This week, Inspire Me Thursday suggested taking Ingres' painting Mademoiselle Caroline Rivière and going to work on it. Which is exactly what I did, doing some digital magic involving a photo of yours truly.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Blumfeld's back
Oh no - it's been weeks since my last appearance here.
What have I been doing?
Lots.
Let's see - there was an Indian event here in Stuttgart, for which I organized some of the music (Subroto Roy Chowdhury on sitar, accompanied by Sanjib Pal). There was a trip to Munich to see my daughter before the end of her semester break. We dived into the art world by visiting an exhibition of Pakistani sufi posters and the gigantic Alfons Mucha show (art nouveau), which included some of his well-known posters but other works as well, including some bombastic Pan-slavic megalomania paintings.
My love life's been on the rocks and mostly in the dumps.
Strangely enough, I can't seem to enjoy life when I do not allow myself to be in love (and yes, with that one particular woman I've been writing for, to and about for the last year and a half).
Bye for now during a break in work.
Don't tell the boss.
– Len "Heartbreaker" Blumfeld
What have I been doing?
Lots.
Let's see - there was an Indian event here in Stuttgart, for which I organized some of the music (Subroto Roy Chowdhury on sitar, accompanied by Sanjib Pal). There was a trip to Munich to see my daughter before the end of her semester break. We dived into the art world by visiting an exhibition of Pakistani sufi posters and the gigantic Alfons Mucha show (art nouveau), which included some of his well-known posters but other works as well, including some bombastic Pan-slavic megalomania paintings.
My love life's been on the rocks and mostly in the dumps.
Strangely enough, I can't seem to enjoy life when I do not allow myself to be in love (and yes, with that one particular woman I've been writing for, to and about for the last year and a half).
Bye for now during a break in work.
Don't tell the boss.
– Len "Heartbreaker" Blumfeld
Saturday, October 3, 2009
True Colors
You with the sad eyes
don't be discouraged
oh I realize
it's hard to take courage
in a world full of people
you can lose sight of it all
and the darkness inside you
can make you fell so small
But I see your true colors
shining through
I see your true colors
and that's why I love you
so don't be afraid to let them show
your true colors
true colors are beautiful
like a rainbow
Show me a smile then
don't be unhappy, can't remember
when I last saw you laughing
If this world makes you crazy
and you've taken all you can bear
you call me up
because you know I'll be there
And I'll see your true colors
shining through
I see your true colors
and that's why I love you
So don't be afraid to let them show
your true colors
true colors are beautiful
like a rainbow
(Written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, and a hit for Cyndi Lauper on her 1986 album of the same name.)
Posted here for One Single Impression's Color theme.
The video below shows Cyndi Lauper performing the song live, accompanying herself on the dulcimer.
don't be discouraged
oh I realize
it's hard to take courage
in a world full of people
you can lose sight of it all
and the darkness inside you
can make you fell so small
But I see your true colors
shining through
I see your true colors
and that's why I love you
so don't be afraid to let them show
your true colors
true colors are beautiful
like a rainbow
Show me a smile then
don't be unhappy, can't remember
when I last saw you laughing
If this world makes you crazy
and you've taken all you can bear
you call me up
because you know I'll be there
And I'll see your true colors
shining through
I see your true colors
and that's why I love you
So don't be afraid to let them show
your true colors
true colors are beautiful
like a rainbow
(Written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, and a hit for Cyndi Lauper on her 1986 album of the same name.)
Posted here for One Single Impression's Color theme.
The video below shows Cyndi Lauper performing the song live, accompanying herself on the dulcimer.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
The fucked-up love life fib
The
man
needs to
be active
so he can forget
about his fucked-up love life. Yeah.
man
needs to
be active
so he can forget
about his fucked-up love life. Yeah.
– Leonard “Fucked Up” Blumfeld (© 2009)
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
They like each other / a true picture
Is that a cow?
No, too small.
Holy cow, it is a llama.
And that little animal next to it?
Holy pig, it is a pig.
A llama cuddling with a pig
in the Bavarian Alps,
how about that.
– Leonard “Vicaricator” Blumfeld (© 2009)
An actual experience (my daughter's) retold vicariously.
No, too small.
Holy cow, it is a llama.
And that little animal next to it?
Holy pig, it is a pig.
A llama cuddling with a pig
in the Bavarian Alps,
how about that.
