...and other stuff, ART, INSIDE THE BOOK, PAN-GOD OF THE WOODS, READING MATTER, THE OZ FACTORS, UNIVERSES

READ WITHOUT EYES

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As lovers of learning and literature know all of the best fantasy, science fiction, history, romance, imagery, imagination and revelation are contained in books.  The content of movies and TV shows are often spewed from minds who pander the prurient interests to the lowest common denominators of money and mayhem.  The finest thoughts, the highest aspirations and the flightiest heights of imagination are dreamed and written by artists who write books.

Unfortunately, as my body grows older, I find that it is increasingly difficult to read books.  Diminishing eye sight, arthritis in my neck, bad back and insufficient time makes reading books more difficult.  Thank the gods, and technology for the wonderful inventions of MP 3 players and AUDIO BOOKS!

Now I can download and listen / read a vast array of literature on audio books, read to me by the some of the most talented actors:  it’s better than a bed-time story!  And I can listen to books while driving, waiting in the dentist office, walking around, sitting in the park and muti-tasking in general.  Personally, I’ve listened to more books during the past two years than I read in the previous five years.

Thanks to audio books I’ve been able to read books that I probably wouldn’t have read previously due to the sheer size and expense of the books, some of which are several thousand pages in length! Free audio books, in the public domain, are available from www.Librivox.org.   And, a vast library of books read by professional actors is available from www.Audible.com.   The most important (FREE) source of audio books is your local public library.  More and more books are available of CDs and cassette tapes every day.  I use and recommend all of these.

As for subject matter, here are some of the books I listened to recently that are my personal favourites:

All 7 books of THE LENSMAN SERIES, written by E.E. “Doc” Smith  (I consider these to be the finest science and science fiction books ever written). I listened to most of them twice!

All of the Sherlock Holmes books written by Arthur Conan Doyle  (most of these I read previously, but audio books make them more fun)

American Gods and The Anansi Boys by the magical Neill Gaimon.

Enders Game by the marvellous science fiction writer, Orson Scott Card

The Autobiography of Mark Twain, a compilation of his autobiographical writings and commentary.

Any of the legion of electrifyingly frightening books by the fantastic fiction writer, Dean Koontz.

Under the Dome by Stephen King.

The Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon.  One of the finest works of historical commentary ever produced.

The Republic by Plato is the pre-eminent discussion of the philosophy and culture of Western Civilization, written in 368 B.C.E.

Mien Kamph by Adolph Hitler.  This is a ‘must’ read if you care to understand the demented ‘logic’ of a demonic Germanic mind.

The Confession by John Grisham.  This is a damning diatribe, written as fiction, on the subject of capital punishment.

The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant. This is a marvelous perusal of the entire subject of Western philosophers.

The complete writings of the Father of the American Revolution,  Thomas Paine.

The Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tze.  (The new English translation)

At the moment I’m listening to Fall of Giants by Ken Follett.

___________________________

Good listening!  Lawrence R. Spencer

...and other stuff, ART, MOVING PICTURES, POETIC NONSENSE, SOUNDS, UNIVERSES

INFLATABLE THOUGHT

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Morbidus: an inflatable thought about the weight of creativity on individuals…..

Morbidus

 

Morbidus for IdN / Animation from Dvein on Vimeo.

Dvein together with Marc Teitler have created a colourful drama to celebrate the 100th issue of IdN magazine (http://idnworld.com/100/).

CREDITS
Direction & Animation: Dvein (www.dvein.com)
Music & Sound Design: Marc Teitler (http://www.marcteitlermusic.com)

...and other stuff, ART

THE GREAT RAMEN WAVE

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I had Ramen noodles for lunch today.  Later, I ran across this wonderful tribute to Hokusai.  As a student of art, and oil painter myself, I have always admired the preeminent Japanese master of wood block prints.  His best know work, “The Great Wave” has been imitated as much as any great art masterpiece in history.  It is part of a series of prints featuring Mt. Fuji, each from a different vantage point.

The Great Wave off Kanagawa (神奈川沖浪裏 Kanagawa-oki nami-ura?, lit. “Under a Wave off Kanagawa”), also known as The Great Wave or simply The Wave, is a woodblock print by the Japanese artist Hokusai. An example of ukiyo-e art, it was published sometime between 1830 and 1833 (during the Edo Period) as the first in Hokusai’s series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei (富嶽三十六景?)), and is his most famous work. This particular woodblock is one of the most recognized works of Japanese art in the world. It depicts an enormous wave threatening boats near the Japanese prefecture of Kanagawa. While sometimes assumed to be a tsunami, the wave is, as the picture’s title notes, more likely to be a large okinami – literally “wave of the open sea.” As in all the prints in the series, it depicts the area around Mount Fuji under particular conditions, and the mountain itself appears in the background.

