Pretendian crisis

 

So … writer Thomas King isn’t Indigenous after all. Was Canadian media complicit in the falsehood?

Corporate magnates trying to repackage the human….

 

 From my comic What Is The Source of Insane Ideas?, published as a standalone project in 1991 (under the pen name Seekorum), and then incorporated into my illustrated mega novel manuscript Plastic Millennium.

In this scene, Prof. Walt Whitman meets with corporate magnate Contrat Lindl. Whitman tells Lindl that military fear of nuclear wears has turbocharged research into building a super intelligent computer that has the capacity to monitor and shape human affairs.

Lindl listens to Whitman with thinly concealed impatience, countering that nuclear weapons have succeeded “in keeping the peace” for 45 years. Whitman becomes disconsolate and says fatalistically that the existence of nuclear weapons has taken on a life of its own, and is the primary factor driving research into artificiality (eg., artificial intelligence). Whitman tells Lindl that if humanity is to survive, then it must relinquish nukes. 

As soon as Whitman leaves Lindl’s office, Lindl rejoices and walks to a small shrine he’s built to Friedrich Nietzsche. Lindl is in the habit of having feverish monologues with his portrait of Neitzsche. He says the existence of intelligent computers means there now exists on Earth a “Super-Being”, and this implies that it will now be possible for humans to develop an “uber-mensch” — that is, an Overman or Superman who is a technology-driven evolution beyond the human race.

Publishing’s blind spot

 

Has the contemporary publishing industry developed a blind spot?

Literature After Identitarianism 

https://youtu.be/_4UG_poURl8

Witnessing climate change

 

Do average people witness climate change if they’ve been around for a while?

#climatechange

Chronicles of Earthly Change

https://youtu.be/yDH0EGNv3gw

Seoul/ 서울에서

 

AI and creative work

 

AI and creative work 

MoonSong

 

MoonSong — World Bardo 106

https://youtu.be/sf97OZZnBBs

구름들/ clouds

 

Happyland 9

 

A videopoem (2025 version) based on my late brother's writing. He worked for years to develop a poetic voice that was uniquely his — and in the end, he succeeded, even as his personal demons and institutional indifference dragged him down.

The poem here encapsulates his talent for simile and metaphor, as well as his acute linguistic precision. He loved nature but at the same time he wanted to see *through* nature, to its constant energies.

Happyland 9 (new cut)

https://youtu.be/u4JObTuOxN0

When the small….

 

WHEN THE SMALL PEOPLE STAND NEXT TO THE BIG PEOPLE — poetry and the wider world…

#APEC2025 #apec #trump

#leejaemyung #이재명 #경주

Full video at YouTube: WHEN THE SMALL PEOPLE STAND NEXT TO THE BIG PEOPLE: POETRY, GEOPOLITICS, AND CONSEQUENCES

https://youtu.be/1TGEheN5q7Y

Trump versus the truth

 

Punitive Tariffs Against Canada: What Strategy Should We Utilize? 

#trumptariffs #canadaus #reagan

Full video at YouTube:

https://youtube.com/shorts/-iGy8Lj-IV4?feature=share

Does anglophone Canada have a real culture?

 

Le Canada anglophone a t’il vraiment sa propre culture?

Does Anglophone Canada Really Have A Culture? Mark Bourrie, among others, think this is a topic that deserves serious discussion.

Full video at YouTube: 

https://youtu.be/QyHb7q1FGUs

High School 1976

 

An authorial moviestory — published in the 80s, and made into various video forms from 2019 to now. The most recent below.

High School 1976

https://youtu.be/psk5tQXr4Ys

The short story vs. AI?

 

Note: this is a new version of a video I posted a few days ago. I’ve improved the audio levels, and hopefully that makes it more listenable. Regarding the animation sequences in the background of this video: they’re from a moviestory entitled High School that I write a long time ago, and first made into a movie in 2019. At that time, I shot the footage around the university where I teach (because it resembles a high school). But I didn’t have actors and deliberately avoided shooting the faces of random strangers. However, since this story is very much character-driven, I’ve always wanted to have actors play the main roles. AI animation allows me to create them. Do these animations work as well as real actors? Obviously not; human actors will always be irreplaceable. But the new version of The moviestory (now entitled High School 1976), works, I hope, as a bridge between a spoken word rendition of a story and a filmed version that has real production funding behind it.

