Don’t misunderstand me: there are still plenty of cucumbers. This year they’re even bigger than average. Our neighbor gave us one that was about 50 cm (about 1.5 ft). What I’m referring to is the socio-economical cucumber season. It used to be a good old tradition that during the summer our leaders took a couple … Continue reading The Cucumber Season has been abolished.
About Artificial Intelligence.
Evolutions in technology and knowledge have always provoked a conservative counter reaction by people who see their current ways of doing things and earning a living being threatened. The latest evolutions in the information technology isn’t any different in that aspect as the introduction of the printing press was for the mediaeval scribes or the … Continue reading About Artificial Intelligence.
Tidal Disruption
This painting (acrylic on canvas 46 x 23 cm) aimed to unite the boundless freedom of human imagination with the mathematical precision of the physical world by using the alchemic approach. There exist are several historic detectable strands of alchemy that seemed independent in their earlier stages, including Chinese, Indian, and Western alchemy. The aim … Continue reading Tidal Disruption
The Joyful Entry of Omicron
The Joyful Entry of Omicron (acrylic on canvas 30 x 30 cm) is a painting about an announced disaster. Everyone with some grain of common sense knew that with the start of the traditional flu season The Bug would strike again. And yeah, there you have its latest spawn that has been baptized Omicron. What … Continue reading The Joyful Entry of Omicron
Evolution: Entrance or Exit?
The image above features an octopod hovering in front of the gates of evolution, watched over by a malevolent shoggoth. A scientific paper claims that octopods are actually aliens brought to Earth by frozen meteors. Why the octopus in particular? “Its large brain and sophisticated nervous system, camera-like eyes, flexible bodies, instantaneous camouflage via the … Continue reading Evolution: Entrance or Exit?
Crossroads
In folklore, crossroads may represent a location "between the worlds" and, as such, a site where supernatural spirits can be contacted and paranormal events can take place. In Greek mythology, crossroads were associated with both Hermes and Hecate, with shrines and ceremonies for both taking place there. The herm pillar associated with Hermes frequently marked … Continue reading Crossroads
Demons
Most authors who wrote theological dissertations on the subject either truly believed in the existence of infernal spirits or wrote as a philosophical guide to understanding an ancient perspective of behavior and morality in folklore and religious themes. I leave it in the middle if demons exist as independent beings who walk our reality but … Continue reading Demons
No-Man’s-Land
Last week of October 2021 I´ve attended the Asian Film Festival 2021 in Barcelona. Because of practical agenda issues I saw only four of the movies: Hand Rolled Cigarettes (Hong Kong): Chiu is a retired member of the Hong Kong Military Service Corps of the British Army, and now ekes out a living doing odd … Continue reading No-Man’s-Land
The Complexity of Simplicity
“Being simple is the most complicated thing nowadays.” -Ramana Pemmaraju The principle of simplicity or parsimony—broadly, is the idea that simpler explanations of observations should be preferred to more complex ones—is conventionally attributed to William of Occam, after whom it is traditionally referred to as Occam's razor. This does not mean that there will be … Continue reading The Complexity of Simplicity
Balancing individual freedom, privacy and social responsibility
I’ve been long time staying out of the public debate concerning the pandemic, but lately a large group of people are starting to irritate me. Those who stubbornly refuse the vaccine and simultaneously protest the consequences of that choice. When actually 95 % of those being hospitalized in Western countries because of Covid 19 are … Continue reading Balancing individual freedom, privacy and social responsibility
The Butterfly Effect in Art
There is an iconic scene in “Jurassic Park” where Jeff Goldblum explains chaos theory. “It simply deals with unpredictability in complex systems,” he says. “The shorthand is 'the butterfly effect. ' A butterfly can flap its wings in Peking, and in Central Park, you get rain instead of sunshine.” In the visual arts world, butterfly … Continue reading The Butterfly Effect in Art
Writer’s block or completely wrong outline?
Since two years I’m trying to finish the fourth part of my pentalogy The Maharajagar. Since I’m a dedicated plotter, I started with an outline as I did with the previous parts of this series. To recapitulate, The Maharajagar is a contemporary retelling of the story line whereupon the Mahabharata rests. The fourth part of … Continue reading Writer’s block or completely wrong outline?
Analogies and differences between my art and that of Gustav Holst (1874 – 1934).
Holst drawn by William Rothenstein, 1920 It was inevitable that, during the research for my own artistical activities, I would stumble upon the works of British composer Gustav Holst. Just as I do, he found inspiration for his work into the planetary system and in the Mahabharata.The Planets, a seven-movement orchestral suite written by Holst … Continue reading Analogies and differences between my art and that of Gustav Holst (1874 – 1934).
New Mystery in Utah
Yesterday I was reading up on the Utah monolith and while I checked the location on google Earth, I came up with the image that figures on top of this post. For those who need a refresher: The Utah monolith was a metal pillar that stood in a red sandstone slot canyon in northern San Juan County, Utah. The pillar was 3 m … Continue reading New Mystery in Utah
Can you really have a virtual presence without Facebook and Instagram?
Again I had a week where I had to restrain myself not to snap at people on Facebook, posting stuff like: "What about could I write a book?" or the 20 years old college student that wants to write an autobiography that would mainly center around some grievances she perceived during her freshman's year. Or … Continue reading Can you really have a virtual presence without Facebook and Instagram?
Depression
It´s a fact of life that some people are more susceptible to depression than others. Sometimes there plays a genetically component, sometimes it´s the socio-economical situation, a disease that eats away their vitality, but most of the time it´s a deeply felt sentiment of being blocked in their development; a job they hate, a relation … Continue reading Depression
A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars In 1942, the Gestapo sent out an urgent transmission: "She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and destroy her." This spy was Virginia Hall, a young American woman--rejected from the foreign service because of her gender and her prosthetic leg--who talked her way into … Continue reading A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell
Reading up
Sometimes it´s a difficult task to balance your activity as a creative artist with the needs to keep up with the obligations of daily life and still be left with some time to keep track of what shakes and moves in other artistic circles. Stephen King put it succinctly: Can I be blunt on this … Continue reading Reading up
Giveaway promotion
I wish to inform this community that I´m running a giveaway promotion of the kindle version of my book “The All is an Egg: A Synthetic theory of the Universe, Humankind and Religion” (Click on this link before midnight on Friday January 29th for your FREE copy). The concept of this book is founded upon … Continue reading Giveaway promotion
Silence.
We are so much used to noise that many people perceive silence as discomforting. A pause into a conversation must be filled up with meaningless innuendo. Every room into the house must have a blaring TV or other noisemaker. Some people even claim they can´t work when there isn´t any sound producing device around (albeit … Continue reading Silence.
Shaharee Vyaas 