Winter Cherry for New Year

 

First Post for this New Year, I was thinking to put photo of Sunrise or

yet another New Year’s cooking ? —– but I’ve got bored with Sunrise, seen  

from my window,  and the cooking doesn’t necessary to be for the first day.  

( though, I’m not such keen, travel to a beach just to see sunrise. —– Do you 

know some people travel as far as an island in the south Pacific, just next to

 the International Date Line, to see the earliest sunrise in the World ! —– so,

 the Japanese TV goes there as well.    And Air Companies in Japan operating

handful flights to see the first sunrise above the clouds !

Such as this one. — but what a shoddy video. )  

So, I decided to put sweet images of the (That !) Winter Cherry Flowers.

Beautiful soft Bokeh was created by Zeiss Planar 50mm F1.4 T* with and

without Ultra heavy Proxer out of a TV zoom lens.  (In this instance, instead

of 85mm lens like before, I used 50mm lens, because I wanted to have a bit

wider view though, 50mm lens has not as smooth Bokeh like 85mm lens.)

 

 

Those flowers were the other tree standing next — a bit narrower flower petals,

still flowers in the winter = it’s mean, the gardener in charge with those trees

did intentionally planted those Winter Cherry here.

(so, the tree was not a fleak, but the established winter variety.)

(It seems, the best bloom was about a week ago)

Still, it’s a view to make our mouth shut — it’s mean, either you follow

or you were rejected by them.  (Nothing between.  No argument with the Nature.)

___/\___

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Report—Firework ? ? ?

I suppose, everybody blogging on the WordPress platform saw own annual report.

—– m m m, nothing new or surprising though, — ? ? ?   How that firework fired ?

I mean, who selected the day, with what criteria ? —– it was nothing to do with the

day’s access or number of comment received.  

It seems the posts selected were somewhat interesting and slightly funny. Still ? ? ?

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The post on 4th Feb’ about a Pinhole combined with optical lens might be the first

ever attempt on the history. (Notice me if I were wrong.)

Post on 31st March which showed the way how to make electronic circuit to control 

F-aperture in a dismantled junk lens might be a very unique practice.   But a post

on 13th June, about the dried orange peel —– was a funny selection but I like it.

And the Post 8th Sept’ was talking about how the oldest Buddhist Scripture was  

NOT faithfully written down according to the original teachings —– was the very 

important post to me though, I didn’t expect others would share the same view.  

The post 19th Oct’ was showing the photo of the morning sky = taken by the

Tri-color Pinholes = pseudo Turner’s paintings = WordPress liked my joke.  Good ! 

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I thought, WP’s Stats were operated purely by automatic counting program, still the 

design of Annual Report seemed to be overseen by a human (who got a wit — but

how many manpower they got to deal with million of Blogs ) —– or

their “Automatic program” got human-like AI now ? !   (It’s horrifying)   😀

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Rimbaud and Zen Mind

There was yet another funny coincidence.   At my friend’s party, I met a designer/

planner who happen to know an artist friend who also run a café called

Small White Elephant, which happen to be in my area.

As she suggested, I paid a visit to the café and met a guy, Dale who run it.

Dale was a painter, we got a common talk in the art. — so, while showing my work

in Youtube and the photos in this blog, I talked about what and who influenced me.

As I mentioned my taste of the Surrealism art and the Symbolist poet Arthur

Rimbaud, Dale jumped up, went to his jacket’s pocket to fetch a small book.

It was a Rimbaud’s Poem, [A season in Hell].

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When I use the words “funny coincidence” it’s implying “Karmic encounter” =

no rational connection or likely happening situation still, from the hidden history

or life’s context, the pathway got to cross, of which only the heaven knows it.

And my life is having so many of them.  

If not, I’m not in here, or even this blog didn’t exist. —– looking back, have I ever

chased anybody and met ? (I mean, from a reputation, I sought to meet the person.)

NONE. I am completely passive. (of course, it exclude the case on the business =

like interview and photograph somebody = it was for the editor’s needs,

not necessary my interest)

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In my teens, I started to read Osamu Dazai = rather popular choice of  “ a kind of

young people then” and I read all of his work include the letters.

In the same time, I also read the books written by the opposing group of Dazai,

critiques, poets etc.   A critic, Hideo Kobayashi and the friend poets were all

influenced by a French Poet Arthur Rimbaud. —– then, I end up with this Poet.

