Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Friday, September 30, 2011
small talk
Conversations are tricky – some like them; some don’t. They live, usually in corridors, living rooms, kitchens, streetcars, cafes – yes, where don’t they live? There are sincere conversations, but they are encouraged rarely and don’t live long – usually one night, like some light-winged butterflies, and only come out when accompanied by nice hors d’oeuvres and equally nice drinks.
Let’s talk about small talk, because they usually are annoying, empty, and not very sophisticated. Small talks sometimes don’t know for what purpose they exist and tend to die prematurely, because a life without purpose is an unpleasant experience indeed. Did you ever try such? Try, you will see.
But if you were born, it doesn’t matter whether you have purpose in life or not. It doesn’t matter whether you enjoy this life, or not quite. You have to live, eat, drink, make love and keep your mouth shut. This is a basic law of nature. If you’re alive, be happy, and don’t complain. If you die, you may complain, but no one is sure whether it will be possible. So people complain while they are alive. Other people don’t want to hear complaints, and therefore have created one of the greatest creations of all time: Small Talk – the most vague and useless creature on Earth. It teaches you how to talk and not share thoughts, information, or feelings of any kind.
<…> Small talks are like viruses that reproduce themselves, maliciously using our heads as their hosts. After invasion by small talk, one’s head drains ‘til it’s all empty as an empty pan, and emptiness is little step toward the nonexistence we can call the disturbing and unpleasant word death.
Source: Bruce Krieger “Lilli-Bunny and the secret of a happy life”
Let’s talk about small talk, because they usually are annoying, empty, and not very sophisticated. Small talks sometimes don’t know for what purpose they exist and tend to die prematurely, because a life without purpose is an unpleasant experience indeed. Did you ever try such? Try, you will see.
But if you were born, it doesn’t matter whether you have purpose in life or not. It doesn’t matter whether you enjoy this life, or not quite. You have to live, eat, drink, make love and keep your mouth shut. This is a basic law of nature. If you’re alive, be happy, and don’t complain. If you die, you may complain, but no one is sure whether it will be possible. So people complain while they are alive. Other people don’t want to hear complaints, and therefore have created one of the greatest creations of all time: Small Talk – the most vague and useless creature on Earth. It teaches you how to talk and not share thoughts, information, or feelings of any kind.
<…> Small talks are like viruses that reproduce themselves, maliciously using our heads as their hosts. After invasion by small talk, one’s head drains ‘til it’s all empty as an empty pan, and emptiness is little step toward the nonexistence we can call the disturbing and unpleasant word death.
Source: Bruce Krieger “Lilli-Bunny and the secret of a happy life”
Moris Meterlink - Measure of Time (excerpts)
МЕРА ЧАСОВ
Измерять время! Мы созданы таким образом, что можем сознавать время и проникаться его печалями и радостями лишь при условии, если мы его считаем и свешиваем, как монету, которая была бы незримой. Оно у нас воплощается и приобретает сущность и ценность, лишь пройдя сложные приборы, изобретенные нами для того, чтобы сделать его видимым, и, не существуя само в себе, оно заимствует вкус, запах и форму инструментов, его определяющих. Таким-то образом минута, искромсанная нашими карманными часами, не имеет того же образа, как та, которую удлиняют огромные стрелки часов городских башен или соборов.
Измерять время! Мы созданы таким образом, что можем сознавать время и проникаться его печалями и радостями лишь при условии, если мы его считаем и свешиваем, как монету, которая была бы незримой. Оно у нас воплощается и приобретает сущность и ценность, лишь пройдя сложные приборы, изобретенные нами для того, чтобы сделать его видимым, и, не существуя само в себе, оно заимствует вкус, запах и форму инструментов, его определяющих. Таким-то образом минута, искромсанная нашими карманными часами, не имеет того же образа, как та, которую удлиняют огромные стрелки часов городских башен или соборов.
on photography
“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” - Albert Einstein
“It is not what I see outside that makes my images, it is what I feel on the inside that comes out.” - Carolyn M D’Alessandro
“What uses having a great depth of field, if there is not an adequate depth of feeling?” - W. Eugene Smith
“The camera doesn’t make a bit of difference. All of them can record what you are seeing. But, you have to SEE.” - Ernst Haas
“Photography is not about cameras, gadgets and gizmos. Photography is about photographers. A camera didn’t make a great picture any more than a typewriter wrote a great novel.” - Peter Adams
“Actually, I’m not all that interested in the subject of photography. Once the picture is in the box, I’m not all that interested in what happens next. Hunters, after all, aren’t cooks.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson
“Pay no attention to what the critics say. A statue has never been erected in honor of a critic.” - Jean Sibelius
“There is no such thing as a perfect image, only a perfect moment.” - Joe Buissink
“If you obey all the rules, you’ll miss all the fun.” - Katherine Hepburn
“Give a soul to your Photography, it will give a purpose to your Art.” - Artisan de l’Image (1957-????)
