This is fascinating. Your second essay I thought mostly repeated your observations from the first essay. It was only in the concluding paragraphs that I felt that you touched on new areas of conversation. Though I admit that may be my own faulty reading; I'm not always as astute as I like to imagine I am.
... So you posit that despite all of the nonsense that trans men put society through, and all of the intense criticism against them, theirs is a calculated decision. They will court a certain amount of criticism because in the end they are not exposing themselves to gnarled fists, they are protecting themselves from those fists.
Stunning insight.
Of course this makes sense in light of the fact that trans women in sports and in spaces they used to be excluded from, has never truly been an issue.
I'll tell you what else is fascinating: you. By digesting these essays, I get more than a glimpse into your ethics and how your mind works. I love how you reliably and consistently drop the perspectives of others into your discourses. You are very well-read.
I'd think you'd be a rewarding friend.
By the way, where did you get that photo? I did a Web search on it and the only result I got was this very essay.
Oh, it’s just men competing like animals, it’s a metaphor for all male violence, nasty, brutish, and short (Hobbes of course). But of course it’s also vaguely sexy, I’m gay so a perpetrating male butt is always a bonus.
There are alternates with Victorian women watching. It’s probably just me, it’s what I see when I see rugby - a bunch of men grubbing in mud (“mudby”) Could be circa 1000BC, could be Augustinian Rome, could be a bad day on Hampstead Heath in London circa 1988. I went nude bathing in the pond there in 1988, the pond was pea green, and so were the men when they emerged.) A gay artist I’m working on documenting claimed that dirt to men is as makeup to women. He’s quite accurate. (Paglia got it wrong in “Sexual Balonae” her Magnum Tokus. It’s not Apollonian or Dionysian, it’s Feral/Virile).
I only use synthetic images. I hate scanning image libraries for actual images. It’s the saddest thing possible.
Tintype images are the most convincing I’ve found, because the imperfections trigger your mind to think it has an organic origin.
I made an Autobiography of Lincoln with tintype photographic illustrations of his early life. The cover is a beautiful portrait of him as a child; there are images of log cabins, his political years. All the stuff you expect. It looks completely authentic because the imperfections turn off your instinct to look at the image critically.
Completely synthetic. The bed is synthetic, I have a video version with something crawling out from underneath. The Victorian women creep up to the scrum (what a word), saggita recta they try to kiss, ad finem the wander the maze, Terra dubia the boats float around and some sea creature jumps out.
It was particularly interesting to read Lincoln taking about his own death and his angst over what it would to to the young republic.
You. Have to imagine AI imagery as a powerful hit of a hallucinogen. Therefore as Timothy Leary suggested, you must have a well-prepared set and setting.
If you don’t it wanders through the diabolical.
“In the style of a black and white 19the century tintype photograph, in the style of documentary photographer Robert Frank; display groups of men late afternoon engaged in graeco-Roman wrestling on a wet muddy field just after rain within a mildly hazy armosphere; f16 lens medium shot composition. Place women in Victorian costume interested but appalled at the edge of the conflicts.”
Just be more specific and it hallucinates for you.
I certainly appreciate your description, but I have found that my best hallucinations are entirely self-generated. Granted, I'm unable to share them with others in an immediate way, but I have often been told that I am adept at painting landscapes and other scenes with words. No hallucination or "trip" that has ever been described to me is inaccessible to me, purely due to my own efforts...
You’re a good reader - I did feel a little repetitive bit I don’t have a good édite friend. I try not to make these too aggressive but I do find most postmodern stuff a bit stuffy, and use it against the intended meaning somewhat.
I’m quite old, much of this territory I covered in the 80’s, new historicism and further development may be beyond my time.
Thanks for your kind words. Happy to be a good chat friend.
Instead it fused a Phalaenopsis and an ordinary sort of Yellowjacket wasp.
All the images I use are syntheses, the caption indicates part of the. prompt stylization. I usually generate 10-20 images and select the most interesting. I made videos too but they were too busy.
"He is the exception to the rule of male mortality, and yet he insists he is the rule itself." Bravo!
This is fascinating. Your second essay I thought mostly repeated your observations from the first essay. It was only in the concluding paragraphs that I felt that you touched on new areas of conversation. Though I admit that may be my own faulty reading; I'm not always as astute as I like to imagine I am.
