Expressions: A unique and basic characteristic of Human being, which makes every human beautiful...

Inbetween the heavy winds during the cyclone on 1-22-11. Imagine this forlorn creature singing the Rolling Stones song "Gimme Shelter", then take a look at the video on the right.

 

POEM PARKING LOT

 

MOONLIGHT

 

Moonlight softens a multitude of sins.

Glows delicately, soft, not blazing, just

Reflecting. Shines a gentler light on things.

Reminds us that we’re not really as hard

As we pretend. Let the fragile side of

Yourself out of its shell, enjoy the night

Sky’s splendor. Make time for someone

Special to you. Moonlight reminds us

How precious calm can be, that we

Needn’t spend each moment in a flurry.

How we’re meant to do more than just

Fight our way through existence, either

Conquering or breaking free. Sometimes

It’s clear how all this conflict is just so

Much invention, mostly needless. Leave

All of that alone for now. Let moonlight

Remind you how in the midst of all we

Resist there’s still a natural wonder it’s

No sin to give in to.

 

HOT PLATE

 

That which can’t be spoken of in honorable

Terms. That which has been declared off-

Limits, old business, trashed, abused,

Treated like something of no value. No use.

Responsibility dropped like a hot plate that

Ought to shatter but doesn’t. Hear it clang

Like an unwanted gong ringing awareness

You haven’t forgotten and never will. Try

Harder? Smash it to pieces like you wish

You could smash the pain into dust for the

Next wind? Passionate as it might appear,

Destroying plates as some kind of display

Seems so undignified. Unnecessary to

Victimize the kitchenware. Angrily, sadly,

This kitchen reeks of indignity already, and

It’s not the dishes’ fault. Silly old fashioned

Me, I thought we were supposed to value

That which doesn’t break.

 

SEEDS

 

A burger would look barmy claiming to

Be a cow. Potatoes grow in the ground,

Not potato chips. Oranges grow in

Florida, but orange juice comes from

A factory. Metal comes from the earth,

But your car, mostly metal, didn’t just

Drive up from some garage under the

Surface. That laptop facilitating your

Interaction with the world is mostly

Plastic, which comes these days from

Corn, but nobody credits the corn for

Social networking. The whole point is

No matter who or what we come from,

Life changes us into something separate,

Distinct, different, new called ourselves.

When this happens with natural things,

We say it’s so great, but when it happens

With people, for some it’s a sign of the

End times. Maybe not all transformation

Is good, but can you think of anything

Worse than none at all? So we needn’t

See ourselves as betrayers if we stray

From our roots – that’s what seeds do.

It’s moving forward, not ending. Worry

Not, beloved sisters and brothers, time

Won’t end till you’ve paid off your debts,

Which we all know will never happen.

 

UGLY

 

You say my poems sound like they’re

Afraid to go somewhere ugly? As if

Ugliness, that decreasingly vague

Sense of threat, needs any more

Expression – just turn on the news.

Watch people struggling, starving,

Stealing, raping, destroying, killing

For no good reason, but our steady

Diet of violence has made us numb

To others suffering. Ugly enough?

Certain social entities want you

Convinced the world’s a dangerous

And ugly place, because conveniently

They have a solution to sell you,

Provided you sign up for their program.

Fear and ugliness do good business,

So they’d prefer you forget there’s

A way that’s free. You don’t need a

Program to appreciate beauty.That’s

All someone like me tries to remind

People of. Ugliness is the wolf at

My door, and my means or resistance

Is to reach all I can for harmony before

I’m consumed too by some ugly hunger.

In the midst of so much ugliness,

Embracing what’s beautiful is almost

An act of subversion. I want to subvert,

With a passion.

 

INVENT

 

When you invent me in your mind as

Someone you can’t trust, can’t open

Up to, can’t reach out to, can’t relate

To, can’t use period, it’s too bad you’re

Not writing for Hollywood. When you

Assume a whole ideology, value system,

Attitude, belief, sensibility and you

Attribute it to me without even asking,

That’s an astounding leap of faith and

Confidence in your own convictions

I wish you’d save for your religion.

Good thing you’re not as convinced

You can walk on water or part the

Red Sea as you are that you have me

All figured out.

 

REASONS

 

Some reasons are like weeds, you think

You’re rid of them but the just spring

Back up. The longer you leave them the

More they take over. Dealing with them

Is the price you pay for having a garden.

I guess you’d classify this type of reason

As doubts. Other reasons are like trees,

Standing tall no matter what nasty acts

Of nature take place. With age, they

Attain a certain height, and can shelter

Other living things. I guess you’d refer

To this type of reason as faith. Stranger

Reasons are like cactus, living where

Most life would die, protecting what’s

Precious under sharp thorns but unable

To reach out or be reached without

Hurting. If you want to reach them, it’s

Going to hurt. I can’t decide whether

To call these reasons cynicism, damages,

Or life insurance. Maybe all three.

 

SO PURE

 

I really should resolve to market

Myself more effectively. Problem is,

I’ve got this deep seated conviction

That it’s classier to just give things

Away. This sort of begs the question

As to whether anyone genuinely

Values that which they’re just given.

So tell me, would you take my poetry

More seriously if you had to pay for it?

Think carefully – my future creativity

Could be riding on your answer. And

Truthfully, the only reason I need

Money is to stop worrying about it.

So how is it I’m not prospering

When my intentions are so pure?

 

TRADE SECRET

 

Do you wonder where all these

Poems come from? Well, it’s

Simple. I have a Good Angel on

One shoulder and a Bad Angel

On the other, both vying for

My attention, to be the one

Taken seriously, establish

Credibility, each whispering

Profound, provocative, pure,

Soily, sacred, profane, mystical,

Physical, sexual, intellectual,

Spiritual, selfless, selfish, true,

False, angry, forgiving, gentle,

Devoted, demented, violent,

Me me me and you you you

Influences on my outlook from

Moment to moment. Poems

Are what’s left over when the

Crossfire momentarily ceases.

 

HOMES

 

I feel at home in more than one place.

There’s the home where I was born, the

Home where I live, and the homes I’ve

Discovered and return to when I can.

No ambivalence about my citizenship,

But I’ve left a little bit of myself and

Taken with me something from all the

Different places I’ve called home, even

If only for a few days. They’re all part of

Me now, regardless of where my feet

Kick back at any moment, just like you

Don’t have to be right beside someone

To love them deeply, even if you wish

You could be. That’s why, contrary to

Appearances, I don’t think of this at all

As an exile.

 

DRAMATIC BAGGAGE

 

Maybe I was left in front of the TV

At too early an age. I didn’t just

Watch the shows, I felt them too.

(What else is a good show supposed

To make you do?) That’s my earliest

Impression of human conflict and

Resolution. Now I wonder whether

Unconsciously I still expect everything

To be too black and white like our old

TV, too cut and dried. In theory I’m

Aware of complexity, but emotionally

It’s a different story – if my feelings

You’re engaged, you’re either a hero

Or a villain. Villains must be punished

Or defeated for heroes to come out

Shining before the last commercial. I

Know that’s distorted, but we don’t

Just think about people, we feel them

Too. So if you’re going to get dramatic,

Know that all it does is warm the tubes

Of my old TV feelings that never leave,

Just leave more dramatic baggage than

I know how to handle. As a child, to me

Everyone on TV seemed so much more

Alive, but involvement with them was

Just something you could always turn

Off anytime you liked.

 

TRAVELING

 

Traveling is my freedom and my prison,

My choice as well as my inescapable

Fate. Like a shark starts to fade if it

Doesn't circulate, I need to move. In

The shadows between one location

And the next, there's somewhere all

Is still, my only moments of peace.

It's not just arriving, not just leaving,

But the movement between that keeps

The weeds and vines from encircling,

Enclosing. Can you ever really be

Close to someone who won't stay

Put? Yes. Be a partner, not an

Anchor.

 

WHAT A DOG

 

Dog with a bone can’t let go. For all

He knows, it’s dog nirvana. Canine

Heaven made flesh (or in this case

Bone). Never seen him so fully

Committed, or willing to lay down

His life to protect what’s so precious

To him. Never seen him so happy,

Wagging his tail at its sight, gamboling

Like he thinks he’s a lamb, savoring its

Taste, aroused by its scent, licking

Tongue expressing the depths of his

Affection, barking baritone love songs

Of faith and devotion. Playing with it

Like each moment they have together

Is golden. Makes you wonder how they

Ever did without one another. They’re

Partners till he’s gnawed the last of

The marrow from its insides. When

It loses its special appeal, dog thinks

Nothing of moving on to the next one.

What a dog.

 

DREAMS

 

In their isolation, inhabitants of tiny

Islands, known to and knowing only

Themselves, weave mythologies that

Map their location as the center of

The universe, of creation, of time.

Dwarves who don’t know better

Think they’re giants. Same with

Dreams – won’t acknowledge limits

If they don’t have to, sometimes

Growing big enough to think they

Can depose reality. Poor dreamer,

Then, what mutiny must brew in

Your soul. For we know how reality

Has taken many a battering, but

Always is the one left standing

Because dreams seldom outlive

The dreamers. Through rebellion

Is more romantic, at least in teen

Novels, dreams might do better to

Treat reality more politely, to make

Their pleas free of expectation reality

Will listen, just with a humble hope

Reality might point the way to truth

Just as real as it was in your dream.

 

GUESS

 

No more guesses. Nothing brings on

A flood of bad emotions like feeling

With all your being that you’re right

Then realizing you’ve simply guessed

Wrong. Maybe the more something

Means to you personally the less

Clearly you can really see it. There’s

A time to be objective, and a time to

Follow your heart and dive right in.

Too bad sometimes we can only

Guess which is which. I feel like I

Dove into a pool that turned out to

Be empty. The water was imaginary,

Unlike the concrete. So please, don’t

Expect me to guess. If you want me

To believe you, first believe in what

You want to convey enough to say it

Face to face.

 

BEATNIK MOSQUITOES

 

Poems are like mosquitoes drunk on the

Blood of a nicotine addict such as moi,

Haphazardly careening in circular flight,

Their mission - inner space exploration,

Little bitty buzzings sounding like jazz

Saxophones soundtracking beatnik

Free verse, these insect Allen Ginsburgs,

Improvising wildly like a Dixieland band.

Jazz poetry from beatnik mosquitoes

Drunk on my blood - how beautiful!

 

SLAP

 

Poems are like mosquitoes, flying

Around sucking on people’s feelings,

Spreading disease, making you

Itch, disrupting your sleep,

Inspiring a good slap or two.

 

WHEN WE WERE NORMAL

 

Inter-generational conflict rendered

Me less than at my best for a long time.

