virtualDavis

The power of a photograph. And Twitter. And nostalgia. This stunning photograph of Vernazza by Slovenian photographer Ales Farcnik transported me back almost a decade to Cinque Terre.

I was living in Paris. I had spent August on vacation in the Adirondacks on Lake Champlain. A whirlwind romance. Then I returned to Paris and she returned to Manhattan. I think we were both a little surprised to miss each other. A summer fling. But the longing endured. I invited her to explore Cinque Terre with me over the Toussaint holiday. Within an hour she’d booked a flight. Within a couple of weeks we were falling head over heals in love with each other in Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, Riomaggiore and Monterosso al Mare. Four years later she became my bride.

Thanks for the memories, Ales Farcnik. And hat tip to to M. Faizan Sorathis (@Staticulator) who retweeted the “100 Beautiful Pics of Night” link that triggered this nostalgic flashback!

Too funny! A great ecard idea from someecards.com, but it’d be an even greater postcard. I’d like to order a dozen!

Robin Williams on Feeling Ignored

“I used to think the worst thing in life is to end up all alone. It’s not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel all alone.” ~ Robin Williams (as Lance Clayton in World’s Greatest Dad)

Mr. Cellophane

Chicago, the musical. Mr. Cellophane. It’s sort of become the anthem for those who are feeling ignored.

Cellophane, Mr. Cellophane shoulda been my name
Mr. Cellophane ’cause you can look right through me
Walk right by me and never know I’m there

But it’s too easy, too cowardly to feel invisible. Which is why people feel it. Say it. Believe it. The truth is worse. And better…

You’re not invisible. Far from it! What you are experiencing is worse, you’re feeling ignored. Visible but painfully overlooked. That’s not a reflection on you. It’s a reflection on those who are ignoring you. And it tells you everything, everything you need to know about the person or people ignoring you. They are sufficiently self-absorbed to erase you – intentionally or unintentionally, it really doesn’t much mate – from their presence. Accept them for what they are. Insecure. Narcissistic. And a total waste of your time and caring. It hurts to accept. Until it heals. And then it empowers you to move on, to gravitate toward more compelling peers. Easier said than done, but vitally important. Find friends, family, loves, colleagues, pets, even strangers who notice you and value you and honor you. Because you deserve all that. And then some.

And just so you know, those people are out there. Waiting for you. Go find them!

A visit to the New York Public library in 2006 by “an untrained eye” revealed this made-for-film moment. Too good. Almost too scripted…

The painting, the woman, teh bench, the floor, the pallet, the lighting, the woman’s action, the photographer’s framing all conspire to catapult would-be flaneurs into this arresting moment. Unstaged. Found art.

New York Public Library #5
Originally uploaded by an untrained eye

Jeff Scher’s Memento Mickey (video via NYTimes.com)

“Memento Mickey” is a Halloween memento mori. Latin for “remember you will die,” it is also a genre of art that uses death to remind the viewer that life is indeed fleeting. This is not necessarily morbid or macabre, but life-affirming in that it also reminds us that we’re not dead yet. There’s still time. So make it count. (NYTimes.com)

This mesmorizing video, painting and soundtrack deliver an invitation to reflect on our mortality about as subtle as getting hit by a commuter train. Repeatedly. In slow motion. And I love it! Go figure…

Jeff Scher is a painter and experimental filmmaker with a philosophical bent and a gift for blending media. Enjoy the video.

As on Facebook, Intersect users create a personal page, [but] the big differentiator with Intersect is that stories get matched to a specific time and place, with visitors able to locate a person’s story on a map or scroll through an online timeline of a person’s life.

“Basically, it gives people the ability to tell stories collaboratively and in a way which we think is going to be really interesting and fun,” said Monica Harrington, who joined Intersect earlier this year as chief marketing and business development officer. “It is really about bringing storytelling to the Web.”

“Stories are how we communicate values, essentially how we connect with one another,” Harrington continued… “There’s no way to tell our stories in a way where we can be connected together,” she said. (techflash.com)

Perhaps claiming to bring storytelling to the web is a little bold, since there have been all sorts of web-based digital storytelling options for a decade or so. But it does sound like the first user-friendly community open to the public for sharing storytelling. And for searching out stories. An open archive for storytelling. Open source storytelling!

I’ve offered to participate in their beta launch, and I’ll post updates if/when I get the chance to play around with the prototype. Throw another log on the fire and let the stories flow… I’m contemplating a narrative meander around Crown Point fort. What story would you tell?

Cartoon via Rants & Ramblings

Sometimes the image says it all. And then some… “If you want to achieve greatness, stop asking permission.”