—– I’ve talked about this story in a post. [My starting point (2) ] (I might be the first person

in the history to connect Rimbaud to the Psychological mechanism of Zen mind.   🙂 )

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—– (Quote of the post)

< What makes reading of Rimbaud Poems somewhat common with Buddhists Pathway

was, that his approach to be a Boyant (Seer / Watcher) in Alchemy of Life was,

to examine the own mind again and again, deeper and deeper, exposing everything

like a dissected dead body = effectively made his own mind (and the life) a completely

detached dried object.  Detachment while having cut-off the Emotion, will lose 

the tag of the SELF, hence creating a state of mind, similar to the Buddhists’ Selflessness.

(This process is very similar to the Hinayana Buddhists practice  = Process of  Self-denial )

And as Rimbaud’s subject, include his own life became a detached object without the 

emotional attachment, it was described as a metaphorical object or the Symbol =

thence his poetry was called Symbolism.  (This detachment was the self-alienation too, so that

Rimbaud called the state of mind before, as a slumber of the animal

—– he missed it with tears, but it was too late) > 

[]

The modern trend of the art then, Symbolism, Surrealism and Dadaism were all try 

to find the way to express “True reality” of the existence or the human mind.

So that, all of them created uniquely formed style, since they thought that to express

straight as perceived, couldn’t show the reality or truth. —– with the idea of Freud,

they thought, since there was something behind of our mind, there couldn’t be the

straight raw expression (so, they tried autonomous writing “Automatism” etc with

futile results.)   What common in those attempt was that they tried to replace the 

subjects with something related or not so related.  =

Symbolism used the objects somewhat related or looks like, as a metaphor.  

Surrealism tried with unexpected one and Dadaism denied any connection. 

[]

Though, there was an inherent trouble departing with raw expression = as it was

a two-step conversion, first, it needed to observe the feeling, then to find a symbol to

replace it = When the original mind, perception was “observed”, its Subject became

an OBJECT = It mean, he is no longer the innocent author. —– Even if it was the

own mind/perception, it was now the separate entity = OBJECT.

(For instance, even a hot love, when it was observed as an OBJECT and written down

like a stage act, down to the every movements of sexual act, it is no longer the love but

the words in the pages of DOCUMENT. =

That was how Rimbaud’s poem “A season in Hell” was created.  And Rimbaud

described it “Je me vois me voir” = I see myself seeing myself.)

In this process, not only the own mind/perception became separate object, but crucially,

the Mind lost the connection to its “Emotion” therefore, the own mind is no longer

connected to the SELF.   His life became a Puppet show remotely played.

(Self couldn’t define the own place without having tethered to the own Emotion !)

(When Alzheimer sufferer lost the connection to the emotional region of the brain,

his/her identity, the recognition of the family also gone.)

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Unlike most of the Surrealists, Dadaists who has been a part-timer = “Pretender” for

the sake of their art,  Rimbaud was a full-time Symbolist, he lost the raw feeling of the

“Live-view”, hence the sizzling excitement of the life.  So, he try to sex-up the life, such

as with absinthe, heroin or to play homo-sexuality etc which didn’t bring any solution.

—– on the end, lured by a false excitement, he left to the Abyssinia.

———- (And the other trouble of the Rimbaud’s poems to a reader was, —– as they

were written as narrations, after a while, his words became the reader’s words and

gradually they seeped into the bottom of the subconscious, then “who I am” would be

slowly eroded. = in the end, we will be left in the middle of nowhere alone, without

identity = it would be our Abyssinia.)

[] * * * * * * *

Fundamental difference of Selflessness and the Detachment of Rimbaud against

the Buddhist was, —– to Rimbaud, it was the unexpected by-product.

But to the Buddhist, it was the requisite way to reach peace of life and ultimately

the Enlightenment.    In contrast, Rimbaud wanted to have a true reality of the life

which should enhance the excitement though, to became Voyant (seer / watcher) 

gave him the opposite effect.

—– ? ? ? to give a thought,  ISN’T IT strange, nobody did gave him an advice or after

100.000 years history of human culture, why such wisdom haven’t been established ?

—– then think more, ? ? ? ? ? —– Have we got a wisdom in the first place at all ?

What is the wisdom ?

—– Very basic morality ? Such as that, DON’T do wrong or bad otherwise the society,

and ultimately you will get a repercussion and suffer. —– And the way to see what is

wrong or bad. —– In reality, the burst majority of the practical detail on the

“life’s how to do” is open to the person to experiment on the spot, and find the answer

by themselves. = It’s mean that existing / ready-made “Wisdom” is not more than an

Opinion, since even the people, so-called “Burst majority”, among them, non of two

Karma is the same, and operating strictly individual base.   This was the reason why,

Lord Buddha ordered to his disciples “Don’t believe what others said. Think yourself”=

Simply because, the answer will be different, person to person.