“A camera has interesting ideas of its own.” - John Szarkowski
“It is not what I see outside that makes my images, it is what I feel on the inside that comes out.” - Carolyn M D’Alessandro
“What uses having a great depth of field, if there is not an adequate depth of feeling?” - W. Eugene Smith
“The camera doesn’t make a bit of difference. All of them can record what you are seeing. But, you have to SEE.” - Ernst Haas
“Photography is not about cameras, gadgets and gizmos. Photography is about photographers. A camera didn’t make a great picture any more than a typewriter wrote a great novel.” - Peter Adams
“Actually, I’m not all that interested in the subject of photography. Once the picture is in the box, I’m not all that interested in what happens next. Hunters, after all, aren’t cooks.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson
“Pay no attention to what the critics say. A statue has never been erected in honor of a critic.” - Jean Sibelius
“There is no such thing as a perfect image, only a perfect moment.” - Joe Buissink
“If you obey all the rules, you’ll miss all the fun.” - Katherine Hepburn
“Give a soul to your Photography, it will give a purpose to your Art.” - Artisan de l’Image (1957-????)
“A camera has interesting ideas of its own.” - John Szarkowski
Tagore
Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.
By plucking her petals, you do not gather the beauty of the flower.
Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.
Trees are Earth's endless effort to speak to the listening heaven.
We live in the world when we love it.
I will meet one day the Life within me, the joy that hides in my life, though the days perplex my path with their idle dust.
I have known it in glimpses, and its fitful breath has come upon me, making my thoughts fragrant for a while.
I will meet one day the Joy without me that dwells behind the screen of light—and will stand in the overflowing solitude where all things are seen as by their creator.
By plucking her petals, you do not gather the beauty of the flower.
Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.
Trees are Earth's endless effort to speak to the listening heaven.
We live in the world when we love it.
I will meet one day the Life within me, the joy that hides in my life, though the days perplex my path with their idle dust.
I have known it in glimpses, and its fitful breath has come upon me, making my thoughts fragrant for a while.
I will meet one day the Joy without me that dwells behind the screen of light—and will stand in the overflowing solitude where all things are seen as by their creator.
to be slowly born
“A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
“We all have two lives: The true, the one we dreamed of in childhood and go on dreaming of as adults in a substratum of mist; the false, the one we love when we live with others, the practical, the useful, the one we end up by being put in a coffin.” - Fernando Pessoa
"You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it." - NumandisArt
DON’T TRY SO HARD TO FIT IN, WHEN YOU WERE BORN TO STAND OUT
To see a world in a grain of sand
And heaven in a wild flower
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.
“We all have two lives: The true, the one we dreamed of in childhood and go on dreaming of as adults in a substratum of mist; the false, the one we love when we live with others, the practical, the useful, the one we end up by being put in a coffin.” - Fernando Pessoa
"You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it." - NumandisArt
DON’T TRY SO HARD TO FIT IN, WHEN YOU WERE BORN TO STAND OUT
To see a world in a grain of sand
And heaven in a wild flower
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
feeling rules
Feeling rules are socially shared norms that influence how we want to try to feel emotions in given social relations. This concept was introduced by sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild in 1979.
Feelings are not simply emotional reactions that are privately experienced by the individual. Feelings are social expressions of the emotional state of the
individual. Feeling rules are emotional guides that are socially specific. We know feeling rules are present when we question our own emotions, when we are asked to give an account of our feelings by another, or when we are chastised by another. Feeling rules are differentially distributed by social status, class, and most importantly by gender—there are different feeling expectations based on group membership. Women in particular are required to do more emotional work, including commercialized emotion work.
Sources: Wikipedia; Hochschild, A. (1979). Emotion work, feeling rules, and social structure; Hochschild, A. (1983). The managed heart: Commercialization of human feeling.
Feelings are not simply emotional reactions that are privately experienced by the individual. Feelings are social expressions of the emotional state of the
individual. Feeling rules are emotional guides that are socially specific. We know feeling rules are present when we question our own emotions, when we are asked to give an account of our feelings by another, or when we are chastised by another. Feeling rules are differentially distributed by social status, class, and most importantly by gender—there are different feeling expectations based on group membership. Women in particular are required to do more emotional work, including commercialized emotion work.
Sources: Wikipedia; Hochschild, A. (1979). Emotion work, feeling rules, and social structure; Hochschild, A. (1983). The managed heart: Commercialization of human feeling.
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