No Black Shadows

21 Steps to Enlightenment

2009-06-13T22:50:00.001+02:00

While I was gone, Joss Whedon's Dollhouse started to kick in real good and came to a (temporary) finish. Looking at the big picture, I didn't like the first couple of episodes too much. They had potential, but only so much as the series as a whole had - the premise, plot, etc. After five episodes, though, all the good stuff came rushing in. I became involved by all the plot reveals and turns and, above all, the fantastic acting that most of the characters showed (all except Eliza Dushku). And Alan Tudyk in the final episode - hell yeah! Rarely have I seen such a fun and entangling acting. The world needs more well acted multiple personalities. The quality of acting made me feel compelled to re-watch several episodes of Firefly; which is probably the only series that I regularly re-watch (I sometimes watch the first episodes of Buffy before I get bored, don't ever watch B5, although I dream of Star Trek Voyager).
The second season looks promising.

Auf WDR gab es eine Diskussionsrunde über die Trickserei, die im Lebensmittelbereich mit Kunden gemacht wird. Das ganze kann man sich per WebTV hier ansehen und ist sogar viel unterhaltsamer, als ich angenommen hatte.

Ein weiteres interessantes Detail, über das ich stolperte: Man vergleiche die Pringles-Wikipedia-Einträge in englisch und deutsch. Der deutsche ist ungleich kritischer und zeigt, was für ein Mist in den Chips eigentlich drin ist. Im englischen keine Spur davon.

Recherchebedingt war ich im Haus der Geschichten. Eine nette unterrepräsentierte Kulturstätte, die tief berühren kann, wenn man sich darauf einlässt. Auch schön, dass sie interaktiv ist - was mich dazu veranlasste, einen Teil meiner eigenen Geschichte dort zu lassen. Fotos:

Among the Living

2009-05-28T11:22:00.005+02:00

I'm back. I have tons to write, and I'm writing tons, only in tons of places. Sort of ;)

There's a bad photo of the costume I designed and made some time ago:

In April, there was an exhibition on Japanese art in Salzburg. I wrote a report on it here, with photos.

In the Biologiezentrum Dornach the exhibition "Gefangen in Bernstein" is currently taking place. Quite nice for a short afternoon trip.

This Saturday, there will the the Fairplanet Festival in Linz. A week later, there's the Fest der Sinne in Wels. In September, we'll have another installment of the Wearfair. Nice!
(I just wish the Wearfair didn't always take place when I'm out of town.)

I'm also now co-habiting with six Kendo-infested beings.

And because I adjust to all kinds and tastes, I have given them both names:

and numbers:

And I also revamped my website. Go check it out.

Goodbye, Life

2009-03-25T23:56:00.003+01:00

That was a short visit. Hope to see you again in a couple of weeks.

As you might have noticed, this and the last posting lacked the picture/painting I had intended to post with every blog entry. Alas, I still have no camera, and the cam on my phone stopped working as well, so I can't take photos of the stuff I produced in the last couple of weeks. But since I'm probably going to disappear again for a few weeks, there won't be that many postings without pictures. Quid pro quo. Or something like that.

Watched Watchmen. Then read the comic (which, surprisingly, was available in our University library; I love my English department for its open-mindedness). I liked the film. It was intriguing, partly confusing and left certain stuff open (which is neither good nor bad). Upon reading the comic, I figured the confusing stuff mostly came from the changes that had taken place for no conceivable reason. The film seems to push the vigilantes into harsher good/bad-directions, while the comic leaves them pretty much in the middle-field. The comic also and unsurprisingly explains their behaviours better. It's nice to have such well thought-out and complex personalities in the superhero genre.
I guess Heroes tries to follow that direction a bit, since its characters are quite grey, as well, but that might just be due to a general lack of a well thought-out concept, resulting in a change of character-direction in order to surprise the viewer again by putting the character into the other party. (Yes, Heroes is slowly starting to bore me.)

What does not bore me, but rather gets better bit by bit, is Joss Whedon's new show, Dollhouse. While I'm not too fond of Faith's, err, Eliza Dushku's acting, I like the direction of the show and hope it gets beyond the damsel-in-distress stage.
I miss Joss' humour. It's what made Firefly brilliant.
Still, lots of potential in the show.

***

In Linz eröffnete vor einigen Wochen die Tolouse-Lautrec Ausstellung in der Landesgalerie - eine sehr empfehlenswerte Ausstellung mit vielen beeindruckenden Bildern des Malers der Pariser Bordellszene. Mich beeindruckten vor allem die verschiedenen Stilrichtungen, in denen die Gemälde angefertigt wurden, und natürlich begeisterten mich am meisten die Bilder, in denen deutlich der Einfluss der japanischen Malerei zu sehen war. Hat mich auch etwas überrascht zu sehen, dass der japanische Einfluss damals schon so groß war. Und weil das so toll ist, geht's demnächst in die Sensai-Ausstellung in Salzburg.

