Conscience
Living in a box: heartbreaking images of Hong Kong’s poor…
Via mymodernmet Many people who live in New York City might believe that they have a ’small’ apartment. But, after seeing this photo series of cramped apartments, you might reconsider. And that’s exactly what the human rights organization Society for Community Organization (SoCo) was going for when they commissioned the project. In the middle of 2012, Hong Kong was ranked as one of the world’s most livable cities. But, the issue with these types of glamorous rankings is that, often times, a city’s major problems are pushed aside. In an effort to raise awareness about the inadequate housing concerns in Hong Kong, and about the percentage of people who survive in extremely tiny living quarters, SoCo developed this photo campaign that features an aerial view of incredibly crowded apartments. Often no bigger than a large cubicle, the apartments average about 40 square feet and are the result of dividing already small spaces into smaller, partitioned rentals. Each wide-angle photograph, shot from overhead, highlights individuals and families, along with their belongings, surviving in these very crammed and extreme conditions.
Conscience: Proust by Alain De Botton
It is not the contented or the glowing who have left many of the profound testimonies of what it means to be alive. It seems that such knowledge has usually been the priviledged preserve of, and the only blessing granted to, the violently miserable.
Nevertheless, before subscribing uncritically the Romantic cult of suffering, it should be added that suffering has, on its own, has never been quite enough. It is unfortunately easier to lose a love than to complete In Search Of Lost Time, to experience unrequited desire than to write De L’Amour, to be socially unpopular than the author of The Birth Of Tragedy. Many unhappy syphilitics fail to write their Fleur Du Mal and shoot themselves instead. Perhaps the greatest claim one can therefore make for suffering is that it opens up the possibilities for intelligent, imaginative enquiry - possibilies that may quite be, and often are, overlooked or refused.
How can we do neither? Even if the creation of a masterpeice plays no part in the ambition, how can we learn to suffer more sucessfully? Though philosophers have traditionally been concerned with the pursuit of happiness, far greater wisedom would seem to lie in pursuing ways to be properly and productively unhappy. The stubborn recurence of misery means the development of a workable approach to it must surely outstrip the value of any utopian quest for happiness. Proust, a veteran of grief, knew as much…
“The whole art of living is to make use of the individuals through whom we suffer”
Fyi, syphilitics are people suffering from syphilis - l had to check that one out cos l didnt know. That’s because, as anyone whose been ill (with syphilis or otherwise:-/ ), knows that your brain opens up in a whole new way of thinking when your health is in jeopardy. Just thought l’d clear that up 
There are few things…
… humans are more dedicated to than unhappiness. Had we been placed on the earth by a malign creator for the exclusive purpose of suffering we would have good reason to congratulate ourselves on our enthusiastic response to the task. Reasons to be inconsoliable abound; 
the frailty of our bodies, the fickleness of love, the insincerities of social life, the compromises of friendship, the deadening effects of habit. In the face of such persistant ills one might expect that no event would be awaited with greater anticipation than the moment of our own extinction.
Brazil: A Melting Pot?
These gorgeous shots were taken from a protest outside the entrance of 2012’s Fashion Rio in Gavea (way back in May - please excuse the lazy delay). These beautiful creatures were making a (somewhat stunning yet controversial) scene in an act against the low number of black models used in Rio’s fashion week. Summoned by NGO Educaagro, the org claims that only 10% of the models used in Fashion Rio are black. See more about this project (in portuguese) here: Radialist
The Hours
But what does it mean?
What does it mean to regret
when you have no choice?
It was death.
I chose life.
Apparently…
… it is something to do with the pressure of countless unknown dimensions (beyond the regular three) and string vibrations that make the conditions possible for us to be here.
We are the result of those conditions.
“well makers…
…lead the water [wherever they like]; fletchers bend the arrow; carpenters bend a log of wood;
wise people fashion themselves.”
words Dhammapada & image Yuko Shimizu
“Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe…
…or we are not.
Both are equally terrifying.”
Authur C. Clarke
Film stills: 2001 Space Odyssey
“You say they create their own reality”, said Veronika, “but what is reality?”
