iki, ma...

went to a lecture on japanese aesthetics yesterday. japanese arts are very holistic and not separate from other parts of society. it is not possible or desirable to separate 'aesthetics' from other philosophical threads. i wish i had seen this lecture when i was younger since i have been constantly in an (east-west) identity crisis. the japanese have been going through this same process since the they were forced to modernize/westernize in the 19thC. there is something very deep in my psyche that reacts to japanese arts, like noh plays... and there it was laid out for me in this film. the sound is something primordial. another point is that noh is transmitted to the younger generation orally, that there has to be a master on site to correct you. this same principle applies to being japanese or any other nationality (?) that you need to live there or at least have parents of that nationality. but pardon me while i work this out because i am a couple generations removed from japan. my parents did some inculcating, but this is beyond me, something biological, like salmon...

dear photograph

there's a lovely website called dear photograph, in which people take pictures of old pictures at the same scene and write comments. today is the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and so today's one is particularly touching. i know that it was much more horrific for so many people, and i haven't begun to digest what happened that day. all i know is i was there on the phone talking to my friend about a fire at the WTC then, chaos, then 'no more WTC' what do you mean i said...
new york was my home like it was for so many and i wasn't watching the tv. i was there. the smell. the pile. the obituaries. Here is an interview from a fireman someone who was really there

my friends are still there and i am here in ireland. thinking about the day that time fractured. more than time, the world fractured. here in ireland they are talking about the aftermath of 9/11, what the US did after, how they squandered the opportunity to bring the world closer, squandered goodwill...