Please note that the poems and essays on this site are copyright and may not be reproduced without the author's permission.


Saturday 23 December 2017

Condor Wing 11: Long Shadows (Classical) / separation under crescent moon / OLD is the new NEW (Feels like a dream)

.
Untitled | by katarzynakubiak1

Untitled: photo by Katarzyna Kubiak, 20 September 2017

Untitled | by katarzynakubiak1

Untitled: photo by Katarzyna Kubiak, 20 September 2017

Untitled | by katarzynakubiak1

Untitled: photo by Katarzyna Kubiak, 20 September 2017


The view of @SpaceX from @Disneyland  in Anaheim. Amazing. Feels like a dream @elonmusk #spacex: image via Mehmet Akcin @mhmtkcn, 22 December 2017

* | by Sakulchai Sikitikul

TAIPEI TAIWAN: photo by Sakulchai Sikitikul, 23 November 2017

* | by Sakulchai Sikitikul

TAIPEI TAIWAN: photo by Sakulchai Sikitikul, 23 November 2017 

* | by Sakulchai Sikitikul

TAIPEI TAIWAN: photo by Sakulchai Sikitikul, 23 November 2017


Yes, aliens are real. Unfortunately, they are leaving because there’s no longer intelligent life running this country. #SpaceX: image via Barack Obama @ThePresObama, 22 December 2017



There Will Be Blood, 2007: opening shot: "From the opening moments of the movie, we feel dread...": image via Paramount Vantage/ The Ringer, 22 December  2017



There Will Be Blood, 2007: screenplay by Paul Thomas Anderson: opening scene: "From the opening moments of the movie, we feel dread...": image via The Ringer, 22 December  2017

Untitled | by Missy Prince

 Untitled: photo by Missy Prince, 21 December 2017

Untitled | by Missy Prince
  
Untitled: photo by Missy Prince, 21 December 2017

Untitled | by Missy Prince

 Untitled: photo by Missy Prince, 21 December 2017

red cliffs panorama. red rock canyon, ca. 2017. | by eyetwist

 red cliffs panorama. red rock canyon, ca. 2017 [Kern, California]: photo by eyetwist, 2 December 2017

red cliffs panorama. red rock canyon, ca. 2017. | by eyetwist

red cliffs panorama. red rock canyon, ca. 2017. | by eyetwist

 red cliffs panorama. red rock canyon, ca. 2017 [Kern, California]: photo by eyetwist, 2 December 2017



You don’t see this everyday! #SpaceX: image via Laura Rabney @lasbg, 23 December 2017

Untitled | by Missy Prince

Untitled: photo by Missy Prince, 11 October 2017

Untitled | by Missy Prince

Untitled: photo by Missy Prince, 11 October 2017

Untitled | by Missy Prince

Untitled: photo by Missy Prince, 11 October 2017

#OnlyStarWarsFansCanSeeIt. | by Sakulchai Sikitikul

#OnlyStarWarsFansCanSeeIt | TAIPEI TAIWAN: photo by Sakulchai Sikitikul, 22 November 2017 

#OnlyStarWarsFansCanSeeIt. | by Sakulchai Sikitikul

#OnlyStarWarsFansCanSeeIt | TAIPEI TAIWAN: photo by Sakulchai Sikitikul, 22 November 2017 
  #OnlyStarWarsFansCanSeeIt. | by Sakulchai Sikitikul

#OnlyStarWarsFansCanSeeIt | TAIPEI TAIWAN: photo by Sakulchai Sikitikul, 22 November 2017


 #Syria A Syrian boy talks to an injured girl as she lies on an operating bed in an emergency room in the rebel-held town of Douma  Photo Hamza Al-Ajweh #AFP: image via Sophie Chauveau @s_chauveau, 18 December 20

Untitled | by katarzynakubiak1

Untitled | Yazd, Iran: photo by Katarzyna Kubiak, 4 September 2017

Untitled | by katarzynakubiak1

Untitled | Yazd, Iran: photo by Katarzyna Kubiak, 4 September 2017
 Untitled | by katarzynakubiak1

