An Irish Love Story

It is awesome to discover other people's design. The above photograph is from an Irish blog called In Photos dot org. And right now I'm obsessing about a song and its design (by Spandau Ballet from 1986). It is a Romeo & Juliet-style love story set in a troubled Northern Ireland. A boy and a girl, one a Catholic and one a Protestant, betray their families and their upbringing to meet on the bomb sites and the no-man's land between divided communities. The setting is given away by the drum and pipe marching music, so reminiscent of the parades mentioned in the second chorus. Like Shakespeare's play, there is a tragic ending. The "hearts go to their graves," but it is not clear whether this refers metaphorically to the end of the affair or a suicide pact. Incidentally, the phrase "a terrible beauty we've made" is very like "a terrible beauty is born" from the W. B. Yeats poem about the 1916 rising in Dublin.

Through the Barricades by Spandau Ballet

Mother doesn't know where love has gone
She says it must be youth
That keeps us feeling strong
See it in her face, that's turned to ice
And when she smiles she shows
The lines of sacrifice
And now I know what they're saying
When the sun begins to fade
And we made our love on wasteland
And through the barricades.

Father made my history
He fought for what he thought
Would set us somehow free
He taught me what to say in school
I learned off by heart
But now that's torn in two
And now I know what they're saying
In the music of the parade
We made our love on wasteland
And through the barricades.

Born on different sides of life
We feel the same
And feel all of this strife
So come to me when I'm asleep
We'll cross the line
And dance upon the street
And now I know what they're saying
When the drums begin to fade
We made our love on wasteland
And through the barricades.

Oh, turn around and I'll be there
There's a scar through my heart
But I'll bare it again
I thought we were the human race
But we were just another border-line-case
And the stars reach down and tell us
That there's always one escape.

I don't know where love has gone
And in this troubled land
Desperation keep us strong
Friday's child is full of soul
With nothing left to lose
There's everything to go
And now I know what they're are saying
It's a terrible beauty we've made
So we make our love on wasteland
And through the barricades.

Now I know what they're are saying
As hearts go to their graves
We made our love on wasteland
And through the barricades.

Public Announcement Sample

Hate is a hateful thing

Shoebox

The packaging was as cute as the shoes.

My Grandfather

My grandfather used to sit
On a simple wooden chair
Outside his small room
In a dusty, ancient Calcutta tenement building.

Broken sunbeams lay on the ground, brilliant.
Interrupted patchwork of shadow and light in the open plaza,
Within enclosed cement and tile
umber and gold, muted.

My Dadu was a proud man
Era of Indian Independence in his blood
Freedom and veracious ideals.
He filled his chair with girth and authority.

With cane in hand and ominous presence
He would sit toothless
Central
Brooding
Observing.

Remember I a small child, running down the long dark crooked alley
That wove inside and through other crumbling buildings
Shifting and cutting angles. Abrupt.
Then unexpectedly huge
His dominion.

And I would stop in my tracks
and shuffle past. Quiet. From a different world, a different generation.
Afraid again to say
“Dadu, I love you.”

Uncontrolled my tears
The last time we said “Goodbye”.
In his perfect Oxford English
He said I would never see him again.

I wonder now what he used to think…
Perhaps about his youth
And how success had shown him
Her generous hand for a few brief years
And how in a game of karmic trickery
She closed her bright eyes,
Turning away from him
Leaving only the reminder of golden light
Intangible at his feet.

Layers

Mosaic

One square is geometry, many squares make poetry.

Mayfly In April

After this photo, I left my delicate subject alone. She is absconding somewhere in our residence.

Two Towers

The place where I get my car washed is opposite the Disney towers. As I waited for my car, I remembered that in late 2002, we had watched an air display of fighter airplanes in formation from the black tower building. And a sick thought had come to mind. What if those planes had flown into the two towers as had happened in New York a few weeks earlier?

Too hot to play

Statement as of 6:14 PM PDT on April 20, 2009 ... Preliminary record high temperatures set across southwest California...

A record high temperature of 100 degrees was set at downtown Los Angeles (usc) CA today. This breaks the old record of 96 set in 1958.

A record high temperature of 95 degrees was set at Los Angeles Airport today. This breaks the old record of 86 set in 1986.

A record high temperature of 100 degrees was set at Long Beach Airport CA today. This breaks the old record of 93 set in 1986.

A record high temperature of 99 degrees was set at San Gabriel CA today. This breaks the old record of 98 set in 1958.

A record high temperature of 86 degrees was set at Santa Monica pier CA today. This breaks the old record of 79 set in 1958.

A record high temperature of 99 degrees was set at UCLA CA today. This breaks the old record of 94 set in 1958.

We come and go

Recently, I found a letter from my late father typewritten on an Indian aerogramme with little pictures of planes going in opposite directions printed on it. Things in the universe peacefully move from one state to another. Departing and arriving. And in so recognizing, nothing can really ever be lost.

What was the question?

Although it is supposedly not physically addictive, chocolate is the food most commonly craved by women in the U.S.

Paper Butterflies

These clever creations adorn a very realistic fake tree inside a library in Burbank, California.

Fifty

Separate

At the end of a dream, I was left with this image. And a sadness that my mother lives so far away.

Tax Time

mmm...

Sometimes there are those moments.

Laundry

Yeah, he wouldn't think it was so funny if he had to fold it.

Bunnies

Joyfully welcoming spring.

Easterish

A new family tradition is born.

With all the superstitions surrounding the traditional hot cross bun, it's just as well. One of them says that buns baked and served on Easter Sunday will not spoil or become mouldy during the subsequent year. Another encourages keeping such a bun for medicinal purposes. A piece of it given to someone who is ill is said to help them recover. Sharing a hot cross bun with another is supposed to ensure friendship throughout the coming year, particularly if, "Half for you and half for me, Between us two shall goodwill be", is said at the time. Because of the cross on the buns, some say they should be kissed before being eaten. (Although, I can't tell if they mean that they should be kissed or the bun should be kissed.) If taken on a sea voyage, hot cross buns are said to protect against shipwreck. If hung in the kitchen, they are said to protect against fires and ensure that all breads turn out perfectly. Thankfully, the hanging bun is replaced each year.

Culinary Ode To Our Dog

For the best dog ever. 8 years old.

Just checking...

Are you doing what you thought you would? This cool bench is at Chicago Children's Museum.

UCLA Commencement

Cate and I collaborated on this logo a few years ago. I never went through an American commencement, but I love the use of that word. The beginning of a great new journey.

The Cookbook is Here!

Local school charity drive. This design is 110 pages, more than 65 recipes from all over the world contributed by the kids' families and with tons of pictures. The project is raising money for a school in Zimbabwe. Very happy.

So Sweet in Santa Barbara

Lemon Drop

Sublime at the Palace Grill.

2 days in Santa Barbara

On the way there was a cafe in Ventura.

The World's First Ferris Wheel

The first ever ferris wheel was made for the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. American Engineer, George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. made this huge structure where a 250-foot wheel would rotate and carry 2160 people in boxes the size of train cars. The ferris wheel currently up on Chicago's Navy Pier has a 140-foot diameter and carries 240 people.

Familia

Although it swims like a duck, the American Coot does not have webbed feet like a duck. Instead of having all the toes connected by webs, each coot toe has lobes on the sides of each segment. I like how the jet black bodies contrast with the water and create a random yet cohesive pattern.

Bananas

I wonder if bananas are like showfakes where no two are alike.

Road to the Beach

Dreaming of sunny, sandy days.