I resigned myself to the reality that my

Elders were clueless and my peers were

Crazy. By necessity, I kept a foot in both

Camps, but my head and heart were

Somewhere else. It’s all cooled off by

Now, but the cynicism I got from the

Bad years has stayed with me like an

Unwanted tattoo. Worse is the feeling

That while now-meaningless battles

Consumed our thoughts, something

Slipped by us. We still see the world

Like we did when we were normal,

But that was a long, long time ago.

 

POOR OLD ROBOT

 

Poor old robot from a second hand

Robot store. Can’t find your parts

Anymore, can’t find your owner.

Poor old robot, feeling outmoded,

Knowing your warranty expired

Yesterday but refusing to just sit

Around and decay. Poor old robot,

All your friends in the junkyard,

Sadly mute, reminding you of a

More animated past. Poor old

Robot, wanting to be helpful but

Only speaking Chinese, confusing

The elderly and frightening the

Young. Poor old robot, short-circuiting

Your own speakers issuing distorted

Robot moans about how nobody

Appreciates you, sounding more

Annoying than rap (in Chinese)

Through a broken boom box. Poor

Old robot, voice of every invention

First coveted greedily then tossed

Aside casually as soon as there’s a

Newer version. Poor old robot,

Wishing you could take your metallic

Hands and throttle whoever saddled

You with this limited lifespan. Poor

Old robot, I want to shoot you just

To shut you up, but you look at me

With those tortured robot eyes and

It scares me how easily I can relate.

 

DUSK

 

Dusk, and the day’s content to let

Its light relax and fade. There’s

Still work to be done, but for now

That’s enough. Now day and night,

Opposites but still ideal partners,

Do their changing of the guard at

Dusk. Then the light disappears,

No one knows where to and no

One asks. After all it does for us,

It’s entitled to its privacy. There’s

A time to shine as bright as you can,

And a time to do nothing more than

Enjoy being alive. In the long run,

It’s the steadiness that counts,

Finding a comfortable rhythm that

Won’t grind you down. Day and

Night split their time equally. We

Should learn from that balance.

 

DEVIL’S TOOLS

 

During the bad years I was judged

Constantly, even for things I’d never

Actually done. No one can justify

Another’s pretensions, no matter

How well-intended, but there was

Still some expectation the prodigal

Son might turn out to be a golden

Boy after all. When that didn’t

Happen, they imagined the worst.

Someone’s anger stings no less

Just because you know it’s based

On a mistake – the real sting is

What they’d believe about you.

Wrong ideas, in the minds of

People firmly convinced they

Can’t be anything but right, are

The devil’s tools for dismantling

Families.

 

AUSTIN

 

Take me with you back to Austin – I’m not

Understood here, much less appreciated.

Here, I have to sing in a language I can’t

Speak. In Austin, I can sing in English, and

I’ll learn as much Spanish as I have to. In

That kind of milieu, they'd more likely take

Me to heart. Here, I get shot down just

For showing I care, and if anyone cares

For me, they’ll be damned before they’d

Admit it. Austin might find me more

Socially acceptable, value my cultural

Contribution more highly than my home

Town Lilliputians. Plus I’ll make you money –

Be my manager. Austin’s feminist enough

For a woman Colonel Parker. I can be like

Your Mexican, except I’m a citizen. So it

Makes perfect sense economically, socially,

Emotionally and culturally that you take

Me with you back to Austin, home of the

Armadillo. I really can do better, but not

Here, where every time I open my mouth

I remind everyone they didn’t invent music.

 

INOTE: You know who Colonel Parker is, right? In case you're clueless, Colonel Parker was Elvis' manager. See, reading my poems is very educational.)

 

CALI PHONE YA

 

I will miss you, sprawling industrial district.

You too, cold winds at night. You too,

Mall after mall, all the same stores. You

Too, people everywere on cells, lost in

One way conversations for all appearances.

You too, healthy, skinny, multi-ethnic

Residients reminding me to diet. You too,

Radio where they play what they like,

Acoustic western swing for cruising. You

Too, old people acting young. You too,

Redemption tickets at Indian gambling

Palaces, payback for white wrongs. You

Too, taquerias on wheels, food names I

can't pronounce. You too, tall eucalyptus

Straddling the highway. California, land of

Great distances. Spent half my time here

Driving. Almost always worth it. A week

Here is like a month at home. Gotta say

Bye before I flame out, die of fun.

 

IN FRONT OF STORES

 

In old Samoa they would sit around

The fire at night. Now boys sit in front

Of stores from twilight till closing time.

One of the side effects of society based

On industry and wages is boys with

Nowhere better to go than bus stops

Or store parking lots. They have homes

They can’t go to, parents they can’t be

Around. What kind of adults will they

Become, growing up feeling like home

And family have to be avoided? For the

Sake of our future, every adolescent

Should be asked to think about the

Questions: what should a family be,

And how does it turn into something

You want to run from?

 

STICKS AND LEAVES

 

Once upon a time the two had a

Mansion. One they didn’t have to

Earn, but came to them naturally.

Then, for reasons that vary

Depending on who’s explaining,

Their mansion lay in ruins. What

Are their options? They could say,

It doesn’t matter, we’ll make a

Shelter of sticks and leaves, and it

Will do as long as we’re together,

Or they could turn their attention

Separately to other mansions that

Just happen to have an empty room

And role they could easily fill. Sounds

Cold, I know, but you’d be surprised

How many would go for it given the

Circumstances. One day you may

Have to choose between insisting

On the mansion class at any cost,

Or accepting when you have

Nothing but sticks and leaves left

With someone, and saying it’s a

Start, not the end.

 

WALL

 

Quite a big wall to keep out

Just one person, don’t you

Think? Oh right, the wall’s

Not for me, not a message.

It’s for vampires, werewolves,

Traveling salesmen, Santa,

Elves, reindeer, postmen

With colds and girls scouts

Trying to push their cookies

On you. What’s sad about

Walls is what can’t get out,

Not just what can’t get in.

What if a rainbow ends on

The other side, with a pot

Of gold that’s yours for the

Taking, but you can’t get

Over your own wall?

 

ROADRUNNER

 

Too fast to be caught, never held

Back, I wanted to be Roadrunner.

A life of highways to explore at full

Speed. Grant me the freedom to

Travel and I’m happy. Take it all in,

And take off running before you’re

Tied to anything or anyone. Beep,

Beep, moving on. I wanted to be

Roadrunner – life in the fast lane.

Amazing it lasted as long as it did.

Sad I’d finally find someone I’d

Love to run with right when fate

Has forced me to hit the brakes.

It’s clear each time you beep beep

By like you don’t even know me –

I wanted to be Roadrunner, but

Ended up Coyote.

 

DEATH SENTENCE

 

I think I know what’s going to

Kill me – stupidity. Involuntary

Meditative state 24/7 where

The mantra is, “That was stupid.”

Stupidity is relative, therefore

Relatives are stupid.

 

OBJECTS

 

Objects have a history. Objects

Could tell stories, given where

They’ve been and what they’ve

Seen, but instead they must sit

Mute and just watch. Objects

Are a paradox – they’ve never

Had what we’d describe as life

And yet they’ll still be here long

After us, and in fact they’ll be

Here forever until someone

Destroys them. To remember us,

Those still here will preserve our

Objects. But that’s nothing like

The kind of interaction it would

Be with us in person, is it? So

Better interact now, and not be

Shy about it either. It’s sort of

The movements of our akimbo

Limbs, and sort of the yappings

Of our colorful tongues, and

Sort of many other things, but

Mostly it’s the sweet essence

Of life itself that makes us more

Than just objects.

 

DISCLOSURE

 

My own point of view is

Hopelessly biased – there,

I admit it. I put it out there

Anyway because… Well,

Why not? The worst that

Can happen is you think

I’m delusional. Yep, like

Zillions of others, like the

Wavering masses. like

You too in many ways.

The best that can happen

Is that you know we’re

Really thinking the same

Thing, or not far from it.

That means something.

What? I don’t know, it’s

Always still unwritten.

Anything you want, and

Hopefully nothing you

Don’t. Just for the record,

Thank you for your time

And kind attention. That’s

Today’s disclosure.

 

ART FILM

 

Strangest movie you’ve ever seen,

But hey, this is an art film not some

Hollywood product. Human voices

Narrate, but people have no presence

Onscreen. Objects and images stand

As visual metaphors for the story, as if

These better convey something literal

Action or even narration can’t. The

Silhouette of a village sticking up

Through a forest evokes home existing

Only in memory. Railroad tracks and

Nearby debris symbolize childhood

Displacement. Changing light on photos

Indicates the passage of time. Lives are

Represented by bottles floating on

The sea. When its 15 minutes are up,

A buzz in the audience ensues. An

Esteemed panel of judges seems

Speechless, muttering terms like

“Startling”, “innovative”, and “rich in

“Emotion”. The filmmakers just say

That’s what happens when you don’t

Have a budget and you’ve never made

A film, you just really want to, when

You don’t know what you’re doing but

You’re not about to let a minor detail

Like that stop you.

 

TELL OF WONDERS

 

If I could tell of wonders, I’d write

The stories here, not to bring me

Glory by association, but to share

My best. Because this is all I can

Share with you until things change,

The only way I can talk to you. If I

Could tell of wonders, I would, but

Most of my stories are rather

Mundane, just people dealing

With day to day life, sometimes

Discovering themselves through

Each other, sometimes catching

Just a glimpse of something bigger

That ties the mysteries together.

 

THE WORD MUSIC

 

The word music is closely related to

The word muse, the reason why

Writers write. The act of writing is

Seen as petitioning fate to intervene

In the hopes your muse will view you

Favorably. Music does the same with

Sound. Notes carry messages words

Can’t. Music, as a word, is not far

From magic. Music works an alchemy

Of its own - let it in and it'll take you

Somewhere. Resist and you’ll get

Noise instead of enjoyment. In those

Moments when music sings to the

Soul, a meaning you needn’t think

About comes through, as if on an

Invisible wire. It’s an open secret

Known to anyone who listens and

Feels, and doesn’t just analyze in

A vacuum. If music doesn’t prove

There’s magic, it at least reminds

That you get out of something what

You put in.

 

STRAYS

 

Our dogs simply want something

To eat. They were never farmers

In the first place, but hunters

Who’ve forgotten they ever had

That skill, defenders with nothing

Left to defend but the few scraps

They can pilfer from our leftovers.

More often they go hungry in their

Learned dependence on generosity.

They once served a worthwhile

Purpose for someone or other,

Once had a part in our functioning,

But now they’re strays, deprived of

A livelihood. They’d be more than

Happy to work hard for a crumb of

Your kindness just to survive, living

By their wits but unaware of their

Place in the bigger picture, and not

Caring either.

