W-T-F!

I honestly don't know what to make of this guy. His affect is far from grandiose, actually, he's pretty low key, and as a fairly accomplished actor, I gotta think that maybe, just maybe, his whole genius routine is one grand act, a prank, a how dumb do ya gotta be to take any of this for reals...

And give credit where credit due- his pseudo-science gibberish is masterfully articulate and delivered with such naive enthusiasm and conviction that he makes one genuinely want to denounce science, turn common sense upside down and inside out, then deliriously embrace his scatterbrained combobulation as the truth, the whole truth and nothing but... Seriously, if nothing else- I was entertained... this is a fanciful and articulate version of The Weave, even his mispronunciations sound believable! I want to live in his universe, where anything is possible and you get to believe whatever you say!!! I wanna believe that 1x1= 2, I wanna believe in the bisexual tones of the periodic table! Please, Terrence, anyone- make it all come true! 

The Year In Review

 

It is What it is... Photo: © Stan Banos

What's that? Too early? Yeah, suppose so, nevertheless... Last year round this time, I was all frettin' and a fussin' that I couldn't possibly survive another year of empty streets, no travel, etc etc and that the year had to change for the better- no matter what! I was tired of making lemonade outta lemons and had pretty much depleted my emergency bag of photo taking alternatives. In other words, like everyone else- I just wanted a return to normalcy or some small modicum of semblance thereof. And just when we thought that maybe, just maybe, we were finally...

Well, here we are in 2022, right back where we were in 2021- except we gotta vaccine, but not everyone's taken it (voluntarily here at home, involuntarily word wide where they still can't get it). Those who haven't gotten it can die, and even if ya got it, you're not really immune. And while I'm all for "following the science," taking your mask off only to eat and drink while indoors in public is nothing but a mockery of said science! We were also steered into getting a booster for Omicron, and they're soon coming out with a separate vaccine just for Omicron- which I'm sure we'll also be encouraged to take... And this is how people's trust can break down, in a reasonable kinda way- not a Q Conspiracy Whacko kinda way.  No, I'm not an anti-vaxxer/anti-masker by any means- but I do kinda sense a wee tad of mission creep, if not outright greed starting to rear its ugly head. But lord knows Big Pharma would never do anything just for money. And who'd ever thought one could miss a sweaty, crowded, city street in August?

Speaking Of Interesting Websites...

It's amusing, I know- and way crazier (ie- way crazier) than you think. Michael The Black Man is a (dangerous) living cartoon with 'theories' and agendas that make Trump look sane and mellow. So... how could a Black man openly support someone with a proven racist background? 

Easy. You're thinking... logically- and that's your problem! That doesn't fly anymore in our "alternative fact" age where you get to choose and live your own reality- despite... reality! Just go with your feeling! How else could you explain an Afro-Latino Henry "Enrique" Tarrio as chairman of The Proud Boys. Did his heart soar with pride to see his fellow protestors triumphantly march with Confederate flags on 1/06/21, calling cops the N-Word? You no longer need drugs to "escape reality," it is now whatever flavor of cray cray you wish to believe.

You Adapt...

 

Sometimes you can't for the life of ya understand why people don't change, why they knowingly elect to keep repeating self destructive habits and tendencies. You simply write them off as true low life fuck ups and losers- it's what they are. When the truth is often far different- it's what you were spared from...   

This man/child just lays it on the line- BOOM! This is who why I am... And considering the circumstances, who would be arrogant enough to proclaim that they could do better (though for sure- there are those ignorant enough to do just that)

This series is a human treasure; I've posted on it before, had my questions, my doubts (as one should) and am now back to watching again. They ain't easy, each one an emotional gut wrench- just a question of how big the blow. Some will leave you temporarily shattered, all real life lessons in this thing called... life.

Good Ol' Chuck!

Charles Bukowski led a colorful, sometimes bleak and pretty anonymous life until fame blessed his latter years. These are but a handful of his pearls of wisdom:

An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.*

Writers are desperate people and when they stop being desperate, they stop being writers.

In my work, as a writer, I only photograph, in words, what I see.

We're all going to die, all of us; what a circus! That alone should make us love each other, but it doesn't. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities. We are eaten up by nothing.

Find what you love and let it kill you.

Beware of those that seek constant crowds; they are nothing alone.

You begin saving the world by saving one man at a time: all else is grandiose romanticism or politics.

People are not good to each other. Perhaps if they were, our deaths would not be so sad.

* Reminds me of the conversation which led John Lennon to his succinct conclusion:
  God is a concept by which we measure our pain.

Who Knew?

