Fish Vol. I

(click to enlarge)







We are all connected.
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Meet Fish

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Vonnegut used the written word. Marvin Gaye used rhythm and blues. But I don't think anyone has ever used a fish to express social commentary, daily observations or just personal insight. Enter Fish. More to come (hopefully) soon.
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I Pity the Heirs and Heiresses of Huge Fortunes.

After all,

what does someone,

who has nothing to do,

do?

The Great Wave at Kanagawa

"The Great Wave" by Katsushika Hokusai is one of my all-time favorite paintings and there is so much to be said about it. One could make the comparison of how ruthless and menacing the wave looks against the stillness and tranquility of the distant mountain. Or notice the wave that is directly beneath the larger one which is covering the boat closest to the observer. Its small bump and angled peak instantly reminds any native of Mount Fuji which is a timeless symbol of Japanese culture. It's almost like a subliminal joke that Hokusai carved in (it is a woodblock painting). But I'm no art history major nor am I pretending to be anyone other than someone who looked up all these facts on Google.

What I first noticed when I came across "The Great Wave" was how claw-like and threatening the wave looked especially in the face of these waif-like boats. Imagine how it must look from the sailor's perspective! But as the snow line on the distant mountain indicates, the painting takes place during springtime and specifically during the first harvest of the "Benito"--special tuna that will fetch half a years worth of a commoner's salary from royalty who will buy this delicacy as a sign of prominence.

So as much as these fishermen are going "oh shit" in the face of such chaos, each one of them knows that they have half a years salary worth of "Benito" in their cargo and no wave of any stature is going to stop them from getting to the marketplace.

Everybody's trying to figure out where their problems lie in the overall continuum from bad to good, right? And whether they're big or small..although, we don't have that perspective. All problems feel the same--like things we have to get over or around or through or across. Who knows what the next "Great Wave" in my life will be or how many times I'll go "oh shit." But you know what...I have my own damn "Benito".

Cheers, mate. Happy 2010!