First Lines of "Dead Mountain"

"February 1959 Northern Ural Mountains, USSR

Two figures trudge across a snowy expanse. The peak of Oterten Mountain stands icy and grim in the distance, a lone witness to their miserable progress. It is afternoon, though difficult to say how late. Time of day tends to lose its meaning in this wilderness, where the sun is a mere smudge behind cloud cover, and the haze is so persuasive as to make earth and sky indistinguishable."

Dead Mountain, The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident by Donnie Eichar.

A comprehensive account of the classic "what the hell happened?" mystery. I was introduced to the odd account of the Dyatlov Pass hikers through the horror movie "The Devil's Pass" The movie was  entertaining enough, but reading up on the reality behind the "inspired by a true story" catchphrase was eye opening. You can find the details of the mystery on Wikipedia. Eichar really does a good job summarizing all of the known facts while bringing the story into vivid life. His obsession with the mystery leads down many dead ends until he hits on a plausible scientific explanation that is bizarre but very satisfying.

Julianne Moore

I've always enjoyed Julianne Moore's movies. I was inspired many years back to paint a scene from her work in The Hours. I wanted to capture the translucent curtain and her amazing hair, and didn't quite succeed.  The hand makes me cringe as well. Still, there's something about it I quite like, and am hoping by posting more of these old paintings I'll get inspired to try my hand at something new.

The End of Capitalism?

Paul Mason's fascinating article "The End of Capitalism" contains an interesting insight. When detailing the still terrifying details about the 2008 economic crash, the solution to which almost every major power broker thought was austerity, he writes:

Even now many people fail to grasp the true meaning of the word “austerity”. Austerity is not eight years of spending cuts, as in the UK, or even the social catastrophe inflicted on Greece. It means driving the wages, social wages and living standards in the west down for decades until they meet those of the middle class in China and India on the way up.

Mason's nuanced perspective is enlightening, and recommend you read the whole thing. For me, i've always wondered about people who promote austerity; those who essentially insist that we can't have nice things while turning a blind eye to the 1% who have almost all of the nice things. (Of course, those promoting austerity are usually members of the 1%.) Digging deeper, as Mason does, you see how the capitalistic system is not working as intended due to increasing technological capabilities and the lack of an organized resistance (i.e., organized labor). In fact, he points out that the roots of the 2008 crash have snapped back: "The shadow banking system has been reassembled, and is now bigger than it was in 2008. New rules demanding banks hold more reserves have been watered down or delayed."

The whole thing is scary, but he does point out rays of hope for what he terms a "post-capitalistic" system. The need for an evolved system of some form feels right to me, as capitalism hasn't felt healthy for a while - too many "fingers on the scale" influencing what is supposed to be a free market. But I'll let those much more qualified than I continue: read the article at the Guardian here. What do you think?

Peter Garrett

"I know that the sunset empire shudders and shakes
I know there's a floodgate and a raging river...
Sometimes you're beaten to the call
Sometimes you're taken to the wall
But you don't give in"
Sometimes, by Midnight Oil, as sung by Peter Garrett, shown above

Happy Anniversary!

A few days late for celebrating their 10th anniversary, but here's my brother and his lovely wife. To many years more!

First Lines of "Shadow Country"

"Sea birds are aloft again, a tattered few. The white terns look dirtied in the somber light and they fly stiffly, feeling out an element they no longer trust. Unable to locate the storm-lost minnows, they wander the thick waters with sad muted cries, hunting seamarks that might return them to the order of the world."

- Peter Matthiessen, Shadow Country. I'm only about a 100 pages into this book but it's already impressed me with its gravitas, its artistic impression that's creative without being unduly "arty", and its depiction of the natural state of southern Florida on its last legs.