Hello, Life

2009-03-14T08:03:00.000+01:00

Well, life has me back. For a while. The question is whether this is a good or bad thing, considering that life's a bitch and all.

But, disappointingly, there are only a few links to post. The rest will follow (soon, as my former Arindal colleagues would have said).

To begin with, I have a nice video on guerilla gardening.

On the other side of a mirror, there's a shocking article on the consequences workers making antique style jeans face. The cynical part of me thought "How handy. With stuff like that, you can both make fashion and kill people."
Then it came to me that this thought isn't so ironic after all. Fashion and death are actually closely linked together - sweatshops, ridiculous beauty ideals, pesticides in the cotton plantations, etc.
Sad world.

For something more positive:
Very exciting deviation about digital comics. I love the interactive-ness and it feels so much more alive than traditional comics.

And to finish off, two in German.

Ich bin ja nicht so der Fan von Raps, Der hier hat's mir allerdings angetan.

Nachdem im deutschene Raum die Petition zum Grundeinkommen so gut durchgegangen ist, hier ein Film über's Grundeinkommen. Sehr interessant und informativ.

XXI The World

2009-02-08T00:14:00.004+01:00

Style inspired heavily by James Jean. Theme inspired heavily by my bi-monthly visits at the hospital :)

***

Seit Ende letzten Jahres gibt es im ehemaligen Central-Kino den Ruhepol, zum bewussten Austreten aus der lärmüberlasteten Welt, zum Auszeit-Nehmen und zum Erleben der Stille. Nachdem ich es lange vor hatte, konnte ich der Örtlichkeit nun auch einen Besuch abstatten, und ich muss sagen: Ich bin beeindruckt. Das Innendesign ist atemberaubend; schlicht, puristisch und "grundlegend". Man fühlt sich wie in einer anderen Welt. Im Zentrum liegt man in einem der ehemaligen Kinosäle und schaut auf Holzplatten, wo einst die Leinwand war - eine Ironie, die mich begeistert. Der Ruhepol ist für Linz eine große Bereicherung, und als ich ihn verließ, fühlte ich in mir schon Bedauern, wissend, dass er im November wieder geschlossen wird.

Not a triumph, but a try

2009-02-03T22:37:00.001+01:00

There were so many possible titles for this blog entry -
"Two pages on why I'm not a comics creator"
"Fabrizio Eva in a nutshell"
"Slaughtering globalisation theories"

Ah well. I guess it is better to have a bad start somewhere than to not start at all.

From March 6-8 there's a comics festival in Linz. There'll also be a 24-hour-comic project. I'm very tempted to participate, despite my lack of comic creation abilities and despite it being the weekend before I have my diploma exam. It probably is loads of fun.

You're valuable (and so is everybody else)

2009-01-19T00:41:00.001+01:00

Back in October Neil Gaiman made a 9-city tour, reading a chapter of his latest novel, The Graveyard Book in each city. The book has been, afaik, in the bestselling lists ever since it was published - justifiably so, I believe. It took a long time, but over many nights in a half-dozing state I listened to the whole tour and enjoyed it greatly. It is very recommendable. You can find the videos here.

There is also another recommendable video for today, a short film named Validation. It's awesome. I love it. It sincerely moved me to tears.

And to end the linkage: I also stumbled over a nice blog with some interesting kendo articles.

***

Some costume designs. Costume designs are fun (although I'll probably never sew them, unfortunately):

AEC09

2009-01-08T01:21:00.005+01:00

Jeder Besuch im Linzer Ars Electronica Center ist ein Erlebnis. Die Symbiose von Technologie und Kunst schafft es immer wieder, in mir Visionen der Welt zu wecken, wie sie in der Zukunft sein könnte - nicht immer zum Guten, aber immer inspirierend.
Am Wochenende wurde das neue AEC mit drei Open House - Tagen eröffnet, und die Massen stürmten hinein, bis die Türen verschlossen wurden. 4.5 Stockwerke voller Neuheiten waren überfüllt, so dass es viel zu sehen aber nicht so viel zum Ausprobieren gab, weshalb ich demnächst irgendwann noch einmal hingehen werde. Es gibt dort einfach zu viele Dinge, die mich fasziniert haben. Mit jedem Stockwerk stieg auch meine Begeisterung.
Im Keller ist die Umwelt-Abteilung eingesiedelt, in der man Retina-Scans machen kann, die an Bilder vom Universum erinnern. Daneben gibt es Mikroskopie bis in die mehrere tausendfache Vergrößerung und in sich geschlossene Lebensräume, sowie aufgespaltete und mit menschlichem Auge sichtbare Tomaten-DNA. Und, am Besten, Bücher! Ich könnte mich dort eingraben zwischen den Werken über Medienkultur und Körperkult. Auch einige bekannte Technologien waren dort zu finden, wie z.B. das Herausboxen der Form des eigenen Lampenschirms und 3D-Zeichnen mittels 3D-Brille.

