Andrew Furst's Blog, page 14
July 27, 2018
Does Anybody Care? – Quotes
Quotes -The path to right view is an arduous walk through fields of manure.
Subscribe to My Newsletter
Join me for a little peace through reflection, art, video, sound, and poetry
Does Anybody Care?
The post Does Anybody Care? – Quotes written by Andrew Furst appeared on Andrew Furst.
July 24, 2018
Platform Composition – Work in Progress
[image error]
Platform Composition
At the time I created this composite image, I was reading the book “Where Good Ideas Come From” by Steven Johnson. It talks about how we stand on the shoulders of others. Specifically he describes how the ideas and work that we create is the product of the mixing of ideas and platforms within our minds. it’s a kind of serendipity. Innovation is taking the building blocks of what’s around us and configuring them to meet another need. Ideas can be for products, art, or any other discipline.
This work is a layered piece. The multi-colored back ground is made up of lines of SQL Code I created to build a database application. The application accepts a few inputs, sets some parameters at random, and generates a musical composition; lyrics, chord progressions, instrumentation, time signature, etc.
For example the inputs are text from public domain books like Alice in Wonderland. The lyrics for the first song that the application wrote came from sentences chosen at random from the full text of Carroll’s book. There are stanzas, bridges, and choruses.
I used this as a platform to create the work. The product is entirely unrelated to music or software, but relies upon various parts of the software as a platform.
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
Work in Progress - updates on art I'm working on lately including prototype images, drawings, collages, concrete poetry, etc.
Subscribe to My NewsletterJoin me for a little peace through reflection, art, video, sound, and poetry
The post Platform Composition – Work in Progress written by Andrew Furst appeared on Andrew Furst.
July 21, 2018
Islamophobia, but no Christianphobia? – Dialectic Two-Step
Why is there Islamophobia, but not Christianity-phobia, Hinduism-phobia or Buddhism-phobia?
Response:
A phobia is defined as an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something.
Perhaps Islamophobia is a poor term. Because, there are certainly good rational reasons to fear a religion when it’s adherents call for death as punishment for apostasy. It is very rational to fear such a consequence.
If there was a suffix that signified rational fear of something, I would replace phobia with it. For now, let’s just use the word fear.
So Islamophobia becomes Islamofear and, as I stated before it is very real and justified. Similarly, Christianofear makes complete sense with it’s threat of eternal damnation and persecution of minority groups like homosexuals. Buddhafear is alive and well in countries like Myanmar where being a Muslim Rohingya subjects you to persecution and death. Finally, Hindofear is quite natural in the context of Hindu Nationalism.
I think there are rational reasons to fear most, if not all, religions. I don’t think the term Islamophobia means what we think it means. It feels like it’s time to update the language.
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
Dialectic Two-Step is an ongoing series of my thoughts on questions that come my way.
Wisdom lies neither in fixity nor in change, but in the dialectic between the two. - Octavio
Dialectic Two Step, Modern Koans, Verse Us, Say What?, and Minute Meditations all copyright Andrew Furst
Subscribe to My NewsletterJoin me for a little peace through reflection, art, video, sound, and poetry
The post Islamophobia, but no Christianphobia? – Dialectic Two-Step written by Andrew Furst appeared on Andrew Furst.
July 17, 2018
Sun Runes – Work in Progress
[image error]
Sun Runes
this is an altered photograph of some unusual patterns of light I saw on the wall of a building in Chicago last year. The images remind me of runes. I’ll probably use this image as part of another collage or shadow box.
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
Work in Progress - updates on art I'm working on lately including prototype images, drawings, collages, concrete poetry, etc.
Subscribe to My NewsletterJoin me for a little peace through reflection, art, video, sound, and poetry
The post Sun Runes – Work in Progress written by Andrew Furst appeared on Andrew Furst.
July 15, 2018
Are You True to Yourself? – Modern Koans
Are You True to Yourself or Are You Living According to Other People’s Expectations?
Response:
What is this “yourself” that you should be true to? Isn’t it an amalgamation of your upbringing, influences of friends (and enemies), etc all merged into a slippery and ever changing self image?
Don’t you wear clothing because of what society deems as acceptable? You eat food as its been prepared for you? Don’t you respond to your environment in ways that millennia of evolutionary adaptation has prepared you to? Do you not speak a language that existed before you were born and will exist after you die? Aren’t your thoughts conditioned by the structure and content of that language?
If you were to live true in some way, wouldn’t it be authentically, naturally, in a way that is safe, and makes contentment available to you? Looking to your personal preferences for guidance seems myopic. Living to someone else’s expectations is barren and inauthentic.
The question offers a false choice, either of which limits the benefit to the chooser.
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Modern Koans is an ongoing series that recognizes that good questions are often more important than their answers.
The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man. ― G.K. Chesterton
Dialectic Two Step, Modern Koans, Verse Us, Say What?, and Minute Meditations all copyright Andrew Furst
Subscribe to My NewsletterJoin me for a little peace through reflection, art, video, sound, and poetry
The post Are You True to Yourself? – Modern Koans written by Andrew Furst appeared on Andrew Furst.
