cup shaking in his hand, Steve Buscemi tells an uninterested brother and sister his twin-Elvis theory and Bill Murray drinking coffee straight from the pot after being told that it causes delirium.

As well as the natural dialogue, what really appealed to me about this film was its sense of style. The black and white nature of the film gives it an almost classic feel. An effect I particularly liked was the use of ariel shots of the different coffee tables in each scene, creating an interesting comparison between how different people experience this social event.

After watching this film I feel encouraged to create work that reflects this sense of gritty realism. When experimenting with creating films, I will take into account how the very ordinary yet well-observed aspects of day-to-day life is what can often be most compelling. Coffee and Cigarettes has shown me that it is attention to detail is what counts.

Shantaram


5th July 2007
Shantaram
Gregory David Roberts

It seems that you can judge a book by its cover, Shantaram, written by Greogory David Roberts, not only has a beautifully designed illustration of a sunburnt-red Indian skyline, but is so full of gripping drama and deep emotion that it’s extremely hard to stop reading (even if you really need to eat your dinner or go to the toilet).

The opening passage is enough to get you hooked and sets the tone for the rest of the book:

“It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured. I realised, somehow, through the screaming of my mind, that even in that shackled, bloody helplessness, I was still free: free to hate the men who were torturing me, or to forgive them. It doesn’t sound like much, I know. But in the flinch and bite of the chain, when it’s all you’ve got, that freedom is an universe of possibility. And the choice you make between hating and forgiving, can become the story of your life.”

What makes this story especially enthralling is that it is based on true events and is an autobiographical account of the Australian author’s escape from prison and his life in the slums of Bombay. We follow the narrator (alias ‘Lindsay’) as he arrives in Bombay on a fake passport and befriends a taxi driver called Prabaker, who takes him to his slum home, where renamed ‘Linbaba’, he lives for the next few years running a make-shift health clinic for his neighbours.

As time passes we see Linbaba getting involved in criminal activities, from smuggling and counterfeiting to even gun-running in Afghanistan. We are introduced to a range of credible and endearing characters, from prostitutes to Kader, head of the Bombay mafia and Karla, the woman Linbaba falls in love with. Interspersed amid these numerous faces, we see sweat and grime, dirt and squalor, disease, fire, extreme poverty and perhaps most importantly, love. Roberts has narrated this book with a genuine affection for his characters, which results in a very convincing, passionate and compelling account of his very exciting, yet often troubled life.

It took Roberts thirteen years to write Shantaram, with the first two drafts, six years work, being destroyed in prison. He claims that “this novel has been written in blood and tears;” it is indeed a highly powerful autobiography, it’s immediately apparent that Roberts has thrown himself completely and utterly into its making.
This book had a grand effect on me, the story was hugely compelling and I felt a certain compassion and empathy for the characters. Perhaps what made this story so special to me was the fact that I was reading it while travelling around India and it was interesting to see the comparisons Robert’s acknowledged with my own experiences.

Nan Goldin Photography




30th June 2007
Nan Goldin

“The complete disregard for the camera’s presence indicates its complete saturation in their lives. The subject neither notices nor seems to care that someone has been invited into their private moment.”

Nan Goldin is someone I deeply admire and her style and class of photography, something I aspire to. In a similar way to Richard Billingham, Goldin’s style appears completely natural and uninhibited.
Goldin uses an interesting technique of nearly always using a flash, deviating from her original work of only shooting in black and white. The flash has become so much a characteristic of her work that it is often referred to as the ‘Goldin Look’. This technique results in highly coloured deep hues, which show her subjects in an exaggerated natural light. One image, ‘Kenny in His Room’ shows a naked young man lying on his bed asleep, which has been created using this method of a 35mm film and a printing process called cibachrome which prints photographs from slides allowing the photographer to achieve a sharp, bright quality of colour. The effect here is that this already personal image is perhaps become even more omniscient, with the man’s skin tone being extremely clear and detailed; this is not an airbrushed image, we can see ‘blemishes’, which creates an extremely natural image.

What attracts me to Goldin is that fact that she works at an extremely intimate level, her life is her work and her work is her life. This ‘snapshot’ esque style is a documentation of her life. Goldin’s work shows a complete disregard for the presence of the camera and intimate, personal moments are often captured which gives an extremely unaffected and raw result. A particular quote from Goldin, which inspired me greatly, explained how her camera is part of her everyday life, “as much as eating, talking and sex. The instant of photography, instead of creating distance, is a moment of clarity and emotional connection for me. There is a popular notion that the photographer by nature is a voyeur, the last one invited to the party. But I’m not crashing, this is my party.” The concept of a camera being just as much a part of you as anything else is intriguing to me; the thought that one could take quality photographs of people without them even acting towards it is something I strive to.