*

Artist Statement: On Authorial Moviestories

I make video art, and one genre I’ve created is what I call authorial moviestories; these are literary narratives transformed into short cinematic pieces. Each moviestory began as an original short story written entirely the old fashioned way: by sitting down with a paper notebook or blank computer screen, and creating a work of fiction based on my own imagination and experience. Over the several years (starting in 2012), I’ve filmed many of these short stories. 

I did all the work myself, including the music. That solitary effort has some negative characteristics: it’s painfully obvious the videos are low budget (no budget, really). But at the same time, for better or worse, these videos are, like traditional short stories, very much the result of one consciousness. 

Recently, I’ve started adding clips made with AI programs. These clips are sometimes based on prompts and sometimes based on my own artwork (I started my creative career as an illustrator and fine artist).

I incorporate AI-generated video clips into my moviestories. These serve as illustrative elements that create characters. In a sense, the characters I’ve created in my written work now become visualized versions of the same.

By creating a fusion of human-made literature, art and music, and adding clips generated with the help of AI animation apps, I hope to create a hybrid form of literary art that is rooted in my own lived experience and able to reach out to a wider audience.

#shortstory #shortfiction

Too many short stories?

 

Too many short stories?

The army versus hungry vets

 

In the 1930s, vets were desperate— sometimes committing suicide they were so impoverished. The government of Herbert Hoover decided their protests were a sign of “incipient revolution” and sent in the troops.

The Business Army: The Bonus March

https://youtu.be/SiYT9ObB6W0

Scented books?

  Charles Barnett in The Guardian: 

First, a confession: I have not read Jennifer L Armentrout’s latest novel, The Primal of Blood and Bone. Nor have I sniffed it, or licked it. Which might be an odd thing to do, but for the fact that a special edition of the romantasy book has been released with garlic-infused ink.

Armentrout is a hugely-successful “hybrid” author, both self- and traditionally published, and has made the New York Times bestseller list on numerous occasions. She writes in the currently insanely popular romantic fantasy market, and her new novel, the latest in a series, features vampire-analogy monsters called the Craven.

Enter stage right: Hellmann’s, which despite having exactly the sort of name you might find in a romantasy novel, is in fact a purveyor of mayonnaise and other table-top squirty condiments. Hellmann’s has teamed up with Armentrout and her publishers, Blue Box Press, to release a special edition of The Primal of Blood and Bone which is printed with ink mixed with their garlic aioli – the Craven being vampires, remember, and so averse to a bit of garlic.

This is, of course, is an attempt to grab the TikTok generation by the throat. Understandably so: the video-sharing social media platform has become one of the biggest book marketing opportunities for publishers in modern times.

And it is here, dear reader, that I heave a world-weary sigh and reveal myself to be yet another grumpy, middle-aged, largely unknown author waving his fist at the clouds in the style of Grampa Simpson and raging against the dying of the light … or at least, against the shift away from the seemingly outmoded idea of publishers just trying to sell books because, y’know, they’re books, and they’re good.

Just hold off typing that takedown in the comment box for one second and let me explain. Do I sound bitter? Of course I’m bitter. All writers are misanthropic sociopaths at heart. We’re bitter about everything. That’s why we make stuff up all the time, trying to imagine worlds we might not be quite as bitter about as this one.

*

Barnett’s complaint about the cynicism and/or crassness and/or opportunism of the publishing industry is nothing new. It’s a business. However, it is a special kind of cultural business; it carries with it the mystique of a cultural enterprise that is idealistic and shaped by the standards of high culture in the sense that Adorno conceived of it.

한국 저녁/ Korean evening

 

More on nursing homes

 

Nursing Homes and Medical Staff: Do They Tell Families Enough?

#nursinghomes #elderlycare

Full video at YouTube:

https://youtube.com/shorts/OouoARKRInM?feature=share

Nursing homes

 

Do nursing homes give enough information?

 

Nursing Homes and Medical Staff: Do They Tell Families Enough?

https://youtu.be/B5ay1WLUaIQ

고양이 도시/ City of Cats

 

High School 1

 

Can the short story be reinvented?

The form has a lot of potential. But, culturally, it’s been sidelined by the novel and even the poem. The latter two have adapted to a digital world. (Viz Philip Marchand.)

