In my dream I commanded giants, one of them natural, the other a robot. Their literal-minded loyalty terrified me. This is my sister, I said, protect her with your lives. But what could we do when the sky had turned to such implacable concrete? I woke to moonlight & an air so still I could hear a trickle from the measureless caverns under the front lawn.
Immediately after I turn on the computer, a pop-up appears with a minor fanfare of bleats. Symantec Security Alert: A remote computer tried to connect to your computer on a port commonly used by a Trojan horse.
So this is Troy! The armies at the gates are all Greeks, then, & we the barbarians, erecting barriers to foreign investment & the free trade in fictions launched from Olympus.
The make-believe conservative talk-show host asks the bestselling guru, Do you exfoliate?
And something else I heard yesterday that made me chuckle: a British friend describing the output of another bestselling author as monstrous twaddle.
I have linked this collection of Simulacra to the Fortean Times Breaking News. Very worthy.
Sometimes Plummer’s Hollow reminds me of Sleepy Hollow. As a schoolteacher who is rumored to have studied law, I may not visit you until my nerve returns.
Twaddle, piffle, tarradiddle—all great Stuff. Pleated nonsense.
“Nice monster baby, be nice now to Bill. That’s a good girl. Hey! No biting! Dave? Dave!”
Thanks, Zhoen – I appreciate that.
Peter – If you visit, I promise to be on my best behavior – and turn up the stereo so you won’t hear all the things that go bump in the walls and crawlspaces.
bill – I don’t have any control over the terradiddles. You’re on your own.
Zhoen–Worthy? Worthy of what?
I think you’ve located the special beauty of a brown and grey winter.
Thanks, patry. Better get used to it, I guess — in 30 years, they say, every winter will be as mild as this one has been so far (though I still have great hopes for the latter part of January, February and March!).
Never any twaddle, monstrous or otherwise, from Via Negativa. But those tree-monster photos are stupendous. It’s tempting to think of giving them very slight tweaking in Phtoshp to bring out their prehistoric qualities even more.
What effects would you recommend? I don’t know how to do too many fancy things with Photoshop.
I have a particular fondness for monstrous trees. Rotting, injured, and deformed trees don’t cause the sympathetic horror inspired by similarly afflicted people!
I enjoyed reading your thoughts inspired by these lucsious photographs or is that vice versa?
Thank you for the email regarding Festival of Trees. I clicked on the link in your email looking for a “Festival of Trees” link, and was surprised that I see no icon here? Are my green eyed too bleary to find it here? No email needed. I’ll Google for the link.
However, I was struck by the irony of your post regarding Odeo. I’m an artist (photography and fine arts) and a poet, too. In my current post, I used Odeo to record my poem. Again, these are terrific photos. I LOVE painting and photographing trees. It’s a treat to see another artist’s majestic work. Thank you
Glad you liked — and that you’re enjoying Odeo, too. Cheers.