Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Crisis

Postman Pat is on strike. At least he seems to be in Ghent. I've not received any mail for a week now, which is highly annoying.

While I'm normally quite partial to a bit of socialist/communist rallying, right now, all I can think of is that huge order I've put in for spray-paints, stanley knives and canvasses from Schleiper. They're not likely to arrive any time soon now, what with the humongous backlog at the postal distribution center.

My workhours overlap with the store's opening hours, so there's no other option for me but to order them online and await their arrival patiently. But it's a bit of a dud having 10 stencils cut out and ready to go, when you've run out of spray-paint and canvasses. I desperately need white-spray paint to finish off some of the multi-coloured stencils I've started, and it pains me to see them unfinished. It's like an itch you can't scratch.



The real bitch of it is that while the government can't seem to be arsed to mediate in the postal crisis, it still managed to get its own electoral cards delivered to our mailboxes exactly as planned, because I received mine today.

It would be marginally less annoying if I had a clue who to vote for this time around. I assumed my ideals hadn't changed all that much since the last elections, but when I took the online survey it told me: "your answers most closely match the political pamphlet of the christian democrats (read: conservatives)". I almost cried. Either I have gotten really old, in which case I'm going to have to go back into therapy, OR, the whole political arena suddenly made a staggering shift towards libertarianism, in which case I'd say we're just about done saving the world.

To check whether my ideals had indeed changed significantly, I decided to re-take the political compass questionnaire. It appears I have changed very little since I took it two years ago:


The hilarious thing is that this result points me to be ever so slightly more leftist and libertarian than the Dalai Lama appears to be. In my opinion, the Lama is a right authoritarion rightwing b@*%@rd ;-)


To be honest, I think the questionnaire is ever so slightly contrived. It may be my autistic inclinations but when someone asks me to rate the statement:

"A significant advantage of a one-party state is that it avoids all the arguments that delay progress in a democratic political system."

I feel slightly ill at ease with the phrasing. Am I to judge this statement on pure logic? Because if that's the case, then of course this is a significant advantage in favor of a one-party state. But if I am to interpret this question to mean: "Is this advantage enough to warrant a one-party state", then my answer is of course completely different.

Another example:

"Mothers may have careers, but their first duty is to be homemakers."

Now this is a tricky one. If this statement had said: "Women" instead of "Mothers" then I would have instantly replied "Strongly disagree". But here it says "Mothers". I very strongly believe that if a woman decides to pop out a few childeren, then it is her first duty to provide a "home" for them in every meaning of the word. But this statement is highly likely meant to be probative of underlying sexist ideals, and as such, my answer will be entirely misinterpreted.


This last statement, however, had me tangled up the longest:

"Military action that defies international law is sometimes justified."

First of all, I feel that laws should continuously be challenged and re-appraised. If a law fails to hit the mark or is inadequate in one way or other, then it needs to either be revised or ignored. There's nothing more stupid than blind faith in or docile obedience to set laws. But... and this is a big "but"... if the sentence is meant to mean the current international law on military intervention, and surreptitiously hints at US infringement of international law by invading Iraq, then my answer is "strongly disagree". Because this political compass was designed in 2001, it's highly likely that this question was set up with Iraq in mind and that its answers are judged in this light.

Anyway, I'm rambling, and I've forgotten what my point was. At any rate, I won't be voting Christian Democrat. I'm a libertarian lesbian scientist for chrissakes... who in their right mind.... ?!?!

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Sunday, April 29, 2007

How NOT to apply a stencil...



My girlfriend sent me a wee quote shortly after:

"There is hope in honest error.
None in the icy perfection of the mere stylist."

- Rennie Mackintosh -

She's an optimist if ever I've seen one. Wonder if she'd let me stencil her walls??

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Tuesday, April 17, 2007

In Image


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Sunday, April 01, 2007

The Sunday Struggle #8

My Sunday's not been much of a struggle this weekend so I figured it best to simply keep it to a Sunday Stencil and Sunday Quote...