 

DELICATE

 

Can you pull your weeds without

Ruining your garden? Careful, most

Beautiful things are delicate, you

Can’t just slash and burn, as much

As you hate the weeds. Delicate

Things require patience and care,

But look what happiness they bring

Nature is delicate. Life is delicate.

Our deepest feelings are delicate.

How ironic, then, that even apes

Can have more patience and care

Than man, who finds delicacy

Inferior to efficiency, and wants

To slash and burn his way through

Everything, including people.

 

UNLESS YOU’RE THE POPE

 

So, are you convinced you can’t be

Forgiven, or just too proud to ask?

It’s pretty arrogant to forgive

Someone who even hasn’t asked

For it, unless you’re the Pope and

Really in a hurry. And if someone

Has the guts to ask, it’s pretty

Heartless to make them grovel,

Unless you want to convince them

They shouldn’t have bothered.

 

CLUELESS

 

Hey, pretend you’re a priest while

I make a confession – I’m clueless.

My memory’s ok, but as far as

Processing what those memories

Mean, forget it. I’ve been turned

Around more than once, and no

Sooner do I finish feeling dizzy than

I start feeling clueless. Meanings

Seem to have shifted, signs signify

Differently. It’s all unfamiliar again

To me. I’m blank – will you fill me in?

Maybe my sensibilities just reflect

An earlier time with a different

Notion of what doing right means,

A different approach. But in the

Here and know, I know how my

Cluelessness must appear to you

As if the dinosaurs never left.

 

EXPOSED

 

Eyeballs with wings, following us around

As if we’re breaking news, walking sitcoms,

Like our every moment captured can be

Used for selling ads. We’re never wanting

For an audience. Eyeballs with wings,

Posing as innocent bystanders, trying to

Blend in with the birds, swarming in our

Moments of embarrassment like locusts,

Thinking here’s a good one for prime time

Tonight. Eyeballs with wings, all-seeing, no

Heart for understanding. Disdaining eyes,

Ready to bear witness to anything they

Find suspicious. Wish I could shoot them

From the sky, find out if they’re capable

Of tears, but they’re in my head. Eyeballs

With wings, hanging upside down like bats

Outside my bedroom. Even when no one

Wants to know, I still walk around feeling

Exposed.

 

PORTRAIT

 

I suppose if you put all the poems

Together, a certain portrait might

Emerge. An attitude embedded in

The language, values suggested

By the style. But don’t be fooled –

Let an artist paint themselves and

It’ll be the most distorted portrait

You could ask for. Expression can

Be a defense, an elaborate disguise,

Pure fiction, the occasional naked

Truth. I must confess to reveling in

The freedom of never being sure if

I’m taken seriously. Gives me room

To evolve, explore, experiment.

If I ever touch your sensibilities

In some way, I’m truly flattered,

But it’s an accident. My thought

Collisions occasionally summon a

Connection rather than an ambulance.

Were a truly accurate portrait to

Crawl from the wreckage of my

Pages, you’d see a shell shocked

Crash test dummy, mangled, head

Backwards, heart sideways, limbs

Akimbo, lips fixed in a grimace,

Jumping right into the next car.

 

LION TAMER

 

Taming lions, do you need a circus

Mind? A grasp of animal psychology?

The talent to get them to trust you

Above their own instincts? Can they

Unlearn what another nasty trainer

Has whipped into them, once he’s

Manipulated their wants and needs

To make them behave his way?

Make them feel they’re safe not

Biting the head off anyone who

Doesn’t give them exactly what

They expect? Don’t be like a lion

Trained by the Romans to tear

Apart criminals, deviants and

Religious dissidents to entertain a

Bloodthirsty colosseum audience.

 

BURRITO

 

What gets folded-into our story?

What doesn’t? Our story is like a

Burrito – by themselves the

Ingredients would make one big

Mess, cross no-fly zones, riot on

The plate, stain your clothes, soil

The floor. However, these same

Ingredients, when something holds

Them in one place, create an

Unexpected combination of tastes,

Rendered in the burrito’s case all

The more palatable by a Nobel

Prize-worthy masterpiece of

Culinary engineering, a design

With equally valid practical,

Cultural and gastronomical

Qualities. What we think wasn’t

Meant to co-exist in one dish

Somehow does - with willingness

And creativity, and a good salsa

Always helps. Every burrito across

The USA at this very moment

Stands as a testament to what

Hunger and ingenuity can do.

 

COLUMBUS

 

History is great – I’m re-learning it all

The time. Like the little-known fact

That besides collecting information

For maps, Columbus also collected

Several hundred Indians to take

Home and sell as slaves. Well, how

Else was he supposed to pay for the

Trip? And besides, in exchange for a

Few hundred slaves, not all of whom

Even made it to Europe, look what

We got. No Columbus, no Las Vegas.

No Seattle. No Boise, Idaho. No Alamo,

No Annie Oakley, no Little Big Horn, no

George Washington, no Ben Franklin.

No Star Spangled Banner. No Civil War,

No Blues, no Jazz, no Rock & Roll. No

Lincoln, no Lincoln Center. No Pearl

Harbor, no 9-11, no Boston Tea Party,

No Boston Strangler, no McDonalds.

No Margaret Mitchell, no Margaret

Mead, no Miley Cyrus. No Fox News.

No American Idol, no FBI, no Civil Rights.

None of this and more would ever have

Come to pass if it hadn’t been for

Columbus. You wouldn’t even be here,

So hey, just let the slave thing slide.

 

TELEVISION

 

Television, you pampered only child

Of an arranged marriage between

Hollywood and Wall Street. Television,

Shaping our culture while taping its

Mouth shut and binding its hands.

Television, who do your represent,

Anyway? Am I no longer in tune with

Society since you don’t make sense?

Television, aimed at some imaginary

America where everyone takes your

Word on what’s worth buying and

Believing. Television, you’re teaching

Escape. Television, your signals go

Out into space. Alien races are curious

About you, Television, and now firmly

Believe earth’s highest-evolved life

Form motivates and manipulates its

Own masses by dangling desired

Material items and idealized states

Of being in front of them like you’d

Dangle a carrot in front of a donkey.

 

RIVERBOAT

 

Flowing on the slow river of time,

Before you know it you’ve come

Farther than you believed possible.

Whenever this river seems about

To end, it’s only changing, following

A way passed down from the ages.

Why stray from a proven route?

Someone once told me there’s an

Ocean where all rivers meet, where

Their long travels end, but curiously,

Rivers take their sweet time keeping

The appointment. Who’s in a hurry?

We’ll arrive when it’s time. Until

Then, the river is single-mined,

Stopping everywhere, staying

Nowhere, enticing us with a free

One-way ticket. The river wants us

To mix, discover what’s out there.

Learn from and love every moment

On the water. We’re lucky we can

Join this voyage even for a short

Time, and few among us have

Passage all the way to its end.

 

PANIC

 

Calm serenity is an illusion, but shout

That lie as loud as you can because the

Truth is panic. As soon as we’re out of

The womb, we’re screaming. As soon

As whatever situation we’re in starts

Spinning out of control, we’re right back

To the panic we reacted with as soon as

We opened our eyes. And not just babies.

No one wants the pressure of keeping it

All together, but who will prevent our

Serenity from descending into anarchy

If not ourselves? Calm serenity reminds

Us of Heaven, a place within us where it

Doesn’t seem like it could all blow apart

Any second. We need that thought to

Deal with the world, keep reminding

The deaf public and dumb governments

There’s always a better solution than

Bombs. Calm serenity is an illusion, so

Forgive me for cultivating dishonesty –

I’m just trying not to panic.

 

BETRAYAL

 

If I talk about betrayal, it doesn’t

Mean I’m talking about you, just

About the thousand ways you can

Feel betrayed. I know it doesn’t do

Any good to talk about feeling

Betrayed, but every time I’m right

On the brink of being kind for no

Other reason than just to be kind,

That feeling comes creeping back:

You’re gonna get betrayed. Betrayal

Is the risk you take when you give.

If you give in the right way, there’s

A tiny chance you won’t be betrayed,

But it’s really tiny. Much more

Straightforward to be a taker, a

Heartbreaker, a bastard, a user.

You can’t be betrayed if you just

Don’t care. Might as well betray

Someone else before they do it

To you. Betrayal is a parachute

For those who can’t stand feeling

Trapped, held back. Betrayal is a

Cancer in the marrow of our

Society and personal lives, eating

The blood cells faith needs. Betrayal

Goes back to the Bible – Judas might

Have been forgiven for his betrayal,

But I’m not so saintly.

 

FOR MARIE ANTOINETTE

 

If you doubt the power of propaganda,

Consider this. Marie Antoinette, one of

History’s coldest, most heartless bitches,

Once famously remarked that peasants

Starving for bread could eat cake instead.

This immortal utterance, which so well

Characterizes corruption, anywhere,

Anytime, guarantees that Marie won’t

Soon be forgotten. Imagine my surprise,

Then, when I read that there’s actually

No concrete evidence she really said it!

That historians consider the source of

The quote highly unreliable! A tabloid,

No less. Louis and Marie apparently

Believed in freedom of the press, but

As is still so often the case, attacking

The unpopular sold copies. Therefore,

Exaggerations and lies about the

Monarchy were commonplace. But so

What? With a quote so memorable,

Questions of legitimacy are secondary.

Still, imagine going down in history for

Something you never actually said!

History has force fed Marie that very

Same cake allegedly recommended

To the peasants.

 

R.I.P. LOU REED

 

The different don’t feel so different

Anymore, not like they used to, not

Like when they had to deny the very

Idea of their natures. The different had

Lou Reed to sing for them. Lou didn’t

Pander for shock value, he just figured

He’d get real, real for him, maybe real

Too for others out there in dark corners,

The margins, the gutters, the alleys, the

Toilets, the jails, the mental hospitals.

This was when being a freak wasn’t chic,

It was dangerous, could cost you your

Life. Sometimes Lou didn’t mind who

He offended, other times he cloaked

His real meanings in clever language,

But no one could probe as deeply into

The taboo shadows of our collective

Psyche with the same boldness or

With as much humanity. That’s what

I’ll remember Lou for, his humanity,

His occasional tenderness, his trying

To find the heart in life’s confusions,

His frequent rubbing of life’s seediest

Sides in your face. He had his own face

Rubbed in it too, but turned the smears

Into part of his costume for the role of

Bard of the forbidden, anarchist of

Sexuality giving all the rejects a voice.

 

TONGUE TIED

 

Tongue tied, falling right into a

Role I’m not sure how to play.

