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Thursday, November 29, 2012

Creativity and Grant Theft Intellectual


I was discussing the shifting paradigm taking place in the computing and Music and Arts Industries with a colleague a couple of weeks ago, and he said that Artists (Musical or otherwise) should have no expectations of receiving compensation for their work these days. We go to a church where “Circulation of Energy” (i.e. money and time) is the order of the day, and that I shouldn’t have this expectation in the coming shift.

This reflects the general opinion of much of the population these days, that anything that can be ripped or downloaded should be free to have, and this idea is especially coming from the minds of teens and twenty-something’s. None of these folks goes into work at a job they have (if they have a job) and on payday tells their Boss, “You know, I love my job so much, you don’t have to pay me. I just love doing it so much!”

Creatives often spend years, or even decades, learning and then crafting their vision to produce the work that other non-Creative minds take for granted. It doesn’t just spring out of the head and onto the page or CD without great effort and sacrifice. For someone to say, ‘Well, it’s there, and it’s there for me to take’ only disrespects the Artist whose work you value enough to take.

In an age where jobs are being outsourced and Corporations are crying poverty -- ‘We Can’t Afford to have Americans make our products. They expect too much in pay and benefits…’ (this from Corporations who also want to sell those very same products to those same un- and under-employed Americans) – those same Corporations are screaming ‘Theft!’ by this population that has incorporated their tactics.

Creative Work of Art, Music and Dance should be compensated for. The greater the Work, the greater we should expect a return for our investment of time and effort to give you any pleasure you get from our work – not just taken for the ability and the technology to do it.

I have been a Visual Artist for decades. I have done close to a thousand images in drawing, painting, multi-media or sculpture. I’ve also shot close to 5000 images with my cameras over that time, creating images and showing life in ways that most people (even Creatives) have not seen it. This took tens of thousands of hours of my time over those decades. If I charge a thousand dollars for a drawing that seem small in comparison to billboards, it reflects that time spent perfecting my craft. And yes, I consider myself a Master in both Drawing and Photography. I expect to be paid for my work and what it reflects of my life and time spent.

A very well dressed Man walked up to me at a gallery opening of mine in the past, and asked me how much time it took to draw an image he was looking at. I made the mistake of telling him how much. When I did, he told me I was asking “too much” for it. He then (apparently calculating that hour to do this image at Mickie D’s wages) told me what he thought it was worth. I was too stunned to tell him what I thought his opinion was worth.

To those who think that because it is on the Web or in Digital format that the work should be free, I say, go back home and let Mommie and Daddy take care of you then. Don’t waste my time/steal my work. If you have nothing to offer anyone else, why should you expect to take what someone else has to offer – for nothing?

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Obama and the "Grand Bargain"

I was telling people that, whether you voted for Obama for a second term or not, it was not going to do anything. Well, I was wrong.

With a clear Victory just a few weeks in the past, you'd think that President Obama would finally move forward with all those promises once elected. He has followed in the weeks hence that, with the power of the National Defense Authorization Act which he passed earlier this year, he can "...kill anyone in the world, without even probably cause."

And now, he is set to make what is being called the Grand Bargain with the Republican't's (who, btw, lost in large numbers to Democrats [or as the Un-loyal Opposition calls them I'm sure 'Demon-crats']) is about to strike a bargain (for them, not the rest of us) that will cut the very social services that he swore to protect, and, oh yeah, maintain the Rich's insane tax advantages, rendering the Rest of Us [throwing animal 'left overs' from slaughter houses is called "Rendering' of animals] officially high and dry.

Now, with the NDAA at his disposal, he can 'take out' me for criticizing his administration because of the above statement.

I'll say my adieus now...

Monday, November 12, 2012

The Bible and the 'Historical Jesus.'

To start off (and most likely piss off) a great many, let me say that I do not believe that the Bible is the 'inerrant Word of God.' The Bible to me (even the Title, 'The Book' means it was the only 'book' that many were allowed to read [if they could read at all] for almost the last two thousand years) is a 'religious' document. Religion being the parsing of 'That Which Is' (to those who believe that the "Judeo-Christian" 'religion' is -- pardon the pun -- 'fundamentally' the same thing on both sides [Judeo and "Christian"], the answer is a fundamental No), to conform to the Temporal Concerns of the Church or Priestly hierarchy. In other words, it's what keep them in business. Religion is Man trying His (and yes, for the last two thousand years it has largely been a His business) best to try and divine (again, pardon the pun) 'reality' in this world. And Man (especially The Church) is not inerrant. Far from it.

