It takes twenty-one days of hard work to form a good habit. Why does it only take three to slip back into bad ones?
Archives for category: Social Network
This here is such a typical image when you try to have lunch at the lake side. It was raining again on Saturday and we were the only people having an outdoor lunch, so all the gulls hung around us. But they are actually well behaved. They waited until we were done before they swooped in and did their scavenging. No way the few crumbs that fell from our bread could have feed the entire flock. There was a lot of bickering going on.
Doesn’t this rooster look mean?
…Sorry, this is a human’s interpretation of an animal’s facial expression. Of course I have no idea what’s going on in his head. But he is certainly eyeballing the viewer. You have to admit he is an absolutely gorgeous creature.
A lot of things put us off at at first sight, but when we look again we might discover the beauty in the beast. Unfortunately we have the tendency to make our judgements hastily and move on to the next thing, always worried we could miss out on something important. We skim and skip all day long. Unfortunately this has quite the opposite effect: We miss a lot. Photography is a magnificent tool to stop the world and look again.
I have one friend who doesn’t want to look at my puppets. He finds them disturbing. Fair enough, but he won’t elaborate on what puts him off exactly. I would be so interested. Not everybody has to love them, but I am curious what they trigger in different people.
The stories that go with the puppets are of course reflections of my own experiences with people. Creating the puppets and writing up their traits is very therapeutic. While photography is a discovery of the visible world, making the puppets enables me to explore the non-tangible world, primarily relationships. When I have finished a puppet, I have looked at so many different angles of the same issue. While I still might not like the situation, I will have a better understanding and most importantly I will have kept my sanity in the process. For me they are like voodoo dolls gone peaceful.
I digressed again, didn’t I?
The blog is supposed to be about the dede puppets and it is time to introduce the latest addition to the troupe: Push-Push. She is a nice enough puppet, but she is always blowing her own trumpet. If you look past the glitter, you will find she is plain boring, and doesn’t have many ideas of her own. She loves to slip into her colourful circus gear and a real transformation takes place: “Look at me, look at me, look at what I can do” she calls out. And then she shows you tricks as old as Methuselah. “Yawn,” I say and walk away.
On Saturday there was a really good article in the local newspaper about How the Web messes with our minds. I should be careful when I say really good, as we tend to like opinions that fit with our world view. We can remember things that support our own ideas much better than conflicting ideas.
Anyway, the article talks about first emerging research that the social networks can make us:
not just dumber or lonelier but more depressed and anxious, prone to obsessive-compulsive and attention-deficit disorders, even outright psychotic. Our digitised minds can scan like those of drug addicts.
It is very gloomy, more than one in eight people supposedly show an unhealthy relationship with the web. I guess this can be added to the list of alcohol, cigarettes and pain killers…
The article was in the NZ Herald, July 14, A24. Reprinted from Newsweek.
These two, Pig and Witch, were early puppets. (If I recall correctly, Witch was the third puppet I ever made). They are a reminder of how relationships change over time. These two were really good mates once, but now they can’t stand each other. I don’t know exactly what happened, but I suspect it is because Witch turned into a health freak and a teetotaler, while Pig likes his booze. Pig is now hanging out with Professor while Witch keeps more or less to herself.
I noticed the more puppets I make the more negative (in my opinion) traits they display. The first lot of fifteen, they were my friends. They have their little quirks, the ones you just reckon with in friends. Some of them I like more, others a little less, but they are all puppets I wouldn’t mind inviting round to my place.
The newer ones are more like acquaintances. I know them, but some of them have traits I totally dislike. The worst is, that I can easily come up with these now.
I have two more books planned for later this year, early next year. The next one will be of course about Puppy the love sick stalker (by the way, he has moved back into the house and he is starting to annoy me) and the following one will be about Hermit loosing his job. Pretty sure all the negative characters will find their place in this one.
I am currently working on a puppet called Push–Push. It is one that drives her own agenda, no matter what. Along the way she tramples all over the others. Yes, pretty sure you find her at the average workplace. And then I think, I really need to get started on Procrastinator as well.
Friends! Yes, tell me what constitutes a friend? Now this is a curly and very personal question. I don’t believe it can be answered comprehensively, not even by the most studied people. Last night, the question was brought up in conversation, and this here is another one of my unscientific and personal observations.
In German we have this word “Freund” which looks and sounds very much like the English word “friend”. These two words even have similar meanings and they could be mistaken as being the same. They are not.
In Germany you would only call a very clear and manageable amount of people “Freund.” Everybody else you’ve personally met is an acquaintance or a “friend of a friend”. I think when I left Germany I was down to two friends :).