Nan Goldin is a great inspiration to me and I aspire to take images that are natural and unaffected. By considering her work I can begin to understand human reaction to the camera and how to get past this in order to create an image that is free and as natural as possible.

Belleville Rendez-Vous



24 June 2007
Belleville Rendez-Vous
Les Triplettes de Belleville
Sylvain Chomet, 2003

Belleville Rendez-vous is one of the most enthralling, most bizarre film I have ever seen. It is an eighty-minute animation by French comic book artist, Sylvain Chomet. It is richly detailed, highly amusing and when it comes to characters, extremely well observed.

The rather unusual plot involves the tiny, club-footed Madame Souza preparing her orphaned grandson, Champion, to compete in the legendary Tour De France. However, while racing in the Alps, Champion is kidnapped by the French mafia and taken by sea to the city of Belleville. The story follows grandma Souza and pet dog Bruno in their daring, dangerous rescue, helped by the Belleville sisters, an aged musical trio who once performed with Fred Astaire.

A unique feature of this film (as well as its bizarre storyline) is that there is virtually no dialogue. Chomet claims that because of this, music and sound was a vital instrument in the film, with composer Benoit Chores creating music from the most unlikely everyday objects, including a Hoover!

What I found particularly engrossing about this film was the visual style created by the hand drawn animation, which seems almost antiquated. The use of colours varied from nostalgic sepia tones when showing Champion as a little boy, contrasting with the dark and cold look of Paris suburbia. We see the bright oranges of hot sunshine at the Tour de France conflicting with the ominous, dark greens of Belleville at night.

The characters themselves are extremely appealing and almost loveable, Bruno the dog is extremely overweight with skinny legs, the tripplettes are tall almost witch like and Champion has the typical look of a French cyclists, tall and thin with exaggerated, protruding muscles. Exaggeration seems to be a key style in Chomet’s illustration, with characters having a clearly identifiable shape. For example, the French mafia are so square that when they walk together they become a rectangle of black with moustaches and galloisse cigarettes. This exaggeration of geometric shape may be a way in which the illustrators have made it easier for the audience to identify characters in a film that has no dialogue.

Belleville has been expressed in extreme detail. Art director, Evgeni Tomov, was asked by Chomet to make the city of Belleville a combination between Paris, New York and Montreal. We see high-rise skyscrapers, an obese statue of liberty (eating a hamburger) and an eerie green tinge to the buildings, perhaps to reflect night time lighting in cities such as Toronto and Montreal. The key theme of Belleville is the idea of over consumerism, with the city being full of extremely obese, wealthy looking characters. There are 1200 scenes in the film, and 900 original backgrounds were drawn which gives it an enthralling sense of detail

This film is full or extremes and an exaggeration of stereotypes, from Champions oversized hooked nose, to the triplettes obsession with eating frogs in as many different forms as possible (they even eat frog lollypops).

This is the kind of film, which encourages me to want to become a more competent illustrator. The characters in this animation are so full of life that you almost believe they are real people with real lives. When we see a pan shot across a young Champion’s room we see boyhood images of newspaper cuttings and posters of bicycles, we see photographs of Champion with a bucket and spade at the beach, we see a picture of his late parents on a bike. The characters in this film have a story, they are fragile, which I feel makes the viewer warm to them and in return makes Belleville Rendezvous an engrossing and emotional film.

Poem, Self Evident

18th June 2007
Self Evident
A poem by Ani Difranco

Listen to Self Evident at http://www.righteousbabe.com/ani/l_self_evident.asp


Self Evident is a commemoration to the people who died on September 11th but is more a politically charged, venomous attack on the American government and their involvement with matters that are really none of their concern. I first heard this poem four years ago when my media teacher recommended it to me and ever since I have been inspired to create something with as much passion and energy of that which is expressed in this poem.

Ani Difranco is a poet, singer/songwriter, musician and owner of her own record label, Righteous Babe Records. She is known for her politically charged music, a feminist icon and an advocate for racial awareness and women’s rights. Her music, which is characterised by rapid finger picking and speaking in rhythmic variations rather than singing, is essentially a mixture of folk and beat poetry. Difranco works with words, often using alliteration, metaphor and word play to get across her message.

Self Evident is essentially written in a reaction to September 11th, however Difranco brings up a range of significant issues in this angered poem. The poem, even though it is respectful of the dead, is highly critical of how American history has caused the attacks and exploited this awful event, “On the day that America fell to its knees, after strutting around for a century without saying thank you or please.”

In parts it may seem that Difranco is insensitive to this terrible event, “can you imagine how many paper coffee cups would have to change their design, following a fantastical reversal of the New York skyline,” but this sharpness is what makes Difranco’s poem so powerful, Difranco is almost saying, ‘look how ridiculous this situation is, look what kind of country we live in.’

