Almost March and no posts for the new year. I have felt eyes upon all corners of my privacy so haven’t felt too inspired to spend time staring at a screen and writing. I don’t know what think. My mind is blown. I have become introverted. I deleted email accounts. Changed passwords (so many hacked bank and store sites). Have a 2D avatar. If anything, stencils. Meeting up with friends has become important.
With gentrification comes cameras. Cameras on MUNI buses (at least 4, one pointing out the windshield, with one purpose: get evidence and write tickets for cars that park in bus stops). Cameras on bikes (thanks GoPro). Cameras on sidewalks in front of condos, and people constantly staring at cameras -er – cell phones.
The eye stares far and wide!
I am currently reading Glenn Greenwald’s “No Place to Hide” and the book’s statements make me furious. It’s a hard book to read. Fucking NSA! I never thought I’d feel a generation gap, but I feel one now. The Gen Web young adults have a very different idea of what privacy is. And I guess I like to keep it old school, i.e., “butt out of my private life.”
I blame corporations. They own the media and they pretty much own the ads on their channels and streams. Government employees work for the corps. they were just regulating. They love sharing your information. When HULU shows about 5-7 commercials on their PAID version, I can’t imagine what they show on the free one. HULU used to have no commercials. YouTubde did too, but now you get all kinds of pop-up, flashy, ads.
Yesterday I clicked on Google News to see if there was anything beyond kitten videos and saw links to a story about the color of a dress. I went to FaceBook and saw that post all over the place. At the same time, Banksy had a meme about stencils in Gaza up in the Snowden-net. It was on FaceBook and Google News too. I watched his video, and it was well-done. Typical Banksy: snarky, political, funny, and cool. That’s his brand, and he does it in the shadows.
If the UK really wanted to bust Banksy, Glenn Greenwald has shown with the Snowden documents that the UK has all kinds of bugs on it’s media systems. I’m sure they know who Banksy is, but are happy with his popularity and taxes from his profits. Hopefully Banksy has good accountants working for him.
New York City has an April Fools Parade. This April 1 will be their 30th parade. And they really pour on the foolishness:
The parade is once again sponsored by the billionaire Koch Brothers, joined this year by high school senior Mohammed Islam who proclaimed to New York magazine that he made $72 million in the stock market during his lunch breaks. Parade security will be provided by ISIS. Last year’s King of Fools, Vladimir Putin, will be on hand to crown this year’s King of Fools, who will be chosen based on the loudest cheers at Washington Square Park. The winner will reign through March 31, 2016.
Just got a great shout from Bishop Joey about a St. Stupid’s thang on FaceBook. Some funny stuff posted on it, so I found a funny photo of me at the parade, and shared it. I then read the HappyFeet post that I had written about that parade. It was sad and funny. And stupid. Inspired me to actually add some thoughts on the first post of 2015.
Today’s current meme is Leonard Nimoy. Spock. Dead. “Irrelevant, Captain.” It has also been Jimi Hendrix thanks to a friend’s acceptance as a citizen of these here United States. I played a record (actual vinyl) for him that blared Hendrix’s Woodstock performance of “The Star Spangled Banner.” “You’ll never hear this song the same way again,” I told him at the final wail of the song. It had the Vietnam War vibrating all over it. And it still rings heavy many wars later.
Am sure there are real estate memes. ISIL memes. Robbery and shooting memes.
Notice I’m not calling it news. People seem more excited about the new restaurant opening in the Western Addition rather than keep the neighborhood concerned about all the shootings going on around Alamo Square. There was another shooting down here, the fifth that I know of in the past 3-5 months. Turf war is what I read online. But who knows, really. Why isn’t the NSA on these cases finding who did it. Search the metadata!
I have enjoyed thinking of clean windows as a metaphor for seeing things much closer than you are comfortable with. After wiping soot off the windows, the light was so much brighter. The neighbor tree much more dynamic. So many greens in those leaves. The sky open wide and high. So blue. The DPW installed a street light about 20 feet from these clean windows. I was turned on a few months ago, and my room currently doesn’t get much complete darkness. Downtown, strange white squares have been mounted on street lights and red lights. They loom over portions of Market St. like vultures. What are they? Will one appear outside my window without my knowing it?
Sirens all day. Around 1pm two police cars and one ambulance blew past. Ambulances like Divis. Minutes later, the ambulance raced up Turk St. Possibly heading to the ER on Stanyon. Wailing sounds.
Sometimes lost in the wind. Or forgotten in a blog.