Untitled | Yazd, Iran: photo by Katarzyna Kubiak, 4 September 2017



Palestinian protests continue amid anger over the US President Donald Trump's recognition of #Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. A Palestinian handicapped protester uses slingshot to throw at Israeli security forces, at Israeli border in Shuja'iyya neighborhood of Gaza City, Gaza on December 20, 2017. Photo: Ali Jadalla / @anadoluimages: image via Getty Images News @GettyImagesNews 23 December 2017



Erdogan chooses Palestinian image for photo competition 16-year-old #Palestinian became symbol of protest against US move to recognize Jerusaslem as Israel's capital: image via ANADOLU AGENCY (ENG) @anadoluagency, 22 December 2017



Erdogan chooses Palestinian image for photo competition 16-year-old #Palestinian became symbol of protest against US move to recognize Jerusaslem as Israel's capital: image via ANADOLU AGENCY (ENG) @anadoluagency, 22 December 2017
 

#Israeli soldiers intervene against #protestors during a #protest against U.S. President #DonaldTrump's announcement to recognize #Jerusalem as the capital of #Israel and plans to relocate the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, in Jerusalem's #OldCity #AA: image via Anadolu Images @anadolumages, 22 December 2017


 Palestinian protesters clashing with Israeli forces near a checkpoint in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, following President Trump’s decision this month to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.: photo by Musa Al Shaer/Agence France-Presse, 23 December 2017 


Palestinian protesters clashing with Israeli forces near a checkpoint in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, following President Trump’s decision this month to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.: photo by Musa Al Shaer/Agence France-Presse, 23 December 2017 


Israeli forces in Bethlehem near the separation barrier with graffiti depicting President Trump.: photo by Thomas Coex/Agence France-Presse, 23 December 2017 


Israeli forces in Bethlehem near the separation barrier with graffiti depicting President Trump.: photo by Thomas Coex/Agence France-Presse, 23 December 2017 

In Bethlehem, a Mood of Hopeless Resignation Among Palestinians: Isabel Kershner, The New York Times, 23 December 2017

BETHLEHEM, West Bank — A Christmas tree inside the doorway beckoned travelers to the Jacir Palace Hotel, a luxury inn in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

But with just days to go before Christmas, the management was mulling whether to reopen or remain closed for the holidays, normally one of the busiest periods for the hotel.

Since President Trump’s recognition this month of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Palestinians have been clashing intermittently with Israeli forces outside the hotel’s gates.

As the clashes have simmered on, sporadic and limited in scope, Bethlehem, like the rest of the Palestinian territories, seemed suspended in a kind of limbo. With residents neither basking in seasonal cheer nor raging in the throes of a new intifada, the popular mood in the city was more one of hopeless resignation.

The Jacir Palace sits along a stretch of road that has become a main flash point for protests, only yards away from Israel’s 26-foot-tall concrete barrier separating Bethlehem from Jerusalem, the contested holy city.

Recently, the hotel was enjoying a respite as protesters had taken the day off. But residue of tear gas hung in the air outside, inducing itchy eyes and sneezing. Someone picked up a used stun grenade and placed it on a balustrade.

Most of the hotel’s staff members had been sent home, since there were no guests anyway. One group was scheduled to arrive over the weekend. If there were riots going on at check-in time, said Ahmad al-Manawee, the guest relations manager, Plan B was to bring the lodgers in through a side entrance.

Many Palestinians in Bethlehem described their own leadership as feckless and confrontation with the Israelis as futile.

“It’s been sold,” Muhammad Abu Sabaiyya, 41, said of Jerusalem as he sat idly in his empty car repair shop. “Those who are not going out into the streets know it was all already agreed to with our government.”

Mr. Abu Sabaiyya’s cynicism echoed a widespread sentiment as he stared out at the separation wall adorned with graffiti, including a recent addition: an image of Mr. Trump wearing a black skullcap.

Yet, despite the dire predictions of major turmoil, and the best efforts of both Fatah and Hamas to mobilize the masses, so far there has been no large-scale, spontaneous outburst of violence in the wake of the president’s declaration.

