March 26, 2009
The Elusive Snowdrop
and
there
it was
this
morning
pop
nestled
in granite
the elusive
snowdrop
today
a man
from
Texas
confessed
he'd never
seen a
crocus
neither
have I
yet
this
year
Photo note: as above
March 24, 2009
Springtime at the Cemetery
Ah 'tis spring at the most elegant of garden cemeteries, Mt. Auburn. Soon the warblers will be thick in the trees and the attendant warbler watchers underfoot, but for now we were just hoping for a glimpse of snowdrop.
There was nary a shoot to shoot. Instead we hit the metamorphophoto jackpot. Atop James W. and Ruth K. Stanley's queen-sized tombstone was a bizarre offering. Unusual, in that the keepers of Mt. Auburn are very strict about approving only organic oblations. You will see fresh bouquets, potted lilies and daffodils, even a few pumpkins in season, but NEVER a plastic flower or an American flag. No, no, no this is the home of the classy corpse.
Thus to find a rhinestone cupid , hand glazed, if not crafted at the local pottery place atop the granite marker was a bit of a surprise, since all other cupids in the vicinity are carved in stone. Most of the objet d' morte were hand wrought - the bejeweled insect the cross and stone encrusted with gems, but not the Chucky Cheese Lunchbox. One knew the collection was a recent deposit, because the the package of peeps at the foot, screamed Easter. Chances are also that the groundskeepers would not have appreciated the garish cuteness of this gesture, and would have whisked it away lickety split had they come upon it.
So what is this impromptu shrine anyway? Mr. and Mrs. Stanley died in 1972 and 1975 respectively. Whoever left the objets couldn't have been old enough to know the Stanley's personally, though all of the adults here at Dakota are rather fond of peeps. It seems a ghoulish ritual to bring one's children to the cemetery to leave stuff on their unknown grandparents grave, but then again we aren't that sentimental. Maybe it was a creative project from a progressive multicultural nursery school and the Stanleys just got lucky.
Photo note: A metamorphophoto -- the transformation of a plain gray gravestone into , well, something else. We'll leave the specifics up to you
March 19, 2009
Unclear Complexity
Looking through
the camera lens at
the dirty car window
and the dirty garage window
through the dirty garage
and the pegboard
nailed to yet another
dirty garage back window
at the gutter on the side
of the neighbor's garage
and out to the trees
and the blue sky beyond
undoubtedly a metaphorophoto
for our creative efforts of late
Photo note: as above
through rose colored glasses
speaking of rose colored glasses
March 15, 2009
Amazon Customer Reviews
Two amusing customer reviews from Amazon. com to while away an evening:
The first, a review of "A New Kind of Science". To quote Amazon, "Physics and computer science genius Stephen Wolfram, whose Mathematica computer language launched a multimillion-dollar company, now sets his sights on a more daunting goal: understanding the universe. Wolfram lets the world see his work in A New Kind of Science, a gorgeous, 1,280-page tome more than a decade in the making." Ambitious. And here's the brilliant Amazon one-star customer review of said tome. Be sure to read the comments.
Our second offering from the bowels of Amazon is this review of "The Secret", a runaway bestseller about the law of attraction, creation and manifestation. The Amazon customer review is entitled . "How the Secret Saved My Life".
Sorry no excerpts. You are meant to savor each in its entirety.
Photo note: Happened upon while searching for a pile of books to shoot in the late afternoon around the house.
March 10, 2009
Showdown at the Market
Just in case you missed the latest battle of good vs evil, we offer you the complete compendium of Jon Stewart vs.Jim Cramer , CNBC's raving stock analyst. You will now be thoroughly prepared to watch the final showdown on Thursday's Comedy Central when Mr. Cramer will be Mr.Stewart's guest.
Evil is a powerful word, but take a look at the story of Cramer's sleazy stock manipulation schemes from former Columbia Journalism Review's Mark Mitchell and affected businessman Patrick Byrne "Deep Capture". You'll have to read the whole chilling thing, a time consuming endeavor. Suffice it to say that Jim Cramer is up to his panties in muck.
Last spring, we published “The Story of Deep Capture,” which sought to explain the origins of the Deep Capture website (mission: “to bypass the ‘captured’ institutions mediating our nation’s discourse”) by way of exposing the machinations of the Cramer clique of journalists and their short selling sources.One day after we published our story, Cramer had some kind of awakening. Whereas he had previously sought to whitewash short seller crimes, he now suddenly repeated our assertion that illegal short selling was a big problem – the same problem that precipitated the great stock market crash of 1929.
A few months later, abusive short selling was implicated by U.S. Senators, CEOs of major banks, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, respected academics, prominent law firms, current and past chairmen of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson in the near total collapse of our financial system.
Nowadays, Cramer is even more adamant. He says he knows a lot of short sellers. He says that short sellers are destroying public companies. He says they crushed the markets and they’re going to crush America too.
These short sellers, Cramer hollers, are downright “diabolical.”
Photo note: The only kind of market about which all of us here at Dakota can speak with authority
Super Addendum: Jim Cramer admits illegal behavior
Addendum: One more from Stewart
Addendum 1: Maybe you'd rather watch the movie
Addendum 2: watch it happen before your very eyes
Addendum 3:more about Patrick Byrne
Addendum 4: Is Obama responsible for Wall Street's Meltdown "It's an sbsurd statement but that's where populist rage on the right is heading"
March 04, 2009
Get It Off Your Back
Let's face it, we have a nationwide recession on our hands, and we must do our best to be prepared.
Here are things to do if you get laid off that you might never have thought of yourself, beginning with "Keep your mouth shut. Keep your hand away from the pen. Sign nothing. Keep your thoughts to yourself. Ask questions." and take notes. Get a through physical if you suspect you're on a lay off list so that you have proof of good health when you have to switch insurance. In addition, you might want to sign up for Laid Off Camp. They're happening all over the country.
So much for unemployment. Saving money is crucial. The Boston Globe ran a Spending Smart Series which you are free to peruse. The editors chose the following savings tip for the front page "Grab sugar packets" with the admonishment "Don't overdo it". Reader Bennett Scott responded with one of his own: " Re your suggestion on your Saturday front page to grab sugar packets from restaurants to save money: I've got another tip in the same spirit. Instead of subscribing to the Globe, just get up earlier than your neighbor and take his. Just 'don't overdo it.'"
You can cut your food budget by following ot new YouTube chef Clara Cannucciari's recipes in her series "Meals from the Depression"
So smooth those accumulating worry lines that will only spoil your youthful appearance for job interviews while saving on botox injections by doing a little facial yoga.
All of us here at Dakota always aim to be positive, but, let's face it, the crime rate is up due to unemployment. Ellen Basinski and Rihanna Bond have some crime stopping tips for us.
We hope we have made your burden a little lighter.
Photo note: As seen on the street in front of the Institute For Contemporary Art In Boston-- the guy picked up his dinosaur just as we were about to shoot and we made him put it back.