In this poem Difranco uses metaphor continuously, she compares people to poems and uses the imagery of alcohol to articulate her attack on the American government, ‘toasting’ to the victims of past U.S aggression, “here’s a toast to all the folks who live in Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, El Salvador,” she also goes on to toast Native Americans, abortion nurses and prisoners on death row.

Difranco uses this poem as a vehicle to announce her political woes, including environmental issues, “shoo away the swarms of commuter planes and find that train ticket we lost.”

The poem is extremely anti Bush, with Difranco claiming, “we hold these truths to be self evident, number 1: George W Bush is not president, number 2: America is not a true democracy and number 3: the media is not fooling me,” and, “take away our playstations and we are a third world nation under the thumb of some blue blood royal son who stole the oval office and that phoney election.”

In this poem Difranco calls for the end of the ‘American Empire’ and pleas for it to consider the needs of its own people (which it seems incapable of), before interfering with other countries, “so it’s time to pick through the rubble, clean the streets ad clean the air. Get the government to pull its big dick out of someone else’s desert, put it back in its pants. And quite the hypocritical chants of Freedom Forever.”

The reason I find this poem so effective is the way in which Ani Difranco has expressed the events of September 11th, the state of the American government and its involvement with other countries, in an extremely intelligent yet venomous manner. Difranco has managed to articulate what many of us are thinking with a poem that speaks in rapid urgency, which can be compared only to that of Gil Scot Heron’s famous beat poem, ‘The Revolution Will Not be Televised.” By using occasional rhyme and building a continuous sense of energy, this poem is full of anger and frustration, however this does not distract from the overall message. This is not a rant.

This is one of the most powerful pieces of poetry I have ever experienced and I encourage you to listen to it. I say listen because this way you can truly feel the frustration Difranco feels as she spits through this highly political and extremely relevant piece of art.

Self Evident

yes,
us people are just poems
we're 90% metaphor
with a leanness of meaning
approaching hyper-distillation
and once upon a time
we were moonshine
rushing down the throat of a giraffe
yes, rushing down the long hallway
despite what the p.a. announcement says
yes, rushing down the long stairs
with the whiskey of eternity
fermented and distilled
to eighteen minutes
burning down our throats
down the hall
down the stairs
in a building so tall
that it will always be there
yes, it's part of a pair
there on the bow of noah's ark
the most prestigious couple
just kickin back parked
against a perfectly blue sky
on a morning beatific
in its indian summer breeze
on the day that america
fell to its knees
after strutting around for a century
without saying thank you
or please

and the shock was subsonic
and the smoke was deafening
between the setup and the punch line
cuz we were all on time for work that day
we all boarded that plane for to fly
and then while the fires were raging
we all climbed up on the windowsill
and then we all held hands
and jumped into the sky

and every borough looked up when it heard the first blast
and then every dumb action movie was summarily surpassed
and the exodus uptown by foot and motorcar
looked more like war than anything i've seen so far
so far
so far
so fierce and ingenious
a poetic specter so far gone
that every jackass newscaster was struck dumb and stumbling
over 'oh my god' and 'this is unbelievable' and on and on
and i'll tell you what, while we're at it
you can keep the pentagon
keep the propaganda
keep each and every tv
that's been trying to convince me
to participate
in some prep school punk's plan to perpetuate retribution
perpetuate retribution
even as the blue toxic smoke of our lesson in retribution
is still hanging in the air
and there's ash on our shoes
and there's ash in our hair
and there's a fine silt on every mantle
from hell's kitchen to brooklyn
and the streets are full of stories
sudden twists and near misses
and soon every open bar is crammed to the rafters
with tales of narrowly averted disasters
and the whiskey is flowin
like never before
as all over the country
folks just shake their heads
and pour

so here's a toast to all the folks who live in palestine
afghanistan
iraq

el salvador

here's a toast to the folks living on the pine ridge reservation
under the stone cold gaze of mt. rushmore

here's a toast to all those nurses and doctors
who daily provide women with a choice
who stand down a threat the size of oklahoma city
just to listen to a young woman's voice

here's a toast to all the folks on death row right now
awaiting the executioner's guillotine
who are shackled there with dread and can only escape into their heads
to find peace in the form of a dream

cuz take away our playstations
and we are a third world nation
under the thumb of some blue blood royal son
who stole the oval office and that phony election
i mean
it don't take a weatherman
to look around and see the weather
jeb said he'd deliver florida, folks
and boy did he ever

and we hold these truths to be self evident:
#1 george w. bush is not president
#2 america is not a true democracy
#3 the media is not fooling me
cuz i am a poem heeding hyper-distillation
i've got no room for a lie so verbose
i'm looking out over my whole human family
and i'm raising my glass in a toast

