The Magic of the Cities.

Zen promotes the rediscovery of the obvious, which is so often lost in its familiarity and simplicity. It sees the miraculous in the common and magic in our everyday surroundings. When we are not rushed, and our minds are unclouded by conceptualizations, a veil will sometimes drop, introducing the viewer to a world unseen since childhood. ~ John Greer

Monday, May 3, 2010

Lost

Mikrokosmos
Carl Sagan: Up there in the immensity of the Cosmos, an inescapable perception awaits us. National boundaries are not evident when we view the Earth from space. Fanatical, ethnic, religious or national chauvinisms are a little difficult to maintain when we see our planet as a fragile blue crescent fading to become an inconspicuous point of light against the bastion and citadel of the stars.
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Sunday, May 2, 2010

The Light of The Streets

Fisherman
Chainsaw Man Pruning
In the heat of the afternoon

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Saturday, May 1, 2010

May 1st, Theme Day: Statues


Nezahualcoyotl  King of Texcoco
Sculpture by Luis Ortiz Monasterio (1956)
Nezahualcoyotl


(April 28, 1402 – June 4, 1472) was a philosopher, warrior, architect, poet and ruler (Tlatoani) of the city-state of Texcoco in Pre-Columbian Mexico. Unlike other high-profile Mexican figures from the century preceding Spanish Conquest,  Nezahualcoyotl was not an Aztec; his people were the “Acolhua", another Nahualtl people settled in the eastern part of the Valley of Mexico, the eastern side of Lake Texcoco. He is best remembered for his beautiful poetry.

Songs by Nezahualcoyotl

The destruction of the Mexican state was foreshadowed by a series of omens and prodigies which took place during the ten years preceding the arrival of Cortes. 
By the "smoking stars" is meant a comet that was visible for about a year.
The sweet-voiced quetzal there, ruling the earth, has intoxicated my soul.
I am like the quetzal bird, I am created in the one and only God; I sing sweet songs among the flowers; I chant songs and rejoice in my heart.

The fuming dewdrops from the flowers in the fields intoxicate my soul.
I grieve to myself that ever this dwelling on earth should end.
I foresaw, being a Mexican, that our rule began to be destroyed, I went forth weeping that it was to bow down and to be destroyed.
Let me not be angry that the grandeur of Mexico is to be destroyed.
The smoking stars gather against it: the one who cares for flowers is about to be destroyed.
He who cared for books wept, he wept for the beginning of the destruction.
___

Amo el canto del zenzontle
Pájaro de cuatrocientas voces,
Amo el color del jade
Y el enervante perfume de las flores,
Pero más amo a mi hermano: el hombre.

I love the song of the mockingbird,
Bird of four hundred voices,
I love the color of the jadestone
And the enrapturing scent of flowers,
But more than all I love my brother: man.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants
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Friday, April 30, 2010

Zoo



Mexico City Zoo

Happy Weekend!

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Thursday, April 29, 2010

Don't Run - Don't Push - Don't Scream

Arizona by Fisgon


Indignation by Magu
The little president: This is inadmissible... they want that I give employment to Mexicans.
La Jornada


Immigration Advocates Rise Up in Anger Over Arizona Law

AMY GOODMAN: Juan, your column in The New York Daily News today is about the immigration bill in Arizona.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Yes, well obviously there has been a furor throughout the country over this bill and one of the things occurring now is, most people were not aware that May Day was a scheduled day for immigration rights protests around the country and a lot of immigration advocates are now saying in the last week they had a huge surge of interest by people in their communities to turn out at these May Day rallies. So the Arizona, the new “show your papers or you go to jail” bill has already spurred enormous outrage in the Latino community, the immigrant community, the civil-rights community. Obviously Attorney General Holder now is saying he is considering intervening. Even Lindsay Graham, the Republican senator said yesterday he believes the law is unconstitutional. Some lawmakers are now actually calling – because you know, Major League Baseball is scheduled to have its All-Star Game in Phoenix next year. They’re already calling on Major League Baseball, which depends so much on Latino ballplayers and continues to recruit more, to pull the game, to pull the All-Star game out of Phoenix as a demonstration of what Arizona could be facing if it continues to persist in this legislation. (Fragment) 

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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Spring Tones

Ver. 0


King Crimson – Cadence and Cascade  (Lyrics)

Cadence and cascade
Kept a man named jade;
Cool in the shade
While his audience played.
Purred, whispered, spend us too:
We only serve for you.

Sliding mystified
On the wine of the tide
Stared pale-eyed
As his veil fell aside.
Sad paper courtesan
They found him just a man.

Caravan hotel
Where the sequin spell fell
Custom of the game.
Cadence oiled in love
Licked his velvet gloved hand
Cascade kissed his name.

Sad paper courtesan
They knew him just a man.


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Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Tlaloc

Tlaloc, God of rain, fertility and water.