... So you posit that despite all of the nonsense that trans men put society through, and all of the intense criticism against them, theirs is a calculated decision. They will court a certain amount of criticism because in the end they are not exposing themselves to gnarled fists, they are protecting themselves from those fists.
Stunning insight.
Of course this makes sense in light of the fact that trans women in sports and in spaces they used to be excluded from, has never truly been an issue.
I'll tell you what else is fascinating: you. By digesting these essays, I get more than a glimpse into your ethics and how your mind works. I love how you reliably and consistently drop the perspectives of others into your discourses. You are very well-read.
I'd think you'd be a rewarding friend.
By the way, where did you get that photo? I did a Web search on it and the only result I got was this very essay.
Oh, it’s just men competing like animals, it’s a metaphor for all male violence, nasty, brutish, and short (Hobbes of course). But of course it’s also vaguely sexy, I’m gay so a perpetrating male butt is always a bonus.
There are alternates with Victorian women watching. It’s probably just me, it’s what I see when I see rugby - a bunch of men grubbing in mud (“mudby”) Could be circa 1000BC, could be Augustinian Rome, could be a bad day on Hampstead Heath in London circa 1988. I went nude bathing in the pond there in 1988, the pond was pea green, and so were the men when they emerged.) A gay artist I’m working on documenting claimed that dirt to men is as makeup to women. He’s quite accurate. (Paglia got it wrong in “Sexual Balonae” her Magnum Tokus. It’s not Apollonian or Dionysian, it’s Feral/Virile).
I only use synthetic images. I hate scanning image libraries for actual images. It’s the saddest thing possible.
Tintype images are the most convincing I’ve found, because the imperfections trigger your mind to think it has an organic origin.
I made an Autobiography of Lincoln with tintype photographic illustrations of his early life. The cover is a beautiful portrait of him as a child; there are images of log cabins, his political years. All the stuff you expect. It looks completely authentic because the imperfections turn off your instinct to look at the image critically.
Completely synthetic. The bed is synthetic, I have a video version with something crawling out from underneath. The Victorian women creep up to the scrum (what a word), saggita recta they try to kiss, ad finem the wander the maze, Terra dubia the boats float around and some sea creature jumps out.
It was particularly interesting to read Lincoln taking about his own death and his angst over what it would to to the young republic.
I'm intrigued. How do you create these synthetic images?
I ask an Ai to summarize the text into a metaphorical image and suggest an artist. Send it to Civitai.
Ah! I resist AI. Too many incidents of flat-out horror. Unheimlich to the extreme.
You. Have to imagine AI imagery as a powerful hit of a hallucinogen. Therefore as Timothy Leary suggested, you must have a well-prepared set and setting.
If you don’t it wanders through the diabolical.
“In the style of a black and white 19the century tintype photograph, in the style of documentary photographer Robert Frank; display groups of men late afternoon engaged in graeco-Roman wrestling on a wet muddy field just after rain within a mildly hazy armosphere; f16 lens medium shot composition. Place women in Victorian costume interested but appalled at the edge of the conflicts.”
Just be more specific and it hallucinates for you.
I certainly appreciate your description, but I have found that my best hallucinations are entirely self-generated. Granted, I'm unable to share them with others in an immediate way, but I have often been told that I am adept at painting landscapes and other scenes with words. No hallucination or "trip" that has ever been described to me is inaccessible to me, purely due to my own efforts...
But it's a superlative image you rendered!
You’re a good reader - I did feel a little repetitive bit I don’t have a good édite friend. I try not to make these too aggressive but I do find most postmodern stuff a bit stuffy, and use it against the intended meaning somewhat.
I’m quite old, much of this territory I covered in the 80’s, new historicism and further development may be beyond my time.
Thanks for your kind words. Happy to be a good chat friend.
I was trying to generate a photo of an Ophrys which is a mirror orchid but the system was pretty poor with very specific directives.
Here’s a real mirror orchid “Ophrys speculum”
https://static.inaturalist.org/photos/13515852/large.jpg
Instead it fused a Phalaenopsis and an ordinary sort of Yellowjacket wasp.
All the images I use are syntheses, the caption indicates part of the. prompt stylization. I usually generate 10-20 images and select the most interesting. I made videos too but they were too busy.
No, no, no... I was writing of the naked men playing ... football? rugby? rub the spot?