Tongue tied, no idea how to

Say what I’m thinking, it might

Be impolite, not to your liking.

Tongue tied, talking around

The subject, trying to say it

Indirectly.Tongue tied, wanting

So bad for the words to sound

Right that they won’t come out

At all. Tongue tied, silently

Screaming.

 

IT’S MY JOB

 

You can deny my love if it’s

Not what you want, refuse it

If it’s not good enough, just

Doesn’t move you. You have

Every right by your own free

Will. I just feel like, right or

Wrong, good or bad, happy

Or sad, wise or foolish, it’s

Just my job to let you know

Somebody loves you. No one

Said anything about you

Having to accept it.

 

REINCARNATION

 

With every person you’ve ever felt

A passion for, you create a child in

The spiritual world. You may meet

Them there, before or after their

Turn comes to be made real, born

As human. How else to explain why

A poet from a thousand years ago

Reminds me of someone I only met

Yesterday, or why grandparents

Sometimes make more sense than

Mom and dad, or why someone

You rarely even see can still fill you

With both joy and sadness longer

Than time itself whenever you

Think of them?

 

MORE NEXT DOOR ("CYCLONE SCENE 2")

Backside of their boxes :)

Legong is a form of Balinese dance. It is a refined dance form characterized by intricate finger movements, complicated footwork, and expressive gestures and facial expressions.

 

An extremely basic definition of legong is a dance traditionally performed by pre-pubescent girls in the palaces of feudal Bali.

 

One translation is that the word is made up of two words. Lega meaning happy and Ing wong meaning person – put them together and you get: “something that makes people happy”. Another one is oleg meaning dance and gong meaning gamelan, the music that accompanies the dance.

 

Legong probably originated in the 19th century as royal entertainment. Today the most common legong dance is Legong Keraton, so named by the Sultanate of Keraton Surakarta when the music and dance composer and genius I Wayan Lotring from Kuta was invited to perform in the 1920s with his Gamelan Pelegongan group in the keraton (palace) in Surakarta.

 

___________________________________________

 

Bali is an island and province of Indonesia. The province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nusa Ceningan. It is located at the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. Its capital of Denpasar is located at the southern part of the island.

 

With a population of 3,890,757 in the 2010 census, and 4,225,000 as of January 2014, the island is home to most of Indonesia's Hindu minority. According to the 2010 Census, 83.5% of Bali's population adhered to Balinese Hinduism, followed by 13.4% Muslim, Christianity at 2.5%, and Buddhism 0.5%.

 

Bali is a popular tourist destination, which has seen a significant rise in numbers since the 1980s. It is renowned for its highly developed arts, including traditional and modern dance, sculpture, painting, leather, metalworking, and music. The Indonesian International Film Festival is held every year in Bali.

 

Bali is part of the Coral Triangle, the area with the highest biodiversity of marine species. In this area alone over 500 reef building coral species can be found. For comparison, this is about 7 times as many as in the entire Caribbean. There is a wide range of dive sites with high quality reefs, all with their own specific attractions. Many sites can have strong currents and swell, so diving without a knowledgeable guide is inadvisable. Most recently, Bali was the host of the 2011 ASEAN Summit, 2013 APEC and Miss World 2013.

 

HISTORY

ANCIENT

Bali was inhabited around 2000 BC by Austronesian people who migrated originally from Southeast Asia and Oceania through Maritime Southeast Asia. Culturally and linguistically, the Balinese are closely related to the people of the Indonesian archipelago, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Oceania. Stone tools dating from this time have been found near the village of Cekik in the island's west.

 

In ancient Bali, nine Hindu sects existed, namely Pasupata, Bhairawa, Siwa Shidanta, Waisnawa, Bodha, Brahma, Resi, Sora and Ganapatya. Each sect revered a specific deity as its personal Godhead.

 

Inscriptions from 896 and 911 don't mention a king, until 914, when Sri Kesarivarma is mentioned. They also reveal an independent Bali, with a distinct dialect, where Buddhism and Sivaism were practiced simultaneously. Mpu Sindok's great granddaughter, Mahendradatta (Gunapriyadharmapatni), married the Bali king Udayana Warmadewa (Dharmodayanavarmadeva) around 989, giving birth to Airlangga around 1001. This marriage also brought more Hinduism and Javanese culture to Bali. Princess Sakalendukirana appeared in 1098. Suradhipa reigned from 1115 to 1119, and Jayasakti from 1146 until 1150. Jayapangus appears on inscriptions between 1178 and 1181, while Adikuntiketana and his son Paramesvara in 1204.

 

Balinese culture was strongly influenced by Indian, Chinese, and particularly Hindu culture, beginning around the 1st century AD. The name Bali dwipa ("Bali island") has been discovered from various inscriptions, including the Blanjong pillar inscription written by Sri Kesari Warmadewa in 914 AD and mentioning "Walidwipa". It was during this time that the people developed their complex irrigation system subak to grow rice in wet-field cultivation. Some religious and cultural traditions still practised today can be traced to this period.

 

The Hindu Majapahit Empire (1293–1520 AD) on eastern Java founded a Balinese colony in 1343. The uncle of Hayam Wuruk is mentioned in the charters of 1384-86. A mass Javanese emigration occurred in the next century.

 

PORTUGUESE CONTACTS

The first known European contact with Bali is thought to have been made in 1512, when a Portuguese expedition led by Antonio Abreu and Francisco Serrão sighted its northern shores. It was the first expedition of a series of bi-annual fleets to the Moluccas, that throughout the 16th century usually traveled along the coasts of the Sunda Islands. Bali was also mapped in 1512, in the chart of Francisco Rodrigues, aboard the expedition. In 1585, a ship foundered off the Bukit Peninsula and left a few Portuguese in the service of Dewa Agung.

 

DUTCH EAST INDIA

In 1597 the Dutch explorer Cornelis de Houtman arrived at Bali, and the Dutch East India Company was established in 1602. The Dutch government expanded its control across the Indonesian archipelago during the second half of the 19th century (see Dutch East Indies). Dutch political and economic control over Bali began in the 1840s on the island's north coast, when the Dutch pitted various competing Balinese realms against each other. In the late 1890s, struggles between Balinese kingdoms in the island's south were exploited by the Dutch to increase their control.

 

In June 1860 the famous Welsh naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace, travelled to Bali from Singapore, landing at Buleleng on the northcoast of the island. Wallace's trip to Bali was instrumental in helping him devise his Wallace Line theory. The Wallace Line is a faunal boundary that runs through the strait between Bali and Lombok. It has been found to be a boundary between species of Asiatic origin in the east and a mixture of Australian and Asian species to the west. In his travel memoir The Malay Archipelago, Wallace wrote of his experience in Bali:

 

I was both astonished and delighted; for as my visit to Java was some years later, I had never beheld so beautiful and well-cultivated a district out of Europe. A slightly undulating plain extends from the seacoast about ten or twelve miles inland, where it is bounded by a fine range of wooded and cultivated hills. Houses and villages, marked out by dense clumps of coconut palms, tamarind and other fruit trees, are dotted about in every direction; while between them extend luxurious rice-grounds, watered by an elaborate system of irrigation that would be the pride of the best cultivated parts of Europe.

 

The Dutch mounted large naval and ground assaults at the Sanur region in 1906 and were met by the thousands of members of the royal family and their followers who fought against the superior Dutch force in a suicidal puputan defensive assault rather than face the humiliation of surrender. Despite Dutch demands for surrender, an estimated 200 Balinese marched to their death against the invaders. In the Dutch intervention in Bali, a similar massacre occurred in the face of a Dutch assault in Klungkung.

 

AFTERWARD THE DUTCH GOVERNORS

exercised administrative control over the island, but local control over religion and culture generally remained intact. Dutch rule over Bali came later and was never as well established as in other parts of Indonesia such as Java and Maluku.

 

n the 1930s, anthropologists Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, artists Miguel Covarrubias and Walter Spies, and musicologist Colin McPhee all spent time here. Their accounts of the island and its peoples created a western image of Bali as "an enchanted land of aesthetes at peace with themselves and nature." Western tourists began to visit the island.

 

Imperial Japan occupied Bali during World War II. It was not originally a target in their Netherlands East Indies Campaign, but as the airfields on Borneo were inoperative due to heavy rains, the Imperial Japanese Army decided to occupy Bali, which did not suffer from comparable weather. The island had no regular Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) troops. There was only a Native Auxiliary Corps Prajoda (Korps Prajoda) consisting of about 600 native soldiers and several Dutch KNIL officers under command of KNIL Lieutenant Colonel W.P. Roodenburg. On 19 February 1942 the Japanese forces landed near the town of Senoer [Senur]. The island was quickly captured.

 

During the Japanese occupation, a Balinese military officer, Gusti Ngurah Rai, formed a Balinese 'freedom army'. The harshness of war requisitions made Japanese rule more resented than Dutch rule. Following Japan's Pacific surrender in August 1945, the Dutch returned to Indonesia, including Bali, to reinstate their pre-war colonial administration. This was resisted by the Balinese rebels, who now used recovered Japanese weapons. On 20 November 1946, the Battle of Marga was fought in Tabanan in central Bali. Colonel I Gusti Ngurah Rai, by then 29 years old, finally rallied his forces in east Bali at Marga Rana, where they made a suicide attack on the heavily armed Dutch. The Balinese battalion was entirely wiped out, breaking the last thread of Balinese military resistance.

 

INDIPENDENCE FROM THE DUTCH

In 1946, the Dutch constituted Bali as one of the 13 administrative districts of the newly proclaimed State of East Indonesia, a rival state to the Republic of Indonesia, which was proclaimed and headed by Sukarno and Hatta. Bali was included in the "Republic of the United States of Indonesia" when the Netherlands recognised Indonesian independence on 29 December 1949.

 

CONTEMPORARY

The 1963 eruption of Mount Agung killed thousands, created economic havoc and forced many displaced Balinese to be transmigrated to other parts of Indonesia. Mirroring the widening of social divisions across Indonesia in the 1950s and early 1960s, Bali saw conflict between supporters of the traditional caste system, and those rejecting this system. Politically, the opposition was represented by supporters of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and the Indonesian Nationalist Party (PNI), with tensions and ill-feeling further increased by the PKI's land reform programs. An attempted coup in Jakarta was put down by forces led by General Suharto.

 

The army became the dominant power as it instigated a violent anti-communist purge, in which the army blamed the PKI for the coup. Most estimates suggest that at least 500,000 people were killed across Indonesia, with an estimated 80,000 killed in Bali, equivalent to 5% of the island's population. With no Islamic forces involved as in Java and Sumatra, upper-caste PNI landlords led the extermination of PKI members.