YouTube: High School — new version, part one 

https://youtu.be/pBfV_iZ9X-c

Truth Marathon, new opening

 

I’ve been experimenting with illustrated screenplay narratives (novels and short stories) for over twenty years. This is a recent example…

Truth Marathon 1 — smoother audio, September 12/25

YouTube link:

https://youtu.be/qhIemOlg-r0

1976: an authorial moviepoem

 

1976 - improved cut

https://youtu.be/fW395_2bh6w

Green tea and kimchi

 

#Korea #RuralAsia

Synopsis: A personal documentary about the agricultural life in Hadong-gun, the region of South Korea where my wife grew up. Filming was on the farm belonging to her family, and in the marketplace of the nearby town.

Green tea production is particularly prevalent in Hadong. But its farmers are under extreme economic pressure. More than this, Koreans’ habits in terms of favored beverages are changing, and the popularity of coffee is having a severely detrimental effect on green tea sales.

Kimchi, on the other hand, remains a staple of the Korean diet. And kimchi-making (kimchang) remains a traditional activity in most Korean households. Usually a group activity, after my mother in law’s death, my wife took this over duty solely.

[Note: a .txt file transcript is available for translation]

(Note: I have both 2K and 4K versions of this project.)

*

Screenings and awards:

Mokkho International Film Festival

May 6, 2021 (winner)

Sprouting Seed International Short Film Festival 2020

Nov 28, 2020

(Winner)

Sunfest International Short Film Festival

May 15, 2021

 

Pune Short Film Festival

Oct 8, 2021

 

INTERNATIONAL FOLKLORE FILM FESTIVAL - IFFF. Jan 2, 2021

Anatolia International Film Festival

Feb 3, 2021

 

Great Message International Film Festival

Mar 20, 2021

 

Indo Global International Film Festival

Dec 25, 2020

 

K. R. MOHANAN MEMORIAL INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL

Jan 10, 2021

 

Jharkhand Film Festival

May 8, 2021

 

Alibag Short Film Festival

Jan 20, 2021

 

Goa Short Film Festival

Dec 10, 2020

 

Golden Tree International Documentary Festival

Jul 25, 2020

Stockholm Film Festival 

(Finalist)

Ashoka IFF

January 20, 2022

 

From my collection of ambient and authorial movies. My focus is on videopoetry; however, I work in other genres and art forms as well.

Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/finn.harvor

VideoStorage:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/250816849097045/

Tongin Market

통인시장에서/ Tongin Market

 

 통인시장에서

Can a novel be a movie?

Can a novel be a movie?

Full video at YouTube: https://youtu.be/PFBVpqfxoKk

From Yongin forest

 

Can a novel be a movie?

 

Can a novel be a movie? This is an idea I’ve been experimenting with and refining for over twenty years.

#screenplaynovel #literature 

Fascism in America 2

 

YouTube: https://youtu.be/Mx3SX0jHUHY?si=avyW_USl5t5-Eh22

Fascism in America

 

Fascism in America? (Clip one)

It’s already been attempted….

YouTube link: Can fascism come to America? — The Business Army (mini clip 1)

https://youtu.be/zcoya0S3mtg

Commuting costs

 

How Much Time Do You Spend Commuting? Too Much? 

*

Commuting by car adds approximately 890 million tonnes of extra co2 per year to the environment compared to public transit. And it worsens traffic jams.

#commuting #dailycommute

Full video at YouTube:

https://youtube.com/shorts/ES7FsdcO7dw?feature=share

The novel as movie

 

The novel as movie…

Clip from my illustrated screenplay novel Truth Marathon.

YouTube link: Truth Marathon, an illustrated screenplay novel — Part One (Sept. 8/25)

https://youtu.be/WwYpCpwVgVU

Hirosaki, Japan

 

David Helwig’s incel phase

 

How did David Helwig become David Whowig, part two. 

An analysis of Helwig’s strongly-praised-at-the-time short story “An Act of Oblivion”. The story is emotionally honest but deeply flawed: over described, and without psychological insight.

David Helwig 2: A Flawed (And Incel) Narrative?

https://youtu.be/Q6XYd5GLJsc

Must Canadian books have small sales?

 

The crisis of the Epstein files is also a crisis for Trump 

#trumpepstein #epsteinfiles #epsteinfiles

Full video at YouTube:

https://youtube.com/shorts/greQxoqtphw?feature=share

PoetryJudge app

 

PoetryJudge

Your poem assessment will appear here.