“It’s what the majority deems it to be. It’s not necessarily the best or the most logical, but it’s the one that has become adapted to the desires of society as a whole. You see this thing i’ve got round my neck?”
“You mean your tie?”
“Exactly. Your answer is the logical, coherent answer an absolutely normal person would give: it’s a tie! A madman, however, would say that what I have round my neck is a ridiculous, useless bit of coloured cloth tied in a very complicated way, and which makes it harder to get air into your lungs and difficult to turn your neck. I have to be careful when I’m anywhere near a fan, or I could be strangled by this bit of cloth.
“If a mad person were to ask me what this tie is for, I would have to say, absolutely nothing. It’s not even purely decorative, since nowadays it’s become a symbol of slavery, power, aloofness. The only really useful function a tie serves is the sense of relief when you get home and take it off; you feel as if you’ve freed yourself from something, though quite what you don’t know.
“But does that sense of relief justify the existence of ties? No. Nevertheless, if I were to ask a madman and a normal person what this is, the sane person would say: a tie. It doesn’t matter who’s correct, what matters is who’s right.’
“Certain people, in their eagerness to construct a world which no external threat can penetrate, build exaggeratedly high defenses against the outside world, against new people, new places, different experiences, and leave their inner world stripped bare. It is there that Bitterness begins its irrevocable work.
“The will was the main target of Bitterness (or Vitriol, as Dr. Igor preferred to call it). The people attacked by this malaise began to lose all desire, and within a few years, they became unable to leave their world, where they had spent enormous reserves of energy constructing high walls in order to make reality what they wanted it to be.”
Veronika Decides To Die
Paulo Coelho
Live for this…
From someone saying what needs to be said as good as it can ever BE said…… to someone who ain’t sayng a Goddamned thing!! Sorry but I have to ‘lol’ at this… seems Yeezy is still seriously burned from the whole Katrinagate debacle and seems to have had his jaw re-wired shut for this dubious apprerance with Daddy “wait til I get you home” Simmons, (something distinctly familia about this coupling). So, I know we ought to be in awe of the Mouth Of The 21st CenturyTM demonstrating such silent resolve but fruck that. I’ve spent months, YEARS of my life hanging on his words - now is definately not the time to be silenced! Besides, Mr West, all your brain farts are from the heart & that’s why we love you….
FYI, Some YT commentator mentioned that this vid outta be called, “Russell Simmons occupies Wall Street for Kanye West.” 
Just Love it!!
Quietly, quietly my heart
Sways in the lap of the night,
Softly the darkness fades
To faery light.
The jasmine and the rose
Breathe glory in the dusk,
Entwining in their wine
Dewy Musk
And heavy lies the dew,
And all the fragrant flowers
Embalm the sleepy land
In their showers.
Come back, O wand’ring bird,
Come back to the empty nest,
To the couch that ever waits –
To my breast.
O night, with your cold white stars,
And your silence and your wind,
Can ye not bring her back,
So unkind?
Ext: “The Saffron Wings of Dusk” by N.P. Graham
English Rose
& a few weeks ago we lose the most talented.
I mean seriously - what the fuck is going on??
I’m the first to champion the versatility and depth of the English Language, but emotive language is always where we seem fall flat…
Love this…
Honourable mention; Saudades Brazilian Portuguese which means somthing more than missing, but more like a deep and enduring yearning for someone/thing.
Via
‘Narco Culture’ by Shaul Schwarz for Getty Images
“Let’s face it, the heroes these days are not the lawyers or the politicians, the heroes are theguys flashing the money,” says Narco music promoter Joel Vasquez outside a Narco-Corrido club in Los Angeles.
“The market is bigger than ever. I think we can be the next Hip-Hop.”
While death statistics have been documented ad nauseam, far less has been said about the broader social reality created by the drug trade and affecting the lives of millions of Latin-Americans. For many here, narco traffickers provide the only models of fame and success. Greed, drugs and violence have now created a new culture – a Narco Culture.”
