Archives for posts with tag: Philosophy
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What a welcome?!

December 28, 2012 //
2

her fault

I arrived back home late last night.  I didn’t take any of the Dedes with me on my holidays, as they accused me of favouritism as soon as I picked one of them up to pack into a box. So I left them all behind. This wasn’t a good move as it was raining non-stop where we were and a bit of hands-on puppetry would have gone down a treat. Never mind!

When I came home, all the lights were blazing. I tip-toed into the house to surprise the Dedes. It was a really bad idea as I overheard their discussion. They were sitting around on the living room floor lamenting about the poor participation in the poll.

Smug Little Devil said: “It is really her fault isn’t it? She should not have gone away in the hot phase of voting.”

“Why, what could she have done?” Socialite asked.

“Don’t you know the old saying ‘out of sight out of mind’!” Smug Little Devil replied. “She should have reminded our readers throughout week that they should vote!”

“But she was somewhere with no internet connection and anyway… maybe we only have nine readers?” Foxy Lady pointed out. “No way” Mouse butted in, “we have way more than that…”

“You know how to use the computer” Socialite turned to Mouse now. “You could have reminded the readers!”

“I am not doing anything without being given a mandate. She didn’t instruct me to send out reminders.”

“So we are back to what I said… It is all her fault, isn’t it?” Smug Little Devil pointed out with his unpleasant smirk on his face.

“Give her a break” Philosopher entered the conversation “She is allowed to have a break from us from time to time… She has put so much work into us all year… Where would we be without her?” Tears welled up in my eyes when I heard this nice remark and I was about to enter the room and hug Philosopher, when Smug Little Devil countered Philosopher’s words: “That point of view is futile really… you might as well say where would we be if we had a more driven Master? I believe we could be out there known by heaps more people. We could go travelling and could have a new exhibition somewhere every month. You can’t convince me that she is best for us!”

This made me turn on my heals and leave the house again, so I could come back making a  big racket this time, announcing my arrival to even the deafest of puppets. They all came running out of the living room towards the back door and shouted “We are so happy to have you back.” Leading the pack was none other then Smug Little Devil. I won’t tell you what I thought…

We are very close to the big finale: the winner of the ‘Super Dede 2012’ competition will be announced tomorrow! If you haven’t voted yet, here is the poll again. When I checked last, Mouse was leading. To read a summary of their performances, have a look at the previous post.

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Relationships, Social Network

One is sulking

December 22, 2012 //
2

cat arguing

Overall the Dedes are a mellow lot. Even Cat does not touch Mouse, despite it is totally against her nature. Sometimes we can observe Cat eying Mouse up and watching her every move, but she wouldn’t pounce on her. It is not that Cat respects Mouse, no, she doesn’t. Their lifestyles couldn’t be more different. Cat believes Mouse is a goody two shoes and a busy body. The truth is Cat just can’t be bothered with Mouse. Cat is a student of Urban Social Structures and has to roam around the neighbourhood a lot for her studies. Apart from this, she sleeps a lot and eats even more – as every good student does – and when the tom cats come out at night to party, she is there too.

Last night Cat came  to visit me. She does this very rarely. She keeps more to herself unless she is hungry. So I was expecting that she wanted to score a free dinner and invited her to stay for a bowl of my broccoli soup. But she declined politely.

“I have to say, I was incensed by Mouse’s behaviour today!” She was airing her disapproval of Mouse using a cat punching bag.

“It wasn’t a real cat, not even a stuffed one” I replied

“She truly hurt my feelings! And I want you to address it”

“That is between you and Mouse, I can’t interfere here. You know I try not to take sides.” I refused to help her out.

“But sometimes you have to take sides, for example when there is an outrages injustice”

I had to reminded her that she got six toy mice at her last birthday party.

“Yes, but that is normal, isn’t it?” she replied sulkily, looked at me like only a cat can, and slinked off.

She is another one I might not see for a while….

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Photography

Questions for L’Artiste

December 12, 2012 //
8

devil and L Artiste

L’Artiste was still wearing his unique tunic. He must have copyrighted his appearance as I haven’t seen any other puppets taking up the fad.