© 2025 PoetryJudge

저녁 구름/ Evening cloud

 

Hot, dry

 

Hot and dry in South Korea. How about where you live? 

#hotweather #한국날씨 #더운날씨 #장마끝 #dryweather

https://youtube.com/shorts/7FT0WWH9hLA?feature=share

Environmental videos

 

ARE ALGORITHMS BIASED AGAINST ENVIRONMENTAL VIDEOS?

The environment, CO2, and algorithms

 #algorithms #environmentalawareness #solarpower #solarpanels

Full video at YouTube:

https://youtube.com/shorts/DvT9CV829Gc?feature=share

Dying pine trees

 

Clear signs of climate change in South Korea.

The more I post in this topic, the more I’m struck by how many people are determined to deny the realities of climate change. Yet the evidence is often right in front of people.

 #climatechange #pinetrees #대한민국의숲 #소나무

Full video at YouTube:

https://youtube.com/shorts/ax8TmJDbtKQ?feature=share

The Korean countryside/ 한국의 시골

 

 The Korean countryside 

한국 시골의 풍경

What happened to Canadian industry?

 

Carney, Trump, and the disappearing industrial base of Canada 

#trumpcarney #dst #cdnpoli #markcarney

Full video at YouTube:

https://youtube.com/shorts/NBCSbQrTEBI?feature=share

Hot, hotter

 

It’s hot. Is it going to get hotter? (Report from Korea) #hotweather #climate #한국날씨 #더운날씨 #heat

YouTube:

https://youtube.com/shorts/oSIXRy3Ps34?feature=share

Who is Kim Jong un?

 

Kim Jong-un is the third member of the Kim family to serve as ruler. North Korea was established by Kim’s grandfather, Kim Il-sung, in 1948. 

#northkorea #kimjongun #kimfamily #northkoreanpolitics

바우리/ new kitten. Banguri

 

Jangma 2

 

Jangma/ 장마 (Korean monsoon) in Seoul, part two 

#장마 #koreanclimate #jangma

Full video at YouTube:

https://youtube.com/shorts/dplMfKsqiY0?feature=share

Jangma rains

 

Jangma/ 장마 (Korean monsoon) in Seoul, part one #jangma #장마 #monsoon

https://youtube.com/shorts/WoeHENiCD3s?feature=share

Local and global climate change

  

Pay close attention to weather this summer.

FWIW, have gotten in habit of monitoring the local climate changes here in S Korea. For ex., Chronicles of Earthly Change

https://youtu.be/yDH0EGNv3gw

But local ecosystems require global context: Greening Korea: Korea and the Poles

https://youtu.be/ro_xAzx9k08

AI and Warfare

 

The rapid weaponization of AI and remote machinery is reshaping warfare, raising ethical and strategic concerns. In Ukraine, AI-driven drones and the Wolly gun turret, which auto-locks targets up to 1,000 meters, are being developed to counter Russian forces, leveraging low-cost components like Raspberry Pi. 

Russia employs Iranian Shahed-136 drones, less advanced but effective for terrorizing civilians, and is developing AI-enhanced drones with autonomous targeting. 

Israel was a pioneer in drone technology, and it is integrating this technology with AI. It leads in AI warfare, using AI-powered turrets in the West Bank and advanced targeting systems in Gaza, dubbed the “world’s first AI war” in 2021. 

Iran, a key drone supplier, advances its AI-capable arsenal, fueling regional arms races. These developments, costing thousands rather than millions, make lethal technology more accessible, risking proliferation to non-state actors like Hamas. Hamas in turn used drones (though not necessarily AI) in its October 7 attack.

The pace—accelerated by conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East—outstrips global regulatory efforts, with the UN struggling to establish norms. Critics warn of “killer robots” operating beyond human control, potentially escalating conflicts or enabling autonomous war. There is an urgent need for international frameworks to manage AI’s battlefield role.

Sound meditation

 

Minute Meditation: The Zen of Sound #meditation #soundscape #seoul

https://youtube.com/shorts/o3ELxob-vks?feature=share

Seoul tea festival

 

국제차문화대전

Insects’ World

 INSECTS’ WORLD

(or, Beware of Those With Boots)

The letters 

were threatening,

for the systems 

had won too much…

We assumed 

bad days would pass —.

But instead 

everyone was stuffed

in a van.

