Monday, March 17, 2025

They Stand, They Sit, They Lie Down



I didn't leave the house all weekend.  I didn't bathe, didn't change clothes.  I may not have brushed my teeth.  I don't remember much of it.  I was living in my head.  It was not unpleasant in any way.  Indeed, I was having quite the life.  I get like that sometimes.  Then, come Monday, I start anew.  

I should amend that, though.  I left twice to get takeout.  And last night, I took a shower and went to see my mother.  Two of my cousins were there and the neighbors came over, so it was a bit much, but I survived.  Couldn't wait to get back to the house and live my interior life again.  

But now it is St. Paddy's Day and I will be out and about.  Not celebrating the silly day, though corned beef and cabbage and a Guinness doesn't sound bad, but getting my physical life on track again.  I've gotta move!

I look at a lot of pictures.  Too many.  But it is something to do between reading and moping.  

Are you having a good time ?
Are you ok?

 Recently, I've realized something silly about pictures of people that is obvious but mostly invisible, too.  People are either standing, sitting, or lying down.  There is a background against which they are juxtaposed, inside or out.  And that's it.  There is nothing else.  So why do we look at photos of people?  It starts to make no sense.  

It's like, "O.K. . . stand over here in the light.  I want to get the Eiffel Tower. . . hold it. . . yea. . . that's good."  

They are dressed in something or they are not.  They may stand in front of a blank wall.  

Holy shit--you came up with this all by yourself?!

Yea. . . I know.  It is a stupid thing to articulate, but it is maddening, too.  

I can't wait to make pictures again.  What should I bring?

But that is why, I think, AI pictures are so intriguing.  Anything you can think of, really.  It's crazy.  The parameters grow much, much wider.  

I'd like to think that we look at pictures of people because it says something about being human, about the human condition, etc.  But I am not so sure anymore.  Now we are attracted to what it means to be AI in an AI produced environment.  

Still. . . so far, AI won't let me make pictures with certain prompts.  It is all controlled by someone with the Musk mentality, so. . . I'll keep making pictures for the moment.  

Look at you!

There IS something thrilling about it, and something terrifying, too.  Just don't try to do it in public any longer.  People are paranoid about having a man with a camera around in a crowd.  I think it is still o.k. if you are a woman, but that window of opportunity will be closing soon enough too, I predict.  Now I even get confronted for taking photos of yard ornaments.  

I wish I had a studio again, but everything is super expensive here in my own hometown.  Maybe once Trump crashes the economy, there will be vacant buildings again, and rents will get cheap.  Now that is a hell of a thing to hope for, I know, but if Trump is going to drag me into poverty, I should at least have an artist's loft.  

Right?

They sit, they stand, they lie down.  WTF are you going to do?

Sometimes, I write, too.

i love the story
i just got off of work
busy day
i loved reading this - thank you for it
"I can resist everything but temptation," said Oscar Wilde.

I'd include flattery.

I think I need to move.  I've been living in my head for days now.  It is like the Wild West in there, like Edwardian Africa.  

It is a dangerous place to be.  






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