civilized ku # 448 ~ vehicles

Roadside junkyard ~ Au Sable Forks, NY• click to embiggenI'll try to make a more involved entry later. Right now, I'm off to pick up a new car.

civilized ku # 447 ~ surprise - pt.II, shock and, sometimes, awe

Roadside gully ~ In the Adirondack PARK - Au Sable Forks, NY • click to embiggenI have mentioned it previously, on more than a few occasions, that I really enjoy looking at my own pictures. I imagine that's true for most artists because it's hard for me to imagine an artist who doesn't like to look at the product of his/her own work.

And, while it's true that, when looking at a finished print, I do "surprise" myself at times, most of the time the surprise is more along the lines of how much better a picture looks than I thought it would when I was in the act of making it with a camera. To be honest, I always feel that any picture I make will look good - I know what I'm doing and my eye is pretty fine tuned at the art of seeing.

What I mean by "fine tuned at the art of seeing" is simply that, even though I understand neither the genesis nor the ongoing impetus of it all, I do know my eye is attracted to a rather specific range of visual stimuli which, if pictured and presented with some sensitivity, skill, and application of craft, will result in pictures that I enjoy looking at. I also know that others will enjoy looking at those pictures as well.

And, it should go without saying but I'll say it anyway, I enjoy it when others enjoy looking at my pictures as well.

However, all of that said, here's what I am wondering about - I make pictures, first and foremost, for myself. I don't play to an audience. That does not mean that I do not appreciate what an audience has to say about my pictures or how they react to seeing them. However, the audience that I care most about is not that comprised of other picture makers, but that comprised of the "average" non-artist observer.

That does not mean that I do not appreciate the admiration and adulation - kept those cards and letters coming - of my picture making peers but, in fact, I don't expect that I will "surprise" many of them (if any at all) with my pictures. I assume that most of my well-rounded, visually-literate peers have "seen it all", so to speak, photography-wise. If they (and I) are a lucky, we'll get a few photography surprises in our life time but, in fact, true photography surprises are few and far between.

However, the "average" non-artist observer hasn't "seen it all". What they have most commonly seen is the ubiquitous, never-ending stream of pretty picture dreck with which they are presented on daily basis. Consequently, they have been conditioned - one might say, "brainwashed" - into thinking that pretty picture referents are the only referents worth pointing a camera toward.

Therefore, when confronted with my pictures, the "average" non-artist observer most often doesn't know what to think but what seems to surprise them the most is that they have to actually think - to actually engage their brains when viewing a picture. They seem rather startled to realize that viewing a picture can be something more than just a "wow, isn't that pretty" moment.

And, more often than not, after getting past the initial shock resulting from the conflict in their head between what they have been told is a good picture and seeing a nonconforming picture that somehow someway interests them nevertheless, the first thought that emerges from their mouths is some variation upon the idea that, "I pass by stuff like that all the time and I would never have even thought of taking a picture of that". A comment in reaction to which the first thought that enters my brain (but usually doesn't leave my mouth) is, "get in the fast lane granny, the bingo game is about to start".

The "would never have even thought of taking a picture" reaction is almost always a precursor to the thought that they, the "average" non-artist observer, may have been missing something well worth paying attention to that is right under their very noses. That while they were killing time, as it were, looking waiting for the next big surprise, there were little surprises busting out all over the place just waiting to be seen. They seem to experience a wake up and smell see the roses moment, that IMO, is a joy to behold.

So, I'm wondering - what do you like to hear or see from your audience?

civilized ku # 444-46 / ku # 692-94 ~ civilized ku? ku? - depends how you look at it

Small stream, Spring runoff ~ In rhw Adirondack PARK - Au Sable Forks, NY • click to embiggenThe street that I and the wife live on is a 2-block long, east-west oriented residential street. At the west end of the street - the street doesn't actually end, it's the point where the street leaves the village proper - a normally small tranquil stream tumbles down from the surrounding hills on it way to the Au Sable River. The river, at this point, is less than a couple hundred yards/meters away.

Now that Spring is here, the stream has gone into its raging mode. Fortunately, even though it rages, it never seems to overflow its banks.

ku # 691 ~ are we having fun yet?

Spring rain, fog, and river runoff ~ in the Adirondack PARK - East Branch Au Sable River• click to embiggenWith all the non-picture-making entries of late, I need to ask - are you at least enjoying the pictures?

civilized ku # 443 ~ tunnel vision

Covered bridge ~ in the Adirondack PARK - Jay, NY• click to embiggenThe notion has been raised that the good 'ole US of A is "going bankrupt".

Bullshit. Pure unadulterated bullshit.

Although, relative to the US debt, if one just sits around and only watches the US Debt Clock and only listens to the Party of NO!'s deepities* of "cut government spending", and, "government's too big" and, "we're burdening our children and their children's children with debt", well, I guess you might come away with the opinion that the country is on the road to bankruptcy.

Without delving into what and how we're spending our tax dollars on - which is exactly what the Party of NO! wants because their prime objective is to make government smaller by simply starving it of the money it needs to operate - the idea that the country is going to go bankrupt is simply wrong.

The simple fact of the matter is that the good 'ole US of A is the wealthiest nation on the planet. We've got plenty of money. Unfortunately, what we lack is the will to pay for what we need and/or want. What we lack is the fortitude to assume the fiscal responsibility, in the form of paying our way, that it takes to pay down the debt and you can chalk up that failure to the Party of NO!'s "no new taxes" mantra.