Insects' World- Baram CXL

https://youtu.be/INoBL09TNtY

Trump versus Musk

 

The feud between Trump and Musk: its background — questions about campaign finance laws 

#trumpmusk

Full video at YouTube:

https://youtube.com/shorts/3EPUxdIwqMc?feature=share

Korean climate and the North and South Poles

 

Greening Korea: Korea and the Poles. 

Because the Earth is a gargantuan system, there are variations in seasonal change from one year to another. But one constant of climate change is warming at the Poles.

#koreanclimate #glacier

Full video at YouTube:

https://youtube.com/shorts/NRG4SnQVLxk?feature=share

Joni Ernst and medical cutbacks

 

“We’re all going to die”: Joni Ernst, Medicaid cuts, and care; parallels with Medicare cutbacks in Canada.

 #joni_ernst #medicaid #medicare #death #cutbacks #elderlycare

Full video at YouTube:

https://youtube.com/shorts/zjWs-SGdu9Y?feature=share

L’intelligence artificielle

L’impact d’intelligence artificielle sur les maisons d’éditions #intelligenceartificielle

https://youtube.com/shorts/DlthlwgAZ6c?feature=share

AI and the publishing industry

 

The impact of artificial intelligence on publishing houses #publishingindustry #ai

https://youtube.com/shorts/TL_1DD3Joe8?feature=share

BridgeText

BridgeText

A new form of publishing

Visit us on Facebook

Male brains, female brains and fictional narrative

  From 2006, originally published in Litkicks:

Male Brains, Female Brains and Fictional Narrative

By Finn Harvor

September 22, 2006

People aren’t buying literary fiction, we are told. Male readers in particular aren’t buying it. The reasons given these days are sometimes based on what academics call “essentialist” explanations; in other words, these activities — or lack thereof — are the result of genes. Women, we are told in recent articles by Ian McEwan, Boris Johnson and others, are hard-wired to empathize and be interested in relationships. Men are more interested in practical issues and, that catch-all word, “facts”. Or, according to this line of thought, they are not interested in reading at all.

An interesting response to this argument was made recently by Lakshmi Chaudhry of In These Times. Chaudhry begins her piece by criticizing David Brooks of the NYT for stating that boys are reading less than girls because schools are teaching “feminized” books.

Chaudhry’s initial point is that Brooks was indulging in neo-conservative thinking. While allowing that there may be a cognitive — that is, genetic — explanation for different reading patterns among men and women, she emphasizes the importance of social conditioning:

“But in a culture infused with polarizing messages about gender, such small differences can be magnified into vast disparities. If the act of reading novels today seems more “girly” — because of female-dominated book clubs or a publishing industry increasingly geared toward its most loyal customers, i.e., women – then men are less likely to do so.”

In short, Chaudhry wants to emphasize the importance social attitudes play, and ends her article by declaring we “we may be headed back to the 19th century, when the novel was considered a low-status, frivolous pastime of ladies of leisure, unfit for real men.”

It needs underlining that this is not an outcome Chaudhry wishes for; in her piece, she suggests that we need to re-engage male readers, especially at the high school level. And this is true. But in her counter-argument to Brooks’ socio-conservative overgeneralizations, Chaudhry misses a crucial point (and also makes an inaccurate overgeneralization of her own: she claims that during the 19th Century, novels were derided as frivolous and the past-time of “ladies of leisure”. In fact, this was clearly untrue during the Victorian period). Before the mid-20th Century, the novel was narrative form. Or rather, it was narrative in its long, stylistically “real” form. As Michael Allen has pointed out, the novel had no competition as a form of narrative from non-print media. And this cultural milieu in which the printed word was paramount was a major factor in the novel’s success as an artistic medium.

The last sentence is key; for if that point at which culture and technology meet were to remain eternally static, it is unlikely the novel would be in danger, as Chaudhry claims, of losing its prestige as a centerpiece of culture if society became more sexist. And that, of course, is because technology does affect culture. Very much so, where the production of narrative is concerned. As a result, when we think of fiction we should not think of novels versus non-fiction books. We should think of novels and movies and TV shows versus non-fiction. For most of the movies and TV shows that are popular are still fictional in nature; they are made up. And their audiences, one presumes, are both male and female.

This is the mistake of the current debate over the fate of the novel: it does not include all fictional narratives in the same large group. It does not recognize that fiction – when defined to include fiction that exists in all media — is having zero trouble retaining its popularity amongst both sexes.