Im Erdgeschoss ist die Robotik-Abteilung sowie die Nachfolge vom Cave, in der wir Das letzte Abendmahl digital zusammengesetzt aus vielen, vielen Einzelbildern gesehen haben, weit reingezoomt, so dass selbst der 1cm große, fast verblasste Kirchturm nebem Jesus' Kopf deutlich sichtbar wurde. Mir hat es dort aber v.a. das japanische Klettermännchen angetan, das im Originalversuch über 6h mit seiner Batterie einen Berg erklommen hat.

Das erste Stockwerk war sehr musikalisch angehaucht; mein absolutes, unschlagbares Highlight eine Nachbildung inspiriert von Animusic Pipe Dream. Ab dieser Entdeckung konnte ich mich nicht mehr zurückhalten, wurde verbal sehr reduziert und hatte vermutlich ein unverkennbares Leuchten in den Augen.

Obwohl ich dachte, meine Gefühle zu dem Zeitpunkt wären nicht mehr zu toppen, kam die Begegnung mit meiner momentanen großen Liebe im zweiten Stockwerk, das für mich eindeutig das Steampunk-Stockwerk ist. Maschinen, Zahnräder, Mechanik. Alles da, hübsch, ästhetisch, kunstvoll und brilliant. Man muss es gesehen haben, so lässt es sich nicht in Worte fassen. Ein Werk hat Bewegung auf Null reduziert, indem jedes Zahnrad sich immer langsamer dreht. Zehn Zahnräder, aber die Bewegung erkennt man ab dem dritten schon fast nicht mehr.

Steampunk hat einfach was.

Yule

2008-12-25T16:32:00.001+01:00

Not really using canned vegetables often, I now have a reason to not use them at all. I needed some beans for cooking and ended up with a stone in the food. Holy crap. I cannot image the bad production criteria that let a stone get into the can.

Talking of food:
Awesome bentos. I love such a creative and aesthetic use of food. That's the kind of attention to detail and dedication that creates a great food culture

And another video on an important topic: Act Now

***

In Linz gibt es gerade die Ausstellung "Kulturhauptstadt des Führers" im Schlossmuseum. Die Aussstellung ist in verschiedene Schwerpunkte aufgeteilt (Architektur, Kunst, Literatur, Theater) und beleuchtet die Pläne, die Hitler für Linz hatte, und inwieweit diese umgesetzt wurden. Der Kunst-Bereich ist äußerst umfangreich und beinhaltet zahlreiche Bilder aus der Zeit der 30er und 40er. Man wird förmlich von der Kunst erschlagen. Die Ausstellung ist sehr empfehlenswert, da informativ (in erdrückendem Ausmaß), und brachte mir als Linzer einiges näher, wovon ich vorher nur wenig Ahnung hatte, auch wenn mir persönlich der Architektur-Teil ist leider etwas zu kurz gekommen (obwohl er auch umfangreich ist; da er für mich aber der interessanteste Bereich war, hätte ich mir gerne noch mehr gewünscht).
Die Ausstellung liefert auch kleine Einblicke in die Kindheits- und Jugendhintergründe und ich dachte mir öfters, dass deutlich wird, welche innerliche Verhärtung jemand erlebt, der immer wieder enttäuscht wird (Wiederholungsprüfungen in der Schule, mehrfaches Versagen in der Realschule, zweifache Ablehnung der Kunstuni, etc.). Mit 15 hatte er schon deutliche Umbaupläne für Linz. Derart gerichtete frühe "Ambitionen" indizieren doch, dass die Person schon jung sehr unzufrieden gewesen sein muss.

