j → My Thamys » 8-bits and Shadow Masks
Our knowledge of the solar systems, cosmic shifts and stellar constellations are tied and bound by the conditions of our existence. We observe what we have existed to see. We see only that which exists, piecing up the fragments behind blind spots from scattered information. We paint in missing knowledge of the very planet supporting us; we are all scientists, climatologists and geologists. I know the entire world country by country, continent by continent and with every quake of the earth and rapid rising rainfall I am him and her and everyone. Glowtubes and photoelectric cells, receivers and transmitters all follow as every impulse is sensed by eyes and ears into nerve cells and “empty hollows” into a part of the brain that decodes and encodes. As we are all receivers and transmitters, decoders and encoders, we should have mastered the silent art of human behaviour, contact and conversation. But no, some of us are masters of uncertainty.
During a transmission of a BBC documentary on Doris Lessing, one of my favourite authors, I once again went through time shifts and historical travel. Viewing '60 & '70s England, a time we Young Ones know little about apart from the idea of “free love”, made me think about the memories the older generations must have. My own parents have seen technology rapidly advance with way of life and society following, but think - there are people nearly a century old who have seen “everything!” from black and white to multicolour. It's hard to imagine my father wearing flares and brightly coloured shirts. Simply, we do not consider the lives the out parents must have lived before we came into existence. This little fragment of time called "Now" and every daily but fading memory of emotions and feelings will pass like a pit amongst the grooves, I know. I know and am ready to expand and see beyond my horizons, carefully crafting my wings so that I do not fall like Icarus. I will circumnavigate the polar caps, shuttle along longitudes and latitudes, to the aurora australis and auroras borealis and soar beyond stratospheres and ionospheres. I will report change, measure growth and set goals for myself in secret discoveries through channels unfiltered by Russian spies. Instead of a "things to do by the time I am 25" list, I will be presumptively making a "things I CAN do now that I am 25" list this weekend despite being 19 years old, to be opened on the 28th of February 2015. What would you put on it?
My heart is going pitter patter boom boom & my stomach is heavy with sinking butterflies raising themselves upright againt a net. New Sigur Rós (first ever play on BBC Radio 1!), Flunk and rain from occluded fronts (a departing gift from France, perhaps?) have met my return to London on the 27th. I have come back armed with a bunch of BDs (Spirou et Fantasio, Les tuniques bleues & Marsupilami). But oh, how my heart beat listening to the radio! Every Sigur Rós release captures the cusp of the transition from moods and feelings. And how beautiful, hopeful Gobbledigook is, oh! Oh! Delightfully sweet and full of optimism. I dream hazily of English/German summers by a giant lake, wooden canoes and night-time swimming, white conservatories and annexed outhouses, fairy lights in sewn among the branches and old fashioned record players, picnics on the wild grass and the bliss of wilderness. I dream of the setting of Was nützt die liebe in gedanken, but without the destruction.
1 month left until Egypt and then...?
Before I left was the start of the exam period and I was in purgatory (neither here nor there, aka in between travels), so I found a lot of amazing things to visit in late April/early May:
01. China design now exhibition at the V&A
02. Industrial facility + Tim Walker (!) + Richard Rogers all at the Design Museum
03. The American Scene exhibition at the British Museum
04. China landscape
05. Cans festival in an underpass at Leake St. Waterloo [Banksy]
06. Houses made of sweets at the Museum of Childhood
07. Lots of films in a small 'festival' celebrating May '68 [film shorts by Godard, Fromanger & Pommereulle opened the season for me]
One of my favourite German words being Word of the day: Schadenfreude
GOOD THINGS ON THE BBC:
Watch them on BBC’S iPlayer (no downloading or loading up required, just stream for free but only for the next few days!).
BBC really does do the best documentaries. I love seeing Europe and South America as it strikes up nostalgia. The documentaries are absolutely inspirational and make me in awe of the things I'm seeing, as if opening my eyes for the first time. "Beyond the Andes" is especially brilliant, as is "Extreme Dreams", since they're about people who are stuck in their lives feeling unfulfilled, sometimes empty, sometimes unsure of themselves conquering their fears by trekking through some of the most amazing countries. "Beyond the Andes" is a group of young disabled people achieving so much on their adventure. It's a bit of perspective for when one thinks one's own life is tough.