The response has been more of a part-time simulation of an uprising, almost by appointment. A few thousand protesters have turned out at familiar friction points in the West Bank or along the Gaza border on the designated “Days of Rage” called for by the political factions. Other days, hardly anybody has shown up.

“It’s not that people don’t want to stand up for their rights,” said Samar Salah, 25, a Muslim student from a nearby village who had come to Bethlehem with her friends to see the Christmas decorations. “But there are never any results.”

Many Palestinians now view the confrontations with Israeli soldiers as pointless since they consider the Jerusalem declaration unlikely to be reversed. Those lucky enough to have decent jobs do not want to jeopardize their livelihoods. Others struggling to make ends meet seem to have more immediate concerns than throwing stones at Israeli soldiers.

 

The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, venerated as the traditional birthplace of Jesus.: photo by Thomas Coex/Agence France-Presse, 22 December 2017

Ibrahim Skakiyeh, 28, a father of two from Ramallah, was out hawking red Santa hats and selfie sticks in Manger Square, near the Church of the Nativity, venerated as the traditional birthplace of Jesus. Last year was “gold,” he said. 

Now he was out of pocket, having paid his bus fare and not having sold a single item in six hours. A lone pilgrim group from Africa passed through, without buying.

“Trump’s announcement ruined everything,” Mr. Skakiyeh said, adding that he still had to purchase milk and diapers on his way home. “All on loan,” he added.

The deputy leader of Fatah, Mahmoud Aloul, recently declared the Oslo peace accords with Israel to be over and said that all forms of resistance were legitimate, leading Israeli officials to question if he was calling for a return to armed struggle.

But battle-fatigued Palestinians remarked that their leaders were not the ones out on the front lines and that their children were more likely to be studying abroad.

In a recent survey, 70 percent of Palestinians said that President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority should resign. In a Christmas message on Friday, Mr. Abbas said that Mr. Trump’s decision had “encouraged the illegal disconnection between the holy cities of Bethlehem and Jerusalem.”

Analysts have still not discounted the possibility of a larger flare-up. Since Mr. Trump’s declaration, at least 11 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, including one who wore a fake bomb and slashed a soldier with a knife in Ramallah. During clashes along the Gaza border on Dec. 15, two Palestinians were killed, one of them, Ibrahim Abu Thuraya, a disabled man who was said to have lost his legs in an Israeli airstrike in 2008 and had since become a symbol of Palestinian defiance. Two more were killed in Gaza on Friday, and one on Saturday.

There were also fears on both sides that a trickle of rocket fire out of Gaza into southern Israel, and Israeli retaliatory strikes, could quickly escalate into a new war.

 

The lighting ceremony of a Christmas tree outside the Church of Nativity earlier this month.: photo by Abed Al Hashlamoun/European Pressphoto Agency, December 2017

But even in Gaza, the protesters were not all enthusiastic. “Now it’s the turn of the military groups to bomb an Israeli tank or jeep or post,” said Muhammad Abu Salah, 24, during a clash with Israeli soldiers at the Erez crossing in the northern Gaza Strip. “I only throw stones. I have no gun in my hand,” he said, while ducking the clouds of tear gas. “These protests are in vain.”

The Jacir Palace Hotel abuts the hardscrabble Aida refugee camp, where Amar Abu Akker, a Fatah activist, was sitting with friends outside his sister’s grocery store in the shadow of the separation wall. Israel started building it in 2002, at the height of the second intifada, with the stated goal of keeping Palestinian suicide bombers out of its cities.

On Dec. 12, Israeli border police officers had tried to drag Mr. Abu Akker’s son, Mustafa, 7, and two young friends, into a jeep in a harrowing scene that was captured on video . Mr. Abu Akker and several other adults intervened and retrieved the children.

The children had been playing in an enclosed area by the wall, Mr. Abu Akker said, adding that the officers picked them up because they could not find the stone-throwers they were looking for.

Mr. Abu Akker, 33, has served three terms in Israeli prison “for everything — opening fire, throwing stones, resisting the occupation,” he said. He was last released a year ago.

Fatah is now so divided, he said, that a meeting of about 100 activists in the camp the night before had almost ended in a brawl.

