muse/s for the day

shadows horizon
by Illac Diaz
Raza, February 2009


jelly fishes clinging to the leaves or stars turned white descended?
by Najwa Fathimath
Beijing, February 2009


yellow flowers-foggy building
by Patrick Kassmann
Macau, February 2009


affection
by JoeSardz
Antipolo City, undated



Yes these works of art are not mine, but hey, I named these photos according to how they inspired me ;-) it's amazing how works of art can stir some emotions/inspiration. a welcome break from work indeed.

NO TIME

i had a nice dinner on Sunday at BBQ pit #3 courtesy of a vivacious, funny, sweet Lebanese friend. and oh she has a sister who is even sexier (yes she is, sorry dear friend :-), i just find artists really with their creative imagination and different way of looking at things.

what a pleasant surprise then that the toilet break we had became a little screening: NO TIME.

"when we sleep we escape, we escape from time. when we take a still photo we freeze
time. when we orgasm time stops. time runs very fast and the only way to freeze it is
by sleep, cameras and orgasm."

- Carine Koleilat

flashes, sporadic thinking...

having to share the burden of strategic planning and thinking/rethinking of people concerns, i had a lot of headache for the last 48 hours or so. its daunting, it is...

then i remember motivation and rewards, groupthink, communication and organizational change lectures. oh i wish you were here Jak to help us figure out these things. or perhaps the bough tie man has the same thinking just bounded by other things...

--------

just a moment ago, going through some papers (pseudo clutter) at beaverloft, i found a piece of paper saying:

"Presumably the change agent is motivated by a desire to help other people. But, why does he want to help them? Is he genuinely interested in their welfare? Or - and this is sometimes the case - does he enjoy giving help solely because it inspires feelings of power, assurance, or self-righteousness in him? Usually of course, motivation is complex and involves both altruism and self-interest. This is not bad in itself. The danger comes at the point where the change agent is so busy creating a situation which will satisfy his own needs that he is unable to respond to the needs of the client system. When this happens, his help may actually be a hindrance."

- G. Lippitt

change that we need?

let me outrightly say that i was moved by the "Obama story," well as of today at least. I've watched a number of videos, speeches; read a few articles and interviews, etc; and well, i waited for his Inauguration speech and got a headache the following morning. In short, I love the President's Persona and the ideals he stand for (at least the soundbytes that I have got).

I was moved by his speech reading it again this morning when I took a few minutes break from working. I would say that I am one of those rooting for him, for his O' Administration and for the renewed America that he proposes. Hopefully with his team of astute technocrats and the support of America's bureaucrats, he'd be able to turn around the America that we admire and prove once again the values it stand for works, in Obama's words -- honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty.

And these same values are held true by many peoples and nations around the world, that is why perhaps, at least half of the world's population is watching the other day...



Obama's Inauguration Speech
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/1/20/1261/02980/1004/686506


Obama's inauguration poem by Elizabeth Alexander
http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20545?gclid=CPGV2sPro5gCFc8vpAodAnGmnA

"all art has been contemporary" perhaps one of the most memorable lines from my habibi off Isla del Sol...

and he is right. many artists when they start to express themselves automatically becomes contemporary artists and it's not easy to go through the process.

i am among those who never quite understand sometimes contemporary arts. offhand, the impression is that it's quite chaotic and you get the feeling that you are lost trying to understand what it means...

however, after having been exposed to some colleagues in the art and culture sector and exchanging opinions and asking quite stupid questions... i am now convinced that the overall relevance of an artistic product of a specific period (contemporary) is how it reflects the realities of that specific time or era... it serves as a mirror from which you can see what is happening around - whether fancy, depressing, colossal, etc. and i should say that most of these are raw channels...

i guess this is the context from which we can view contemporary arts... perhaps the key is to try to have a dialogue and a disposition of openness and somehow, maybe contextualise...