When L’Artiste sat down, Devil shuffled the cards to make us believe the questions are random, but honestly, when you’ve heard today’s questions one wonders if Devil rigged it. Isn’t it just a tad suspicious that L’Artiste, of all candidates, got the two questions posted by German artist Jürgen (or was it Buchalov?). But then does it really matter? This round is an exercise about how fast the candidates can think on their feet and finding out more about their personalities.

The first question didn’t go down too well though. Devil read out:

1. Where do you want to be in five years’ time?

As soon as the question was read out, L’Artiste jumped up from his seat shouting indignantly. “What sort of question is that?… Where do you want to be in five years’ time?” He shook his head while pacing up and down. “I am not in a job interview here, am I? How dare you ask me this middle management crap! I am an artist and if I am still alive in five years time, of course I want to be an artist. It doesn’t mean I will still do the same thing as I do today. Who knows what my art will be!” He stopped pacing and smiled at Devil “C’mon, Devil, Challenge me! Give me a question with some beef!”

Devil calmly explained again that all the questions were random before reading out the remaining two;

2. What are the three most beautiful things for a puppet?

3. What do you think about ‘Eden’, the special place humans are longing for?

L’Artiste was obviously a little happier with these and remained seated for the rest of the session.

“The second question, what are the three most beautiful things for a puppet? I can only answer from my personal perspective, as we are all different. Number 1 on my personal list is our very close-knit and supportive network. Number 2 is the mutual respect we have for each other and our ability to kiss and make up. We do have our fights, but they never last terribly long. Number 3 is the space we have from each other. If we need to we can have some time out. We can virtually drop of the planet, but come back some time later when we are ready and are welcomed back with open arms.” He paused for a moment nodding slightly a couple of times, then he continued: “Let me summarise this. The three most beautiful things for a puppet are ONE:  Friendship, TWO: Friendship and THREE: Friendship. No question about it!”

“The third question is right down my alley, isn’t it? I have thought about it a lot. Ever since I first saw Hieronymus Bosch’s painting ‘Garden of Earthly Delights’ as a little whipper snapper.” He turned to Devil and said with a little wink: “But I can assure you Devil, it wasn’t Eden that attracted me to this painting.”

“Does Eden exist, or doesn’t it? If it really existed, we Dedes certainly would be in it. But let’s be realistic, ‘Eden’, ‘Paradise’, ‘Arcadia’, every culture has such a place, different only in name. They are first and foremost places of harmony. Unfortunately, true harmony is a figment of the imagination. As soon as two people, or puppets for that matter, are in the same place there is potential for dissonance. We Dedes certainly strive for harmony and a good place to live, but I don’t think we will ever achieve it. I strongly believe the reason for our existence is to strive and do our best! After all we are only Dedes, just as humans are only human!

What do you think about L’Artiste’s answers?

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Categories Art

Cash Cow’s wisdom

December 11, 2012 //
7

cash cows question

You might have expected to see Mouse today, but the order of the candidates is pulled out of  a hat, so the next one up was Cash Cow.

Don’t be fooled by her droopy eyes and her circumstances that find her living in a garage. Cash Cow had a rather well received performance last week and if you care to listen, you will realise she still has a lot to offer, even though her udder ran dry.

Devil got up from his seat when Cash Cow appeared and greeted her with a kiss on her cheek. He then waited until she had settled on her seat before he sat down himself and read out the questions she has to answer:

1. If you could be something else, what would you rather be?

2. What is your biggest regret in life?

3. If you had 3 wishes, what would you wish for?

Cash Cow sat quietly for a while. You could see her mulling the questions over in her mind and then finally she moved her rather large pink flower into position and started to speak:

“What would I like to be if I could be something else?” She asked into space “…I would like to be a fountain… To be precise, a fountain of knowledge. It is not so different from being a Cash Cow really, except I would attract a totally different audience, wouldn’t I? Puppets would come to me for my wisdom, not for the money they’d expect. As you know, I am dry… Yes, you can suck a Cash Cow dry – and once this fact was out in the open, my stream of visitors ebbed away as well. I don’t think this could happen to a fountain of knowledge.

“I have to disappoint you with the second question though, my dear. Regret is such a big word. Don’t get bogged down by it. I always live to have no regrets. So if you don’t mind, I will have to pass on this one.”

“With the last question, I have to disappoint you again… I don’t want to be greedy… I am happy with one wish and one wish only!” She paused and Devil looked at her expectantly.