It was a waste to risk lives by confronting the Israeli forces, he said, since “not one intifada has made a difference.”

“The first brought us Oslo,” he said, referring to the uprising of the late 1980s and the interim peace accords of the 1990s that have still not resulted in final settlement. “The second brought this,” he said, gesturing toward the wall, punctuated by a black watchtower.

The Screaming Tamimi Factor


The 16-year-old #Palestinian #AhedalTamimi, who was awarded the #HanzalaAwardforCourage in #Turkey, appears in #court after she was taken into custody by #Israelisoldiers, at the #OferPrison in #Ramallah #WestBank #AA: image via Anadolu Images @anadoluimages, 20 December 2017

Ahed Tamimi during an appearance at a military court at the Israeli-run Ofer prison in the West Bank village of Betunia on Wednesday.: photo by Abir Sultan/European Pressphoto Agency  

Ahed Tamimi during an appearance at a military court at the Israeli-run Ofer prison in the West Bank village of Betunia on Wednesday.: photo by Abir Sultan/European Pressphoto Agency  

Ahed Tamimi, right, during an earlier confrontation with Israeli security forces in May.: photo by Abbas Momani/Agence France-Presse, May 2017

Ahed Tamimi, right, during an earlier confrontation with Israeli security forces in May.: photo by Abbas Momani/Agence France-Presse, May 2017 

 

This is the face of resistance! #AhedTamimi: image via Hebá @Heyyba, 20 December 2017

 

This is the face of resistance! #AhedTamimi: image via Hebá @Heyyba, 20 December 2017


This is the face of resistance! #AhedTamimi: image via Hebá @Heyyba, 20 December 2017
 

UPDATE: Ahed Tamimi, 16, detained from her home in the middle of the night, appeared in Ofer military court today. At the hearing, her detention was extended until December 25 for further investigation. #nowaytotreatachild #ahedtamimi: image via Defense for Children @DCIPalestine, 20 December 2017



You can control a land with weapons, but no power in the world can stop a free person from saying no. #AhedTamimi: image via Abir Al-kalemji @abir1206, 20 December 2017 



Israeli “journalist” @Bencaspit calls for revenge rape of imprisoned Palestinian child #AhedTamimi. Her “crime” was to stand up to occupier thugs. Caspit writes for @MaarivOnline and @AlMonitor: image via Ali Abunimah @AliAbunimah, 23 December 2017

Darwish: "In everything there's a being that suffers"

Palestinians figth to free a Palestinian boy held by an Israeli soldier during clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters following a march against Palestinian land confiscation to expand the nearby Jewish Hallamish settlement on Friday in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh near Ramallah

Palestinians fight to free a Palestinian boy held by an Israeli soldier during clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters following a march against Palestinian land confiscation to expand the nearby Jewish Hallamish settlement on Friday in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh near Ramallah: photo by Abbas Momani/AFP, 28 August 2015

Mahmoud Darwish: The Girl / The Scream

There is a girl on a sea shore
And the girl has a family
And the family has a house
And the house has two windows and a door.
And at sea there's a warship playing a game
of targeting those taking a stroll on the shore.
Four five seven drop to the sand.
The girl is spared by a sleeve of mist
a certain celestial sleeve came to rescue her.
She calls out: Dad, my Dad, let's go home, this sea is not for us.
And the father does not reply.
He lies there in an agony of absence, wrapped in his shadow in an agony of absence.
Blood in her palms blood in the clouds,
Her scream flies away with her far from the sea shore and higher.
She screams in the night of a wilderness
The echo has no echo
And the girl becomes the eternal scream of a breaking news event made obsolete by the planes' return
to bomb a house with two windows and a door.

Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008): The Girl / The Scream, 2006, from The Trace of The Butterfly, 2008, translated from the Arabic by Tania Nasir and John Berger

Palestinians figth to free a Palestinian boy held by an Israeli soldier during clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters following a march against Palestinian land confiscation to expand the nearby Jewish Hallamish settlement on Friday in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh near Ramallah 

Palestinians fight to free a Palestinian boy held by an Israeli soldier during clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters following a march against Palestinian land confiscation to expand the nearby Jewish Hallamish settlement on Friday in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh near Ramallah: photo by Abbas Momani/AFP, 28 August 2015



Protesters from Nabi Saleh fleeing from tear gas launched by the Israel Defense Forces. In the background, the Israeli settlement of Halamish: photo by Peter van Agtmael for The New York Times, 15 March 2013 
  
Embedded image permalink

Unmasked: the oh-so-brave Israeli soldier who tried - and failed - to arrest a Palestinian child. #NabiSaleh: image via Ben White @benabyad, 28 August 2015

How can you say you did not know this was a child, @IDFSpokesperson? Are you blind AND deaf? #nabisaleh #BDS: image via Pucci D @adpucci, 28 August 2015

Embedded image permalink
Brave Tamimi women of Nabi Saleh take down Israeli soldier assaulting injured child: image via Mondoweiss @Mondoweiss, 29 August 2015

An Israeli soldier seizes a Palestinian boy during clashes near Ramallah on August 28, 2015. AFP Photo / Abbas Momani: image via Agence France-Presse @AFP, 30 August 2015

#Israeli soldier trying to arrest a #child! In the village of #NabiSaleh #Ramallah: image via Elia Ghorbieh @Elia_gor, 28 August 2015

Photo by @SamerNazzal from #NabiSaleh today. Tying to prevent an attack on a boy, a girl bit the soldier a lesson.: image via Fati Abdul @FatiAbdul, 28 August 2015

zionist IOF attacked  #NabiSaleh protest in brutal way today with tear gas, rubber coated steel bullets and live ammo: image via manal tamimi @screaming tamimi, 21 August 2015

Nariman Tamimi and her daughter Ahed before a demonstration against the Israeli occupation in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh in 2012.: photo by Abbas Momani/Agence France-Presse, 2012

Nariman Tamimi and her daughter Ahed before a demonstration against the Israeli occupation in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh in 2012.: photo by Abbas Momani/Agence France-Presse, 2012


Muhammad Tamimi from #NabiSaleh sustained a broken arm in clashes with the IOF today: image via The Baking Anthro @NotOccupying, 25 August 2015

Ahed Tamimi, the 14-y-o Palestinian who bit an Israeli soldier to free her brother #NabiSaleh: image via Ben White @benabyad, 30 August 2015
 


Protesters from Nabi Saleh fleeing from tear gas launched by the Israel Defense Forces. In the background, the Israeli settlement of Halamish: photo by Peter van Agtmael for The New York Times, 15 March 2013


 Classical Shadows
 
[#ElClasico]: image via The Spanish Football Podcast @tsf_podcast, 23 December 2017

Untitled | by katarzynakubiak1

Untitled | Yazd, Iran: photo by Katarzyna Kubiak, 7 September 2017

Untitled | by katarzynakubiak1

Untitled | Yazd, Iran: photo by Katarzyna Kubiak, 7 September 2017

Untitled | by katarzynakubiak1

Untitled | Yazd, Iran: photo by Katarzyna Kubiak, 7 September 2017



#Iran Heavy air pollution shuts schools in Iran Photo Atta Kenare #AFP: image via Sophie Chauveauu @s_chauveauAFP, 17 December 2017 

 

#Iran Heavy air pollution shuts schools in Iran Photo Atta Kenare #AFP: image via Sophie Chauveauu @s_chauveauAFP, 17 December 2017 

* | by Sakulchai Sikitikul

Untitled | TAIPEI TAIWAN: photo by Sakulchai Sikitikul, 22 November 2017 

 * | by Sakulchai Sikitikul

Untitled | TAIPEI TAIWAN: photo by Sakulchai Sikitikul, 22 November 2017

* | by Sakulchai Sikitikul

Untitled | TAIPEI TAIWAN: photo by Sakulchai Sikitikul, 22 November 2017 

Macau | by jobChaowadee
 
Macau | Macau, Macau: photo by Job Jetichwan Chowadee, 17 November 2017

Macau | by jobChaowadee

Macau | Macau, Macau: photo by Job Jetichwan Chowadee, 17 November 2017
 Macau | by jobChaowadee
  