Here's the facts: the good 'ole US of A has one of the lowest tax rates on personal income in the world. We rank 25th (as of 2007) in the world. The good 'ole US of A ranks 26th on the list, re: taxes as a % of GPD. You can read all about it here and here. Our so-called "oppressive" tax "burden" is very very low.

Simply stated, we don't have to have a huge debt. We can pay our way. But the reason we don't pay our way is twofold:

1. The perveyors of fear have convinced a substantial number of "the people" - by repeating the simple-minded big lie over and over again - that the country is going bankrupt because of "big government spending".

2. Unfortunately, the net effect of that hogwash is that there is no thoughtful discourse regarding what, as a nation, we want government to do and supply in the way of services that provide for the greatest good for the greatest number of "the people".

We here in the good 'ole US of A can't/won't/don't have that discourse because the Party of NO! ~ Agents of Fear Division has convinced enough of "the people" that "big government wants to take away your freedom / big government wants to run your lives / big government wants to spend your money like a drunken sailor", etc., etc., etc., ad nauseum. And remember, be a'scared, be very a'scared, because there's a communist / socialist hiding under every bed - and, wink-wink, nudge-nudge - they're most likely niggers (who are also closet faggots as well).

However, as the previously linked Forbes article points out, those countries that have had the conversation about what government should do and agreed upon a course of action have, as a consequence subjected themselves to tax rates which we here would consider to be beyond the pale of possibility - up to 5x the US tax rate. Nevertheless ...

The point is that one can't look just at the taxes people pay here or elsewhere without looking at what they get in return. It doesn't automatically follow that the places with the lowest taxes are the best places to live and work. This is obvious when we think about where to buy a house. We always look at the quality of local schools as a major factor and are willing to pay higher property taxes in return for good schools. The same is true at the national level as well. Higher taxes may pay for services that people value and thus are not as burdensome as they might appear at first glance.

So, for those of you of the we're-going-bankrupt persuasion, you need to get a much broader, and some might even say educated view of the US debt. There's a whole lot more to it than just staring at the US Debt Clock and parroting simplistic political slogans.

*a deepity is a statement that has two meanings, one of which is true but superficial, the other of which sounds profound but is meaningless.

"All fucking niggers must fucking hang." ~ Animal Mother - from the movie, Full Metal Jacket

ku # 690 ~ Spring rain • click to embiggen

The "opinion"/"point of view" expressed in the title of this entry is an opinion that differs from my opinion on the subject. That is to say, for me, it is an "opinion"/"point of view" with which I disagree.

However, that said, to call such a statement an "opinion" worthy of any consideration, much less one that should be granted even a scintilla of respect or tolerance, is absurd. In fact, it's a huge stretch to even call it an opinion.

The statement is flat out racist, bigoted, and evil.

Unfortunately, it seems that, in today's media circus, any statement - no matter how ridiculous, ill-informed, baseless, or bigoted (and the like) - is worthy of consideration (and some would say, respect and tolerance) as an "opinion". To which I would say, "BULLSHIT."

IMO, and that of many others way too numerous to name, labeling bullshit as bullshit is not an act of "intolerance". It is, quite simply and in plain direct language, telling it like it is.

Point in fact, the little boy in the I SEE RED PEOPLE picture is expressing pure unadulterated bullshit. He - or rather, more accurately, his mother who is using (and I mean that in the absolute worst connotation of the the word) him to advance her ridiculous name calling - is expressing an "opinion"/"point of view" that has absolutely no basis in fact.

The notion that the north country has "Reds" running around advocating a communist, much less a socialist agenda, is so far removed from the reality of this place (and ventures so far into the theater of the absurd) as to be utterly laughable. Just ask the internationally renowned artist Rockwell Kent (actually, you can't ask him - he's dead and gone) who called the north country his home. The man, his legacy, and even his very existence has been expunged - Soviet Union style - from the local record and lore.

Why? He was a life-long socialist. Even though he successfully championed many issues at the local, state, and national levels (much to the benefit of the local and national population), he was persona non grata simply because of his political beliefs. Forget his accomplishments as both an artist and a political activist - after all, he was a "socialist".

In any event, the mother who used her young son - who, I'll bet my bottom dollar, can't tell a "Red" from a hole in the ground - to advance a thoroughly specious "opinion" acted totally reprehensibly in so many ways. Whatever her position, what she has done is to render what should be thoughtful and civil discourse to the level of a name-calling, sewer dwelling "competition". And, of course, it's worth noting that the media chose to feature that "opinion".

Labeling her actions as reprehensible, intolerant, and/or bigoted is both fair and just. And, the one thing I will not tolerate lightly is intolerance. But to label the naming of reprehensible actions - calling a spade, a spade - as intolerant is really quite a stretch.

If we are to reclaim our country as a civil society, we need to drive real intolerance back into the dark shadows from whence it came. And the only way that's going to happen is to call it like it is and get back to the idea of a civil discourse that is centered around ideas, not name calling for political gain.

civilized ku # 442 ~ the agents of death and the perveyors of fear, pt. III - buy a ticket for Rush

Landing beacons Plattsburgh, NY • click to embiggenMuch thanks to Stephen for bringing to our attention to what just might be the biggest bang-for-a-buck deal you'll ever encounter - A TICKET FOR RU$H. From the website:

Recently, a number of interesting things happened. First, Rush Limbaugh said on his radio show that if the Healthcare Reform Bill passed, he would go to Costa Rica. Second, the Healthcare Reform Bill passed. As you can imagine, this has made a number of people very excited. We are among that number. We want to make sure that Rush is able to make good on his promise, and so we've made this website.

civilized ku # 441 ~ more good eats

A Sunday brunch NYC, NY• click to embiggen