“I would wish for all my future wishes to come true. If this one is granted the other two become obsolete and I could give them away, to someone who really needs them and uses them wisely”, she said with a sparkle in her eye. And it looked as if she was thinking of Pig who certainly would wish for a fridge full of beer. “Not everyone wishes sensibly!” she added after a short giggle.

How do you rate Cash Cow’s answers?

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life

Last chance to vote!

December 1, 2012 //
2

harvey running

I regret the day when I said to Mouse I will take over the administration of the poll. I did this out of the goodness of my heart, to help out a damsel in distress. I thought yeah, that is an easy job, I can do that! I will only have to look at the results and in the end announce the five finalists of the ‘Super Dede’ competition. Gee, did this turn into a real challenge or what? Now I am landed with a decision way outside my comfort zone….

Here is what has happened since yesterday:  Harvey has taken the lead! Even a blind man with a stick can see something fishy is going on here.

First I had to ask Mouse if there is a chance that Mr XL could have manipulated the outcome of the vote in a devious manner. Mouse said, even though she is not entirely techno savvy, she is far more confident on the computer than Mr XL. In her judgement he couldn’t have done it. The poll is set up for one vote per computer. It prevents anybody from sitting there for hours on end and voting for the same puppet over and over again.

Then I had to arrange a meeting with Mr XL to hear his side of the story.

Mr XL assures me he is innocent. He immediately admitted he was asked by Harvey to canvass for him. The rabbit came across as a nice and harmless looking chap, so Mr XL agreed. He rang all his family and friends and asked them to vote for Harvey as well. He only became a bit suspicious when he saw Harvey running up the road to the local betting agency, the TAB, with bundle of notes in his hand.

Mr XL is an ‘old-school’ man of honour. If he gives his word, he will keep it! He admitted he really would have liked to have voted for his soul-mate, Snippedy, the clown. But as he has wasted his vote (and the votes of  his family on Harvey, Snippedy is still sitting on his doughnut (o). Mr XL asked me if I could help him to set up a blog called ‘I am Mr XL’ on which he can defend his honour and explain to the world what happened. I had a hard time talking him out of it (honestly I am not making this up!)  I promised him I will tell my readers about his innocence and we will leave it at this… we won’t prosecute him (He is a human and we don’t have any jurisdiction over him anyway).

That leaves us to deal with Harvey and here I am at my wits end. It is the first time that we are running a show like this and I clearly hear Smug Little Devils‘ words ringing in my ears: “You are a bunch of amateurs!”

“Yes we are! But we tried our best” I only can say. The decision is still to be made whether to disqualify Harvey or not. I don’t want to make this call and I will put it to Devil and Detail, the organisers. They are of course interested in your opinion.

By the way, there was no official complaint about Mouse. Stepping down from the administration of the poll immediately made her a legitimate contender.

Please, if you haven’t voted yet, here is your last chance… The vote closes at midnight New Zealand time and the five final contestants of the competition will be officially announced tomorrow.

Thanks from an exhausted Poll-Administrator!

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life

On an island…

November 24, 2012 //
0

Nobody came forward with any ideas about how to stop Smug Little Devil undermining my decision making. …Truth be told, I can’t really act on it yet, as I have only heard the accusations through the grapevine. So I will have to leave it for now. It’s hard though, not to do anything. I have to confess his behaviour irks me greatly. I am confident the Dedes’ allegiance is still with me for now, but for how much longer? I will prick my ears up… and if he should be so silly to give me half a reason I will pounce on him and take him to task. That is the plan! But I know he is a cunning little weasel. He doesn’t trip up easily. I have to be very, very patient.

In my defense, (and this is now an explanation for all the Dedes, who feel they should have been selected for the gallery trip), the idea was to send five puppets who have absolutely nothing in common. They were supposed to be online friends, not real ones. When we tested it for a few weeks in the living room it worked very well. They communicated very nicely via their modems and didn’t look at each other. Instead they looked out into the big wide space before them, but had no idea who they were connected to. Unfortunately in the gallery they managed to turn their heads round and they saw who was on the other end of each modem. I believe that was when the real trouble started. When Ms SM suddenly realised she had opened her heart to a pimply teenage Boy and Smug Little Devil was not chasing that young hot fox, but middle aged Liar. Alien just thought it was a big, big joke and wanted to party!