In short, there is no biological drive on the part of men to avoid fiction. Instead, there may (I repeat, may) be a biological drive on the part of men, generally speaking, to prefer image-based media to certain kinds of print-media. In other words, this drive may have no significant depressive effect on men’s overall amount of reading, but may incline them, as a group, to read factual material that can “compete” with the great temptation of images.

More clinical research will need to be done to understand these nuances between how male and female brains process cultural stimuli. (In fact, more research will need to be done in to the question of just what we mean when we use terms such as “male” and “female” brains.)

And, in the meantime, literary commentators attracted to this issue — which, after all, is not unimportant, since the perception that male and female readers buy different sorts of books is having a tremendous influence on the choices publishers are making these days — might do well to think a little more carefully about what we mean when we use terms like “literary fiction”. After all, literature is ultimately another word for good writing. And good writing exists in mediums outside print.

Gender and reading

 

Male brains, female brains &  fictional narrative #reading #readinghabits #publishingindustry #books

https://youtube.com/shorts/0OhuMZ7RIAM?feature=share

 

Cats and food

 

Cats! Food! What cats prefer versus what’s good for them #catfood #catnutrition #고양이

https://youtube.com/shorts/90VeamiB2Io?feature=share

Semi feral cats

 

Semi-feral cats in South Korea 

#feralcats #koreannature #시골생활  #시골고양이 #catfood

Full video at YouTube:

https://youtube.com/shorts/9QPz5T_E0uo?feature=share

Canada post-election

 

Traditional markets in Seoul

 

The Tongin Shijang is a traditional market in central Seoul. Adapting to changing consumer patterns is its biggest challenge.

Market Alive: Tongin Shijang

https://youtu.be/3sPMafkAPX8

Mark Carney

 

Who is Mark Carney? (Part one)

#MarkCarney #cdnpoli #canadianelection2025 

YouTube:

https://youtu.be/K5zIoHki1Kc

New forms of literature?

 

I recently came across a social media post in which a Canadian author (whose publishing house has a logo emblazoned with the Maple Leaf) was waxing enthusiastically about an American hospital drama on Netflix. Several of her followers — also Canadian, and also patriotically utilizing the Maple Leaf in their IDs — were similarly giddy about the Netflix series. Normally, nothing worth paying attention to about this; it’s common practice in anglophone Canada.

But … but … the threat to Canada’s sovereignty has not magically disappeared, even though the aggression of the threats has moderated somewhat. So what does the future hold? Where Canada’s sovereignty is concerned, nothing pleasant if Canadians don’t change — and in a very radical way — their habits of cultural consumption. English speaking Canada is a highly colonized zone. This leads to the bizarre spectacle of Canadians (like the author mentioned above) spending a lot of time online denouncing American neo-imperialism while simultaneously binge watching US pop culture. And there’s no point in going online oneself and pointing out to these people what they’re doing; emotionally, they’re like teenagers who want “freedom” while demanding an allowance.

So, since people don’t like being told they SHOULD watch or read or listen to certain cultural works (for example, Canadian), this means that the producers of Canadian culture need to think in new ways.

A few years ago, I established a micro press called BridgeText. One of its ideas is that we need more novels that are experienced as movie scripts are.

More here: Toward a New Literature

https://youtu.be/TTux0NcjCHc

And here: https://youtu.be/NALcaQ3QCYs?si=76rj7dAePOZRsZZT

*

Je suis récemment tombé sur une publication sur les réseaux sociaux dans laquelle une auteure canadienne (dont la maison d'édition arbore un logo arborant la feuille d'érable) s'extasiait sur une série américaine sur Netflix, mettant en scène un hôpital. Plusieurs de ses abonnés, eux aussi canadiens et utilisant la feuille d'érable par patriotisme, étaient tout aussi enthousiastes à propos de la série Netflix. Normalement, rien d'intéressant à ce sujet ; c'est une pratique courante au Canada anglophone.

Mais… mais… la menace à la souveraineté du Canada n'a pas disparu comme par magie, même si son agressivité s'est quelque peu atténuée. Alors, que nous réserve l'avenir ? En ce qui concerne la souveraineté du Canada, rien de réjouissant si les Canadiens ne changent pas – et de manière très radicale – leurs habitudes de consommation culturelle. Le Canada anglophone est une zone fortement colonisée. Cela donne lieu à l'étrange spectacle de Canadiens (comme l'auteure mentionnée plus haut) passant beaucoup de temps en ligne à dénoncer le néo-impérialisme américain tout en regardant des séries de culture populaire américaine. Et il est inutile d'aller soi-même en ligne et de montrer à ces gens ce qu'ils font ; Émotionnellement, ils sont comme des adolescents qui aspirent à la « liberté » tout en exigeant une allocation.