 

Back in the early/mid Seventies, the height of Kung Fu fighting, I briefly contemplated joining an Aikido dojo- not from any desire to go about kicking shit outta people (an unlikely scenario no matter how well trained), but as a street wise, keep my ass in one piece, self defense shield. Aikido seemed just the ticket- kinda like the intellectual's martial art where smarts and quick, unforeseen moves overpowered and neutralized the over blown, over grown bullies that life inevitably throws one way...

I never did make the move, primarily because I full well realized that to get half way decent at it, you'd have to commit, practice and dedicate oneself as with anything else worthwhile- college, photography and a P/T job left little time, save for the requisite, age appropriate partying. Still, I've wondered to this day- would it have actually been worth it? Would I have been able to effectively neutralize the brute before me, or someone with a different martial art, skill set?

Seems sheer laziness can pay off! This guy was a certified, bona fide Aikido master, knew all the moves- in fact, he taught them at his very own dojo! And yet, he had nagging self doubts about his own real world confidence- not a good place to be as a martial arts sensei. And so, being true to oneself, he decided to find out; and long story short- his doubt was well placed. Even an intermediate MMA student could kick his ass in a NY minute! No Contest! Over a decade of hard core dedication and commitment, only to discover you were little more than a self delusioned fraud... Your religion was little more than a scam, a fraud, a cult!

But give the guy his props. Undaunted, he picked himself up, dusted himself off and started his journey anew...

Strange Bedfellows

Photo: © Stan Banos

These days, you have rabid Trump anti-maskers, in league with anti-vaxxers, in cahoots with fervent Vegans. Believe me, I just happen to know one or two- and it kinda boggles the mind to even contemplate how the hell we got here... but then, these past four years of crazed insanity actually found me cheering on traditional, Conservative Republican, talking heads (who decry Trump)!

Now, I'm not at all that up on vaccines myself- not with Big Pharma's dubious, profit based history, particularly in dealing with people of color and the rather dubious practice of combining multiple vaccines into one shot for very young children. Despite the aforementioned, it's also quite true that vaccines have done considerably more good than harm in their recent history (eg- polio, smallpox, etc). Nothing in this life is risk free. So, despite my plan to wait and see how Covid related vaccines pan out as far as unforeseen side effects and consequences- when presented with the job related opportunity to get one of said vaccines... I signed up. In large part because I was just so damn sick of people perverting science, fact and reality into whatever personally biased concoction they chose to believe!

Now, I too believe in my fair share of "conspiracy theories:" MK-Ultra, certain portions of the Kennedy/MLK assassinations, UFO's... all of which harbor a plethora of factual, reality based evidence. For instance, when people (even scientists, sadly) start using nonsense to uphold their most treasured beliefs- something's very definitely wrong. That was "swamp gas" that caused that UFO sighting! Forget the: radar blips, multiple eye witnesses, residual radiation and/or radiation induced sickness, ground imprints and burned soil and vegetation.

Sadly, some people have very little science based knowledge- yes, I believe 5G radiation may, in fact, be harmful... I do not, cannot believe that it causes Covid- yes, some people actually believe that! So it comes as little surprise that the same people who one week espouse Covid as a hoax, are claiming the following week that it was created in a lab (something I'm more than willing to entertain), and are blissfully willing to combine, conflate and interchange the two contradictory scenarios without any seeming contradiction- all the while claiming that masking is an ineffective practice propagated solely to inhibit and deny one's personal rights and freedoms! As if there aren't enough things already incorporated into society meant to do just that... again, if none come to mind- ask any person of color (funny how that works).

And if that wasn't depressing enough- you then have those who have money, privilege and/or... don't-give-a-royal-fuck who they trample on!

The King

I love films that center on the issue of... trust. Who-do-you-trust? That's about as central an issue in life as one can possibly get. It's also why I loved Training Day so much- I remember saying that if there was any justice in the world, Denzel would get the Academy Award for his performance in that (he did).

Anyway, The King centers on that very theme, and does so exceedingly well: trust, love, friendship, betrayal. I was in turn anxious to discover how much of the film's depiction was true to history- and it was a mixed bag as to be expected. Although trusting anyone in those days was a truly mixed bag- as it remains today...

PetaPixel's Racist Washing Of Hands

PetaPixel has a long history of running posts that will produce the most predictable of racist reactions among its commentary, ie- ignorant (and some very purposeful) commenters promoting and disseminating false and inaccurate information about: history, race and racism in these United States, and elsewhere. In its most recent example, the author of a piece on cultural appropriation curiously predicted precisely how commenters would react to said charge- and they more than gladly obliged her, chomping at the bit to say, write and react exactly how and what she foretold. Imagine if they had instead engaged in a dialogue to reconsider and reexamine the very factors presented, how they originated, developed and propagated- instead of just feeding their knee jerk, fall back reactions.