The Books of the Gospels (what are now accepted as such) are the Top Four Greatest Hits of Jesus history. They were determined by the Nicene Council of 345 "AD" which was 'convened' by King Constantin (as close to the original spelling of his name -- not 'Constantine') to 'determine' what this 'document' should hold "For All Eternity." It was the convening of all the 'Bishops' of the Church -- all the leaders of the already splintering 'Message' of 'Jesus' (Jesu Christos, from the Greek from which Paulus ben Tarkus [otherwise known as "Paul" to you later day folks]) , to 'determine' 'The Truth' from apostasy.  And basically any Bishop who didn't agree with Contantin about what this new Book would hold, were 'disappered' by one of his Roman Sicarii (assassins) and therefore, couldn't vote.

Now, "Jesus" said many things in the Bible, many of which are contradictory (depending on which 'Gospel' you read. What he said in Matthew, is different than in John). This is because each of the Gospels is the canon of a particular group; one for the Jewish followers (who believed that Jesus was teaching a Jewish theology), two for the Greek followers (again divided into one for the former Jewish believers, and one for the 'pagan' Greek new followers [to which Paul was writing in the 'Gospels of Paul' known as the Letters or the Epistles. 

And then there was John; written from the followers of the converted 'pagan' Romans (largely carried through the Roman soldiers who converted; for these, Jesus was refashioned into an amalgam of Jesus of the Jews and the Roman Patron god of war, Mithras ["I come, not with an olive branch, but with a sword to cleave the wicked from the Branch of Life."]).

And if you want proof, read all the Gospels. In three of them, the 'Clensing of the Temple' happened at the end of his ministry. In only one of them, it happens at the beginning. This is crucial for the reading of his mission, because in John, it happens at the beginning of the Mission to show that even the Romans were afraid of Jesus. This of course did not happen. 

If you want to parse out what The Real Jesus said, he spoke only of peace, love and forgiveness -- all those things that most Fundamentalists would like you to think of as the Pinko-Commie-Faggot Jesus. 'Our Jesus was a man, not a wimpy do-nothing, one of those... You know what I mean.' They speak of forgiveness, but it usually only applies to their own errant followers who publicly admit (after they are caught) to being 'Sinners.'  This is the 'edited for content' and Church Temporal Power "Jesus" who was re-fashioned as the Fire and the Sword 'Jesus.' "I come, not with an olive branch..."
And to top it off, the Bible was later fashioned as the Catechism of 'The Holy Roman Catholic Church'; the template for eternal forgiveness (where the Church solidified its position when  Jesus 'failed' to return "before this generation passes" (which originally meant 'within the lifetime of the listeners,' not two thousand or so years later.), where the Church would get all those Sinners to come to Mass three times a day (along with donating to the Church Coffers, which is how the Church grew into into the Temporal Empire it became), in order that 'thy soul should not suffer "the Fires of Eternal Damnation."  

All of this only goes to show that The Bible is a 'testament,' and not formal history. It is an agglomerate of all of the various Traditions (all of which which were not Jewish were 'pagan') and interpretations that were taken and sieved through, first by Constantin and later by the 'Bishops of Rome' and the Papacy, and were 're-interpreted' by many of the Protestant Traditions and Faiths later on.  

And yes finally, (and most crucially to our modern times), by the Fundamentalists, who have taken the 'Gospel of John' and Revelations to be whole of the Bible -- except for the portions where the Catholics had Jesus use the Jewish 'Old Testament' for 'signs and portents' that proved that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah as well (The 'New' Testament, as in 'superseding' the 'Old' Jewish Testament) -- but conveniently discard when it comes down to it.

And yes, finally, to those who (mostly Fundamentalist or Orthodox Catholic believers) claim that they are "Biblical Scholars" let me say; that to be a "Biblical Scholar" is not just a case of 'studying' the Bible to learn what Your Church claims is the Inerrant Word of God as stated categorically from what Your Church, and what it has told you. It's a question of studying all of Church History, its underlying roots and traditions, and knowing where all the elements came from that go into that 'Church Canon' that began being shaped so long ago now by Constantin. It is not just the venerated 'quotes' taken out of context, that come at cross purposes (again, those puns!) to what you want Jesus to be and to have said. It is taking all  of it, sifting through to find the Real Jesus (the real Rebbi Yeshua bar Yosef), and what he said to those who were standing listening, not those whose 'telephone game' version was passed down (and majorly edited) through time. 