***

Am dritten Adventwochenende gab's auch einen mittelalterlichen Weihnachtsmarkt am Froschberg in Linz, auf den ich kurz zur Ablenkung vom Lernmarathon geschaut habe. Er war sehr klein mit wenigen Händlern, aber ich hatte eh nicht vor lange zu bleiben. Hängen geblieben bin ich dann doch, und zwar bei den lieben Menschen vom Mjöllnir Clan, die mich etwas über die Wikinger aufgeklärt haben und mir gleichzeitig ein bisschen linguistisches Fachwissen vermittelten, das mir bei meiner Prüfung in der darauf folgenden Woche geholfen hat. Ich bedanke mich herzlich und verneige mein Haupt ob der Liebe und Arbeit, die die niederösterreichischen Wikinger ins Handwerk stecken. Hat mich tief beeindruckt. Für mich ist jetzt auch nachvollziehbarer, was die Wikinger-Darstellung so reizvoll macht. Mal sehen, was das neue Mittelalter-Jahr bringen wird.

***

To finish off:
Here is an awesome song and video (ending song of the game Portal). It was, of course, written by the awesome Jonathan Coulton.

***

This year's Christmas card. Had planned to make real cards and send them off, but ran out of time. Thus, the cheap version.

What I learned from my thesis

2008-12-16T13:45:00.000+01:00

Some concepts I came across while writing....

Religious transcendence.
In Christianity: transcending life and death.
In Buddhism: transcendence between the enlightened and unenlightened being.
Jean-Paul Satre: transcending the ego; meaning: allowing others to influence you.

engl. emancipation
* Befreiung
* Emanzipation
* Gleichberechtigung
(Nope, I was not aware of all these meanings.)

And some absolutely fantastic quotes from May Kendall's and Andrew Lang's That Very Mab (while I love Fiona Macleod's "The Annir-Coille" deeply, and of all texts for my thesis it is still my favourite one, when it comes to socio-political satire nothing can beat That Very Mab):

"[...] we are being educated up to a very high point. It saves people the trouble of thinking for themselves, certainly; they can always get all their thoughts now, ready made, on every kind of subject, and at extremely low prices. They only have to make up their minds what to take, and generally they take the cheapest. There is a great demand for cheap thought just now, especially when it is advertised as being of superior quality."

"[...] education is compulsory. Eating is not compulsory; you may starve, you must learn."

"[...] it is part of their religion to walk as fast as they can, not only through Cheapside but through life. The one who can walk fastest, and knock down the greatest number of other people, gets a prize."

"Even the dynamiters themselves don't appear to have gone into the whole logic of it. I suppose that they are tired of only blowing things up on paper, and they are people who have a great objection to things in general. They complain that they can't get justice from the universe in its present state of preservation, and therefore they are going to blow as much of it as possible into what they call smithereens, and try to get justice from the smithereens. It is a new scheme they have hit upon, a kind of scientific experiment. The theory appears to be, that justice is the product of Nihilism plus public buildings blown up by dynamite, and that the more public buildings they blow up the more justice they will obtain."

***

But the most important thing I learned from my thesis - stress, and that it's not really worth it. To continue with the quotes:

All the e-mails I get these days start with sorry but I've been busy, and I don't understand how we can be so busy and then have nothing to say to each other.
- Jon McGregor, "if nobody speaks of remarkable things"

We're taught that being busy and occupied means being industrious and hardworking. To me, however, it feels like a loss of the quality of life. The last few weeks, I've been so glad I'm doing Kendo, because it gave me the opportunity to get out and away from work and hit people. And, sometimes, that's just what you gotta do.

Ahem. But to stick to the truth, it's not the hitting-people thing that I needed. It's the part about getting away and emptying my mind. 'tis good that Kendo exists in my life.

***

It "only" took nine sessions of live-drawing and repeated urges from the supervisor for me to try out a different medium. Charcoal. It's actually quite cool and fun. I think I end up with better results for the 10-minute poses than with graphite. The longer poses still yield in nicer pictures with graphite.

Winter is coming

2008-11-28T14:17:00.002+01:00

It appears there is nothing that puts me more off a film than having it begin with Keira Knightley, looking even more anorexic than usually, trying to sing erotically, followed by a close-up of Scarlett Johannson's mouth trying to exhale cigarette smoke erotically.
British films are really at their best when they do not try to imitate Hollywood and instead use their typical wit and charm, with actors that look like real people (with wrinkles and all).
(see Plots with a View for a great example of such films)

***

Some more stuff from the recent live-drawing sessions. We finally had a male model, and I quickly realised that drawing him isn't any different from drawing her. In the end, they're all objects consisting of light and shadow and are mostly, sadly, objecitfied by me.

We also did some movement studies, which I hate, hate, hate with a passion. How are you supposed to find an accurate line if the line changes all the time? (And the light and shadow changes, too.)

