I like the monkey and wonder about the dinosaur shoes. Interesting subject for a painting.

Real depressing work of what I have, not without pretense, called "hypertext":

Some People Worry About the Weather by Iain Xavior

If you're not going to listen to the whole thing just listen to "Some People Worry About the Weather".

The monkey is a dog toy. That’s why half its face is chewed off.

About the dragon baby shoes, I was looking around in a Salvation Army store searching for still-life inspiration/subject matter and noticed the cute duo. Having recently read the much acclaimed short story Dead Baby Shoes, I immediately felt a composition beginning to form in my mind. I had found my muse and now all I needed was something to complete the stage. Heading for the register, I saw the heart vase and with an inaudible “yup” I grabbed it off the shelf without even stopping. I paid $6 for the shoes, the vase, two fancy-ass glass cups, and a small glass platter matching the fancy-ass cups.

The wilted daisy, signifying death and sorrow, was cut from out front.

Interesting. Joan of Arc comes to mind.

There's even more to the paintings than you'd expect.

Oh, and that is an image of Joan of Arc on the cover. Originally by Albert Lynch for Figaro Illustre. I just wrote the title over the flag.

I listened to it twice and with a decidedly intuitive ear the second time round, I’d like to add, and the feeling invoked was mostly curious befuddlement. I could glean no clear message or feeling. I may simply lack the relevant base of knowledge or experience.

Because the character suffers from schizophrenia and psychosis, there are sections of the story that he hallucinates, and, so, it can be a bit difficult to understand what is going on. It follows a group of anarchists, one of whom, Sebastian Albright, joins a French political terrorist cell and the effect that this has on them. Iain Xavior, the narrator, addresses Sebastian in the second person throughout the narrative. It's a reflection upon the effects of political terrorism on the daily lives of the people who find themselves around it. Overall, I wanted to illicit a certain poignancy to that anyone is driven to become a political terrorist and to ultimately deliver a message of creating nonviolent political alternatives. There's a lot to the story, though.

I'm glad that you listened to it, anyways. It's not something that most people will hear everyday. Thanks!

If anyone wants to discuss Some People Worry About the Weather, they're more than welcome to, but I'll be off for a while, and, so, won't get back to you in any near future.

So long!

I took a brief peek at the first in the album and got the feeling that it's best to experience the album as a whole rather than as I did, just listening to #3 - Some People Worry About the Weather. I'll do that when I have more time.

There are so many names and references that I don't know in the work that I can't follow or derive much meaning out of it. For instance, I'm not even sure how to interpret the line 'Some People Worry About the Weather'. It kinda seems like a condemnation, such that people like myself are concerned with trivialities like the weather rather than getting involved in serious political issues. But it could also mean that some people are concerned with more serious issues, like global warming, rather than being "a minor autocrat whose single-minded devotion to the revolutionary cause was motivated by a distorted lack of self-esteem".

Anyway, I enjoy the general aesthetic, and much of the particular imagery, such as these parts:

above the nightstand that houses a few melted candles and an old
jewelry box where this former film student keeps a collection of
polaroid photographs

...

remember when
you scaled that monument on the bridge
drunkenly singing "La Marseillaise"
waving a roman candle
clutching the granite hilt of a sword
as you fired over the river

You have put the double entendre of the title phrase better than I could have.

It's a play off of a slogan by the Red Army Faction, "Everybody talks about the weather...We don't.", which, in itself, began as a poster for a West German rail service that was later co-opted by the Socialist German Student Union, SDS, the student union that was expelled from the Social Democratic Party of Germany for their opposition to West German armament.

It's also kind of a mediation upon reckless abandon. The narrator is somewhat fascinated by the other character because of his lack of concern for the consequences of his actions. I think that he feels a certain guilt due to that he develops a petty bitterness towards the other character for having put the rest of them through what they have on account of his having joined a terrorist cell when he very well understands that he is suicidal. In a way, he is almost envious of him, despite that he knows better than to be. The interpersonal dynamic between the two characters within the story is somewhat odd, as they barely knew each other and most of it occurs within the narrator's imagination. The idea at the very end of the story is that he becomes somewhat liberated through the experience he has put himself through, depicted by the metaphor of his last hallucination of the other character, despite that he was as a mere disaffected witness to the course of events to have occurred throughout the story and that almost their entire dialogue occurs within his own mind. I'll let you draw your own conclusions, though.

I appreciate your attentive listening and response. Creating this took a good while and, I think, if you give it the time and effort that it may or not be worth, it really could be some of my best work. The references are somewhat intentionally arcane, as I had wanted to depict a world that would be somewhat foreign to most. You can look them up if you feel like doing so, but I hope that my audience doesn't feel compelled to to get anything out of the story. There's a certain degree of clandestinity to left-wing terrorist cells that the relative obscurity is intended to evoke. I don't really expect for most people, even users of The Philosophy Forum, to have been aware of all of them in advance.

Anyways, I will actually be leaving now, and, so, if you or anyone else wants to chat it up about this, then, do feel free to, but it's very likely that I won't have anything else to add for a while.

All the best and, again, so long!

Take care, and thanks for sharing this.

I've never loved spoken word over music, but you're definitely a poet. :clap: It's purely personal preference, but I'd love to read the text as a poem. I always enjoy a little lo-fi (music) though, so I enjoyed it overall. The backing music reminded me of simpler times in my life.

Take care! I can now imagine your actual voice saying "so long, Philosophy Forum!" (also love your Pittsburg accent).

