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| "You are Under Surveillance...."
I thought that the video with Sting performing "Every Breath You Take (I'll be Watching You) is a good compliment for my image. It's interesting to note that Sting was performing with his band named "The Police". |
 | The distinctive flag of Amsterdam got me to thinking about what symbolism comes in threes. One symbol that came of mind was that of the "Three Monkeys", which depict the concept of Hearing, Speaking, and Seeing no Evil. |
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| Iggies Pizzeria provided the Baltimore community with an excellent free dinner on Thanksgiving. The dinner was meant to aid those who otherwise would have spent Thanksgiving either alone or hungry. The food consisted of carved turkey, seasoned diced potatoes, sweet potatoes, asparagus spears, stuffing, cranberry sauce and dinner rolls. There was pumpkin pie for dessert. Iggies is actually a pizzeria.. Turkey dinners are not normally offered on its menu. I believe that the restaurant's mottos or slogans are "Pizza with a Purpose" and "Peace, Love, and Pizza"! | "This painting by Norman Rockwell has become a nostaligic symbol of an enduring American theme of holiday celebration... Outside of the United States, this image is perceived as a depiction of American overabundance." It's title is "Freedom from Want" and it was painted by Norman Rockwell in 1943 at the height of World War II. It's a propaganda piece meant to depict one of the "four freedoms" that had motivated the USA to fight in World War II. |
 | "Violets For Your Furs" It was winter in Manhattan, falling snow flakes filled the air, The streets were covered with a film of ice, But a little simple magic that I learned about somewhere, Changed the weather all around, just within a thrice. I bought you violets for your furs and it was spring for a while, remember? I bought you violets for your furs and there was April in that December. The snow drifted down on the flowers, and melted where it lay. The snow looked like dew on the blossoms as on a summer day. I bought you violets for your furs and there was blue in the wintry sky, You pinned my violets to your furs and gave a lift to the crowds passing by, You smiled at me so sweetly, since then one thought occurs, That we fell in love completely, the day I bought you violets for your furs. The idea for this work (image at left) was suggested to me by the image Bowl of Violets by Charlotte Augusta |
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I hear your voice, it's like an angel sighing | "Every thought is also a prison; every heaven is also a prison." Excerpt from "The Poet" by Ralph Waldo Emerson [Click on my image for more explanation/discussion] |
 | Madonna is certainly hard to figure out, but artistically very provocative. While her "Like a Prayer" music video was very Christian oriented, she has Hebrew letters tattooed on her arm, as shown from this still (left) from her "Die Another Day" video. One source explains that the hebrew tattoo represents one of the names of God, one of the names that is associated with Jewish mystical studies. |
 | On the downside, she has gotten involved (visually at least) with the glamorization of cigarette smoking! |
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| These train conversations are passing me by And I dont have nothing to say You get what you pay for But I just had no intention of living this way .... And I get no answers And I dont get no change Its raining in baltimore, baby But everything else is the same --- Lyrics from "Raining in Baltimore" by "Counting Crows" | "Most women gotta protect their doo even if it’s just a few drops."--- from an Umbrella Blog by "Cench" |
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| This is a self portrait of me wearing a tee-shirt proclaiming/promoting a zero percent interest rate. I'm standing next to the same "art-car" that was featured in my blog posting "She Needs a Helping Hand" | The fellow in the foreground was wearing another of the same tee-shirts that I had been wearing (at left). He was seated at a Christian religious service for the homeless (note the two crosses in the background). |
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 | "Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population....The [Nobel] Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons." I think that Bob Dylan is a more worthy candidate for the Nobel Prize in Peace than President Obama is for the Prize that he was awarded. President Obama has been quoted as stating: “ I have probably 30 Dylan songs on my iPod,” said Barack Obama in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine published on June 25, 2008. “Maggie’s Farm” is “one of my favorites during the political season,” says Obama. “It speaks to me as I listen to some of the political rhetoric.” I think that a better listening (and viewing) choice would be the version (above) of "Blowing in the Wind" from the 1963 Newport Folk Festival. |
 | I liked the design of this script declaring that "I need a Hug". The script design was created by a woman named Jacquie in the Netherlands. The design might perhaps also work as a tattoo? Melanie Safka recorded her signature composition "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain) in 1970 in the Netherlands, as shown in the video below. She really belts out an enthusiastic performance in this video, and the shots of the restrained Dutch audience make for an interesting comparison. The video contains a good study of fashion and hair styles from that period, especially as worn by the performers on the stage. |
 | I noticed a sculpture on display in Patterson Park in Baltimore. The sculpture is by Paul Glasgow, and is called "Stele 46 (2008)". It is made of metal and wood. |
 | I happened to note that someone had carved several swastikas into the wood of the left hand column. This perplexed me, and caused me to think about what other symbolic imagery might be contained in the wood of this sculpture. I noticed that the right hand column seems to contain a depiction or caricature of what is usually termed the "Wandering Jew". Knot holes in the wood form its two eyes, while the weathering in the wood forms to profile of a man with a long nose looking towards the left. |
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 | Here is the profile of me and the depiction, for comparison. For those not familiar with the story of the "Wandering Jew", the original legend concerns a Jew who taunted Jesus on the way to the Crucifixion and was then cursed to walk the earth until the Second Coming. |
 | Shown at left, for comparison, is a section from the painting "The Wandering Jew" by Joseph Ferdinand Keppler, (1901) |
 | Shown at left is a view of the sculpture when it was first installed, courtesy of the "highlandtown arts" website. The viewer will note that the column on the left shows no sign of the weathering or discoloration associated with the purported depiction of the "wandering Jew". The markings on the column on the right primarily stem from the shadow produced by a tree. |
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 | This image (left) is titled "Jenny and Friends" and was taken by Drayke Larson, a professional photographer, while shooting an advertising assignment for Camel Cigarettes by way of BFG Marketing. |
 | This is my humorous satirical revision of an excellent image by Yukihiro Fukuda that appeared in the July 2008 issue of National Geographic. |
| I thought that this image (left) that I shot in Baltimore in June 2008 made for an interesting composition. Someone had hung a tee-shirt with Obama's image onto a hook next to wooden panel. I believe that the tee-shirt was being offered for sale by a street vendor. Judging from other photographers work. President Obama IS big on hugging! For example, here is an image (below) from June 2008 showing then Senator Hillary Clinton meeting with then Senator Obama on the Presidential campaign trail:  |
 | I utilized the photofunia program to insert both my current facial portrait and also that of the folksinger Melanie Safka into the image. The facial portrait of Melanie Safka is approximately from the time of the Woodstock concert 40 years ago. The image is a fantasization (i.e an imaginary image) on many levels. Fantasy imagery aside, I have always been a strong fan of her music. |
 "I Need a [helping] Hand" |  |
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