Of course the Germans still use the two-tier of “you”. They have two terms: The close “Du” and the distant “Sie.” When you address somebody with “Du”, you are usually on a first name basis as well: you are friends. While “Sie” is usually used in combination with the surname. Oh it is all very complicated. To cut a long story short, the term used indicates the closeness of the people involved. The whole thing is a bit looser nowadays than it was when I lived there, but it is still there.
In New Zealand, (I don’t know how it is in other countries, as I have only lived in New Zealand long enough to have formed an opinion), virtually everybody you’ve met twice is your friend. Now this sounds very superficial, doesn’t it? It isn’t really.
For starters there is only one term to address the person opposite: “you.” This little fact tears down a lot of barriers.
Since I moved here the number of people I call friend has grown exponentially. But they all have one thing in common: I know them face-to-face. This fact keeps the number naturally manageable. My friends can drop in on me any time and have a conversation. What constitutes a conversation? (Don’t let me go there, not now… )
The word acquaintance is very rarely used here. I am not quite sure, but it seems if you use the word acquaintance, you have met the person, but don’t really have anything to do with them. I wrecked my brain, but I personally couldn’t come up with anybody I would refer to as an acquaintance here, though in German I would happily use the word for a number of people. I might refer to somebody as a “colleague from xyz” or “an artist guy I know”, or the “plumber who did my bathroom”. But acquaintance, no, I don’t have them in New Zealand.
Now bring on face book… I guess you can figure out my opinion. I’ll go and make a puppet in the meantime.
PS: You have certainly gathered my conversation was with a German :)
I have created twenty-six characters to date and so far have only one character I really dislike. This is Twoface. She looks straight at you and smiles. Superficially she looks like a pleasant enough person, very non-committal though. Her response to what you say is usually: “Ah, yes” or “Really” or “Indeed.” But you know exactly she doesn’t give a toss about anything. Even worse, when you turn her around, she has a second face rolling her eyes and it is very clear she believes everybody (except for herself) is a tosser.
I haven’t incorporated her in any stories yet, but I think she will become the boss. I will only use her if absolutely necessary.
Now that I look at her second face and know that she is the boss, I feel slightly sorry for her. She must be in middle management and feels a bit of pressure from higher up. While she rolls her eyes, she does look a bit scared. But still I thoroughly dislike her behavior and I will stay clear of her as much as possible.
Everything around me is in flux at the moment. I am not a rock, I am a pebble.
Rocks brave the tide. They are strong and stand their position. But over time they will be ground down.
Pebbles on the other hand are small fries. They might get uplifted and swirled around, yet it is very reassuring they will settle again. A few inches to one side maybe, but there is always a chance it will be in an even sunnier spot.
For now I am happy it’s Friday again.
I didn’t really want to write about what happens in the dede world today, but there was another incident.
Monster waited up for me. He sat quietly in the corner and waited until I came past. “Psst” he said, and at first I could hardly hear it. “Psst” he said again and I looked around and there he was all scared, squashed into the corner. He is an ugly little thing and one doesn’t know where his front and back is, but his dark black button eyes stood out.
“Can we talk?” he continued. “I don’t have much time, so make it short” I said looking at my watch. I was happy to lend him my ear. He comes across as a fairly rowdy one, I assume much of it is facade. Once you know him, he can be a really nice guy. But one thing is for sure, he is certainly not one who wins you over at first sight. You have to look twice and engage with him for a little while.
“You know, mhm, you know” he hummed and hawed. There was nothing demanding about him today, not like the other day when he came to see me together with Skeleton. I felt sorry for him as I could see how painful it was for him to get started. Then finally he just exploded and blurted it all out… all his fears.
He virtually begged me to put Lou in his place (if he had knees he would have fallen on them). Deep down he is very worried that Skeleton actually enjoys the attention she gets from this handsome young puppy. He has been observing her. She is looking in the mirror more often than she usually does. If she had hair she would comb it all day. There are countless little signs. He told me around ninety-nine of them …
Monster is worried out of his mind that he will loose her. He is so sure she is his soul mate. He seems to think he would not survive, should she ever leave him.
I had to sit down and just let him talk. He sobbed and cried. It was obvious he seems to think she is his ultimate love. He talked and talked. Finally after an hour or so, he started to slow down, clearly exhausted. I watched him silently. A lot of thoughts flashed through my mind, but I was certain, none of them would have fallen on fertile ground in this situation.
I believe, if they really have such a strong relationship, no puppy, now matter how young and handsome, could destroy it. Yes, the attention might revitalise Skeleton Edeltraut for a little, but only temporarily…. She certainly knows there is more to a relationship than zing!
In the end I put my arm around him and said: “Look, just trust Edeltraut. Don’t be clingy and suffocate her with your love. The more you watch her, the more you shackle her, the more you will drive her away.”
“But, but…”
“No but… Trust!”
“You just don’t understand” he muttered, disappointed.
“Poor sod” I thought.
dedepuppets 