There is an historical Jesus in The Book, but you need to read between the Canonical Lines to find him. [And I do not capitalize the 'H,' as he did not really claim to be the only Son of God. But that's another blog for another time.] 

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

The Key To Eternal Life


       I went to a viewing of an Independent film the other night about an aging actress who is concerned with… Aging. At the end of the questions and answers, she said, “If anyone knows how to live forever, let me know. I’d like to hang out with you.” She is – forty-five? – and she’s worried about dying already? Not a good sign.
As I was thinking about age and its ramifications, it came to me how to, as she put it, “live forever.” Well, not live forever, but how to stave off “old age.” (Last night I watched a movie where one of the two leads was debuting in her first acting job at 86 – so there’s still home Jane.)
The answer is this. If you worry about ‘growing old,’ guess what, you’ll grow old all the faster. If you pay age no mind, you’re more likely to grow less old (er), as quickly. Once you start worrying more about dying instead of living, you’re a gonner. Done deal. It’s all down hill from here, baby!
Of course, I’ve never had children. Besides the old adage that children will age you quicker, just seeing your children grow (much less the taxing of your energy in the process of their growing) will serve as a near-by constant reminder that YOU’RE GROWING OLDER. Or not.
It’s harder to see yourself as being in your youthful years when all of a sudden your child is graduating from high school and leaving home. It’s even harder still when those ‘children’ of yours have children of their own. But it isn’t a required part of the equation.
You see; attitude is everything. I’ve known women (yes, in the ‘biblical sense’ and otherwise) who have had children, grown up with them, and still managed to not let ‘old age’ catch up with them. Yes, some of them were in their forties and fifties chrono-logically but still in their teens emotionally. But there have been some for whom the idea that just because their children grow up, they don’t have to ‘grow old.’
Jesus said that to see the Heaven you needed to be “as a little child.” A child will continue to see the world with wonder; whereas an adult “grows up” and looses that sense of wonder. The women who have retained that sense (and hence retained their sense of youth), didn’t let the fact of their children becoming adults deter them from how they saw themselves.
You ‘grow old’ because you see yourself as growing old. (Well, eating a good diet and exercise also help tremendously). If you see yourself as being young and carefree, you’ll tend to remain as carefree as you can. Perhaps this is why Grandparents love hanging out with their grand children so much?
But there is also another factor that most people don’t put into the equation: if you believe that a Soul last forever, then you can stay younger longer. Age ceases to be such a factor if you think in terms of your being Eternal. This Life ceases to be something that must be ‘used’ to the fullest, if there are other lifetimes, and ‘death’ is not really the end all of our existence.
Think about it…

Saturday, November 3, 2012

It's that Time of the Year!

And I"m not talking about either Christmas or the Beginning of the School Year. No, It's Election Time! Or as I refer to it as, time for Electile Dysfunction! And only the Red Pill will cure this one, not the Blue Pill (in either Matrix or Erectile Land).

NO. Elections are rigged. There, I said it. No matter whether you vote for Obama or That Other Guy, guess who is going to win?

Obama was allowed to win the last time, because... Well, because the economic shit was about to hit the fan, and they needed Somebody To Blame. Enter, Barack Obama. Not only a Democrat, but a Democrat of Color. ("See, I told ya one of Them would get us in trouble!") Can you spell Set Up?

So now they want one of Their Own back in office, and, enter Willard "Mitt" Romney. (Why are all the Mormon Higher Ups called "Willard?") Sorry to be blunt. (And I hope I'm just being paranoid.) Just like I predicted pre-Bush in 1998, I think that no matter who the "Popular Vote" comes in for, The Electile Dysfunction College with install ROMULUS into office instead of POTUS.

Just saying. And hope I'm wrong.

The Internet and the Money Net

Hurricane Sandy is now history, and I'm sure living in New York City has not returned to anything approaching 'normal.' But what is the current condition of the City that Never Sleeps? Goddamned if I know, because no matter how I phrase it, it comes up with one 'current' condition -- you can't get any real information on the Internet, because everything is 'Monetized.' In other words, you only get what Those Who Pay Gobs of Money want you to see. Forget any real information. Google doesn't want to you to see any real information, but only what their Paid Advertisers have paid Lots of Gob Googly Money for you to see.  It's pitiful, shocking, and God help us, the way the world works now. Nothing's (almost) free these days. Some Body's Got To Make Money on It.

Fuggedabout it!