My new ambient record, Pink Logos, is out now on Aught/Void Records. Recorded in April 2020 while quarantined at home with Covid symptoms. Dark, weird, but with a light at the end of the tunnel. Levels Of Compression is the must-listen track, although it's not for everyone.

https://aughtvoid.bandcamp.com/album/pink-logos

Congrats! So far I've listened to Pre-Relapse and Levels of Compression and really enjoyed them. That bit in LoC at 02:57 when the bass drone comes in is epic.

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.

Hello everyone,
Since taking early retirement I rekindled an interest in oil painting. I have a computing background and
the extent of my academic qualifications in art is a C grade in art Olevel when I was at school.
I just wanted to post one of my efforts here to see if there is anyone willing to point out where I might improve. I am not looking for, 'well you should get .....book or take......course etc,' more perhaps opinions like 'it looks a bit pedestrian to me' or 'its not very provocative' or 'boringly conventional,' any positive comments would also be gratefully received.
Any tips, like 'you could get more convincing eyes if you......' etc.

I one watched a program on sky arts about a rather pompous artist (I personally didn't like his work) who said something like the following and i am paraphrasing:

"Good art provokes, it inspires or angers or invades or saddens, I am not a copy machine or a producer of facsimiles. I do not just sit down and paint what I see if front of me, thats not art!
I am an Artist!!

Although I thought he was pompous I also thought is this a valid description of what art should do?

Anyway, here is an image of one of my paintings:

ok so I clicked on the image icon and entered a web address to the page containing the image.
Am I missing something or is it that as this is the first image I have uploaded to this website means it has to be moderated first?

You should enter the web address of the image, not the page. In Chrome you can right-click on the image, and "Copy image address".

Ah? ok, thanks for this example of the good side of the skills of a moderator....:joke:

ok, based on the advice of jamalrob. My second attempt:

It appears to me that the painter has painted himself into the picture.

Hindsight is 20/20, they say, but what is more interesting is that the artist views himself as half the man that Trump is.

No, I am not in the painting, The other two human characters are children so yeah, they would be smaller than Trump.

the artist views himself as half the man that Trump is. — praxis

Thank you for this demonstration of your skill levels in logic and observation :smirk:

The other two human characters are children — universeness

No. The body proportions clearly show that the man with the “I warned you Trump” t-shirt is an adult.

There is no shame in putting yourself in a composition. It is to be admired, actually, because it demonstrates the courage to truly own the message that is being expressed. An after-the-fact warning is alway 20/20, as the old saying goes, because there is no possibility of making a false prediction. You give yourself all the credit and take no risk whatsoever. It is truly courageous to blatantly demonstrate, and to personally own, such shameless positioning.

I wrote this song and made this video:

No. The body proportions clearly show that the man with the “I warned you Trump” t-shirt is an adult.

There is no shame in putting yourself in a composition. It is to be admired, actually, because it demonstrates the courage to truly own the message that is being expressed. An after-the-fact warning is alway 20/20, as the old saying goes, because there is no possibility of making a false prediction. You give yourself all the credit and take no risk whatsoever. It is truly courageous to blatantly demonstrate, and to personally own, such shameless positioning. — praxis

Yeah, in your head, it obviously makes sense to tell an artist who they painted in a composition. The man you mention is actually my representation of Greta Thunberg, but it can be whoever you like in your head. I do see myself represented in the painting, probably the lion or panther or tiger or eagle or rising flora. Take your pick, as long as it indicates a nasty but 'just' end to Trump.

Ah, I didn’t see the ponytail until now. That’s even more mystifying though, because it seems highly unlikely that Greta would warn Trump about losing the election.

because it seems highly unlikely that Greta would warn Trump about losing the election. — praxis

Now that's a good comment and I thank you for it. That tells me that the allegorical intention of my painting is perhaps too vague. Let me give you my main intentions:
The painting is about climate change and Trump pulling out of the Paris agreement etc. It has nothing to do with his failure to get re-elected.
This is mother nature taking vengeance on Trump but I hoped to represent human protesters as well.
I included Greta as she was one of the loudest voices from youth, on the topic of climate change.
The child on the panther again represents the youth that Trump ignores. Those who will inherit our stewardship of the Earth.
I included the American Eagle, a very important American symbol to represent the people of the USA who hate Trump and all he stood for, about o take their revenge.
I include a black panther, partly as a homage to that USA-based organisation that started off with sound intentions but who ended up destroyed by their own corrupt leadership. I also included it to represent angry black people in America. That's why his very angry face is slightly turned towards the viewer as there are many more issues black people in America are angry about.
I chose the white tiger to similarly represent white people angry against trump but the tiger also has black stripes to indicate/encourage black/white unity.
I included the brown lion with yellow shades to include those people. He even has a red middle 'victory' or V-shaped section in the top of his maine to represent angry native/indigenous Americans.
The animals and the threatening flora also represent mother nature herself.
and Trump looks scared! very very scared, as he should be!
I chose the words Natural Responder and an image of the Earth on the 'forrest imp' like uniform of the figure on the panther to indicate a youthful celebrant (as she punches the air) of what is about to happen to trump. I wanted to suggest this was a natural response to all BIG STRONG POWERFUL creatures like Trump who think the youth or the people don't have the power to utterly destroy them.

I do thank you, for the chance to explain my painting a little more and perhaps for the idea that I have to be less cryptic in my compositions.

The last thing Trump needs to be worried about is environmentalists and social justice warriors, and the only thing that he's lost is the election. He's untouchable.

I read what you have typed and understand your view. I dont agree with you. I think he is doomed.