Pests

Monday 8 August 2005
Seems this week I`ve been targetted by pests.Both animal and human.Invaded by a force of 5 cockroaches over the week.Their hard armoured shelled bodies like mini hummers.Obviviously seeking respite from the appalling heat of the last week.The temperature drops to an average 25degrees at night.Humidity remains high.
I`ve developed this lingering summer cold due to constant exposure to the debilitating effects of air-conditioning.Sore throat.Dry eyes.Arid nasal passages.Sweaty ears.
The cockroaches give away their positions and betray their arrival with the soft pitter patter of their feet across my now fading tatami mat flooring.If I`m sleeping I awake bolt upright and swoop down full of vengengance like some wolf on the fold as poem goes.I capture the wee beastie and despatch it forthwith into the toilet or pitch it headlong over the balcony.

If only I could do the same to my human invaders.Equally obnoxious.Numerous and even less welcome.There seems to be an infestation of Mormons in the area recently.The genus I really loathe is the sanctimonious North American variety.Easily spotted.It wears ill fitting dated clothing.Its loud.It usually travels in pairs.Must be for its own protection.It has its own touchy feely vocabulary though I`ve learned not to speak to them beyond my initial and final"You're Mormon sons of Satan arent you?.
I just cant understand with so many domestic problems why they cant go soul saving in America.Doesnt charity begin at home?And why Japan why not Iraq?
I've tried reasoning with them e.g "How can you reconcile the fact that President Bush is a committed and devoted murderer and Christian or vice versa.

But what really annoyed me was the visitation last night by a particularly stupid pair.It wasnt just that they visited on a Sunday.The Lord's Day of Rest.Nor was it their hypocritical peace,love and waterbeds attitude.What really got my blood boiling was their timing.It was the day after the 60th Anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.Completely unaware.Completely stupid.So I battered them with innane questions such as " How come God lets bad things happen to good people?" and "Can you really get to Heaven even if you are a Mormon bigamist ?" before they left.
Best advice...dont open your door to them.

CULTURE
I braved the crowds and saw the Van Gogh In Context exhibition on Friday.Its just opened but for a limited time his Sunflowers painting is on show....once the worlds most expensive piece of canvas and oil.The "Context" part of the show has works by his contemporaries and stuff he was influenced by.Its an attempt to place him,what he influenced and what influenced him.Thus there are some Monets and Signacs paintings as well as a famous Japanese woodblock artist and prints that Van Gogh collected.
One of his Japanese style paintings is on display as well as drawings and sketches for a Paris magazine with a Japanese flavor.Unfortunately,there were no signs or information in English.Not surprising really as I was the only non-native I saw.
It was interesting just sitting and observing people.Some folk would just trot past each frame.Barely give it a glance before moving to the next one.Others took longer.Pondered,took their time to notice the brushstrokes,the patterns and swirls,thickness of paint.Others,less patient,polite,oblivious to others blocked or walked in front of others view.There was the odd cell-phone going off.Choas as the embarrassed owner is swarmed by officious gallery staff and cut down by the glares and tut-tutting of disapproving elders.Affronted that the atmosphere be tainted by such a barbarian thing.
The paintings themselves were quite wonderful.The Sunflower painting for example...the leaves of the middle flower appear almost 3d so thick has the oil paint been applied.The paint has been applied in a circular manner imitating the head of a sunflower.In some of his calmer period paintings you can see the paint has been less thickly used and the patterns themselves appear less violent.
One of my favorites on view was one of an aslyum garden.The sky was a light blue and judging by the absence of violent brushstokes and thick paint must have been completed in one of his more pleasant tranquil times.Evidently theres some co-relation.Whatever,it evoked a peaceful scene and the presence of brighter cheerful colors gave it a less sombre light.
Thank you Robert Hughes...Im no art critic.I know nothing of it.I cant get my head round Cubism be it Rubik or Picasso.I like accessible stuff,not the chocolate box stuff of Rockwell or the drippy works of Pollack.Stuff you can understand nothing abstract.Stuff that lasts.
DODGEBALL
From one extreme to another.I also enjoyed Dodgeball, the movie now available on DVD.Hardly in the class of Van Gogh.Though they both left an impression on me.
It was good to watch a movie so unpolitically correct.Its been awhile since i've heard the word "muff-diver" in a mainstream movie.Or such lines as "Its like watching a bunch of retards trying to fuck a door -handle".Starring Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller (who must be suffering burn-out or overexposure soon),it was surprisingly funny.I couldnt believe some of the things I was laughing at.Someone getting hit by spanners and wrenches thrown by their coach in practice.
Unsophisticated,but fun.Which made me wonder is one mans Picasso another mans Dodgeball?...