Evolution is Science Fiction

2008-11-08T02:13:00.001+01:00

I read Serenity by Keith DeCandido, after the film of the same name, based on the best SciFi-series ever. The novel follows the series and the film very, very closely. This is a shame, because I liked the style of the author and he seems like someone who could bring neat additions to novels that follow films. Content-wise, the book doesn't add anything if you've seen the series/film, and it even seems awkward if you've read the unauthorized essays, because some of the character's thoughts don't add up (others, rarely, explain certain events better, which is what such a novel should do, in my book).
Novels that are fashioned after films usually disappoint me. It's rare that they bring originality into the plot, often because the writers are simply not allowed to think for themselves and expand the verse - the creator's fear of having someone else kill their darlings.
(A fear that may be understandable if you know certain types of fanfiction.)

***

There's this theory that was apparently very prominent in the 19th century. It describes the existence of "a racial or animal memory throughout the evolutionary process - a subliminal knowledge of generic past experience in each individual creature at her particular level of developed consciousness."
Today you call it basic instinct, I guess. Still, something in me refuses to accredit this theory. It seems weird to believe that, if you speak in theological terms, some memory or, rather, being of Lilith and Eva should be in me (given they existed, but we're talking theoretically here, so that's not the point). That all the past that there is in one's bloodline could be summoned up if you reach a certain level of consciousness, from the oppression in patriarchy back to the times when there were matriarchates.
We're more than the sum of our parts, true, but are we that much more?

***

I love this song by Tori Amos.

It reminds me of the time when I went to a ball and couldn't really relate to any of the people there, so I just went around trying to smile happily, while I was utterly bored inside. At some point a guy told me "You smile nicely, but you don't talk at all", which kinda ruined my attempt to fit it.
And this is what the song is to me.

Political Propaganda

2008-10-10T11:50:00.003+02:00

Some interesting stuff I came across yesterday:

- Apparently Napoleons first words when meeting Goethe were "You're a man". This seems peculiarly surreal.
- Napoleon was not actually short, but rather of average height. His alleged shortness seems to have resulted from firstly political propaganda and secondly a mixing up of French and British inches.

And from my thesis:

- In former times, especially in Scandinavia, Elves and Dwarves were of the same origin (same race). Dwarves were a "tribe" of Elves that moved to the mountains and set up their habitations there (if I understood it correctly).
Elves, brownies, pixies, etc. are also often associated with the Lapps and some assume that the mythology of Elves and Fairies have their origin in reality, the Lapps. Asiatic people were also often called Dwarves.
Making me wonder how the contemporary distinction between Elves and Dwarves actually came into existence (my older sources describe Dwarves as beautiful, musical, etc. - so there is quite a conceptual jump in there). I'm guessing as globalisation took place in the last centuries, people became more nationalistic and ethnocentric, at the same time putting down other races, e.g. the Lapps and asiatic people (the Dwarves), resulting in an increasingly unattractive image of Dwarves.
I have, however, no confirmation whatsoever for that theory.

***

I'm deluding myself into thinking that I've actually improved a bit during the last three live-drawing sessions. My approach to drawing seems to have changed a bit (moving more towards volume rather than stick figures) and I seem more patient when rendering out sketches. Aaah, pretty delusions.
When I took classes five years ago this week's model was there, too. I think I even drew her in exactly the same pose in one case. Now I regret having thrown out all my sketches when I moved. Would have been nice to compare them.

Another bunch

2008-10-02T01:18:00.000+02:00

Tehehehe.

I know now where I'll go looking if I'm lacking inspiration for my characters' clothes.

***

Amazon is granting a 10% discount for all books ordered in October by Austrian customers. Ohmigod. I did not want to buy even more new books in the near future, but I am SO gonna buy LOADS of books that are on my wishlist. (Hello consumer society. This is me. I fear I cannot refuse you if you offer me the printed word on paper between cardboard boxes.)
So in November, instead of writing a book, I will have to rent a thatched hut in Ireland, shut myself and read.
Arrrr.
Books.
Boooooooks.

Ahem. Excuse me. My not-so-secret addition might have briefly taken over my brains. But I'm fine now. I think.

***

We did some 10min-poses today (usually it's twenty minutes). I also started a new sketchpad with darker paper, making it a pain to scan and and interesting experiment with highlights (failed experiment nonetheless).
Three hours isn't enough.

Linkage and Nekkid People

2008-09-26T13:22:00.000+02:00

I've decided to keep this blog bilingually from now on, meaning I'll partly write entries in German if the content isn't really relevant for the non-German speaking world. I'm guessing that most will stay in English, though.

***

An artifical waterfall in Canal City, Fukuoka (Japan). Some really nice stuff going on there, especially towards the end.

And the new season of Heroes has started. Very nice start - I got a bit bored by in the middle of Season 2, but the first two episodes of number three are very promising.