 

As a result of the 1965/66 upheavals, Suharto was able to manoeuvre Sukarno out of the presidency. His "New Order" government reestablished relations with western countries. The pre-War Bali as "paradise" was revived in a modern form. The resulting large growth in tourism has led to a dramatic increase in Balinese standards of living and significant foreign exchange earned for the country. A bombing in 2002 by militant Islamists in the tourist area of Kuta killed 202 people, mostly foreigners. This attack, and another in 2005, severely reduced tourism, producing much economic hardship to the island.

 

GEOGRAPHY

The island of Bali lies 3.2 km east of Java, and is approximately 8 degrees south of the equator. Bali and Java are separated by the Bali Strait. East to west, the island is approximately 153 km wide and spans approximately 112 km north to south; administratively it covers 5,780 km2, or 5,577 km2 without Nusa Penida District, its population density is roughly 750 people/km2.

 

Bali's central mountains include several peaks over 3,000 metres in elevation. The highest is Mount Agung (3,031 m), known as the "mother mountain" which is an active volcano rated as one of the world's most likely sites for a massive eruption within the next 100 years. Mountains range from centre to the eastern side, with Mount Agung the easternmost peak. Bali's volcanic nature has contributed to its exceptional fertility and its tall mountain ranges provide the high rainfall that supports the highly productive agriculture sector. South of the mountains is a broad, steadily descending area where most of Bali's large rice crop is grown. The northern side of the mountains slopes more steeply to the sea and is the main coffee producing area of the island, along with rice, vegetables and cattle. The longest river, Ayung River, flows approximately 75 km.

 

The island is surrounded by coral reefs. Beaches in the south tend to have white sand while those in the north and west have black sand. Bali has no major waterways, although the Ho River is navigable by small sampan boats. Black sand beaches between Pasut and Klatingdukuh are being developed for tourism, but apart from the seaside temple of Tanah Lot, they are not yet used for significant tourism.

 

The largest city is the provincial capital, Denpasar, near the southern coast. Its population is around 491,500 (2002). Bali's second-largest city is the old colonial capital, Singaraja, which is located on the north coast and is home to around 100,000 people. Other important cities include the beach resort, Kuta, which is practically part of Denpasar's urban area, and Ubud, situated at the north of Denpasar, is the island's cultural centre.

 

Three small islands lie to the immediate south east and all are administratively part of the Klungkung regency of Bali: Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan. These islands are separated from Bali by the Badung Strait.

 

To the east, the Lombok Strait separates Bali from Lombok and marks the biogeographical division between the fauna of the Indomalayan ecozone and the distinctly different fauna of Australasia. The transition is known as the Wallace Line, named after Alfred Russel Wallace, who first proposed a transition zone between these two major biomes. When sea levels dropped during the Pleistocene ice age, Bali was connected to Java and Sumatra and to the mainland of Asia and shared the Asian fauna, but the deep water of the Lombok Strait continued to keep Lombok Island and the Lesser Sunda archipelago isolated.

 

CLIMATE

Being just 8 degrees south of the equator, Bali has a fairly even climate year round.

 

Day time temperatures at low elevations vary between 20-33⁰ C although it can be much cooler than that in the mountains. The west monsoon is in place from approximately October to April and this can bring significant rain, particularly from December to March. Outside of the monsoon period, humidity is relatively low and any rain unlikely in lowland areas.

 

ECOLOGY

Bali lies just to the west of the Wallace Line, and thus has a fauna that is Asian in character, with very little Australasian influence, and has more in common with Java than with Lombok. An exception is the yellow-crested cockatoo, a member of a primarily Australasian family. There are around 280 species of birds, including the critically endangered Bali myna, which is endemic. Others Include barn swallow, black-naped oriole, black racket-tailed treepie, crested serpent-eagle, crested treeswift, dollarbird, Java sparrow, lesser adjutant, long-tailed shrike, milky stork, Pacific swallow, red-rumped swallow, sacred kingfisher, sea eagle, woodswallow, savanna nightjar, stork-billed kingfisher, yellow-vented bulbul and great egret.

 

Until the early 20th century, Bali was home to several large mammals: the wild banteng, leopard and the endemic Bali tiger. The banteng still occurs in its domestic form, whereas leopards are found only in neighbouring Java, and the Bali tiger is extinct. The last definite record of a tiger on Bali dates from 1937, when one was shot, though the subspecies may have survived until the 1940s or 1950s. The relatively small size of the island, conflict with humans, poaching and habitat reduction drove the Bali tiger to extinction. This was the smallest and rarest of all tiger subspecies and was never caught on film or displayed in zoos, whereas few skins or bones remain in museums around the world. Today, the largest mammals are the Javan rusa deer and the wild boar. A second, smaller species of deer, the Indian muntjac, also occurs. Saltwater crocodiles were once present on the island, but became locally extinct sometime during the last century.

 

Squirrels are quite commonly encountered, less often is the Asian palm civet, which is also kept in coffee farms to produce Kopi Luwak. Bats are well represented, perhaps the most famous place to encounter them remaining the Goa Lawah (Temple of the Bats) where they are worshipped by the locals and also constitute a tourist attraction. They also occur in other cave temples, for instance at Gangga Beach. Two species of monkey occur. The crab-eating macaque, known locally as "kera", is quite common around human settlements and temples, where it becomes accustomed to being fed by humans, particularly in any of the three "monkey forest" temples, such as the popular one in the Ubud area. They are also quite often kept as pets by locals. The second monkey, endemic to Java and some surrounding islands such as Bali, is far rarer and more elusive is the Javan langur, locally known as "lutung". They occur in few places apart from the Bali Barat National Park. They are born an orange colour, though by their first year they would have already changed to a more blackish colouration. In Java however, there is more of a tendency for this species to retain its juvenile orange colour into adulthood, and so you can see a mixture of black and orange monkeys together as a family. Other rarer mammals include the leopard cat, Sunda pangolin and black giant squirrel.

 

Snakes include the king cobra and reticulated python. The water monitor can grow to at least 1.5 m in length and 50 kg and can move quickly.

 

The rich coral reefs around the coast, particularly around popular diving spots such as Tulamben, Amed, Menjangan or neighbouring Nusa Penida, host a wide range of marine life, for instance hawksbill turtle, giant sunfish, giant manta ray, giant moray eel, bumphead parrotfish, hammerhead shark, reef shark, barracuda, and sea snakes. Dolphins are commonly encountered on the north coast near Singaraja and Lovina.

 

A team of scientists conducted a survey from 29 April 2011 to 11 May 2011 at 33 sea sites around Bali. They discovered 952 species of reef fish of which 8 were new discoveries at Pemuteran, Gilimanuk, Nusa Dua, Tulamben and Candidasa, and 393 coral species, including two new ones at Padangbai and between Padangbai and Amed. The average coverage level of healthy coral was 36% (better than in Raja Ampat and Halmahera by 29% or in Fakfak and Kaimana by 25%) with the highest coverage found in Gili Selang and Gili Mimpang in Candidasa, Karangasem regency.

 

Many plants have been introduced by humans within the last centuries, particularly since the 20th century, making it sometimes hard to distinguish what plants are really native.[citation needed] Among the larger trees the most common are: banyan trees, jackfruit, coconuts, bamboo species, acacia trees and also endless rows of coconuts and banana species. Numerous flowers can be seen: hibiscus, frangipani, bougainvillea, poinsettia, oleander, jasmine, water lily, lotus, roses, begonias, orchids and hydrangeas exist. On higher grounds that receive more moisture, for instance around Kintamani, certain species of fern trees, mushrooms and even pine trees thrive well. Rice comes in many varieties. Other plants with agricultural value include: salak, mangosteen, corn, kintamani orange, coffee and water spinach.

 

ENVIRONMENT

Some of the worst erosion has occurred in Lebih Beach, where up to 7 metres of land is lost every year. Decades ago, this beach was used for holy pilgrimages with more than 10,000 people, but they have now moved to Masceti Beach.

 

From ranked third in previous review, in 2010 Bali got score 99.65 of Indonesia's environmental quality index and the highest of all the 33 provinces. The score measured 3 water quality parameters: the level of total suspended solids (TSS), dissolved oxygen (DO) and chemical oxygen demand (COD).

 

Because of over-exploitation by the tourist industry which covers a massive land area, 200 out of 400 rivers on the island have dried up and based on research, the southern part of Bali would face a water shortage up to 2,500 litres of clean water per second by 2015. To ease the shortage, the central government plans to build a water catchment and processing facility at Petanu River in Gianyar. The 300 litres capacity of water per second will be channelled to Denpasar, Badung and Gianyar in 2013.

 

ECONOMY

Three decades ago, the Balinese economy was largely agriculture-based in terms of both output and employment. Tourism is now the largest single industry in terms of income, and as a result, Bali is one of Indonesia's wealthiest regions. In 2003, around 80% of Bali's economy was tourism related. By end of June 2011, non-performing loan of all banks in Bali were 2.23%, lower than the average of Indonesian banking industry non-performing loan (about 5%). The economy, however, suffered significantly as a result of the terrorist bombings 2002 and 2005. The tourism industry has since recovered from these events.

 

AGRICULTURE

Although tourism produces the GDP's largest output, agriculture is still the island's biggest employer; most notably rice cultivation. Crops grown in smaller amounts include fruit, vegetables, Coffea arabica and other cash and subsistence crops. Fishing also provides a significant number of jobs. Bali is also famous for its artisans who produce a vast array of handicrafts, including batik and ikat cloth and clothing, wooden carvings, stone carvings, painted art and silverware. Notably, individual villages typically adopt a single product, such as wind chimes or wooden furniture.

 

The Arabica coffee production region is the highland region of Kintamani near Mount Batur. Generally, Balinese coffee is processed using the wet method. This results in a sweet, soft coffee with good consistency. Typical flavours include lemon and other citrus notes. Many coffee farmers in Kintamani are members of a traditional farming system called Subak Abian, which is based on the Hindu philosophy of "Tri Hita Karana". According to this philosophy, the three causes of happiness are good relations with God, other people and the environment. The Subak Abian system is ideally suited to the production of fair trade and organic coffee production. Arabica coffee from Kintamani is the first product in Indonesia to request a Geographical Indication.

 

TOURISM

The tourism industry is primarily focused in the south, while significant in the other parts of the island as well. The main tourist locations are the town of Kuta (with its beach), and its outer suburbs of Legian and Seminyak (which were once independent townships), the east coast town of Sanur (once the only tourist hub), in the center of the island Ubud, to the south of the Ngurah Rai International Airport, Jimbaran, and the newer development of Nusa Dua and Pecatu.

