Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Comment on lecture Bilbo gets away, Hobbit chapter 1
When Bilbo is lured away to the adventures of the dwarves out of his comfortable hobbit hole in the quiet Shire, there is an internal struggle between his calm and respectable Balings side and the more adventurous Took side and the external pressure of the dwarves and Gandalf induce him to half willingly consent to the adventure. Olson states that Bilbo as well as the reader are pulled into the story and that Tolkien was aiming at kids. For the kids the essential part a story is that something happens relative fast, that there is more action than thinking, description of things and persons. For me as a child it was not essential that a wizard makes fireworks to make him accessable or for dwarves to make precious toys. A story is a story and anything will do, all depends on the skills of the storyteller. You will follow all bends in train of thoughts or actions as long as it keeps you interested.
Later on Bilbo keeps missing his meals and homely place and that is a continuation of his internal struggle. What is more amazing is that he misses nothing else, except his habits, place and food. It turns Biblo into a slightly autistic person, that he misses no friends or family or lovers. Most people that feel homesick, miss lovers, friends or family or the mixture of these. Bilbo also fails to build a personal relation with the dwarves: love, hate and irritation in a ever changing rhythm. Sometimes you get the impression that this book and story are the awkward beginnings of a writer and that in later writings his skill has grown and his style become more consistent with his own ideas and inceptions.
I like the comical note sometimes or the irony, but I am not sure if it helps the story or the children listening to it. Very helpful is the way Olson explains the songs, I used to read them quickly and almost ignored them as they seem to distract from the story.
http://tolkienprofessor.com/lectures/hobbit_series/hobbit_home.html
Later on Bilbo keeps missing his meals and homely place and that is a continuation of his internal struggle. What is more amazing is that he misses nothing else, except his habits, place and food. It turns Biblo into a slightly autistic person, that he misses no friends or family or lovers. Most people that feel homesick, miss lovers, friends or family or the mixture of these. Bilbo also fails to build a personal relation with the dwarves: love, hate and irritation in a ever changing rhythm. Sometimes you get the impression that this book and story are the awkward beginnings of a writer and that in later writings his skill has grown and his style become more consistent with his own ideas and inceptions.
I like the comical note sometimes or the irony, but I am not sure if it helps the story or the children listening to it. Very helpful is the way Olson explains the songs, I used to read them quickly and almost ignored them as they seem to distract from the story.
http://tolkienprofessor.com/lectures/hobbit_series/hobbit_home.html
Hobbit Lectures
I have been a Tolkien fan ever since my father read the Hobbit aloud as bed-time story. Later he even read aloud the whole Lord of the Rings, evening after evening and sometimes he fell asleep while reading and forgot where he had stayed in the story. Now, a few days ago I came across a website, where prof Olsen holds his lectures at http://tolkienprofessor.com/lectures/lectures.html .
They're interesting and takes the whole subject quite seriously.
They're interesting and takes the whole subject quite seriously.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Berlin, Scharnistrasse
You live,
have sex
and die.
It's not much more. I was thinking about the father of my grandmother. And while I don't know anything about him, besides that he was a rich and successful construction entrepreneur. It still holds and I'm the living evidence. Maybe not of him, then of someone else.
I have made nothing especially of it. I'm no more than the dung beetle who just knows how to survive and keeps on stubbornly to roll his ball of dung. The world can disappear, the sand corns can roll away and cause a lawine, still there is no time to loose, just keep on rolling. It's hard to make any sense of it, what you will achieve with this or that action, what it will lead up to.
Enough I go to sleep. I hear Elizabeth already gently schnorring.
Friday, April 16, 2010
The dark spring sky
The dark spring sky above the Vlietlanden, close to Schipluiden, Vlaardingen and Delft. Clouds are living wonders. You just need to reap the images from the sky. The old Dutch master painters did a wonderful job. Who knows if I ever would be able to paint like that.
 |
| From Spring 2010 |
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Hitch hiking
Dear Ana G.
Have a nice travel around Europe!
Hitchhiking is far quicker than biking,
it's both a kind of sport.
and after a long time of thinking I
remembered that we have also hitchhiked once,
it was in Greece with a truck
and we even slept the night in the truck,
so Elizabeth found it scary,
she had seen to much American movies,
so she told me and herself to stay awake the whole night,
to keep a watch. After a short time
I heard her snoring in her sleep
and then I tried to be double awake
and of course in the morning we both woke up by the sun
shining into the cabin.
It's really funny that those memories can be awoken
out of a total slumber,
I almost would have told you that I didn't hitchhike.
The trucker did not speak English, so he showed photo's of his three children and wife. We could not say a lot of things back. And with fingers he indicated the ages of them.
You're welcome to visit us.
Greetings Arthur and Elize
Have a nice travel around Europe!
Hitchhiking is far quicker than biking,
it's both a kind of sport.
and after a long time of thinking I
remembered that we have also hitchhiked once,
it was in Greece with a truck
and we even slept the night in the truck,
so Elizabeth found it scary,
she had seen to much American movies,
so she told me and herself to stay awake the whole night,
to keep a watch. After a short time
I heard her snoring in her sleep
and then I tried to be double awake
and of course in the morning we both woke up by the sun
shining into the cabin.
It's really funny that those memories can be awoken
out of a total slumber,
I almost would have told you that I didn't hitchhike.