MORTALITY MECHANIC'S MANUAL, READING MATTER

MORTALITY MECHANIC’S MANUAL

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Imagine that you are an Immortal, Omniscient, Omnipotent spiritual being. You have existed through all eternity, and cannot do otherwise. You are Eternally responsible for the existence of everything you can perceive in your Universe. Your every thought and whim materialize instantly, and disappear as soon as you stop. You know the outcome of every action you take before you make a move. Imagine how boring it might become? 

What price would you pay to be amused by someone other than yourself?  What would you be willing to do to solve the problem of perpetual boredom?  For an Immortal Being, mortality might be a coveted and convenient relief from eternal loneliness: no sensation, no surprises, no fun.

What if a “Mortality Mechanic” could make your existence more exciting and less boring?  Are you interested?  After billions of years of testing and experimentation solutions to Immortality have been codified in the Mortality Mechanic’s Guide.  You are the living proof that their job is done.

A new book by Lawrence R. Spencer.  Read it now…Immortality doesn’t last forever.

Support independent publishing: Buy this book on Lulu.

...and other stuff, ART, LIVES, PICTURE POEMS, READING MATTER, The Real Johannes Vermeer, THE VERMEER WOMEN, UNIVERSES, VERMEER REVEALED

MY PERSONAL MONA LISA

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“Much like Leonardo da Vinci, I worked intermittently on this single painting over a period of many years, never satisfied that it was finished, and continually improving upon the original.  This painting is my personal Mona Lisa, my daughter, Maria.

We had a live-in servant for many years, named Tanneke Everpoel, hired and paid by Maria Thins.  She did all of the “heavy labor”, as it were: cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, carrying water, tending fires, and a myriad other chores, including helping with the children.  However, the expense of paying her wage and room did not include standing for endless hours, day after day, while I painted this portrait!  My daughter, Maria, was lovelier and much more readily accessible for the task of standing for this portrait.

It is argued, convincingly, that the immortal painting by Leonard was his own self-portrait as his own, feminine  reflection. What man, or woman, regardless of sexual preference in a given lifetime, has not inhabited the flesh of ten thousand bodies, some human, many not, through  a nearly infinite cascade of galaxies, stars and planets come and gone.  Is not survival a nearly infinite game, in which we interchange ourselves as the players of many parts?

Leonard kept his portrait with him all his life.  He never considered that it was complete or perfect.  Nor did he ever intend to sell it.  How could one sell a most cherished reflection of himself?  It is more meaningful than one’s own body, which only disguises the inner self, the essence of spirit that animates the fragile flesh.

In fact, a body hides the reflection of the soul!  How can any substance, especially that as rude and fragile as meat, reveal the inherent qualities an immortal nothingness?  Indeed, it is the fundamental challenge and the most formidable task of an artist to reveal it!

The name given to this painting by others, “The Milkmaid”, is a sacrilege!   It rivals the incomprehension others have for Leonardo’s personal masterpiece.  Yet, how can anyone truly understand that a painting is meant to reflect the  essence of an immortal being, seen through the eyes of another?

She is painted with angelic colors: blue, gold and white, in contrast to the menial nature of her station in life.  From her issues, for me, the Milk and Bread of Life.  Life is embodied in her and through her.  Women, are the source of children, the source of energy, the source of care.  There is no more vital responsibility for any being who plays the game of life, than to confront dreary daily tasks.  To humbly make the daily loaf.  To soak that bread, mix and soften it with milk, make it warm and feed it to a teething child.  Survival is made of such things.

In those days I viewed life as idyllic.  My dreams were more real than reality.  All things were a possibility.  Tragedy could not find me.  Until it did, of course.  Even when we lost a child, which we did with several, my wife, Catharina, remained resolute in her Faith.  God guided us.  He did what was best.  We knew not why and need not question His purpose for us.

I have no such faith in predetermination.  A loaf of grain, clean water and a bed was my fare.  Time and a place to paint, uninterrupted, were necessities.  My love, shared with wife and family, was the staple diet of my life.  I assumed, as a Fool who knows not his own mortality, that they would endure, even when I was gone.”

_______________________________________

Excerpt from the book VERMEER: PORTRAITS OF A LIFETIME, by Lawrence R. Spencer

DOWNLOAD THIS BOOK FROM
http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/vermeer/id443800993?mt=11 

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