Thursday, February 22, 2007

BYE

When I was updating TED podcast, I came across this talk by Ed Burtynsky who's the photographer in the documentary movie 'Manufactured Landscapes' I was talking about. It's worth a watch. You can either watch online or download audio/video file here

Saw strange display names guizi has been using for the past few days. I wasn't at all turning blind but let's call it an end. Don't ask. Don't tell. The amount of despise lament filthy pity love's lost has mounted to this pinnacle where I bleed away this malignant tumor growing out of my own. My last whining entry on you.

Farewell to K

Raging monsoon
eclipsed with a dead town
Graves sprawled like trophies
Diamonds in a pagan's crown

Ancient habits settle
Scorching dust of the deceased
marred a canyon of desolation
Dry and narrow

Silence an arrant crime
Demure the weapon of cruelty
mercilessly mauling an itch
down a seven year spine

Goodbye my dear epitaph
A charlatan said she knew
why water burns
why fire drowns

2 comments:

Jade said...

february seems, again, a month of endings..

love the poem, so great.

the TED podie is chilling particularly in the China part..somethings in there i've heard and seen before, some i haven't, but it's always, always so bone chilling and alarming to see them. and the sadness of the massive number of human beings living the kind of cramped, automatonized industrial lives they seeked hard to live, only to survive..i felt a little disappointe--maybe even repulsed--when Burtynsky didn't make deeper remarks on the fact that huge amt of waste are flowing into China from the western affluent countries all the time now which are not all willingly or knowingly accepted on China's part. The computer parts recycling thing is just Horrendous and he just thought it was 'quite something' to photo that old woman with her front porch filled with poisonous western trash? i don't wish artists to pass judgments or sth on their subject matters all the time but this is an instance where it's blatantly lacking..

Z said...

Yes i know. that's exactly how i felt when i watched the movie, trapped in a dilemma. Maybe the speech he made wasn't as clearly delivered as the intentions stated in the film. He said he didn't want to pass on any judgment as to influence the audience and it's a situation that needs a new perspective instead of taking sides.The amount of waste and the scale of mass production back home is alarming. The fact that poor rural people is the source of labor and driving force behind GDP growth is complicated... They can't afford to lose the job. It's again a tipsy situation built on 'mutual interest'. Sure there's unwillingness in it but for survival you'll have to do it.Both the import and export countries benefit at the cost of environmental damage on the 3rd world countries. There isn't a system yet to effectively take care of pollution. Burtynsky did address environmental issues and how he wished through publications of this 'human created landscapes' on worldchanging dot come could spread some publicity and make people aware of the issues in order to change them. He IS conscious but the way he decided to take a sideline and not pass any comments throughout his speech gives an easy impression he's kinda cold blooded and fake lol. Nobody can remain absolutely still in front of these 'atrocities', or so I wishfully think. I wasn't aware of such SCALE before watching the documentary so it does help. And I wonder how he felt when he tried to dig up the 'beauty' among all those trash, carefully choosing the best angle and light. It's a mixed feeling isn't it. His profession as a photographer and a humanitarian or an environmental activist. And to think (if) the bulk of economic growth comes from cheap labor and mass production for export, I wonder how much our own industry truly grows and whether it's a bubble situation where there's virtually little technological growth inside. But is there any other way to improve peoples life? Foreign export is a huge market if taken away I can't imagine the loss. Just look at those gigantic factories...

Blabbering on...

and yea, Feb's not an optimistic season eh? Hopefully March is better.