Macau | Macau, Macau: photo by Job Jetichwan Chowadee, 17 November 2017

Untitled | by Rammy Narula

Untitled: photo by Rammy Narula, 13 August 2017
 
SalaryMan | ShotOniPhoneX | by Tavepong Pratoomwong

SalaryMan | ShotOniPhoneX [Bangkok]: photo by TAVEPONG PRATOOMWONG, 7 December 2017

SalaryMan | ShotOniPhoneX | by Tavepong Pratoomwong

SalaryMan | ShotOniPhoneX [Bangkok]: photo by TAVEPONG PRATOOMWONG, 7 December 2017

SalaryMan | ShotOniPhoneX | by Tavepong Pratoomwong
SalaryMan | ShotOniPhoneX [Bangkok]: photo by TAVEPONG PRATOOMWONG, 7 December 2017

#SpaceX satellite-booster separation under crescent moon in view from Taft: image via Midway Driller @Midwaydriller, 22 December 2017

"This diminishing of things..."

 File:Little Nemo Mountain Man.jpg

 File:Little Nemo moon.jpg

File:Little Nemo Dirigeable1.jpg




This diminishing of things, as if
Sleep were a miniaturist working
In the darkness, to the dimensions
Of a mini-theatre echo-chamber
Through which stray air currents dragged their ghosts:
A point of light appearing in the dream,
A glimmer almost swallowed by the room's
Dark corners at first, grown in a little while
To the restless thought sleep's escaped again.
The thought cast its anxious reflex into
The dream, and I awakened then, castaway,
Drenched in the sunshaded stones of afternoon.




File:Little Nemo Dirigeable2.jpg

File:Little Nemo on mars.jpg

File:Little Nemo in Slumberland (1908-07-26) panels 11 to 15.jpg

File:Little Nemo in Slumberland (1905-10-22).jpeg

File:Little Nemo in Slumberland (1905-10-22) bottom half.jpeg

File:Little Nemo 1906-07-29.jpg

File:Little Nemo 1905-11-26 middle five panels.jpg

File:Little Nemo 1908-12-27.jpg 

File:Little Nemo.jpg

File:Little Nemo 1908-12-20 panel 6.jpg

File:Little Nemo 1908-12-20.jpg

File:Little Nemo 1909-12-12.jpg

File:Little Nemo 1910-01-02.jpg

File:Little Nemo hand.jpg

Winsor McCay (1869-1934): from Little Nemo in Slumberland

6 comments:

TC said...

Dylan: Highlands (live, 2000)

TC said...


Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield: Isaiah 21

Dylan: Watchtower (live, c 2000)

TC said...

There Will Be Blood: Striking Oil

Mose23 said...

Thank you for the post, Tom.

The shadows stretch out to a good many of us now.

Ahed Tamimi put me in mind of an image taken round our way not long ago.

Title

Merry Christmas to you and Angelica.

Mose23 said...

That opening scene from There Will Be Blood troubles me each time I see it. Liquid shadow.

TC said...

Duncan,

Out of the shadows... a voice.

From the darkness before the dawn, we send hugs to you & K.

Saffiyah Khan and in fact the very existence of your city plainly comprise an affront to the dominant way of things these days.

It does help she's taller than the EDL thug in the pic.

"Who looks like they have power here, the real Brummy on the left or the EDL who migrated for the day to our city and failed to assimilate?"

We have a bit of that here, with our own charming strain of daytripping semi-armed rent-a-van tourist thug, dropping in on occasion.

Even they however cannot dream to match in scale of harm done on a daily basis the thugs in business clothing and smart cars who stay on to do a deal and then another and roar past incessantly out front, e'en now, starting in early while it's still allegedly silent night, carting those billboard size surprise gift flatscreens.

I don't think the accuracy of the parable in There Will Be Blood, or the brilliance of execution in giving it life, have been properly appreciated, partly because of the shining performance by DDL, but I think more largely because the story is simply too close for comfort, in this age of The Art of The Deal.

It may well be the last interesting film ever to be made in this country.

There Will Be Blood: Daniel Plainview buying Sunday ranch

There Will Be Blood: Bury you underground Eli