The American Dream Gets Washed Away...

Californian artist Chad Wright's Master Plan,
his sandcastle suburb, superbly symbolises The American Dream.
And how easily shattered our dreams can be.
He built a suburb of sandcastle houses on San Francisco's China Beach. It's meant to mimic the look of a typical post-war tidy suburb with its mass produced identical houses, neatly positioned next to each other, just like the little boxes in the 1962 song recorded by Malvina Reynolds, Little Boxes.
But in this very symbolic art installation,
all the little boxes are swallowed up and destroyed by the encroaching tide.
And when the tide recedes,
there's nothing left but dreams destroyed.
What does it all mean we may well wonder.
The global financial collapse, the real estate bubble bursting, the end of a dream, the impermanence of our lives, our world?
You choose.
For this wonderfully clever and meaningful project, Chad created a plastic mold that's filled with sand, you know, in the same way we made our own sandcastles. And dreamed...

Ride A Bicycle They Said. Avoid Traffic Jams And Parking Problems They Said...

Ride a bicycle they said.
Avoid traffic jams and parking hassles they said.
Well in some parts of the world that would be so, but not in Amsterdam these days.
That great city boasts many more bicycles than its over eight hundred thousand citizens.
Thirty two percent of all trips are made on bicycles, some folk having a dedicated bike for shopping, transporting the children, or as light trade and delivery vehicles, and another bike purely for commuting.
But now the immense popularity of that simple transport solution is causing traffic jams and plenty of parking problems with too few bicycle parking spaces.
Over the next few years Amsterdam authorities will invest $135 million to improve bike infrastructure in the city with the creation of around forty thousand new bike parking facilities.
Biking will be fun again they said... 

Throwing A Stick For Your Dog To Fetch Is Dangerous...

Throwing a stick for your dog to fetch is dangerous and should be banned says The New Zealand Veterinary Association and Kennel Club. And their stance is supported by their colleagues in Australia and the UK.
Well, I'm inclined to agree with them. Many's the time I've put my shoulder out throwing a stick as far as I could. It can be a dangerous and painful business if you don't adopt the right stance.
Flippancy aside, the vets say dogs might injure themselves on these often sharp sticks. Never mind they've been chasing sticks since forever.
Fortunately in this world gone mad there are many who would protect us from ourselves.
Here's just a few.
Riding a bicycle is dangerous says the world's car manufacturers. Jumping out of a plane without a parachute is dangerous says the parachute manufacturers. It's dangerous to drive blindfolded or with your eyes shut say the Automobile Associations. Going out in the sun without protection is life threatening say sunblock manufacturers.
Apples are bad for your health say Samsung.
And so it goes. Take a simple thing like breathing which we take for granted.
It's very dangerous to stop breathing so don't even try it say health authorities.
The world is a dangerous place and even blogging is not exempt from serious injury.
It was only this morning that I fell off my barstool while writing this...

China Uproots Its Farmers, Transplants Them To Cities, Expects Them To Grow...

China is once again ignoring the wishes of its people as it forces the country's self sufficient peasant farmers to leave their land and become high-rise apartment dwellers and reluctant consumers in hundreds of newly built cities.
Another of their social experiments is underway with scant if any regard for the people.
The government of China is endeavoring to create the greatest urbanisation program the world has ever witnessed and is spending trillions of dollars building over twenty cities a year, forcing what once were happy, not rich but contented farmers to become unwilling consumers in China's vision of its future.
Never mind that there will be few if any jobs for these poor transplanted souls. Never mind that they will have nothing to do except use up their meagre savings and be forced into debt. Someone has to live in the hundred million vacant apartments in these new and empty cities and these farmers have been chosen as sacrificial lambs.
Like plants lacking nourishment,
they will wither and die...

Swedish Photographer Erik Johansson Does Weird And Surreal Things With Photographs...

Erik Johansson, a Swedish photographer and retoucher now living in Berlin manipulates reality.
And he does it amazingly well.
I don't capture moments he says,
I capture ideas.
To me, photography is just a way to collect material to realise the ideas in my head...
Twenty eight year old Erik, a highly talented and successful artist is very much in demand.
You can see him presenting Impossible Photography at TED Talks in London here and his Photoshop Live video on YouTube that's had over fifteen million views, here.
And there's more of Erik's images here...

Don't You Wish You Were Wandering In A Wonderful Wooden Home On Wheels...

Imagine wending your way from here to there and to further afield in a wonderful old woodie.
Look at the richness of all that wonderful wood.
Thems were the days my friends,
and for some, they still are...

A Man And His Shed...

My friend Steve has a huge grin on his face.
He's happy as a pig in the proverbial.
His life and pleasures are simple.
Steve's in his man shed.
His shed doesn't have a roof.
It has the sky overhead.
And if it rains, well, his shed leaks.
It doesn't have any walls either.
To move his shed he simply packs up his bits and pieces and takes off to his next preferred piece of paradise.
But in the meantime there's dinner to cook and contemplations to consider...