i love to watch them floating
on their backs

Calcutta. The "New Market" Mid-day nappers.

if someone offers you some suger
you should eat it

This kid was right behind the Frooti salesman. I'd just climbed all over the waterfall with him and he was all wet.

no dancing

Sikkim. By the side of the road. There was a nice waterfall nearby. Kids playing and, thank god, Frooti. I was thirsty and sicker than a dog.

loomed so large on the horizon
people thought my windows
were stars

This here's a monk kid. Sleeping. Sikkim. India. Sunshine. Top of a Mountain. No one around. You know. Just an average spring day in the Himalaya.

I think I'm going to change my life. I've got up and sat in front of my computer in my underwear too many days in a row. I need some play excuse. Some fake diversion. Computer is not interesting as it used to be. I'm getting sick of photoshop. Maybe I'll finish off that Ghat movie.

This is Sarnath. The place where Buddha. Yes THE Buddha told everyone about the Eighfold Path. Or was it the Four Noble Truths? Eh, don't matter I suppose. This is the only religious spot I've ever been to that actually made me feel all "spiritual". That big stupa was actually built up in the 6th century, 800 years after the man sat and delivered. I've included 2 red-robed monks for visual reference.

I could swear I took this in Calcutta but I was there quite a few days after Holi. Anyhow, this guy's still covered in toxic dye. A fallen technicolor angel.

Calcutta motherfucker! Sitting on the train platform. Watchin' this girl dressed in a western dress. She doesn't look very comfortable. Judging from the way she looks, she's probably a tough villager girl who never has to wear humiliating clothes like this. I'm 90% sure she's on her way to a wedding -- the most common reason for train travel in India it seems.

The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure

Signify THIS. No hyperlink. What to do with it?

I was thinking about the song that I repeated in my head Saturday morning from about 3 to 9 am as I laid awake in bed. I didn't use much of that period of time to travel the intricate paths of meaning that the lyrics can take one down but I have today. What does this song signify? Maybe the song "Don't You (Forget About Me)" by Simple Minds from "The Breakfast Club"?

Ferdinand de Saussure was a Sanskrit teacher who pretty much started the study of modern linguistics by never publishing or leaving behind a single written note of his ideas. How fucking romantic! Sephen Merritt reveals in the liner notes of 69 Love Songs that he read "Critical Theory Since 1965" (which I proudly mention was co-authored by my favorite and most influential college professor Leroy Searle) which was the sequel to "Critical Theory Since Plato" (the book that Leroy used to almost destroy my life, and which, along with a lot of acid, led me to drop out of college only 1 paper short of graduating) and which allowed Stephen to take the germ of motown melody "we are nothing. whoa whoa" as his only ammunition and shoot a Swiss linguist.

I met Ferdinand de Saussure
on a night like this
On love he said "I'm not so sure
I even know what it is
No understanding, no closure
It is a nemesis
You can't use a bulldozer
to study orchids," he said, "so
we don't know anything
you don't know anything
I don't know anything about love
But we are nothing
you are nothing
I am nothing without love"

I'm just a great composer
and not a violent man
but I lost my composure
and I shot Ferdinand
crying, "It's well and kosher
to say you don't understand
but this is for Holland-Dozier-Holland!"
His last words were:

"we don't know anything
you don't know anything
I don't know anything about love
But we are nothing
you are nothing
I am nothing without love"

His fading words were:

"we don't know anything
you don't know anything
I don't know anything about love
But we are nothing
you are nothing
I am nothing without love"

Two new videos posted tonight: "Kids and Rat" and "Varanasi Paan Spitters". Check 'em out.

Varanasi, on my way down to Brahma Ghat. Red Monkey Man.

I'm not out of Cuba shots. Just got tired of them for a while.