here's to our last drink of fossil fuels
let us vow to get off of this sauce
shoo away the swarms of commuter planes
and find that train ticket we lost
cuz once upon a time the line followed the river
and peeked into all the backyards
and the laundry was waving
the graffiti was teasing us
from brick walls and bridges
we were rolling over ridges
through valleys
under stars
i dream of touring like duke ellington
in my own railroad car
i dream of waiting on the tall blonde wooden benches
in a grand station aglow with grace
and then standing out on the platform
and feeling the air on my face

give back the night its distant whistle
give the darkness back its soul
give the big oil companies the finger finally
and relearn how to rock-n-roll
yes, the lessons are all around us and a change is waiting there
so it's time to pick through the rubble, clean the streets
and clear the air
get our government to pull its big dick out of the sand
of someone else's desert
put it back in its pants
and quit the hypocritical chants of
freedom forever

cuz when one lone phone rang
in two thousand and one
at ten after nine
on nine one one
which is the number we all called
when that lone phone rang right off the wall
right off our desk and down the long hall
down the long stairs
in a building so tall
that the whole world turned
just to watch it fall

and while we're at it
remember the first time around?
the bomb?
the ryder truck?
the parking garage?
the princess that didn't even feel the pea?
remember joking around in our apartment on avenue D?

can you imagine how many paper coffee cups would have to change their design
following a fantastical reversal of the new york skyline?!

it was a joke, of course
it was a joke
at the time
and that was just a few years ago
so let the record show
that the FBI was all over that case
that the plot was obvious and in everybody's face
and scoping that scene
religiously
the CIA
or is it KGB?
committing countless crimes against humanity
with this kind of eventuality
as its excuse
for abuse after expensive abuse
and it didn't have a clue
look, another window to see through
way up here
on the 104th floor
look
another key
another door
10% literal
90% metaphor
3000 some poems disguised as people
on an almost too perfect day
should be more than pawns
in some asshole's passion play
so now it's your job
and it's my job
to make it that way
to make sure they didn't die in vain
sshhhhhh....
baby listen
hear the train

The Taj Mahal




12th June 2007
The Taj Mahal

While visiting India this summer I was lucky enough to visit the Taj Mahal in Agra. The Taj is considered one of the finest examples of Mughal architecture, a “jewel of Muslim art in India.” The Taj had been an inspiration to many poets and artists over time, not only for its white marbled beauty but also because of the bitter love story attached to it.

Grief stricken when his wife died during childbirth, Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan started construction on the Taj Mahal in 1632. The Taj was not only a mausoleum for his beloved wife but a continuous reminder and commemoration of his love for her. When I first saw this fine building the sheer beauty and grandeur is clearly a deep expression of this mans love for his dead wife.

It took seventeen years to construct the Taj, finishing the main structure in 1648; it was many years later that the surrounding mosques and gardens were completed. Something that is most striking about the Taj is the combination of architectural styles incorporated into the overall design. When you look at this grand building you can see a combination between Persian, Turkish, Indian and Islamic architectural styles, due to a wide variety of craftsmen commissioned by Shah from all over the world including Europe.

The story goes that Shah initially intended to build an identical mosque, which would sit directly opposite the Taj across the Yamuna River. This duplicate mosque would differ only in colour, using a contrasting black, a striking difference to the clean white marble of the Taj. However, it is said that before the construction began, Shah was overthrown by his son, Aurabgzeb. Locked away in the Amber Fort of Agra, situated looking out across the river at the Taj, Shah was tortured with spending the rest of his days gazing over at where his lost love lay.

This story combined with the gleaming marbled, symmetrical beauty of the structure is what I feel, makes the Taj so special and one of the reasons it made such an impact on me. When entering the surrounding gardens, I was struck with an almost otherworldly sensation of complete calm. Agra, the city in which the Taj is located is an extremely busy, noisy and industrial place, so the contrast between this and the beautiful gardens and clean white construction is quite dramatic. On my way to the Taj I walked along a chaotic road where I had to dodge rickshaws and motorbikes and fight of pesky, insistent touts and wallahs, most of which have no idea about personal space, yet on entering the Taj I was greeted with the sound of birds, open space and luscious gardens. This contrast between the chaos and the calm, the noise and the silence, the dirty pollution and gleaming white marble, is what makes walking around the Taj such a unique experience.

It is a stereotype and a cliché to talk of the beauty of the Taj, but once you’ve taken your shoes and socks off and are walking on the hot marble with the sun burning down over the colourful saris down by the Yamuna river, and the complete calm and quiet surrounds, you know that this is something very special.

The beginning...

I have been unable to post my blog online for the last months because I have been travelling around India and there was not the time or resources available. However, while I was away, I kept my blog handwritten in a diary. Now that I have returned I am going to post all my blog entries that I have written so far.