 

The American government lifted its travel warnings in 2008. The Australian government issued an advice on Friday, 4 May 2012. The overall level of the advice was lowered to 'Exercise a high degree of caution'. The Swedish government issued a new warning on Sunday, 10 June 2012 because of one more tourist who was killed by methanol poisoning. Australia last issued an advice on Monday, 5 January 2015 due to new terrorist threats.

 

An offshoot of tourism is the growing real estate industry. Bali real estate has been rapidly developing in the main tourist areas of Kuta, Legian, Seminyak and Oberoi. Most recently, high-end 5 star projects are under development on the Bukit peninsula, on the south side of the island. Million dollar villas are being developed along the cliff sides of south Bali, commanding panoramic ocean views. Foreign and domestic (many Jakarta individuals and companies are fairly active) investment into other areas of the island also continues to grow. Land prices, despite the worldwide economic crisis, have remained stable.

 

In the last half of 2008, Indonesia's currency had dropped approximately 30% against the US dollar, providing many overseas visitors value for their currencies. Visitor arrivals for 2009 were forecast to drop 8% (which would be higher than 2007 levels), due to the worldwide economic crisis which has also affected the global tourist industry, but not due to any travel warnings.

 

Bali's tourism economy survived the terrorist bombings of 2002 and 2005, and the tourism industry has in fact slowly recovered and surpassed its pre-terrorist bombing levels; the longterm trend has been a steady increase of visitor arrivals. In 2010, Bali received 2.57 million foreign tourists, which surpassed the target of 2.0–2.3 million tourists. The average occupancy of starred hotels achieved 65%, so the island is still able to accommodate tourists for some years without any addition of new rooms/hotels, although at the peak season some of them are fully booked.

 

Bali received the Best Island award from Travel and Leisure in 2010. The island of Bali won because of its attractive surroundings (both mountain and coastal areas), diverse tourist attractions, excellent international and local restaurants, and the friendliness of the local people. According to BBC Travel released in 2011, Bali is one of the World's Best Islands, ranking second after Santorini, Greece.

 

In August 2010, the film Eat Pray Love was released in theatres. The movie was based on Elizabeth Gilbert's best-selling memoir Eat, Pray, Love. It took place at Ubud and Padang-Padang Beach at Bali. The 2006 book, which spent 57 weeks at the No. 1 spot on the New York Times paperback nonfiction best-seller list, had already fuelled a boom in Eat, Pray, Love-related tourism in Ubud, the hill town and cultural and tourist center that was the focus of Gilbert's quest for balance through traditional spirituality and healing that leads to love.

 

In January 2016, after music icon David Bowie died, it was revealed that in his will, Bowie asked for his ashes to be scattered in Bali, conforming to Buddhist rituals. He had visited and performed in a number of Southest Asian cities early in his career, including Bangkok and Singapore.

 

Since 2011, China has displaced Japan as the second-largest supplier of tourists to Bali, while Australia still tops the list. Chinese tourists increased by 17% from last year due to the impact of ACFTA and new direct flights to Bali. In January 2012, Chinese tourists year on year (yoy) increased by 222.18% compared to January 2011, while Japanese tourists declined by 23.54% yoy.

 

Bali reported that it has 2.88 million foreign tourists and 5 million domestic tourists in 2012, marginally surpassing the expectations of 2.8 million foreign tourists. Forecasts for 2013 are at 3.1 million.

 

Based on Bank Indonesia survey in May 2013, 34.39 percent of tourists are upper-middle class with spending between $1,286 to $5,592 and dominated by Australia, France, China, Germany and the US with some China tourists move from low spending before to higher spending currently. While 30.26 percent are middle class with spending between $662 to $1,285.

 

SEX TOURISM

In the twentieth century the incidence of tourism specifically for sex was regularly observed in the era of mass tourism in Indonesia In Bali, prostitution is conducted by both men and women. Bali in particular is notorious for its 'Kuta Cowboys', local gigolos targeting foreign female tourists.

 

Tens of thousands of single women throng the beaches of Bali in Indonesia every year. For decades, young Balinese men have taken advantage of the louche and laid-back atmosphere to find love and lucre from female tourists—Japanese, European and Australian for the most part—who by all accounts seem perfectly happy with the arrangement.

 

By 2013, Indonesia was reportedly the number one destination for Australian child sex tourists, mostly starting in Bali but also travelling to other parts of the country. The problem in Bali was highlighted by Luh Ketut Suryani, head of Psychiatry at Udayana University, as early as 2003. Surayani warned that a low level of awareness of paedophilia in Bali had made it the target of international paedophile organisations. On 19 February 2013, government officials announced measures to combat paedophilia in Bali.

 

TRANSPORTATION

The Ngurah Rai International Airport is located near Jimbaran, on the isthmus at the southernmost part of the island. Lt.Col. Wisnu Airfield is found in north-west Bali.

 

A coastal road circles the island, and three major two-lane arteries cross the central mountains at passes reaching to 1,750m in height (at Penelokan). The Ngurah Rai Bypass is a four-lane expressway that partly encircles Denpasar. Bali has no railway lines.

 

In December 2010 the Government of Indonesia invited investors to build a new Tanah Ampo Cruise Terminal at Karangasem, Bali with a projected worth of $30 million. On 17 July 2011 the first cruise ship (Sun Princess) anchored about 400 meters away from the wharf of Tanah Ampo harbour. The current pier is only 154 meters but will eventually be extended to 300–350 meters to accommodate international cruise ships. The harbour here is safer than the existing facility at Benoa and has a scenic backdrop of east Bali mountains and green rice fields. The tender for improvement was subject to delays, and as of July 2013 the situation remained unclear with cruise line operators complaining and even refusing to use the existing facility at Tanah Ampo.

 

A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed by two ministers, Bali's Governor and Indonesian Train Company to build 565 kilometres of railway along the coast around the island. As of July 2015, no details of this proposed railways have been released.

 

On 16 March 2011 (Tanjung) Benoa port received the "Best Port Welcome 2010" award from London's "Dream World Cruise Destination" magazine. Government plans to expand the role of Benoa port as export-import port to boost Bali's trade and industry sector. The Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry has confirmed that 306 cruise liners are heading for Indonesia in 2013 – an increase of 43 percent compared to the previous year.

 

In May 2011, an integrated Areal Traffic Control System (ATCS) was implemented to reduce traffic jams at four crossing points: Ngurah Rai statue, Dewa Ruci Kuta crossing, Jimbaran crossing and Sanur crossing. ATCS is an integrated system connecting all traffic lights, CCTVs and other traffic signals with a monitoring office at the police headquarters. It has successfully been implemented in other ASEAN countries and will be implemented at other crossings in Bali.

 

On 21 December 2011 construction started on the Nusa Dua-Benoa-Ngurah Rai International Airport toll road which will also provide a special lane for motorcycles. This has been done by seven state-owned enterprises led by PT Jasa Marga with 60% of shares. PT Jasa Marga Bali Tol will construct the 9.91 kilometres toll road (totally 12.7 kilometres with access road). The construction is estimated to cost Rp.2.49 trillion ($273.9 million). The project goes through 2 kilometres of mangrove forest and through 2.3 kilometres of beach, both within 5.4 hectares area. The elevated toll road is built over the mangrove forest on 18,000 concrete pillars which occupied 2 hectares of mangroves forest. It compensated by new planting of 300,000 mangrove trees along the road. On 21 December 2011 the Dewa Ruci 450 meters underpass has also started on the busy Dewa Ruci junction near Bali Kuta Galeria with an estimated cost of Rp136 billion ($14.9 million) from the state budget. On 23 September 2013, the Bali Mandara Toll Road is opened and the Dewa Ruci Junction (Simpang Siur) underpass is opened before. Both are ease the heavy traffic congestion.

 

To solve chronic traffic problems, the province will also build a toll road connecting Serangan with Tohpati, a toll road connecting Kuta, Denpasar and Tohpati and a flyover connecting Kuta and Ngurah Rai Airport.

 

DEMOGRAPHICS

The population of Bali was 3,890,757 as of the 2010 Census; the latest estimate (for January 2014) is 4,225,384. There are an estimated 30,000 expatriates living in Bali.

 

ETHNIC ORIGINS

A DNA study in 2005 by Karafet et al. found that 12% of Balinese Y-chromosomes are of likely Indian origin, while 84% are of likely Austronesian origin, and 2% of likely Melanesian origin. The study does not correlate the DNA samples to the Balinese caste system.

 

CASTE SYSTEM

Bali has a caste system based on the Indian Hindu model, with four castes:

 

- Sudra (Shudra) – peasants constituting close to 93% of Bali's population.

- Wesia (Vaishyas) – the caste of merchants and administrative officials

- Ksatrias (Kshatriyas) – the kingly and warrior caste

- Brahmana (Bramhin) – holy men and priests

 

RELIGION

Unlike most of Muslim-majority Indonesia, about 83.5% of Bali's population adheres to Balinese Hinduism, formed as a combination of existing local beliefs and Hindu influences from mainland Southeast Asia and South Asia. Minority religions include Islam (13.3%), Christianity (1.7%), and Buddhism (0.5%). These figures do not include immigrants from other parts of Indonesia.

 

Balinese Hinduism is an amalgam in which gods and demigods are worshipped together with Buddhist heroes, the spirits of ancestors, indigenous agricultural deities and sacred places. Religion as it is practised in Bali is a composite belief system that embraces not only theology, philosophy, and mythology, but ancestor worship, animism and magic. It pervades nearly every aspect of traditional life. Caste is observed, though less strictly than in India. With an estimated 20,000 puras (temples) and shrines, Bali is known as the "Island of a Thousand Puras", or "Island of the Gods". This is refer to Mahabarata story that behind Bali became island of god or "pulau dewata" in Indonesian language.

 

Balinese Hinduism has roots in Indian Hinduism and Buddhism, and adopted the animistic traditions of the indigenous people. This influence strengthened the belief that the gods and goddesses are present in all things. Every element of nature, therefore, possesses its own power, which reflects the power of the gods. A rock, tree, dagger, or woven cloth is a potential home for spirits whose energy can be directed for good or evil. Balinese Hinduism is deeply interwoven with art and ritual. Ritualizing states of self-control are a notable feature of religious expression among the people, who for this reason have become famous for their graceful and decorous behaviour.

 

Apart from the majority of Balinese Hindus, there also exist Chinese immigrants whose traditions have melded with that of the locals. As a result, these Sino-Balinese not only embrace their original religion, which is a mixture of Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism and Confucianism, but also find a way to harmonise it with the local traditions. Hence, it is not uncommon to find local Sino-Balinese during the local temple's odalan. Moreover, Balinese Hindu priests are invited to perform rites alongside a Chinese priest in the event of the death of a Sino-Balinese. Nevertheless, the Sino-Balinese claim to embrace Buddhism for administrative purposes, such as their Identity Cards.