Ainsi, comme les gens n'aiment pas qu'on leur dise qu'ils DEVRAIENT regarder, lire ou écouter certaines œuvres culturelles (par exemple, canadiennes), cela signifie que les producteurs de culture canadienne doivent réfléchir différemment.

Il y a quelques années, j'ai fondé une micro-édition appelée BridgeText. L'une de ses idées est que nous avons besoin de plus de romans qui se vivent comme des scénarios de films.

Plus ici : Nouveau futur littéraire?

https://youtu.be/9muSm6LScHE

Does Canadian culture have a future?

 

 All these people — each and every one — are self perceived Canadian nationalists. And all of them are giddy over an American Netflix series. Normally, nothing worth paying attention to about this; it’s common practice in anglophone Canada.

But … but … the threat to Canada’s sovereignty has not magically disappeared, even though the aggression of the threats has moderated somewhat. So what does the future hold? Where Canada’s sovereignty is concerned, nothing pleasant if Canadians don’t change — and in a very radical way — their habits of cultural consumption.

However, people don’t like being told they SHOULD watch or read or listen to certain cultural works. It rankles, and seems scolding. That means that the producers of Canadian culture need to think in new ways.

A few years ago, I established a micro press called BridgeText. One of its ideas is that we need more novels that are experienced as movie scripts are.

More here: https://youtu.be/NALcaQ3QCYs?si=76rj7dAePOZRsZZT

And here: https://youtu.be/g40XxM8phDI?si=U690nbROcWeqZHth

Tous ces gens – chacun sans exception – se perçoivent comme des nationalistes canadiens. Et tous sont enthousiasmés par une série américaine sur Netflix. Normalement, rien d'intéressant à ce sujet ; c'est une pratique courante au Canada anglophone.

Mais… mais… la menace à la souveraineté du Canada n'a pas disparu comme par magie, même si son agressivité s'est quelque peu atténuée. Alors, que nous réserve l'avenir ? En ce qui concerne la souveraineté du Canada, rien de réjouissant si les Canadiens ne changent pas – et de manière très radicale – leurs habitudes de consommation culturelle.

Cependant, les gens n'aiment pas qu'on leur dise qu'ils DEVRAIENT regarder, lire ou écouter certaines œuvres culturelles. C'est critiquable et semble réprimandant. Cela signifie que les producteurs de culture canadienne doivent repenser leurs façons de penser.

Il y a quelques années, j'ai fondé une micro-édition appelée BridgeText. L'une de ses idées est que nous avons besoin de plus de romans qui se vivent comme des scénarios de films.

Plus ici : Nouveau futur littéraire?

https://youtu.be/9muSm6LScHE

Spring flowers and micro geographies

 

How the patterns of blooming flowers are affected by micro geographies #ecology #springflowers #진달래

https://youtube.com/shorts/94_akRRuGOM?feature=share

Who is Mark Carney?

 

Who is Mark Carney? (Part one)

https://youtu.be/K5zIoHki1Kc

Job cuts two

 

What will be the effect of massive job cuts in the US federal govt? What will be the repercussions of making large numbers of employees jobless? 

Full video at YouTube: What will be the effect of massive job cuts in the US  govt? Good employees jobless. 

https://youtube.com/shorts/AXHiObm9gZs?feature=share

Job cuts

  

Massive job cuts with govt employees thrown out of work. Economic disaster to follow? #doge #trump

https://youtube.com/shorts/1iBakoN84hQ?feature=share

Mark Carney et al

 

Mark Carney, Mike Myers and what it means to be Canadian #markcarney #cdnpoli #canadianelection

https://youtube.com/shorts/t_yAFPqh99s?feature=share

Noteworthy

 Mourir dans la tempête par Jean Coulombe

Fine dust

 

Air pollution in Korea: How bad is it? #airquality #microscopicfinedust #미세먼지

https://youtube.com/shorts/Tg9UOWcOze8?feature=share

Big temperature fluctuations in Korea

 

Big temperature fluctuations in S. Korea. How about where you live? 

