analogs digital

I was watching 'Andy Warhol's Diary' on netflix, and they were talking about how, as part of a promotion, Commodore got Andy Warhol to make some art on one of their computers. I think he used an early version of MS paint or something. 

That kind of art production was right up Warhol's alley, and he even wrote in his diary, something about how, if he had discovered this kind of art making earlier, he might just specialize in it and not even paint at all. That's interesting and I wish that had been the case or that, maybe if he had lived longer, he would have pursued digital art. 

In any case, he wrote about the art he made as part of the commodore promotion, and he said that it was really bad - it was just rubbish. But of course it was...he had literally never used a computer before. Still, if it was saved or printed (which I don't think it was) it would no doubt sell for millions now. 

inviolable

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. - Romans 12:21

When people do things that are harmful to you, either maliciously or negligently, it can feel very invalidating. You feel vulnerable and like you don't have agency over your own life. But two truths I want to affirm: 

Firstly, the energy and the spirit behind that person's actions can be converted into something positive and good. Somehow it provides an opportunity for change. It raises a lot of issues, and that gives you the chance to address those issues. 

Secondly, no one can trample or violate the things that really matter. Your values, goals, aspirations, beliefs, are yours and they can't be touched. There are things that do not 'perish, spoil or fade'. (1 Peter 1:4) 

the art of life

When we go through a crisis, we think something is wrong. We think things shouldn't be like this. I've felt that, when I was wracked by depression and anxiety and desperate for relief from the pain of those conditions. 

But I also see that crises represent a chance to make a fresh start - a real new beginning, which can only come about through pain. 

Through my journey of recovery, as I stopped drinking and tapered off benzos, I embarked on a new life, but it was only because I had to change. It was out of that same desperation for relief that I already mentioned. 

It was the only way. Changing brought relief. It's like art. With art you absolutely can't represent things the way you think you're supposed to. Likewise, you can't find real relief in the ways that seem to you that they would lead to relief. 

You have to do what seems hard and unnatural but, as you're discovering, is the path to life. 

defference

When I go to other countries, it strikes me as strange that the soil and plants are the same in some ways. They're like universal things. 

crimes

A path lies open before me, not of anticipating and responding to threats or criticism, but of doing stuff and living. 

o possum

I call this humble pie. 

un/readable classics

I'm coming to the conclusion that Henry James is the most readable of all the classic writers. I recently read (but didn't finish) Dickens's Oliver Twist, and though I really like Dickens, I didn't like this book. It's puerile, nasty, racist, and melodramatic (but not in a fun way, like Ann Radcliffe).

But now I'm reading Henry James - one of his early novels - and it's like a palate cleanser. I'm looking forward to more. 

I still like Dickens though. 

poiesis

Hunters and Collectors were the first band that made me listen and think about the lyrics. 

unfamile

He wrote a novel in which he depicted certain historical events as being driven by machines and inanimate objects. No, it wasn't so much that events were driven by those things, it was just that that was his focus. He portrayed them as if they were a kind of natural phenomena, which they aren't, and that opens up creative possibilities. 

Maybe he was critiquing the arbitrary nature of historical explanations. 

sold as is

something new

untainted by the stories that presume their own existence

and always were that way

Christ died for the unworthy

I think the idea that, as a Christian, you should love citizens of your nation more than you love non-citizens, as espoused by J D Vance - that there is a hierarchy: you love your family, then your community, then your nation, then other nations - is not Christian. What did Jesus teach? Love your enemies! Love your neighbor! The idea that the way you treat a person and whether or not you should care about them would depend on their visa status or their culture or their religion is abhorrent, at least to me.