Tlaloc was an important deity in Aztec religion. He was a beneficent god who gave life and sustenance, but he was also feared for his ability to send hail, thunder and lightning, and for being the lord of the powerful element of water. In Aztec iconography he is normally depicted with goggle eyes and fangs. He was associated with caves, springs and mountains.
  
In Aztec cosmology, the four corners of the universe are marked by "The Four Tlalocs" which both hold up the sky and functions as the frame for the passing of time. Tlaloc was the patron of the Calendar day Mazatl and of the trecena of Ce Quiyahuitl (1 Rain). In Aztec mythology, Tlaloc was the lord of the third sun, which was destroyed by fire.
  
In the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, one of the two shrines on top of the Great Temple was dedicated to Tlaloc. The High Priest who was in charge of the Tlaloc shrine was called "Quetzalcoatl Tlaloc Tlamacazqui". However the most important site of worship to Tlaloc was on the peak of Mount Tlaloc, a 4100 metres high mountain on the eastern rim of the Valley of Mexico. Here the Aztec ruler came and conducted important ceremonies once a year, and throughout the year pilgrims offered precious stones and figures at the shrine.
  

In Coatlinchan a colossal statue weighing 168 tons was found that was thought to represent Tlaloc. Some scholars believe that the statue may not have been Tlaloc at all but his sister or some other female deity. This statue was relocated to the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City in 1964. [Wiki]


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Monday, April 26, 2010

Park in The Rock or Rock in The Park




Rock at Luis Cabrera Square
(Rock en La Roma)



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Saturday, April 24, 2010

Flashback

The Flatiron Building

The Flatiron Building, or Fuller Building as it was originally called, is located at 175 Fifth Avenue in the borough of Manhattan, and is considered to be one of the first skyscrapers ever built. Upon completion in 1902 it was one of the tallest buildings in New York City. The building sits on a triangular island block at 23rd street, Fifth Avenue, and Broadway anchoring the south (downtown) end of Madison Square.

The Flatiron Building was designed by Chicago's Daniel Burnham as a vertical Renaissance palazzo with Beaux-Arts styling. Unlike New York's early skyscrapers, which took the form of towers arising from a lower, blockier mass, such as the contemporary Singer Building (1902–1908), the Flatiron Building epitomizes the Chicago school conception: like a classical Greek column, its limestone and glazed terra-cotta façade is divided into a base, shaft and capital. [Wiki]
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Friday, April 23, 2010

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Vanished


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Tuesday, April 20, 2010

People at The Park



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Monday, April 19, 2010

Sunday Afternoon


"In the hopes of reaching the moon men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet"  
~Albert Schweitzer

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Sunday, April 18, 2010

Guanajuato Hills

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Saturday, April 17, 2010

Trees and Clouds


Detail

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Friday, April 16, 2010

Pixels

Happy Weekend!

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Thursday, April 15, 2010

Road Signs


Road to Toluca

-- Welcome Michelle --

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Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Dialogue With A Deaf Govern


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Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Graffiti Man



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Monday, April 12, 2010

Stone Man


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Sunday, April 11, 2010

Enclosed Skies




Arcos Tower (phone camera shot)




Enclosed


Sirius

Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.

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Saturday, April 10, 2010

Stop


Traffic Lights at Historic Center.

Have a Great Weekend!

Resiste, Monsi,
resiste
Ortiz Tejeda
Me han dicho que los médicos afirman: hemos hecho todo lo
necesario, todo lo posible”. Estoy seguro de que es cierto y que
ellos, sus asistentes, enfermeras, afanadoras, saben quién eres, qué
significas, y por eso su trabajo ha sido esmerado y sin
limitaciones.
Me preocupa que agreguen: “ahora todo depende de las reacciones de su
organismo. El resultado final está en su capacidad de respuesta”.
Mala apuesta de los científicos, Monsi. Los que somos mayores de 50 (¡!) ya
no podemos confiarnos en imaginarias fortalezas y, además, reconozcamos que
en tu caso tampoco hay antecedente del menor esmero en el fortalecimiento
físico de tu organismo. Desde los orígenes, siempre fueron más importantes para
ti los crucigramas que las patinetas. Las películas de Tin Tan que una cascarita
en la chueca calle de San Simón.
Hay, sin embargo, dos elementos en tu favor: hace ya mucho tiempo que has
rechazado mis rones (fíjate que no dije Cubas) y mis vodkas. No fumas, no
inhalas, no te inyectas. Tu ingesta alimentaria es una vergüenza para todo el
vecindario de la Portales. (¿Dónde quedó la Casa Neri?) Reconocerás que los
resabios evangélicos te hacen bastante morigerado y aburrido.
Pero el argumento más importante es otro: tenemos en México muchas
asignaturas pendientes para que de repente vayas a hacer mutis: impedir que
algunas fechas, como el 2 de octubre, prescriban en la conciencia de los jóvenes
de hoy y de mañana. Que tampoco eso acontezca con los crímenes de Acteal,
Aguas Blancas o Pasta de Conchos. Que Pemex no pase a ser tan mexicano
como el Banco Nacional de… Ferrocarriles Nacionales de… Wal Mart de…
Kimberly Clark de… Que el Estado mexicano sea laico no sólo en la reforma
constitucional, sino en las acciones y el comportamiento cotidiano de los
gobernantes panistas y también de muchos de mi partido. Que las legislaturas
locales, a iniciativa panista (explicable), y con la complicidad (injustificable) de
muchos legisladores, también de mi partido, hayan decidido abordar la máquina
del tiempo y regresar a la Edad Media. De igual manera, tenemos pendiente la
reivindicación merecidísima de algunos grandes mexicanos del pasado siglo:
Demetrio Vallejo y Othón Salazar.