The trucker did not speak English, so he showed photo's of his three children and wife. We could not say a lot of things back. And with fingers he indicated the ages of them.
You're welcome to visit us.
Greetings Arthur and Elize
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Berlin or not?
Do we go to Berlin or not? Veteranenstrasse: the small space or all spaces? Leave at 20th of April? And who to ask? What is the maximum profit? What is the minimum? And in which cases? What about the small one only? Hope for the passerby, that really exists. And a growing circle of friends?
A place to stay and go to other meetings and where people can look you up? Any way, it's always better to be there than to stay here in the middle of nowhere to vegetate in the dessert. Even at N's place at the canal, tourists came in while it was an office. The park is close by a walk to all places and if it's really far off you can take a bike. To breath the air in wide spaces of nature you have to take the train.
A place to stay and go to other meetings and where people can look you up? Any way, it's always better to be there than to stay here in the middle of nowhere to vegetate in the dessert. Even at N's place at the canal, tourists came in while it was an office. The park is close by a walk to all places and if it's really far off you can take a bike. To breath the air in wide spaces of nature you have to take the train.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Capitalism is about getting Capital.
Yesterday evening we were at a squat party. There were six people and it was the second night in the house. The girl in front of me jumped half way up: "Someone is knocking on the door!"
You could see that the adrenaline was running to her cheeks. She had organised the squat, done all the paper research and was young. If you looked at the soft round skin of her face and saw her smile, you would tell her pretty. Now, she was scared. Her face showed angst and attention. The knocking became louder. The door was barricaded with wooden beams.
"I have hit the foot of the chair with my shoe," said I.
She didn't hear it. Just like the time that the wind had blown the tissue paper into the candle and the table was alight.
"Someone is knocking."
At her left a guy with a bare shaven head was starting an animated conversation with me. About the sky, about his mother, the countries he had lived in, the abusive husbands, she choose, how he had fended them off, how one had been shot by the Iranian secret service, how he had met his girl-friend, fucked another hundred, made a million selling water and lost it in a sea of consumption; all before the age of twenty-two.
He was in his early thirties, had a skinny face and looked battered. Beaten and broken by the natural course of life, shoven to the sidelines of our society, seeking a small place to stay or a narrow path to hope, what ever that would mean.
He smiled and inhaled the precious marijuana out of his cigarette. Life can be great!
You could see that the adrenaline was running to her cheeks. She had organised the squat, done all the paper research and was young. If you looked at the soft round skin of her face and saw her smile, you would tell her pretty. Now, she was scared. Her face showed angst and attention. The knocking became louder. The door was barricaded with wooden beams.
"I have hit the foot of the chair with my shoe," said I.
She didn't hear it. Just like the time that the wind had blown the tissue paper into the candle and the table was alight.
"Someone is knocking."
At her left a guy with a bare shaven head was starting an animated conversation with me. About the sky, about his mother, the countries he had lived in, the abusive husbands, she choose, how he had fended them off, how one had been shot by the Iranian secret service, how he had met his girl-friend, fucked another hundred, made a million selling water and lost it in a sea of consumption; all before the age of twenty-two.
He was in his early thirties, had a skinny face and looked battered. Beaten and broken by the natural course of life, shoven to the sidelines of our society, seeking a small place to stay or a narrow path to hope, what ever that would mean.
He smiled and inhaled the precious marijuana out of his cigarette. Life can be great!
Friday, February 26, 2010
Exponential growth
A friend of mine send me a link to a video on youtube. And it is quite remarkable. Not the conclusion that population growth somehow will stop. Not that consumption growth has to stop, 'cause we all know that. But by the simple and persistent way he presents his point and proves his opponents and all major media wrong.
He shows that sustainable energy and green dreaming lead absolutely nowhere, if the population-growth is not reduced to zero or negative.
Well, watch for yourself:
It takes about 8 videos of 9 minutes. And happily for us there are some places where the population shrinks. And the other positive point is, that somewhere in our lifetime, there will be a moment, that the noise and pollution of cars will stop. Don't worry about it. Prices will go up.
I have also made some slogans to promote some awareness and for fun:
"Sex at first sight."
"Screwed full the world will be."
"Christ, Mohamed and Buddha were all 100% breastfed." (No bottle-baby's)
He shows that sustainable energy and green dreaming lead absolutely nowhere, if the population-growth is not reduced to zero or negative.
Well, watch for yourself:
It takes about 8 videos of 9 minutes. And happily for us there are some places where the population shrinks. And the other positive point is, that somewhere in our lifetime, there will be a moment, that the noise and pollution of cars will stop. Don't worry about it. Prices will go up.
I have also made some slogans to promote some awareness and for fun:
"Sex at first sight."
"Screwed full the world will be."
"Christ, Mohamed and Buddha were all 100% breastfed." (No bottle-baby's)
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
A midnight carrier approach
A midnight carrier approach,
as early morning zen exercise.
The dark sky with some random stars,
the waters with some lights apart,
an undulating haze hanging between,
it all blurs into a grey dunkel mass.
The compass bearing leads us on,
slowly descending in a fair glide,
a stronger light appears,
it grows, it pulls, it turns red.
The brake ropes glister,
green lights, left and right:
Touch down!
It went like a butterfly,
gently fluttering this or that way,
effortless and peace loving,
adding power or flaps randomly.
No loss of positional awareness or
monitors switched off by sweethearts.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
