Month: December 2023

More about my problems with talking.

Further to my worries about communicating that I referred to the other day, I am having increased trouble communicating with anyone. So much so, that I am avoiding at all times conversations with anyone……. So much so, that I am rapidly gaining the impression of the “strong, silent, man”.  I am silent in conversations….. This is not a new thing, as I was also silent for my whole life, avoiding chat with anyone with a fanatical effort at all times. I was the one that at a party stood silently apart, and took no part in general chat. This was a real problem when I was working in museums and such like, when they had an opening party for a new exhibition, I used to stand apart, silently…. Taking no part in the various festivities.

I talked to my colleagues, but not to others who I didn’t know, which was embarrassing for me and useless for the institute I worked for.  The idea of a Production Manager or a model maker who was silent was an embarrassment for all concerned! I used to hold conversations in my head, but not aloud! Which was embarrassing and rather pointless!

How my experience of life is changing……

My life is going upside down, as I live life here. My life in Australia is going upside down and frazzled while I watch.  I am currently deep inside a language loss, which is really bothersome.  My inner language is not effected, but the language I use everyday to talk to others is really deeply effected. I frequently find myself suffering from a language loss when talking to others.

Yesterday, I was at the library for a rather easy to solve problem (I was there to get my ereader sorted out), and I found myself completely speechless when I attempted to explain why I was there to the bloke from the library, I simply was at a loss for words when I tried to explain why I was there.  Totally! I find myself at a loss for words frequently, even with my wife! 

A lot of time I find myself giving the wrong answer to a question, I say no when I mean yes…. It is horrid!

I find myself in conversations with good friends, which go completely the wrong way, I want to say, ‘yes’, but I say ‘no……’ 

Also, I am having problems with spelling, I cant find words, which I know really well, I simply can’t find them, and I more or less forget ideas.  The other day I was telling a friend about the Spooky Men’s Chorale, and could I remember what they were called…. Forget it!

All sorts of problems are happening to me, and I seem to be going gaga rather rapidly, which is really distressing!

However, it is absolutely my spoken language, my thoughts are still the same as always, in other words, I have no difficulty “thinking” thoughts, but expressing them is hell.

Redmer Hoekstra Art ….. An unsual artist!

I have come across an extremely unusual artist in the last few days, a most extraordinary artist, whose work appeals to me! His work has attracted to me in the most unusual fashion.

So, let us see his work and then go on about it.

He goes about his work in the most unusual way…. As you can see. He says in his website that he gets inspiration from his wandering mind….. He says it all in his website.

Redmer Hoekstra (1982) graduated from the Art Academy in Zwolle as a visual artist and illustrator in 2009. “I’ve always loved alienation and fantasizing, daydreaming. As a child I had all kinds of theories about how the world worked. At the Academy I was able to rediscover this and process this in to my work. How things work is a fascination of mine and in many drawings you can find this. I open up appliances and objects and freely change what is inside. Often a subject gets a completely different feeling or meaning.
I play with form, meaning and function, while new combinations arise.
Often surprising, strange and funny but also with a strange kind of logic, a fantastic and surreal world.

I find my inspiration riding the train or on the road, where my mind can float through the landscape and new connections between things appear. A philosophical view of the world and myself. Who am I? What is my reality and how do I get to decide how it looks and works? They are pen drawings on paper. I work with fine liners . By shading I create light and space, which gives a drawing life. It is important to draw as realistically as possible, to make the alienation most powerful. It’s a laborious and almost artisanal technique . A drawing on average takes 32 to 40 hours.

So all that remains is to illustrate this blog with his work……..

So, there you have it…. His artistic endeavours.

His art is attractive, and I love it, the weirdness of it, and the unusual way he goes about his artwork, drawing it as opposed to using lithography or etching attracts me too.

It remains only to post his website…… That way you will be able to get in touch with him, or – even -buy some of his artwork! https://www.redmerhoekstra.nl/

So, there you have it!

Strange images, yet again!

There is the first image……. Really strange!

And here is another one!

And here is another one!!!

And her is yet another one…. This is a big catch!

And yet another one!

A strange road!!!!

And yet another one!

So, there we have it! A couple of images for you to use, if you wish!

There Are Two Gutenbergs – Free Ebooks For All Ereaders

Not only the original USA one, but also a rather younger Australian one are there to give us free ebooks at the click of a mouse. The reason perhaps for there being two of them is that the copyright laws in the two countries are different. In the USA a book is covered by copyright for at least 70 years after the death of the author, in Australia on the other hand, it is only protected for 58 years, which means that books written as recently as about 1955 can be found on that site, as opposed to the USA site whose most recent ebook has to be from about 1943 – a very different era of writing.

Admittedly the USA site is much larger, and has a remarkably wide range of ebooks on offer, and in a number of languages, but the Aussies are catching up quite well.

gutenberg

Strictly speaking, the way copyright laws work, it is illegal for someone living in the USA to download an ebook written in say, 1955, as that ebook would still be under copyright in the USA, whilst the same ebook may be downloaded perfectly legally by someone living in Australia – yet another example of how the Internet makes a nonsense of so many national laws.

Happily for those of you who do not live in Australia, unlike Amazon et. al, the Aussie Gutenberg doesn’t give a damn where you live, and will perfectly happily allow all you good citizens of the USA to download ebooks published in 1955 without a care in the world. This is how it should be on the Internet of course.

Anyhow, I just thought you might like to know that there are two Gutenbergs, each with a completely different collection of ebooks for your reading pleasure, and in all standard ebook formats as well.

So off you go to check them both out and see what amazing reading matter you can find for yourself there…. But, sadly if Stephen King is your sort of writer, you won’t find anything of that ilk there.

USA Gutenberg: www.gutenberg.org

Australian Gutenberg: http://gutenberg.net.au/