 

LANGUAGE

Balinese and Indonesian are the most widely spoken languages in Bali, and the vast majority of Balinese people are bilingual or trilingual. The most common spoken language around the tourist areas is Indonesian, as many people in the tourist sector are not solely Balinese, but migrants from Java, Lombok, Sumatra, and other parts of Indonesia. There are several indigenous Balinese languages, but most Balinese can also use the most widely spoken option: modern common Balinese. The usage of different Balinese languages was traditionally determined by the Balinese caste system and by clan membership, but this tradition is diminishing. Kawi and Sanskrit are also commonly used by some Hindu priests in Bali, for Hinduism literature was mostly written in Sanskrit.

 

English and Chinese are the next most common languages (and the primary foreign languages) of many Balinese, owing to the requirements of the tourism industry, as well as the English-speaking community and huge Chinese-Indonesian population. Other foreign languages, such as Japanese, Korean, French, Russian or German are often used in multilingual signs for foreign tourists.

 

CULTURE

Bali is renowned for its diverse and sophisticated art forms, such as painting, sculpture, woodcarving, handcrafts, and performing arts. Balinese cuisine is also distinctive. Balinese percussion orchestra music, known as gamelan, is highly developed and varied. Balinese performing arts often portray stories from Hindu epics such as the Ramayana but with heavy Balinese influence. Famous Balinese dances include pendet, legong, baris, topeng, barong, gong keybar, and kecak (the monkey dance). Bali boasts one of the most diverse and innovative performing arts cultures in the world, with paid performances at thousands of temple festivals, private ceremonies, or public shows.

 

The Hindu New Year, Nyepi, is celebrated in the spring by a day of silence. On this day everyone stays at home and tourists are encouraged to remain in their hotels. On the day before New Year, large and colourful sculptures of ogoh-ogoh monsters are paraded and finally burned in the evening to drive away evil spirits. Other festivals throughout the year are specified by the Balinese pawukon calendrical system.

 

Celebrations are held for many occasions such as a tooth-filing (coming-of-age ritual), cremation or odalan (temple festival). One of the most important concepts that Balinese ceremonies have in common is that of désa kala patra, which refers to how ritual performances must be appropriate in both the specific and general social context. Many of the ceremonial art forms such as wayang kulit and topeng are highly improvisatory, providing flexibility for the performer to adapt the performance to the current situation. Many celebrations call for a loud, boisterous atmosphere with lots of activity and the resulting aesthetic, ramé, is distinctively Balinese. Often two or more gamelan ensembles will be performing well within earshot, and sometimes compete with each other to be heard. Likewise, the audience members talk amongst themselves, get up and walk around, or even cheer on the performance, which adds to the many layers of activity and the liveliness typical of ramé.

 

Kaja and kelod are the Balinese equivalents of North and South, which refer to ones orientation between the island's largest mountain Gunung Agung (kaja), and the sea (kelod). In addition to spatial orientation, kaja and kelod have the connotation of good and evil; gods and ancestors are believed to live on the mountain whereas demons live in the sea. Buildings such as temples and residential homes are spatially oriented by having the most sacred spaces closest to the mountain and the unclean places nearest to the sea.

 

Most temples have an inner courtyard and an outer courtyard which are arranged with the inner courtyard furthest kaja. These spaces serve as performance venues since most Balinese rituals are accompanied by any combination of music, dance and drama. The performances that take place in the inner courtyard are classified as wali, the most sacred rituals which are offerings exclusively for the gods, while the outer courtyard is where bebali ceremonies are held, which are intended for gods and people. Lastly, performances meant solely for the entertainment of humans take place outside the walls of the temple and are called bali-balihan. This three-tiered system of classification was standardised in 1971 by a committee of Balinese officials and artists to better protect the sanctity of the oldest and most sacred Balinese rituals from being performed for a paying audience.

 

Tourism, Bali's chief industry, has provided the island with a foreign audience that is eager to pay for entertainment, thus creating new performance opportunities and more demand for performers. The impact of tourism is controversial since before it became integrated into the economy, the Balinese performing arts did not exist as a capitalist venture, and were not performed for entertainment outside of their respective ritual context. Since the 1930s sacred rituals such as the barong dance have been performed both in their original contexts, as well as exclusively for paying tourists. This has led to new versions of many of these performances which have developed according to the preferences of foreign audiences; some villages have a barong mask specifically for non-ritual performances as well as an older mask which is only used for sacred performances.

 

Balinese society continues to revolve around each family's ancestral village, to which the cycle of life and religion is closely tied. Coercive aspects of traditional society, such as customary law sanctions imposed by traditional authorities such as village councils (including "kasepekang", or shunning) have risen in importance as a consequence of the democratisation and decentralisation of Indonesia since 1998.

 

WIKIPEDIA

In a local market in Kokopo/Rabaul on the island of New Britain (Papua New Guinea)

A portrait series with Anne.

Brinette Odgaard

make-up/styling: Margrethe Yasmin Kristiansen

 

www.gretatu.com

follow my work on facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Greta-Tu-Photography/207677935941080

blog: gretatu.blogspot.com/

tumblr: gretatu.tumblr.com/

Expression of JKT48 Members before perform at Viva la Vida ANTV 2013.

Paris (F)

apa gebrakan berikutnya? (photo by kania)

Love these expressions.

@momento_desnudo IG: www.instagram.com/iamranelac

 

Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/iamranelac.bsky.social

Learning different expressions.

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full caption: Studies in Expression. An imitation of the lady of the house.

Charles Dana Gibson (American illustrator, 1867-1944)

1902 pen and ink on paper

 

illustration for Life Publishing Co.; published in the artist's collection The Social Ladder (1902)

 

See MCAD Library's catalog record for this book.

Gibson, Charles Dana. The Gibson Book; a Collection of the Published Works of Charles Dana Gibson ... New York: C. Scribner’s Sons [etc.], 1906

intranet.mcad.edu/library

expressões-

 

o artista viajante-

 

the traveling artist

Facebook | Instagram

“Comedy's easy for me now - it's all about timing and the way you deliver lines.

I use facial expressions to get the point across.”

(Melissa Joan Hart - Actress, b.1976)

 

This is a portrait of Abhishek playing the man with a 1000 faces, it was shot last afternoon at the upper terrace of our office in Vanarasi (Benaras).

 

View On Black

 

This photo is one of my favorite. Not for the photo Quality but for the Expression

©MysticRaven

Mixed media on canvas

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The exploitation rights for this text are the property of the Vienna Tourist Board. This text may be reprinted free of charge until further notice, even partially and in edited form. Forward sample copy to: Vienna Tourist Board, Media Management, Invalidenstraße 6, 1030 Vienna; media.rel@wien.info. All information in this text without guarantee.

Author: Andreas Nierhaus, Curator of Architecture/Wien Museum

Last updated January 2014

Architecture in Vienna

Vienna's 2,000-year history is present in a unique density in the cityscape. The layout of the center dates back to the Roman city and medieval road network. Romanesque and Gothic churches characterize the streets and squares as well as palaces and mansions of the baroque city of residence. The ring road is an expression of the modern city of the 19th century, in the 20th century extensive housing developments set accents in the outer districts. Currently, large-scale urban development measures are implemented; distinctive buildings of international star architects complement the silhouette of the city.

Due to its function as residence of the emperor and European power center, Vienna for centuries stood in the focus of international attention, but it was well aware of that too. As a result, developed an outstanding building culture, and still today on a worldwide scale only a few cities can come up with a comparable density of high-quality architecture. For several years now, Vienna has increased its efforts to connect with its historical highlights and is drawing attention to itself with some spectacular new buildings. The fastest growing city in the German-speaking world today most of all in residential construction is setting standards. Constants of the Viennese architecture are respect for existing structures, the palpability of historical layers and the dialogue between old and new.

Culmination of medieval architecture: the Stephansdom

The oldest architectural landmark of the city is St. Stephen's Cathedral. Under the rule of the Habsburgs, defining the face of the city from the late 13th century until 1918 in a decisive way, the cathedral was upgraded into the sacral monument of the political ambitions of the ruling house. The 1433 completed, 137 meters high southern tower, by the Viennese people affectionately named "Steffl", is a masterpiece of late Gothic architecture in Europe. For decades he was the tallest stone structure in Europe, until today he is the undisputed center of the city.

The baroque residence

Vienna's ascension into the ranks of the great European capitals began in Baroque. Among the most important architects are Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt. Outside the city walls arose a chain of summer palaces, including the garden Palais Schwarzenberg (1697-1704) as well as the Upper and Lower Belvedere of Prince Eugene of Savoy (1714-22). Among the most important city palaces are the Winter Palace of Prince Eugene (1695-1724, now a branch of the Belvedere) and the Palais Daun-Kinsky (auction house in Kinsky 1713-19). The emperor himself the Hofburg had complemented by buildings such as the Imperial Library (1722-26) and the Winter Riding School (1729-34). More important, however, for the Habsburgs was the foundation of churches and monasteries. Thus arose before the city walls Fischer von Erlach's Karlskirche (1714-39), which with its formal and thematic complex show façade belongs to the major works of European Baroque. In colored interior rooms like that of St. Peter's Church (1701-22), the contemporary efforts for the synthesis of architecture, painting and sculpture becomes visible.

Upgrading into metropolis: the ring road time (Ringstraßenzeit)

Since the Baroque, reflections on extension of the hopelessly overcrowed city were made, but only Emperor Franz Joseph ordered in 1857 the demolition of the fortifications and the connection of the inner city with the suburbs. 1865, the Ring Road was opened. It is as the most important boulevard of Europe an architectural and in terms of urban development achievement of the highest rank. The original building structure is almost completely preserved and thus conveys the authentic image of a metropolis of the 19th century. The public representational buildings speak, reflecting accurately the historicism, by their style: The Greek Antique forms of Theophil Hansen's Parliament (1871-83) stood for democracy, the Renaissance of the by Heinrich Ferstel built University (1873-84) for the flourishing of humanism, the Gothic of the Town Hall (1872-83) by Friedrich Schmidt for the medieval civic pride.

Dominating remained the buildings of the imperial family: Eduard van der Nüll's and August Sicardsburg's Opera House (1863-69), Gottfried Semper's and Carl Hasenauer's Burgtheater (1874-88), their Museum of Art History and Museum of Natural History (1871-91) and the Neue (New) Hofburg (1881-1918 ). At the same time the ring road was the preferred residential area of mostly Jewish haute bourgeoisie. With luxurious palaces the families Ephrussi, Epstein or Todesco made it clear that they had taken over the cultural leadership role in Viennese society. In the framework of the World Exhibition of 1873, the new Vienna presented itself an international audience. At the ring road many hotels were opened, among them the Hotel Imperial and today's Palais Hansen Kempinski.