I apologise, I didn’t think it through… I just acted on my great artistic ideas and ignored the personal pain I might have caused the participants. But then…. get real! When you find yourself on a deserted island, you have to learn to overcome your differences and cherish what you have in common. After all, you are all Dedes, aren’t you!

Phew, now I really worked myself up :), but I feel much better!

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life

Failed reunion

November 19, 2012 //
0

Yesterday, Chance invited her half-sister Detail and her niece, Minor, for a picnic on my yoga mat. They hadn’t seen each other for months. These two sisters have a really strange love/hate relationship and I normally wouldn’t comment on anything family related, as the puppets can get very defensive when you talk about a close relative.

I have admitted it before, I favour Chance over Detail. Chance is much more relaxed. She doesn’t mind if you ignore her when you are otherwise engaged. She just shrugs her shoulders and says: “Your loss not mine” and leaves.

Detail on the other hand has a knack for driving me up the wall (particularly when I am already stressed). She always wants to have it done her way! Don’t get me wrong, it is good to know her and in less stressful situations – when I have plenty of time and can pay her enough attention – she is really, really lovely. You just need to know how to take her. Let’s face it, Detail wants to be super woman. She is a solo mum and it can’t be that easy with a teenage daughter like Minor. And I suspect she is only so finicky because she actually lacks confidence. She gets a lot of security by spending an exorbitant amount of time on precision.

Bring on Chance the airy fairy one and, I mean, honestly… any outsider can see that this can’t go well. But what can you do if it is family? Well, one thing is for sure, I want to stay out of their arguments. If you get caught in the middle….

Often their bone of contention is around  Minor. Chance doesn’t have kids of her own, so she dots on Minor when she can. Unfortunately Detail thinks Minor has picked up a few bad habits from her aunty. In particular, this very aggravating “wha-ever” response.

Back to yesterday…

True to herself, Chance was late, fifteen minutes or so. This of course set Detail off on the wrong foot. When Chance finally arrived with a bowl of prezel bows, Minor (who has a slight weight issue) dived with her hands into the bowl before it was placed on the mat. Detail exploded immediately, telling her daughter she should pay more attention to her appearance. Chance tried to defuse the situation and said teenagers have to eat a lot.

Detail jumped up and said, “you always undermine what I am doing”, grabbed Minor by the wrist and dragged her out the door.

Chance popped a pretzel bow in her mouth and said: “Ah well. I guess that is it for the next six months”

That was the shortest family reunion I have ever seen!

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Relationships

The end of dharna

November 17, 2012 //
1

We went to a function at the biennial exhibition NZ Sculpture OnShore last night. I really wished the Dedes could have seen it. But they are not the outdoor type. They can’t stand the rain. The exhibition is at Fort Takapuna, a disused military space high on the cliffs overlooking the sea, a perfect location for a sculpture show.  The evening was balmy with a slight sea breeze. The light wind and the setting sun played whimsically with many of the sculptures. It felt like art heaven… and on a more mundane note… we had the best fish and chips ever. I couldn’t stop thinking the Dedes should be there as well. I have to find a way to water proof them. They really should be allowed to enjoy the gorgeous view from Fort Takapuna one day.

When we arrived back home, a light drizzle had set in (heavy rain is forecast for today) and the Dedes who were on their dharna shift were huddled together at the front door. There is an alcove which gave them a little bit of protection from the elements. I felt sorry for them but didn’t want to give in just yet. Personally I think I haven’t done them enough harm to justify a dharna. So I just stepped past them to unlock the door.

Socialite held on to my trouser leg and asked: “Could we come in and sit on the window-sill inside to continue our dharna? It would be dry and people could still see us.”

I had to laugh “Nice try” I said “but no, that is not how it works… Maybe it is time we talked.”

As Philosopher didn’t want to be involved they had elected Witch as their mediator. She was more than ready to come to the table. In fact she was already there when I came into the kitchen. We closed the door so that nobody could hear what was said. Witch told me in confidence she thought everybody overreacted a bit and I immediately said I was very happy to apologise. I had already said so on Buchalov’s Blog. Buchalov was so kind to dedicate a post to the Dedes, and in a comment I said that it wasn’t a good idea for me to have told the Dedes they should learn a lesson from Buchalov. He is a very nice chap, but not a role model for the Dedes. (By the way, Buchalov, lovely drawing of Mrs Esta Blished, the fairy godmother).