***

I started live-drawing again, after not having done it for five years due to my studies. It's good to be drawing live models again. Hopefully it will improve my anatomy and drafting skills. Right now I probably have to focus on the anatomy and the lineweight; I'm still pronouncing parts of the body that lie further back too much.

***

Zwei interessante Artikel aus dem Standard: Am 23. September wurden die weltweiten Ressourcen verbraucht (in Österreich sogar schon im April, was uns wirklich zu denken geben sollte).

und ein Interview mit der 11-jährigen Tochter einer Ukrainerin über das Leben in Österreich und die gefühlte Ausländerfeindlichkeit.

Rhiannon

2008-09-02T11:07:00.002+02:00

And here's the finished picture of the whole band:

Golling 2008

2008-09-01T12:42:00.002+02:00

Went to the medieval fair in Golling yesterday. No photos, since my camera is broken. Instead, I used it for some life drawing and post-market sketching.
I enjoy life drawing so much at the moment. After some sketches, I tend to do more dynamic and interesting poses even without a model. And I tend to notice many more details about people's appearances and body-language when I draw them.

Quickie

2008-08-10T00:49:00.002+02:00

Quick sketch before going to bed.

(The Lord of War audio commentary is kickass. With a quality like that, you watch the film once, and every subsequent time you watch the commentary because it has more interesting information to offer.)

Byzantine WIP 3 - Mission Failed

2008-08-03T21:59:00.003+02:00

The board is done and must be done anew. I messed up, so it has too few playing fields. Ahem. Sixteen are missing. Better luck next time.
So, when I said "if I ever do something like that again, I'll do everything differently" in my last posting, I didn't expect the "again" to happen so soon.

There're still so many things you can do with it and use it for. You only can't play chess.

And some by-products from my woodworking spree. Yes, they all look more or less the same, but it was fun, and that's all that counts :D

One of the necklaces gracefully shown off by Tigris:

Byzantine WIP 2

2008-07-22T03:01:00.000+02:00

Next step. I did lots of rasping and sanding and sawing. Learned lots about different wood types, too. So, if I ever do something like that again, I'll do everything differently ;)

Next stage is the coloring.

Byzantine WIP 1

2008-07-17T22:52:00.004+02:00

I started working on the Byzantine Chess. Bought the raw materials last weekend, before going to Vienna for the medieval fair at the Heeresgeschichtliche Museum and a friend's birthday party. There's too much chipboard and not enough solid wood in DIY superstores.
Today I played a bit with the wood to see how it behaves and to find a design for the mini-pillar.

Finding Serenity

2008-07-06T23:13:00.001+02:00

As an avid fan of Joss Wheedon's Firefly (I'm sure I've mentioned that brilliant series often enough) I'm constantly on the lookout for more information about the characters, the world, etc., since a cancelled show alone isn't satisfying enough.
My most recent informant is the essay collection Finding Serenity, edited by Jane Espenson. The works in there have been eye-openers several times.
When watching the series I've mostly been a fan of Inara, as her grace and geisha-like status seemed very appealing. Now, after reading some of the essays, my focus shifted a bit to Zoe. I'm seeing how Inara is trapped by her own character weaknesses, while Zoe seems so much stronger. From Mercedes Lackey's essay:

"She seems to have come to a Zen-like state of acceptance of whatever enters her world; it is not good, it is not bad, it merely is, and she will deal with it. She plays whatever hand she is dealt, and waits and watches for the single opportunity to make her move."

At that point I felt strongly reminded of Kendo (looking at the microcosm). And it goes on, with the macrocosm:

"I think she sees the really big picture; she lived through the defeat of the Independents, but she knows that this current situation can't last. She might not live to see the Alliance fall, but she knows it will, eventually, and she's hoping that a little push here, and another one there, on her part, might bring that day a little closer. This may be why she maintains an outwardly unruffled composure; she knows what will happen in the end, whether or not she is there to see it. For her, freedom or lack of it is just another situation to deal with. Or not. There are only two constants in her life - her loyalty to Mal and her love for Wash - and as long as she has those, she can work with what's thrown at her. Everything else is subject to change, and change is what she handles best. I believe she knows exactly what the situation is with regard to the Alliance, and she is doing her best to help Mal maintain his illusion of freedom, while she herself is perfectly well aware of how much of an illusion it is."

There are so many interesting and intriguing ideas in that paragraph, you don't know where it is best to begin pondering. Everything seems so applicable to our real world.