– Leonard “Vicaricator” Blumfeld (© 2009)
An actual experience (my daughter's) retold vicariously.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
The next relationship fib
Once again for A.B.
She
stub-
bornly
refuses
to become my next
relationship experiment.
She
stub-
bornly
refuses
to become my next
relationship experiment.
- Leonard "Truly Loves Her" Blumfeld
Personal note: Mind-wrote this while taking a shower, went out to have dinner, returned, and it was still on my mind. So I simply had to write it down and publish it!
This also marks my first return to the fibonacci in quite a while.
What a beautiful late August day - not hot, but warm and sunny. The trees, chestnuts are first, are beginning to shed their leaves, and there's that crisp breath of fall in the air. I could stay with this season for a long time; it's my favorite.
Is this poem autobiographical? you might ask. Well, yes and no. Looking at myself and my failed relationships of the last seven years with some cynicism, this is definitely deserved. But then again - I never had even the slightest bad intention... Perhaps I should not be so harsh on myself.
Do I love her as truly as I profess? By my standards I do, perhaps even by fairly elevated standards. Will it last? That I don't know. But it has for a year and a half.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Weird dream
Had a weird dream last night...
It all started out with me having to wait (for whom or what I do not remember) in a busy pedestrian zone. But lo and behold I had all the facilities with me to set up my laptop and watch a Bollywood movie. So I watched it for a while, moving my pedestrian zone cinema substitute one time when I realized I was in the way. Other than that nobody paid much attention. Until a woman I recognized as a neighbor walked by, started talking to me and proposed moving the installation to her place. Which I did. Sooner rather than later we found ourselves kissing, then moving to her bedroom for more. Oh, I forgot that she also had a baby, possibly three months old, and an older companion, around 60. I originally thought they were sisters. Just as we were in bed, without many stitches on as I seem to recall, her whole family walked in. I felt embarrassed, but she didn't seem to mind all these people milling around us. She and they went to another room. Only one of the relatives remained with me, an older guy, a freckly redhead. He asked me how I felt? I mumbled something about odd, awkward, embarrassed, etc. He said he understood. In the closing scene, I, once again fully dressed, entered the other room, where my lady was in bed with her companion and the baby, surrounded by everyone else. Everybody was at ease and chatting away. The last thought I remember is that I felt uneasy because I still did not understand the relationships among all these people. But they seemed to accept my presence all right – as whatever. Or did they simply not notice me?
– Len "Sexy Dream" Blumfeld
It all started out with me having to wait (for whom or what I do not remember) in a busy pedestrian zone. But lo and behold I had all the facilities with me to set up my laptop and watch a Bollywood movie. So I watched it for a while, moving my pedestrian zone cinema substitute one time when I realized I was in the way. Other than that nobody paid much attention. Until a woman I recognized as a neighbor walked by, started talking to me and proposed moving the installation to her place. Which I did. Sooner rather than later we found ourselves kissing, then moving to her bedroom for more. Oh, I forgot that she also had a baby, possibly three months old, and an older companion, around 60. I originally thought they were sisters. Just as we were in bed, without many stitches on as I seem to recall, her whole family walked in. I felt embarrassed, but she didn't seem to mind all these people milling around us. She and they went to another room. Only one of the relatives remained with me, an older guy, a freckly redhead. He asked me how I felt? I mumbled something about odd, awkward, embarrassed, etc. He said he understood. In the closing scene, I, once again fully dressed, entered the other room, where my lady was in bed with her companion and the baby, surrounded by everyone else. Everybody was at ease and chatting away. The last thought I remember is that I felt uneasy because I still did not understand the relationships among all these people. But they seemed to accept my presence all right – as whatever. Or did they simply not notice me?
– Len "Sexy Dream" Blumfeld
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Dinner for eight
Guests invited*
1. Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (1194-1250), to ask him what the mysterious Castel del Monte was all about, question him about his irreverent religious beliefs and many other things.
2. Saint Francis of Assisi, who lived at about the same time (1181-1226). I assume he did not appreciate Frederick very much (and vice-versa perhaps), but it might be fun having these two facing each other at the table.
3. Plato (428 BC-347 BC), to ask him what he really knew about Atlantis.
4. Sylvia Plath (1932-1963), just to have her back for a while.
5. Frank O’Hara (1926-1966). He, Sylvia, Plato and I could talk poetry, for example. I would imagine Frank to be the cheerful soul of the evening.