Now most would argue that Michael Zhang is merely providing readers an opportunity for democratic discourse on topical photographic/social issues via a public forum, but when the topic/reaction scenario becomes so obviously routine (and negative) that it forms a predictable pattern, and the forum itself not as open or egalitarian as one may think- the motives and results can indeed become... questionable.

As previously stated, most of the the comments (on these topics) are overwhelmingly reactionary, and minority voices like mine, which try to provide some measure of fact and sanity over the distortions, misconceptions, and outright lies that are repeated incessantly in all their variations are subject to... banishment. Meanwhile, commenters who openly and consistently espouse misogynist, homophobic and racist rants are allowed to remain- no problem!

Yours truly was banned years ago, a British chap who would also challenge the prevailing ignorance in the Petapixel commentary (particularly on women's issues), would be regularly attacked in its commentary. He told me how Petpixel had attempted to ban him- until his FB followers rallied and managed to convince them otherwise. Which leads me to wonder- how many other Left leaning individuals ("social justice warriors-" yeah, that's a... "pejorative" term) have been silenced? And more importantly- how long will this clickbait charade of running "Liberal" subject matter continue, so that it can be routinely ridiculed and "discredited" in its biased commentary?

There's Stupid...

 And then there's a special kinda stupid, as in "Slavery is a choice." It gets real @ 1:50...

The (Not So) Independent Special Prosecutor

We'll do well to remember that for all his high marks and far reaching powers, Mr. Mueller is not as invulnerable as most have come to believe- particularly when the DOJ... or POTUS himself can shut him down on mere whim!

The Thrill Is Gone

Me and the wife attempted to watch House of Cards last night, it's been a perennial fave. From the opening scene... I knew it was just not gonna be the same- ever. It was fun watching all these years, making believe that a complete sociopath had somehow commandeered his way into the White House. Just think of it!

Now that we live it- not so much...

Why...

 

...Isn't this getting more attention?
More here...

Twit

An Inextinguishable Fire

Recently while in NYC, I ended up at MOMA on Free Friday (hear that SFMOMA... FREE!)- which is a good thing since it definitely wasn't worth anywhere near its $25 Regular Admission fee. In fact, the one thing, the only thing that really caught my eye was a vintage B&W video describing the evil that is... napalm. Nothing terribly "entertaining" to be sure, but I found it of interest on several levels, not to mention for its minimalist presentation and historical value, but mostly for its brutally honest narration that grabs your attention and forces you to honestly consider just how we absorb and interpret information- particularly that which records and documents the pain and suffering of others...

Still, I could in no way predict, anticipate or even contemplate just how this rather stark and straight forward accounting would culminate. See the entire video here...

Erin Go Bragh!

New Day, Same Shit

This is the post I thought would rule the day. But as of midnight, Pacific Coast Time 11/09/16, fate casts a far different reality...

Photo: © S. Banos

But goddamn- did we ever duck a bullet writ large!!! Hillary's hardly a prize- the same ol' warmed over shit in a pantsuit. Hillary will prove that she can be every bit as lame as any male President we ever had- just as Obama proved he could be every bit as lame as any White President.  But, it's better than the absolute MADNESS that awaited us otherwise... 

Trump didn't scare me, the fact that half of his (working class) followers naively endorsed the most obviously spoiled, billionaire con man who never worked a single day in his life, and that the other half didn't care how much he lied, long as he was... The White Man running- that's what scared the Bejesus outta yours truly! Here we are in the 21st century and (one of) the lyingest, most racist SOB's to come outta Queens, NY in a good long while is actually believed and revered by so much of heartland America. Trump's single-handedly rekindled a bridge across the centuries that reinvigorates the kind of simplistic greed, enthusiastic racism and outright stupidity that should have died well back in the sixties. And it's simply disheartening to see how much of this blatant ignorance not only remains- but is now openly celebrated...

PS- I'm writing this on 11/07/2016- I can't fathom a response should that bullet hit home.

The Donald, True And True...

"In the good ol' days..." #13TH pic.twitter.com/2IzF87ODP6

— 13TH (@13THFilm) October 12, 2016

And there's always the "light-hearted" side... 

Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil, See No Evil...

"Eight Rhymes With Great!"

Or why I love Elizabeth Warren...

“You should resign. You should give back the money you took while this scam was going on and you should be criminally investigated.”