#springweather #temperaturedrop

https://youtube.com/shorts/

Full video at YouTube: MrRgdUc3Wrc?feature=share

Spring flowers and climate

 Spring flowers are blooming earlier these days. Why?

Full video at YouTube:

https://youtu.be/wqoTX9JunyM

Development in Seoul

 

The Life Span of Apartments in Seoul. What development patterns tell us about wealth and income distribution.

#seoullife #gangbuk #apartmentlife #seoulhousing

Trump Decimates America’s military industries

 

This is the pattern. Trump’s inability to maintain alliances and his complete obliviousness to what he’s doing raise  questions about his reason.

More: he decimated his own military/industrial complex. He’s alienating entire political spectrum.

YouTube: youtu.be/TYg2I5GKey4

A Tale of Two Wintry Cities

 

A Tale of Two Wintry Cities: Indicators of Climate Change in Toronto and Seoul

#Toronto #seoul #climatechange 

Full video at YouTube:

https://youtu.be/FlbbH-qM6Vo

How do you dress for winter?

 

How do you dress for winter? #outerwear #winterclothing #parka #toque #겨울옷 #vetements

https://youtube.com/shorts/GRJEW6RpWXM?feature=share

Qualities of Snow

  

What are the different qualities of snow? 

#snowfall #snowquality #winter #canada #hokkaido #korea

Full video at YouTube:

https://youtube.com/shorts/Je0saSbPkSE?feature=share

Winter in Two Cities

 

Winter in two cities: Toronto and Seoul

 #winterweather #canadianwinter #koreanwinter #한국겨울 #캐나다

Full video at YouTube:

https://youtube.com/shorts/SPNPyz1PPBQ?feature=share

Outtakes from The Business Army

 

Pages and artwork from two versions of my historical novel about an attempt to engineer a fascist coup in 1930s America.

The novel comes in two versions: as a conventional text-only manuscript, and as an illustrated screenplay novel with “storyboard roughs” and “stills” based on archival photos. I’ve seen (and, once, produced) a lot of graphic novels in my time. But I’ve never seen an approach like this. Not sure why. It’s an idea that borrows from the brilliance of whoever invented the original screenplay format, yet it avoids one of the biggest pitfalls of movie production: the incredible pressure to make a profit and recover production costs, and therefore make “crowd pleasing” fictions.

The novel itself is based on real people and events, and tells the story of General Smedley Butler — a Marine who became a vocal critic of militarism and American imperialism — and his cat and mouse relationship with Gerald MacGuire, a small time bond salesman all too willing to act as an agent for much more powerful individuals.

If curious, more here: https://www.eclectica.org/v23n2/harvor.html

Here: The Business Army, part one

https://youtu.be/g2stGjrxL1Y

And here: The Business Army- Part One A - sep 10 12

https://youtu.be/7etqXWttH_,

 

Outtakes from Baram Writer

 

 Outtakes from a Baram Writer project 

The word baram is a transliteration of 바람, or wind.

The project started twelve years ago, with a very crude moviepoem rendered in MovieMaker on a wheezy second hand laptop. (If curious: Baram Writer

https://youtu.be/oPHzuqDuAec )

It’s been through several versions since then, the most recent here: Baram Writer (new version)

https://youtu.be/Oc9PS6vXd40 )

I’m trying to capture “fugitive sensations” in the project; the sorts of thoughts and emotions one has while walking with loved one in nature, and experiencing a mix of happiness and anxiety, the latter a recognized of the worlds “objective” — that is, savage — nature.

The photos and settings of this extended project are changing: the one in the foreground is a spot near Lake Ontario that has personal significance after the deaths of my brother, mother in law, father, maternal aunt, and mother. What is the connection between the living and the dead? Memory, obviously. But there seems to be something more too, and the austere seasons of autumn and winter connect rather directly to that something.

*

BARAM WRITER

EXT. SEOUL. WINTER. LATE AFTERNOON.

It’s a greyish day, and Mats feels a mixture of coldness and clammy, wet mildness through his clothing.

Then the temperature starts to drop…

Wind blows through trees, rustles dead leaves, makes branches sway in a creaking, slow dervish.

VO [male]: The wind has its own tone, its own feeling. It’s like … coldness, thinness.

It’s like hunger.

The wind has a body. The wind is someone.