—– (This was originally intended to be the 700th post —– though, it gone to banana.   😀 )

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New Year’s Card Design for 2015 (Free from Japan Post)

Yet another big provider of the free card design is the Japan Post (日本郵便).

This year, they got the Anime Character style designer ! — Cute ! 

Their Web Link is — << http://yubin-nenga.jp/index.html >> — though,

they are offering so many services from Card design to Blush writing Program,

so that, without Japanese reading, it’s not easy to use their site. — added trouble

was that the downloaded image is very hard to use with its compatibility = they

push the user to use their Mailing Service = Mailing can gather the information

of the sender and addressee’s real name, address, on top of the banking info’. =

Very valuable reliable info’ = can make big business !   😦

Above photo left got blush drawing —– I think it was

an ancient Pictgram  (origin of the Chinese letter)  of the sheep.

Manga, Anime is now almost a global young culture.  

And their cute character is not only for the Otaku now.

(But don’t count me in.  😀  )

M

M

M

M

M

 So,—– hope us to have A Happy New Year, 

 with or without, pretty Anime Costume Player.

M

M

New Year’s Card Design for 2015 / Sheep Year ( Free from Canon )

Those card designs were provided by the Canon of printer.  🙂  

(Why Printer division is such generous, you may read last year’s post =

https://yoshizen.wordpress.com/2013/11/23/2014-japanese-new-years-card-design-free-from-canon/

You may better go their site to see and download from 1000 times more selection.

http://cp.c-ij.com/ja/event/nenga/index.html   > —– Their front page

Their site is in Japanese though, its layout and function is very user-friendly =

anyhow no harm would be done, just try click and see =

Formal card design, Casual card design, Design material, Blush Calligraphy, etc.etc.

http://cp.c-ij.com/ja/contents/10n202/list_45_1.html?log=nt-02   > — Casual card design

http://cp.c-ij.com/ja/contents/10n201/list_45_1.html   > —————–Formal card design

(Choose a design, Click Download —> Copy and save from the small window)

Photo above, Left = you may see white blush calligraphy or pictogram, it was

the ancient graphical depiction of  a goat/sheep and from this, a letter [未]was

made though, this letter [未] was used only to tell yearly guardian’s case.  

Normally, we use a letter [羊] for a Sheep/Ram. (Goat got another letters［野羊］)

Those Link also provide Free Design Templates.

They are reputed, trouble-free good site.  = Worth visiting.  🙂

http://www.designbank-nenga.com/

http://nengarank.com/html/index.html

http://www.wanpagu.com/top_illustration.html

As long as you use those design for your personal purpose, it would be no problem.

( But sending out thousands of customers from your company is a business. ) 

So, prepare a greeting for the coming New Year 2014 ! 

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Selfridge’s Xmas decoration for 2014 (it was)

I know, it was a bit (very) slow to upload.  Still, they are the 2014 annual Xmas  

decoration of the Selfridge.  As expected, Oxford Street was very noisy and vibrant.  

—– those Steel band musician were the first people I saw wearing Santa’s

costume on this year.  (As people fed-up, it must be out of fashion.)

Selfridge put an explanation of the concept / story though, — ? ? ? who read it ?

So, I have no idea what about those decoration meant.  😀

And those decorations are quite mysterious and bizarre.   😀

Last one of those circular image was not by fisheye lens.  

It was a reflection of me on a mirror ball.  🙂

I guess, you opened all the presents received. (did you ?)

What ever, enjoy a holiday.

(The lens used were, Canon EF Fisheye Zoom 8-15mm F2.8 , EF Zoom 24-70mm F2.8

on Canon 5D Mk-III )

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Utterly useless Banana skin —– still, this is the Glorious 700th Post for a festive evening !

You never seen like this or able to guess what this is.   They are the banana skins.

—– ? ? ?   Why banana skin was made like this ? —– They were left there to

become dry. —– Why needed to make them dry ? = It was for not to make wet

rubbish in the bin and to prevent the fruits fly to come. —– M m m ? ? ?

—– If I have a grown up teenage daughter, she must hate this kind of practice

and the man who does. = = = I know, that’s why I don’t have a daughter, in fact

any kids or even a possible cause of that, a wife.  