July 13, 2018
Accepted for Publication – Verse Us (Poems by Me)
Three more of my poems have been accepted for publication. Immersed, That Time, and Of Cider and Softness will appear in Rue Scribe. The poems should appear later in the day today (as of 11:00 AM July 13, they are not up yet). But when they do show up please click on over to read them .
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
Verse Us – Poems I write: haiku, senryu, mesostics, free verse, random word constructions, I might even use rhyme or meter once and a while.
Dialectic Two Step, Modern Koans, Verse Us, Say What?, and Minute Meditations all copyright Andrew Furst
Subscribe to My NewsletterJoin me for a little peace through reflection, art, video, sound, and poetry
The post Accepted for Publication – Verse Us (Poems by Me) written by Andrew Furst appeared on Andrew Furst.
July 10, 2018
The Writer – Work in Progress
[image error]
The Writer
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
Work in Progress - updates on art I'm working on lately including prototype images, drawings, collages, concrete poetry, etc.
Subscribe to My NewsletterJoin me for a little peace through reflection, art, video, sound, and poetry
The post The Writer – Work in Progress written by Andrew Furst appeared on Andrew Furst.
July 9, 2018
A Collection of Cinemagraphs – Collections
Here is a collection of Cinemagraphs that I’ve created over the years. Cinemagraphs are still photographs in which a minor and repeated movement occurs, forming a video clip.
The Fount – Tiny Drops
Art, iPhoneography, Tiny Drops (Photography)
View From the Tube – Tiny Drops
Art, iPhoneography, Tiny Drops (Photography)
Red Line – Tiny Drops
Art, iPhoneography, Tiny Drops (Photography)
Stillness – Tiny Drops
Art, iPhoneography, Tiny Drops (Photography)
An Albino Squirrel – Tiny Drops
Art, iPhoneography, Tiny Drops (Photography)
Urban Nymph – Tiny Drops
Art, iPhoneography, Tiny Drops (Photography)
Ghosts In The Machine – Tiny Drops (Photography)
Art, Buddha, iPhoneography, Tiny Drops (Photography)
Old Timey – Tiny Drops
Art, Buddha, iPhoneography, Tiny Drops (Photography)
The post A Collection of Cinemagraphs – Collections written by Andrew Furst appeared on Andrew Furst.
July 6, 2018
Fall of Songs – A Two Minute Meditation
Fall of Songs waterfall is on the property of the Castle in the Clouds in Moultonborough, NH in the Lake Winnipesaukee region. If you use the New England Waterfalls book for directions, as of July 2015, the price of admission to see the falls is now the full admission price. In the book (published in 2010) they noted a smaller entrance fee for the falls only. That’s no longer the case.
Of course, being on a waterfall mission, I paid and went on. For the casual waterfall chaser, it was fairly pricey – $16. But the views of Winnipesaukee along the road to castle are nice compensation on the dollar. I didn’t visit the castle as I was on a timeline to visit two other falls that day. It sounds pretty posh.
The Falls
The falls themselves are not entirely natural, being obviously sured up with some stonework visible through the cascade. But they are none the less a pretty site. Carved into a sizeable boulder, they are witness to the patience of water over millions of years.
Fall of Songs, Moultonborough, NH
The Waterfall Series – A significant part of the minute meditation series are these waterfall videos I’ve been taking for many years now. Most of the falls are in my native New England.
If you’re a waterfall chaser here, I highly recommend the New England Waterfalls Guidebook. It’s the best way to locate, select, and get to the falls.
Click here to see a map of the waterfalls I’ve visited as part of the minute meditation series.
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
Minute Meditations is an ongoing series of short videos, poems, and commentary intended as a meditation. Offered as an opportunity to step back from your cyber routine and settle into a more natural rhythm, if only for a minute.
Dialectic Two Step, Modern Koans, Verse Us, Say What?, and Minute Meditations all copyright Andrew Furst
Subscribe to My NewsletterJoin me for a little peace through reflection, art, video, sound, and poetry
These videos are produced for those of us who spend an inordinately large amount of time in the cyber-world. They are not a substitute for unplugging from your devices and taking a stroll near trees, water, or a patch of unkempt grass. Getting out into the world – touching, smelling, hearing, and seeing nature is the best way to reconnect with our prime purpose.
What is our prime purpose? We are feeling and sensing machines. We are the universe looking back on itself. We are witness to the wonders and dangers of living in this corner of the cosmos. We are the seekers looking for connection a little further beyond yesterday’s borders and boundaries.
But sitting and staring at the screen robs us of the sustenance that we rely upon for wonder and sanity. These videos are an opportunity to bring the sensations of nature to you, while you’re in the cyber-world. Its an opportunity to relax your gaze, resettle your posture, and regain some depth in your breath. Listen and watch the video and allow your self to open up and recharge.
The post Fall of Songs – A Two Minute Meditation written by Andrew Furst appeared on Andrew Furst.
July 3, 2018
The Fish – Work in Progress
[image error]
The Fish
If you enjoyed this post, please like and share.
Work in Progress - updates on art I'm working on lately including prototype images, drawings, collages, concrete poetry, etc.
Subscribe to My NewsletterJoin me for a little peace through reflection, art, video, sound, and poetry
The post The Fish – Work in Progress written by Andrew Furst appeared on Andrew Furst.