Laboratory of modernity: Vienna around 1900

Otto Wagner's Postal Savings Bank (1903-06) was one of the last buildings in the Ring road area Otto Wagner's Postal Savings Bank (1903-06), which with it façade, liberated of ornament, and only decorated with "functional" aluminum buttons and the glass banking hall now is one of the icons of modern architecture. Like no other stood Otto Wagner for the dawn into the 20th century: His Metropolitan Railway buildings made ​​the public transport of the city a topic of architecture, the church of the Psychiatric hospital at Steinhofgründe (1904-07) is considered the first modern church.

With his consistent focus on the function of a building ("Something impractical can not be beautiful"), Wagner marked a whole generation of architects and made Vienna the laboratory of modernity: in addition to Joseph Maria Olbrich, the builder of the Secession (1897-98) and Josef Hoffmann, the architect of the at the western outskirts located Purkersdorf Sanatorium (1904) and founder of the Vienna Workshop (Wiener Werkstätte, 1903) is mainly to mention Adolf Loos, with the Loos House at the square Michaelerplatz (1909-11) making architectural history. The extravagant marble cladding of the business zone stands in maximal contrast, derived from the building function, to the unadorned facade above, whereby its "nudity" became even more obvious - a provocation, as well as his culture-critical texts ("Ornament and Crime"), with which he had greatest impact on the architecture of the 20th century. Public contracts Loos remained denied. His major works therefore include villas, apartment facilities and premises as the still in original state preserved Tailor salon Knize at Graben (1910-13) and the restored Loos Bar (1908-09) near the Kärntner Straße (passageway Kärntner Durchgang).

Between the Wars: International Modern Age and social housing

After the collapse of the monarchy in 1918, Vienna became capital of the newly formed small country of Austria. In the heart of the city, the architects Theiss & Jaksch built 1931-32 the first skyscraper in Vienna as an exclusive residential address (Herrengasse - alley 6-8). To combat the housing shortage for the general population, the social democratic city government in a globally unique building program within a few years 60,000 apartments in hundreds of apartment buildings throughout the city area had built, including the famous Karl Marx-Hof by Karl Ehn (1925-30). An alternative to the multi-storey buildings with the 1932 opened International Werkbundsiedlung was presented, which was attended by 31 architects from Austria, Germany, France, Holland and the USA and showed models for affordable housing in greenfield areas. With buildings of Adolf Loos, André Lurçat, Richard Neutra, Gerrit Rietveld, the Werkbundsiedlung, which currently is being restored at great expense, is one of the most important documents of modern architecture in Austria.

Modernism was also expressed in significant Villa buildings: The House Beer (1929-31) by Josef Frank exemplifies the refined Wiener living culture of the interwar period, while the house Stonborough-Wittgenstein (1926-28, today Bulgarian Cultural Institute), built by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein together with the architect Paul Engelmann for his sister Margarete, by its aesthetic radicalism and mathematical rigor represents a special case within contemporary architecture.

Expulsion, war and reconstruction

After the "Anschluss (Annexation)" to the German Reich in 1938, numerous Jewish builders, architects (female and male ones), who had been largely responsible for the high level of Viennese architecture, have been expelled from Austria. During the Nazi era, Vienna remained largely unaffected by structural transformations, apart from the six flak towers built for air defense of Friedrich Tamms (1942-45), made ​​of solid reinforced concrete which today are present as memorials in the cityscape.

The years after the end of World War II were characterized by the reconstruction of the by bombs heavily damaged city. The architecture of those times was marked by aesthetic pragmatism, but also by the attempt to connect with the period before 1938 and pick up on current international trends. Among the most important buildings of the 1950s are Roland Rainer's City Hall (1952-58), the by Oswald Haerdtl erected Wien Museum at Karlsplatz (1954-59) and the 21er Haus of Karl Schwanzer (1958-62).

The youngsters come

Since the 1960s, a young generation was looking for alternatives to the moderate modernism of the reconstruction years. With visionary designs, conceptual, experimental and above all temporary architectures, interventions and installations, Raimund Abraham, Günther Domenig, Eilfried Huth, Hans Hollein, Walter Pichler and the groups Coop Himmelb(l)au, Haus-Rucker-Co and Missing Link rapidly got international attention. Although for the time being it was more designed than built, was the influence on the postmodern and deconstructivist trends of the 1970s and 1980s also outside Austria great. Hollein's futuristic "Retti" candle shop at Charcoal Market/Kohlmarkt (1964-65) and Domenig's biomorphic building of the Central Savings Bank in Favoriten (10th district of Vienna - 1975-79) are among the earliest examples, later Hollein's Haas-Haus (1985-90), the loft conversion Falkestraße (1987/88) by Coop Himmelb(l)au or Domenig's T Center (2002-04) were added. Especially Domenig, Hollein, Coop Himmelb(l)au and the architects Ortner & Ortner (ancient members of Haus-Rucker-Co) ​​by orders from abroad the new Austrian and Viennese architecture made a fixed international concept.

MuseumQuarter and Gasometer

Since the 1980s, the focus of building in Vienna lies on the compaction of the historic urban fabric that now as urban habitat of high quality no longer is put in question. Among the internationally best known projects is the by Ortner & Ortner planned MuseumsQuartier in the former imperial stables (competition 1987, 1998-2001), which with institutions such as the MUMOK - Museum of Modern Art Foundation Ludwig, the Leopold Museum, the Kunsthalle Wien, the Architecture Center Vienna and the Zoom Children's Museum on a wordwide scale is under the largest cultural complexes. After controversies in the planning phase, here an architectural compromise between old and new has been achieved at the end, whose success as an urban stage with four million visitors (2012) is overwhelming.

The dialogue between old and new, which has to stand on the agenda of building culture of a city that is so strongly influenced by history, also features the reconstruction of the Gasometer in Simmering by Coop Himmelb(l)au, Wilhelm Holzbauer, Jean Nouvel and Manfred Wehdorn (1999-2001). Here was not only created new housing, but also a historical industrial monument reinterpreted into a signal in the urban development area.

New Neighborhood

In recent years, the major railway stations and their surroundings moved into the focus of planning. Here not only necessary infrastructural measures were taken, but at the same time opened up spacious inner-city residential areas and business districts. Among the prestigious projects are included the construction of the new Vienna Central Station, started in 2010 with the surrounding office towers of the Quartier Belvedere and the residential and school buildings of the Midsummer quarter (Sonnwendviertel). Europe's largest wooden tower invites here for a spectacular view to the construction site and the entire city. On the site of the former North Station are currently being built 10,000 homes and 20,000 jobs, on that of the Aspangbahn station is being built at Europe's greatest Passive House settlement "Euro Gate", the area of ​​the North Western Railway Station is expected to be developed from 2020 for living and working. The largest currently under construction residential project but can be found in the north-eastern outskirts, where in Seaside Town Aspern till 2028 living and working space for 40,000 people will be created.

In one of the "green lungs" of Vienna, the Prater, 2013, the WU campus was opened for the largest University of Economics of Europe. Around the central square spectacular buildings of an international architect team from Great Britain, Japan, Spain and Austria are gathered that seem to lead a sometimes very loud conversation about the status quo of contemporary architecture (Hitoshi Abe, BUSarchitektur, Peter Cook, Zaha Hadid, NO MAD Arquitectos, Carme Pinós).

Flying high

International is also the number of architects who have inscribed themselves in the last few years with high-rise buildings in the skyline of Vienna and make St. Stephen's a not always unproblematic competition. Visible from afar is Massimiliano Fuksas' 138 and 127 meters high elegant Twin Tower at Wienerberg (1999-2001). The monolithic, 75-meter-high tower of the Hotel Sofitel at the Danube Canal by Jean Nouvel (2007-10), on the other hand, reacts to the particular urban situation and stages in its top floor new perspectives to the historical center on the other side.

Also at the water stands Dominique Perrault's DC Tower (2010-13) in the Danube City - those high-rise city, in which since the start of construction in 1996, the expansion of the city north of the Danube is condensed symbolically. Even in this environment, the slim and at the same time striking vertically folded tower of Perrault is beyond all known dimensions; from its Sky Bar, from spring 2014 on you are able to enjoy the highest view of Vienna. With 250 meters, the tower is the tallest building of Austria and almost twice as high as the St. Stephen's Cathedral. Vienna, thus, has acquired a new architectural landmark which cannot be overlooked - whether it also has the potential to become a landmark of the new Vienna, only time will tell. The architectural history of Vienna, where European history is presence and new buildings enter into an exciting and not always conflict-free dialogue with a great and outstanding architectural heritage, in any case has yet to offer exciting chapters.

Info: The folder "Architecture: From Art Nouveau to the Presence" is available at the Vienna Tourist Board and can be downloaded on www.wien.info/media/files/guide-architecture-in-wien.pdf.

David Dickinson & Mathew Jinks prepare to tackle during Morpeth's narrow victory this afternoon by 22-20 at Mitford Road. Much enjoyed being 'back home' for a change where I think I know most of the blades of grass!

  

Illinois coach Kevin Hambly has a conversation with #7 Jocelynn Birks during a time out. Look at everyone's eyes, facial expressions and body language. Wish I knew what he was saying - the match went well, with Illinois winning in straight sets.

 

[EXPRESSION]

what form do you use?

Swissalpine Marathon 2012, Davos, Switzerland

Capturing the expressions of smokers... kind of scary how it can be addicting.

 

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© 2012 Teresa Escamilla, All rights reserved.

 

People holding a pencil horizontally between their teeth (forcing a partial smile) rate a series of cartoons as funnier than those holding a pencil horizontally between their lips (forcing a partial frown). External expressions soak back into inner feelings.

 

(Strack, Martin & Stepper, 1988)

 

CC image courtesy of: www.flickr.com/photos/pietroizzo/2034681616/

 

www.will-lion.com/mindbites

Learning different expressions.

Different expressions.

Olympus Pen-FT, 38mm, Agfa Vista 200 (print scanned on Epson Perfection 1200 Photo)

 

These were two pictures from the first roll I put through my "new" Olympus Pen-FT half frame camera. This is really a marvellous piece of kit, a joy to handle.

 

It seems to be difficult to find a place where they can print half frame pictures, so I had them printed two on one print. In this case, the combination turned out very nicely.

Street Photography. Madrid

facial expressions photography project

www.john-kenny.com

Kids are full of em'

Maximun expressions.