6. Kamala Das (1934-2009), to have somebody outspoken from another continent.
7. Léo Ferré (1916-1993), another one unlikely to bite his tongue.
8. I myself, meek and mild, trying to balance the mixture of egos big and small around the dinner table.
I might do the cooking myself – a 5-course south Indian meal, for example, to have these older folks taste something different. I’d serve the best of drinks – Italian table water, red and white wines from Germany, Italy and France, and Calva as a digestif. Should make for an interesting and amusing evening.
– Len “He Loves His Food” Blumfeld
* upon instigation by Sunday Scribblings (task description: Do you ever play the game where you decide who you would invite to your fantasy dinner party?
The rules are:
- you can invite anyone, living or dead
- you have a table that seats eight, but as you are one, you can invite seven people
- you have to explain why you'd invite them
And for bonus points:
- what would you serve them for dinner?)
1. Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (1194-1250), to ask him what the mysterious Castel del Monte was all about, question him about his irreverent religious beliefs and many other things.
2. Saint Francis of Assisi, who lived at about the same time (1181-1226). I assume he did not appreciate Frederick very much (and vice-versa perhaps), but it might be fun having these two facing each other at the table.
3. Plato (428 BC-347 BC), to ask him what he really knew about Atlantis.
4. Sylvia Plath (1932-1963), just to have her back for a while.
5. Frank O’Hara (1926-1966). He, Sylvia, Plato and I could talk poetry, for example. I would imagine Frank to be the cheerful soul of the evening.
6. Kamala Das (1934-2009), to have somebody outspoken from another continent.
7. Léo Ferré (1916-1993), another one unlikely to bite his tongue.
8. I myself, meek and mild, trying to balance the mixture of egos big and small around the dinner table.
I might do the cooking myself – a 5-course south Indian meal, for example, to have these older folks taste something different. I’d serve the best of drinks – Italian table water, red and white wines from Germany, Italy and France, and Calva as a digestif. Should make for an interesting and amusing evening.
– Len “He Loves His Food” Blumfeld
* upon instigation by Sunday Scribblings (task description: Do you ever play the game where you decide who you would invite to your fantasy dinner party?
The rules are:
- you can invite anyone, living or dead
- you have a table that seats eight, but as you are one, you can invite seven people
- you have to explain why you'd invite them
And for bonus points:
- what would you serve them for dinner?)
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
You are more than spring
Sweet lilac flowers appear on the tree but once a year;
Your breasts bloom for me every day; you are more than spring.
My desires shone brightly like chestnut shoots;
You brought them out into the sun. We sit under a roof of foliage,
Smiling at each other in the luscious shade.
Longing has scarred me like a tree struck by lightning;
Now your bees are with me, and my eyes overflow from your honey.
Max Dauthendey (1867-1918)
From: The Eternal Wedding. Love Songs (1905)
Copyright © of translation by Johannes Beilharz 2009.
The original German is here.
Posted for Totally Optional Prompts and Color – this poem is full of colors, even though none are mentioned.
Your breasts bloom for me every day; you are more than spring.
My desires shone brightly like chestnut shoots;
You brought them out into the sun. We sit under a roof of foliage,
Smiling at each other in the luscious shade.
Longing has scarred me like a tree struck by lightning;
Now your bees are with me, and my eyes overflow from your honey.
Max Dauthendey (1867-1918)
From: The Eternal Wedding. Love Songs (1905)
Copyright © of translation by Johannes Beilharz 2009.
The original German is here.
Posted for Totally Optional Prompts and Color – this poem is full of colors, even though none are mentioned.
Cipation
I’m at a curious stage now, where there’s a lull induced by a two-week vacation. Everything’s on hold, sort of, and, apart from a framework of some planned work and engagements, I do not know what will happen afterwards regarding a certain person. Make that two. Nothing might happen. Things might go on as suspended and stop-and-go as they have been. “Keep on patiently, like you have been,” the Italian tarot lady said, “trust your feeling and do not listen to anyone else.” So I keep it up, more or less, wavering, just like anybody else, between hope and disillusionment. Some sort of cipation. Not quite anti.
– Leonard “Antipicator” Blumfeld
Written for Sunday Scribblings and Anticipate.
– Leonard “Antipicator” Blumfeld
Written for Sunday Scribblings and Anticipate.
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