“From now on, cross my heart, I will let you be who you are. You have some strong supporters out there in the big wide world!” I finished my speech.

“Only time will tell” Witch mumbled, but I chose to ignore this.

Then we continued to chit-chat about the exhibition for a while. We didn’t want the others to know that we were in agreement right from the beginning.

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life

Let’s give it a go!

November 16, 2012 //
4

The Dedes have made themselves scarce after my outburst two days ago. I really think it wasn’t that big an outburst to justify their reaction. I just told them what was on my mind and you should be able to do this amongst friends, shouldn’t you? I wanted to give them an idea about how to improve themselves and education is always a good thing, isn’t it? But judging from their reaction I must have hurt them a lot!

Philosopher is the only Dede who still speaks to me apart from Bad Conscience (the guy I am not so keen on). Philosopher told me they always believed our relationship was based on mutual love and respect, but my outburst indicated that my love for them was somewhat lesser than theirs for me. But he added in his opinion there is no way you can measure love, he was only the bearer of the message. This is his style of telling me the subject is not open for discussion. He has no mandate to speak on behalf of all the Dedes. And he added: “I personally love you all the way to the moon and back.” It was heart warming and I had to give him a hug, even though he is not the huggy type of puppet.

While we were having our conversation something was going on at the front door. At first I ignored it. It sounded like an entire army of rats or possums or cats were running over the front porch. But then I heard whispering as well and I knew the Dedes were up to something. I had to ask Philosopher.

“They are doing a Dharna” he said. I looked at him blankly.

“They didn’t know either what it was, but Arindam suggested it to them. You know their friend from India? He seems to think it is an effective method to get an apology from you!”

He told me that after Arindam had planted the idea, Mouse had invited them all to the kitchen to look up on the internet about how to do a Dharna. They figured out a Dharna is a means to show the world that somebody had not treated them in a just way. So, they have to go to the offenders house and fast on the doorstep until they get justice or die.

I’m sorry if they got it wrong, it was their first attempt and they had to learn it via the internet. When they voted on whether they should go ahead, Devil immediately said he thinks it is basically a good idea, but with his love for food, there is no way he could participate. He suggested to send Skeleton Edeltraut to my doorstep, as she doesn’t eat anyway. Even though they thought it was a brilliant idea, they all agreed one puppet on my doorstep wouldn’t have much effect. After all, they all had been offended by me. In the end they decided there are enough Dedes to divide them up into groups and take 8 hour shifts. As long as Skeleton Edeltraut was always there, surely no passerby would notice that they had swapped. And then they went to bed to start in the morning.

The first shift is out there now.

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life

Not this fellow again!

November 15, 2012 //
9

Bad Conscience was waiting up for me last night to have a chat when I came home from sports. Nobody else was around. Seeing Bad Conscience is never a good sign. He was blobbing out on the sofa with his bloated tummy, burping away. Generally he doesn’t say much. You have to start the conversation, otherwise it is just an awkward situation. He sits in one corner regurgitating. You hardly see him, but he makes sure his presence is felt.

“So what’s up?” I tried to be cheerful, knowing very well he had a major concern and I could expect some unpleasant truth.

“You behaved like a girl today” he said and shook his head “Like a girl, girl, a childish girl”

“What do you mean?” I replied, as I really didn’t know what he was trying to say to me.

“You tried to change our behaviour – all the Dede’s behaviour”

“No I didn’t”

“Yes, you did…you did….you are not happy with us, so you want to change us to conform with your worldview.”

“No I don’t”

“Yes you do, you want us to be more intellectual. You said so!”

“Maybe a little” No point denying it, he knows anyway. But once Bad Conscience gets a little foothold by you admitting he is sort of right he goes off like a rocket…

“When will you learn that not everybody can be everything to you! It is not going to happen, Missy! If you need to discuss art, don’t go to Pig, see L’artiste or make a new Art Critique… You can’t make us all intellectuals. Forget it! If we can’t be who we are, we will disintegrate. There will be nothing left of us. pfffffffff” He made the sound of a deflating balloon.

“But…”

“Pffffffff”

“But…”

“Pffffff”

At this stage I gave up. I know him too well. He said his piece and left me to it. No more discussion!

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life
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