1. The concept of religion:
The Firefly-verse is multi-cultural, being set in a time when the East and the West collaborate, or have once collaborated as equals, thus sharing Western and Asian cultural traits. Superficially, Inara seemed to be the one to depict the Asian side (one reason why I was drawn to her): Her status as a Companion goes back to the Japanese geisha and she is described several times as a Buddhist.
Yet it is Zoe who, according to Lackey, incorporates the Zen-ideas most. (I don't remember Zoe's religion, but I'd guess she's an atheist.) Here we have an example of the difference between the faith one claims to have and our behaviour, the actions we take - how we live, or do not live, that faith.
At one point in the series Inara also says she does not want to die at all, a quote that drew speculations about Inaras big, big (still unreveavled) secret. Contrastingly, Zoe repeatedly throws herself into battle, accepting possible death as a consequence and not fearing it.
So by action, Zoe is the Buddhist, living by Zen-principles.

2. The concept of our impact on the future:
As someone who's big on the ecology-movement, organic stuff, saving the planet and preserving nature, etc. etc. etc., the question that constantly rises for me is if my action, small as they are, do really have any positive consequences. So I could identify with Zoe's "little push here, and another one there". It's a nice idea, to not needfully have to see and experience what we live for, but simply to believe that what we do will be a little push in the right direction.
(A shoutout to Be Humble. To not expect too much and that even if our single actions are not visible in the big picture, they contribute to it.)

3. The concept of only two constants in the middle of lifelong change:
Most of us need constants in our life. Some more, others less. I usually suspected these constants need to be material, because for me, they usually are. In the last years I realized I need a place that I can "come home to" every day. Splitting my belongings, my feelings for a "home" between two places (Linz and Salzburg) was not satisfying and gave me a home neither here nor there. So, for me, a place to come home to is a constant that I need (the one I'm most aware of).
For Zoe, these constants are mental, based on feelings for people (granted, the people are material, but the people alone don't make the constants). Having the constants grounded in people and feelings, rather than material belongings, sounds very appealing to me (and invovles again an immaterial thinking that seems based on Zen-philosophy).
In addition, Zoe's two constants are two of the most profound human ideals, going back centuries and centuries. They are two of the three principles of the Claddagh ring (friendship, loyalty, love) - which may just be the three elements people really need in life, and are thus good constants to build your life around.

4. The concept of keeping up others' illusions
Zoe helps Mal in keeping up his illusion of freedom. Me, being someone who doesn't speak much, but when I do it's often uncomfortably direct and sometimes radical for people who are not used to it (especially when I'm in a situation of stress and pressure), I generally follow the train of thought that people need to be pulled out of their holes of illusions and redirected when they are walking down a path that's not real but imagined. Hard, crushing, painful truth (at least when I can be bothered, which is seldom enough).
I still have to come to grips with the fact that this is not necessarily the best for the people in question and that they might dislike me for confronting them with the direct, hard, crushing truth.
(My diplomacy skills are probably at something around -12.)
Now, in Firefly we have a strong, independent woman, who helps a strong, independent man, captain of his crew, who is more than anyone else leader, father and guardian of these people, keep up his illusion; someone, who you wouldn't think needs an illusion.
How sensitive to other people's needs do you need to be to realize not only what is fact, but also which facts other people do and do not need and what illusions to encourage and which do dispell?

Does this show to some extent why Zoe is not only a strong character, but also deeply admirable in her beliefs, personality and actions?
And why I simply adore Firefly. There's no series or film that has come even close to the ideas and ponderings this one gave me. It's like Kendo kata. It seems simple enough when you watch and do them for the first time, once you get the movements and reactions into your mind, but when you leave the surface behind and delve deeper into it, the more complex and intriguing it gets - and the more you get out of it.

***

A stencil design inspired by one of Jayne's t-shirts. Initial sketch on the left side, altered design on the right.

The Handmaid's Tale and Rechberg

2008-07-02T14:12:00.002+02:00

Book recommendation: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

With The Handmaid’s Tale Margarte Atwood follows the tradition of George Orwell’s 1984 by drawing up the picture of an alternative, dystopian present. The novel’s reality is based on a well-controlled patriarchate in which women are put into a position that is reminiscent of the nineteenth century. “Families” consist, if they are lucky, of a husband and a wife, between who there is often no love lost, and a Handmaid, whose job it is to get pregnant, give birth to a child and then to be referred to the next family.
The protagonist of the novel is one of these Handmaids and tells her version of the time before society changed and how she now lives after the change. While rather little actually happens in the novel, the reader’s interest is kept throughout the 280 pages by the glimpses that Atwood gives us about “her” society. We learn about its rules, people’s resistance and find enjoyment in discovering similarities to religious dogmas and society as it was a century ago.