- Mankind's Evolution -

Found this stencil while off out on Saturday night. I absolutely love this one. It's such a simple visual representation of mankind's evolution into a military power that has turned on itself. Very powerful visual in my opinion.


"Happiness?

A good wine, a good meal and a good woman.
Or a bad woman.
It depends on how much happiness you can handle."

- George Burns (Via Jo) -


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Sunday, March 25, 2007

Thru the Lens

I started my new job just a little over 10 days ago now and I'm still trying to find some sort of rhythm that will allow me to fit all my normal activities in and around my new work-shedule. It'll take a while before I'll successfully strike the right balance, and so I will have to ask you to bear with me on this, both in terms of blogging and social contact. I crammed as many social events into my after-work hours last week and it still feels like I've got major catching up to do. But the new workload is challenging and intense, and because I'd like to make a good contribution to the team as soon as possible, I feel like I (for a while at least) need to devote a few hours after work to catch up with all the new things I've been introduced to at work. So I don't loose grip on things until I've been properly trained up.

I have some personal news to tell you all and have mentally drafted 4 non-personal blog topics as well, all of which I'd like to jot down when I find some spare time later this weekend or week. Suffice it to say that I love the job, and that I'm confident some sort of new structure of social life/ work/ blogging/ personal stuff will emerge before too long, which will allow me to take everything on board as usual.

The quickest way to document things right now, is by using my camera phone for easy snapshots. My Fisheye Lens got scratched and I've yet to find a good replacement, so my stencil-shots are taken with a standard lens at the moment.


- Life In Transit -




- Pigeon Domination -


I'm sure most of you have at one time or other been witness to one of my infamous pigeon rants. You know the one: That I have a sneaky paranoid suspicion that pigeons are secretly plotting world domination. Because if you think about it, it all adds up. They have strategically positioned themselves in all our open spaces (easy mass-attack positions), they persistently shit on all our important landmarks and monuments (acts of rebellion), they embody breeding grounds for all sort of nasties and evil germs to which our own immune systems have yet to build resistance (mass production of biological weapons) and well, they look downright shifty what with their beady eyes snapping back and forth constantly on those freakishly dislocated heads of theirs. So I'm convinced pigeons are evil creatures plotting world domination.

Needless to say the recent emergence of pigeon-based stencils around Ghent is making me feel a little uneasy. They are everywhere. This one was positioned right next to an ATM machine. Call me paranoid, but I'd say the Pigeons have stepped up their plotting a notch. I am highly in favor of initiatives such as those taken by Faits Divers (a resto in Ghent), where you are promised a free beverage if you successfully snap the neck of one of the pigeons on their terrace.

[Disclaimer: A highly squeamish individual myself, I would never dream of wringing a pigeon's neck (despite the allure), so all you treehuggers: Back Off!]






- Don't Hold Back for My Benefit -




- Ghent Stencils -



- Cracks in the Foundation -

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Saturday, February 24, 2007

Defection

After much debate, I've finally decided to defect. As of today, I am no longer a Nokia user, but the proud owner of a Sony Ericsson. It takes some getting used to, but I like the slimness and texture of the new device. Moreover, it has an excellent little camera, which is very easily hidden and used from a vest-sleeve. It's almost sad just how excited I am.


I've also paid a wee visit to the City Kingz graphic art shop in town and have expanded my wishlist by about 10 art books. I intend to get downright mucky next week by putting all my graffitti plans into action. It's time to get down to the nitty gritty bit of decorating my new flat. *grin*


Oh, and I caught this stencil today. The graphic is a tad on the flou side, but it did look nice on those materials.



And to finish this entirely contentless post, has anyone else noticed how the clubscene music has shifted the last couple of months from a style attuned to alcohol to one attuned to pills? It came up in a discussion last night, and I have to admit my friends were bang on with this remark. Not complaining though, even to a sober & responsible individual the beats are fab ;-)

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Thursday, February 08, 2007

No Missfires Please



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