OK, no smart stories this time :)

“Let me help you with that,” said an airplane.
“Help me with what?” answered the surprised street lamp without raising her head.
“You are missing one cable, you appear unbalanced.  Your posture lacks a certain symmetry.”
“It lacks symmetry? Really? I never noticed that.”
“That is because you only explore the shadows your light makes on the street, not the ones you throw against the sky. Look, I’m tossing away these sparkling white crystals anyway, let’s make something nice out of  them.”

In the airplane, the air hostesses were getting ready to serve drinks. Orange or apple juice sir? Tomato? Well we have it but you have to buy it. Orange than? There you go.

“But these crystals of yours,” said the street lamp after a short pause, “they will not last, they will dissolve before the sky changes its hue. What’s the use of it, if it will only last a moment?”
“Perhaps someone will see it. Stop for a second. Smile.”

The street light was gently swinging back and forth.

“OK, let see what you have there. Perhaps I will even be able to see the face of a person that radiates back a spark of light that I give away day after day.”

Funny thing though, thought the airplane as it flew South. Neither me nor her will actually see the little intangible gift we are making.

A little bit of Ostalgia  from grasswire. Though as Žižek warned, it should not be taken too seriously: “far from expressing an actual wish to return to the gray Socialist reality, it is more a form of mourning, of gently getting rid of the past.” Here is a link to the rest of his lucid NY Times editorial on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/opinion/09zizek.html?pagewanted=2&_r=4&ref=opinion

Any comments?

Both photographs are (somewhat hasty) hand painted black and white prints I took in Prague back in 1996. But instead of captions, here is another bit of borrowed wisdom from Žižek’s editorial: “Capitalism has always seemed inextricably linked to democracy, and faced with the explosion of capitalism in the People’s Republic, many analysts still assume that political democracy will inevitably assert itself. But what if this strain of authoritarian capitalism proves itself to be more efficient, more profitable, than our liberal capitalism? What if democracy is no longer the necessary and natural accompaniment of economic development, but its impediment?”

Looks like you are stuck again with pairs. Don’t be fooled by the greyness, the images are actually about the sun.

When we are conceptualising oppositions, we most commonly speak of East vs. West or North vs. South. How about West vs. South, like in the photograph above?

Well, it has been a while. More to come.

It is frightening how many (baby-related) things one forgets. And surprising how lively they come back. The routines, moves, smells, colours, sounds, or my favorite, the  irresistable calmness of a sleeping baby in your arms.

Last Monday, I finally submitted draft version of my PhD.  Have been moving tons of papers and books back to office and library ever since (to put things into perspective, the bloody thing ends with 18 pgs of references or 484 units of literature).

Well, in the frenzy of past two weeks, some of the really nice and significant things didn’t make it to (word)press. One of them was meeting Razzbuffnik and Karen in off-line world. I can only say that they have joined a list of people who we would really like to spend more time with but who unfortunately, live too far away for that to be possible. Sometimes, this list seems far longer than my mobile phone address book (well, at least the part I’m actually using) and this makes me sad in a way. But it also makes the meetings more special. As a side note, I always find it fascinating how you sometimes meet new people and can just talk and talk as if you were continuing a conversation you had a few days ago.  You can read Razzbuffnik’s post here: http://blog.allthedumbthings.com/2009/10/03/meeting-up-with-fellow-bloggers-in-slovenia-2009/ (where you also get to see Tamara sporting her yellow camera)
The photo was taken by Tamara as we practiced our point-and-shoot routine (I point, shee shoots + kind subjects lean into the frame).