What I find fascinating about the dystopian stories that I have come across recently is their obsession with childhood and childbirth. I was strongly reminded of the film Children of Men when I read The Handmaid’s Tale. Both stories pick out childbirth, or rather the lack of it, as a central theme. It’s probably reasonable enough – after all, Science Fiction criticizes the present by showing how the future may look like if we continue as we do; and children are one of the strongest symbols for the future. No children – no future.

***

This weekend was another medieval fair, this time in Rechberg. The promotion already started a week before the event, on Monday, when the band Rhiannon began a trip on foot from Linz to Rechberg (60km) in four days, accompanied by a baker with his donkey, the Tuchfärberey. Which is an endeavour that, in my eyes, absolutely rocks.

The market itself was wonderful. Situated in the middle of Mother Nature, very large and friendly. The music seemed to be more of the quiet kind, which is rare on markets, as the bands usually need to gather attention. I enjoyed the more peaceful music a lot.
Unfortunately the market only takes place once every two years, and it isn’t sure if it will be the same next time, which is a shame. I could have spent days there (Sunday alone went by too fast and simply wasn’t enough).

The beginning of the trip on Monday in Linz.

Some of the musicians played additionally apart from the announced program. Here's the new band member of Rhiannon with her harp.

We squeezed in a little photo session on one of the sidetracks that led from one area to another. (Her smile is actually nervous. "Wellll. I'm sitting on a slippery, moss-covered stone and at some point I need to get off again.")

"Now I'll freeze like that, become a statue, then I won't have to get off at all."
(Medieval leather-shoes are actually very tough for walking and climbing around like that. Christine rescued me several times from fallling very hard.)

20.000 shades of green.

A highlight of the fair. This German Spitz was the most hyperactive dog I've ever seen. In a cute "Give me attention! I wanna play! I'm here! Look at me!" sort of way. And whenever he got the attention of his owner he happily freaked out :D

After the end of the fair Christine and I went to the near observation tower in the forest.
I'm biased, but I think the Mühlviertel has some of the most beautiful landscapes in Austria. Forest, hills, all very soft and round and green.

And became queens of the world for some odd minutes (Well, she did. I was much too concerned by the suspicious noises the wood of the tower made whenever we moved).

Not quite an adventurous pirate lass, but maybe at some point in the future...

Medieval Fair on Burg Clam

2008-06-11T16:19:00.000+02:00

Some pictures from the medieval fair on Burg Clam from June 1st. It was a nice fair, beautiful setting and relaxed atmosphere.

A car-view of the castle

Absolute highlight of the fair was the Fangdorn-show, with an immensely moveable dragon (10m long, 3m tall), breathing smoke and fire (not as much fire as he'd have liked to, due to Austrian security regulations, but still quite impressive). The actors were incredibly funny. They were prevented from doing some of the special-effects, so they compensated a bit with hilarious side-comments. Spontaneity rocks.

Afterwards the kids could go and touch Fangdorn. You wouldn't believe how quickly a giant dragon can get drowned in kids.

***

Apparently our fast-paced society already began in the fifteenth century, when the chess rules were altered in order to allow for a quicker game.

Inspired by one of the craftsmen in Clam, I designed a Byzantine Chess:

The ornaments are based on clothes patterns from ancient Byzanthium, as is the clothing of the figure in the middle (symbolizing luck/destiny). The craftsman who was working on a Merels game board in Clam also told us that, in medieval art, women whose face was painted in two colours symbolized unstaete (falsehood or inconsistency), which I shamelessly took over for my design.

In the dojo now

2008-05-13T21:08:00.003+02:00

A martial art from the Rising Sun
Before you do it, it sounds like fun
You're in the dojo now
Oh, oh, you're in the dojo now

Now you remember what the chairman said
Just some suburi on a fictitious head
You're in the dojo now
Oh, oh, you're in the dojo now

You’ll be the hero of the shiai-jo
If only you could hit some do
You're in the dojo now
Oh, oh, you're in the dojo now

Polite bows before the “hajime!”
When your true weakness shows there’s just one way
You're in the shiai-jo now
Oh, oh, you're in the shiai-jo now

Men ippon scored in only one go
It hurts a lot when you are toe on toe
If you want to survive you better practice do
You're in the shai-jo now
Oh, oh, you're in the shiai-jo now

Kiai ring out in the dead of night
The sensei calls (stand up and fight)
You're in the dojo now
Oh, oh, you're in the dojo now

You've got your training schedule
Be it dark or light
You practice footwork
But it don't seem right
You're in the dojo now
Oh, oh, you're in the dojo now
You're in the dojo now
Oh, oh, you're in the dojo now

After 1000 haya-suburi there’s only sweat I see
Are kata illusion or reality?
You're in the dojo now
Oh, oh, you're in the dojo now
You're in the dojo now
Oh, oh, you're in the dojo now