Precisamente por eso te insisto: resiste, Monsi. Ya para el 30 de noviembre
de 2012 no falta nada.
Pero si mis argumentos no te hacen mella, todavía me queda un quinto as,
obviamente irrebatible: ¿imagina lo que puede suceder si te decides a realizar un
fade out? Una esqueliza apabullante, una verdadera avalancha de elegías,
oraciones fúnebres, responsos, artículos de fondo, columnas, comentarios
audiovisuales, testimonios (para ahorita ya tenemos primicias publicadas o
anunciadas), tan sinceros como veraces y contundentes, caerán, como pesada
lápida, sobre ti: ¡A ver! ¿Quién puede desmentir mi dicho, sobre lo que digo
que me dijo Carlos, conversado esa madrugada en las puertas del 62 de San
Simón?
Vas a comenzar a hacer milagros tempranamente: de golpe desaparecerán
tus malquerientes (no los del Estado laico), y realizarás la multiplicación de las
coincidencias y las solidaridades.
Tu amistad ya no será incómoda, conflictiva, comprometedora. Será, al
contrario, una presumible referencia, casi una visa al mundo de la honorabilidad
y las convicciones que tan ignoto les resulta a tus inéditos deudos. Las viudas de
Colosio serán una triste minoría, las tuyas, hasta registro provisional como OP,
podrían conseguir.
Imagino algunas de las declaraciones de las doctoradas plañideras
convertidas de golpe al monsivaisismo: “En la última cena en casa, aceptamos
que nuestras diferencias eran enormes, pero no tanto como el mutuo respeto que
nos dispensábamos”. “En la pasada entrevista que le hice, off the record, por
supuesto, me confesó que…” “Sus lúcidos y muy libres comentarios en mi
programa son prueba del compromiso de la empresa con la libertad de…”
“Reconozco que en privado siempre fui su severo crítico, pero como se lo
expliqué, era para que no supieran que estaba con él”. “Cuándo leí Nuevo
catecismo para indios remisos y recientemente Apocalipstick, me di cuenta qué,
inteligentemente, había aceptado todas mis sugerencias”. “Benito Juárez y Monsi
son pruebas irrefutables de nuestra capilaridad social”. “Nunca fue justo con
nuestro partido, pero en estos tiempos de libérrimas coaliciones, no le
negaríamos una subdelegación en Portales”. “No me responsabilicen, en el
Colegio Nacional, el Seminario y la Academia, no tengo todas la influencia que
dicen”. “En Ecatepec no somos sus fans, pero les juro que allí no lo hemos
excomulgado”. “Yo lo pude descubrir a tiempo: Monsiváis no es un individuo,
es un holding”.
No les des el gusto, Monsi, déjalos que se entripen con las cuartillas que te
quieren asestar, amparados en la impunidad que les garantiza que ya no puedas
ejercer el derecho de réplica. ¡Resiste, Monsi, aunque sea por joder!

¿Cómo va aquello de que hay hombres que luchan un día y son buenos, los
que luchan un año son muy buenos, los que luchan por años son mejores, pero
los que luchan toda la vida son imprescindibles?

En verdad te lo digo (abusando yo también de que estoy temporalmente a
salvo de tus sanguazas y cuchufletas): en este tiempo de vacas flacas que
estamos viviendo, TÚ eres uno de los IMPRESCINDIBLES. (Ya tendré tiempo
de desdecirme en tu convalecencia.) Pero hoy, aunque sea por joder, resiste, Monsi, resiste.

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Friday, April 9, 2010

Urban Scene


Art is an invention of aesthetics, which in turn is an invention of philosophers... What we call art is a game.
Octavio Paz

Buildings designed with careful attention to aesthetics arouse and enlighten their occupants and that promotes their good health.
Robert Evans

At one of the annual conventions of the American Society for Aesthetics much confusion arose when the Society for Anesthetics met at the same time in the same hotel.
Rudolf Arnheim

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Wednesday, April 7, 2010

The Mural


“The trouble with our times is that the future is not what it used to be.”
Paul Valery


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