Why do some people have a problem with death? I don’t mean the concept of it, though admittedly that may be where the problem lay. No, I’m taking about the simple concept of expressing to someone that a person has died.

I may have to scream if I hear again, “he/she passed on” or sometimes this is shortened to “he/she passed.” Passed what? Wind? A note? Or merely passed by? I don’t get it. Why are we so leery of stating that someone is dead?

This is not a metaphysical question. I’m not questioning the concept of heaven and/or hell. Faith is not a part of my complaint here. It’s just that dead is dead. A person’s spirit lives on (whether we like it or not), but that body is dead, dead, dead.

After my mother died, I was speaking to a friend form high school days and she asked about mum, “She’s dead,” I answered. “Oh, Anon, how could you just say that?” friend asked. “’Cause she is. Did you want me to say the she ‘passed on’?” “Well, it’s just that ‘dead’ is so final, so cold.” “I’m sorry, I’m not getting this. Are you saying that my mum isn’t dead?” “No, it’s just so, I don’t know, final.” (more…)

I love this photo of Jeanne Moreau and Orson Welles. It’s from the film, Chimes at Midnight made in the mid ‘60s. Welles was far past his prime, while Moreau was just reaching her pinnacle. Welles lived on, but his genius displayed so early in his life, was spent.

I worked with him near the end of his life. He could barely walk for his bulk. He was to be the host/narrator for a mystery series, but it was obvious that he had little interest and even less energy. It was like watching a ghost: promise unkept. (more…)

The existential administration continues on its merry way. Despite the fact that approximately 2/3 of Americans have lost faith in their cause and their abilities, Mr. Bush, et al insist that good days are right around the corner. Unfortunately, that corner is at the end of the longest block in the universe.

So, when Reuters published this photo of Mr. Cheney last week; it was as if someone were sending him a message. Of course it’s not just Dick Cheney who needs this message. Now that the book Cobra II has been published, we can see that there were Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Cheney, Rumsfeld, Franks and Bush. And they all need to retire

When so much blood and treasure has been spent, why is it so hard to pull back from the brink? (more…)

Well, well, well, Francis Fukuyama is sorry. Professor Fukuyama had thrown his lot in the neo-cons in the lead up to the Iraq War. Now 3 years later, he is admitting that he, and they, were wrong. “By invading Iraq, the Bush administration created a self-fulfilling prophecy: Iraq has now replaced Afghanistan as a magnet, a training ground and an operational base for jihadist terrorists, with plenty of American targets to shoot at,” Fukuyama now admits.

Unlike Ken (“It’ll be a cakewalk”) Adelman or Richard (“They’ll greet us with flowers”) Perle, Francis Fukuyama has finally given up the neo-con dream of world domination. (more…)

I took this picture so many years ago that I can’t remember too much about it. We had run across a group of buildings that all had these trompe l’oeil murals. This one is my favourite because it’s almost Montmartre. In preparing it for this post, I realised that I could crop the top and bottom and it would look like no more than a bad copy of a Utrillo, but then the point would be lost.

Trompe l’oeil has always fascinated me. There must be that willing suspension of disbelief as one stands in front of the fakery. That’s what makes it fun. What if you could just walk into and down that street? Would that be the ultimate extension of Existentialism? It’s tempting, to walk into another dimension and out of the so-called real world.

Yes, the reality of it becomes all too real when your head hits the wall. But, what if you could walk right in? Of course, everyday we are faced with this very dilemma: real politik is an exercise in existentialism. (more…)