(I just read a small article which was telling about his awkward daughter.  😀 )

So that, to avoid to have a cause of trouble was a wise precaution, or wise choice

to have trouble-free life and seems to be a way to reach Enlightenment.

Sound very much Buddhist like thinking.   Though, this was an Hinayana approach

to the life.  =If the whole planet was filled with such wise Buddhists,

the human-being would be doomed.

As, Hinayana approach was to avoid to have the cause of trouble beforehand,

therefore, to become a man of “Do nothing” was the ideal solution to get Enlightened.

—– but this approach creates more trouble “Not able to follow the rules” = The more

rules, more chance to fail.   And anyhow most of the man was not such ideal person.

So, the Buddhism invented another approach called Mahayana = To have a trouble

which is natural to the life is not classified as a trouble.   A wife (or two) and could be

an awkward daughter(s) = they may be troublesome but bring a fun as well.

It’s mean, a man (or woman) to have life’s troubles is nothing wrong, it’s just

awkward that all. (After all,

Lord Buddha defined the life is suffering !)  = The matter of the Enlightenment is

nothing to do with those troubles.   No man is perfect, so, why imperfect was the

obstacle to get enlightened ?

Still, strangely enough, no one (well almost) stay put imperfect = but try to be better.

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So, this is where the banana skin comes in. — but not to make you slip, make us think.

Why fruits fly is not welcome and the fruits skin is the cause of trouble ? = Filthy wet

rubbish made by the fruits skin kind in the bin is the ideal breeding environment to

the fly. —– Still, fly exists according to the Dharma too.   All sorts of nasty bacteria,

virus etc etc also exists thanks to the Dharma.

—– If so, imagining own clean life and avoid to have a filth is just an ego and a

delusion isn’t it ?

Giving the opportunities of their life’s fulfilment to the fruits fly, bacteria, virus etc etc

it is a compassion isn’t it ? ? ?  —– So, how do you think.  (My guess is,

Lord Buddha would have given a smile but no answer.

And Zen master will give a good whack. = shut up, don’t waste the time. 😀 )

—– Have a nice holiday.   🙂

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Fortnum and Mason’s Frosty Affair

This year, the Angel or Santa Claus were nowhere to be seen in the

Fortnum & Mason’s window.    Instead, said to be a Frosty Affair there.

—– I didn’t go deep into their financial affair, whether Frosty Affair was

the cause of it or the result.  = anyhow, it was the show window of the products

what they are selling with a lots of snow splay. —– and the additional

clear plastic stick = meant to be icicles.    M m m, is that’s all  ?   🙂 

Many people came down to take picture, was saying  “Disappointed”   😦  

Still, the camera is a simple device, what’s ever the subject, just press the button,

the picture will come out.    Here they are.   🙂

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SEASON’S GREETING 2015

 Thanks goodness, as the sun rotates

 the days passing and naturally

  the season has come to say

 for thanks to you all the readers 

 for your kind support to this blog.

Wish to all of you for A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year.

(Next year would be a Sheep / Ram Year)

PS:  Photo on top was taken by Wide-angle Tri-color Pinhole

and the additional Fisheye photo shows the normal view.

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Immersive Cult Party

It was the first anniversary of the Immersive Cult.  —– though, they are nothing 

to do with any religious act, but exclusively dedicated to a fancy Party. = They are

the Party People.  (The Party like this was what they designed and organized.)

This was the Party for themselves to celebrate successful first year as a company.  

So, they are the Planner, Stage Designer, Costume Designer, Performer and the

Party Food cataler.  If any body, corporate, want to have a specially themed fancy

Party, they are the people to be called.   (—– they are in fact my long standing

friends who worked together for a theatrical stage design etc, and appeared in 

this blog time to time such as this and that .)  

Funny things was, as people meet again here and there, sometimes years apart and

my memory of the name was so bad, still, they remember my name. (How they can ?)

In here, other than a Fish-eye lens, photos were taken by a homemade lens,

and this lens was meant to be fuzzy. (If you don’t like look away please.)

 

 Then, in the midnight, the party moved down to the basement of the building,

to the club called Basement Snack where DJ got rather soft house.  😀

So, the party went on to the (seemingly) pretty late.

(but, I took the two hours journey back on 1:00, because this party was the second

one today = I had the other gathering on the afternoon.  Better take a rest)  🙂

Anyhow, it was a very joyful party with a lots of interesting people.

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