Salomé, you know my white peacocks, my beautiful white peacocks that walk in the garden between the myrtles and the tall cypress trees. Their beaks are gilded with gold, and the grains that they eat are gilded with gold also, and their feet… are stained with purple. When they cry out the rain comes, and the moon shows herself in the heavens when they spread their tails I will give you fifty of my peacocks. They will follow you whithersoever you go, and in the midst of them you will be like the moon in the midst of a great white cloud.
.
Oscar Wilde.
Robert Frost
Whose woods these are I think I know
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake
The woods are lovely, dark and deep
But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep
And miles to go before I sleep
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year
To ask if there is some mistake
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake
But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep
And miles to go before I sleep
Borf is not caught. Borf is many. Borf is none. Borf is waiting in your car. Borf is in your pockets. Borf is running through your veins. Borf is naive. Borf is good for your liver. Borf is controlling your thoughts. Borf is everywhere. Borf is the war on boredom. Borf annihilates. Borf hates school. Borf is a four letter word for joy. Borf is quickly losing patience. Borf yells in the library. Borf eats pieces of shit like you for breakfast. Borf is digging a hole to China. Borf is bad at graffiti. Borf is ephemeral. Borf is invinsible. Borf. Borf ruins everything. Borf runs near the swimming pool. Borf keeps it real. Borf writes you love letters. Ol’ Dirty Bastard is Borf. Borf knows everything. Borf is in the water. Borf doesn’t sleep. Borf systematically attacks the infrastructure of totality. Borf is a foul mouth. Borf eats your homework. Borf brings you home for dinner. Borf is dirt under your fingernails. Borf is the song that never ends. Borf gets down. Borf gets up. Borf is your baby. Borf is neither. Borf is good for your heart, the more you eat the more you. Borf is. Borf knows. Borf destroys. Borf is immortal. Borf pulls fire alarms. Borf scuffs the gym floor. Borf is looking through your Mam’s purse. Borf is M. Borf is the size of Alaska. Borf likes pizza. Borf is in general. Borf is. Borf is nothing to sod with. Borf runs it. Borf has reflexes like a cat. Borf is immortal. Borf sticks gum under the desk. Borf is omnipotent. Borf is flawed. Borf is winning.
“Atticus told me to delete the adjectives and I’d have the facts.”
Harper Lee, To Kill A Mocking Bird
Buffon’s Beasts
“The plates below are from a 1753 work called ‘Collection des Animaux Quadrupèdes’ which forms part of an enormous 36-volume series (’Histoire Naturelle’) issued over a forty year period by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon.”
“…millions, billions. They all sound like the same thing, a big blurred thing on the evening news.
It is perhaps because they lack a sense of relative size that works on a human scale. So one useful trick is to imagine those numbers instead as seconds.
A million seconds is about 11.5 days.
A billion seconds is nearly 32 years…”
Extract: The Tiger That Isn’t
Old Blue
Old Blue died and he died so hard
He shook the ground in my back yard.
I dug his grave with a silver spade
And I lowered him down with a golden chain.
Every link you know I did call his name,
I called “Here, Blue, you good dog, you.”
Nature by Numbers
Whenever I’m feeling blue, I always seem to find sanctuary in something which makes me feel all small and insigificant - in the nicest possible way.So posting this again cos I need it, and if you’re already feeling good, guaranteed to make you feel even better…
With much love to ya & don’t forget to go full-screen
Nature by Numbers from Cristóbal Vila on Vimeo.
Surrealism…
…is based on the belief in the superiority of certain forms of previously neglected associations
in the omnipotence of dream,
in the disinterested play of thought,
it tends to win once, and for all psychic mechanisms,
to substitute itself for them in solving all the principle problems of life.
(or; “Happy talking, talking, happy talk. Talk about things you like to do. You’ve got to have a dream, if you don’t have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?”)
Un Techo para mi Pais (A Roof for my Country)
“We work to meet needs of slum residents through a combination of relief and development. On one hand, construction of transitional housing provides shelter and relieves families from urgent problems such as inclement weather, health hazards and other dangers. On the other hand, our social inclusion programs go beyond such immediate relief to focus on long-term skill development, allowing slum dwellers to break out of the cycle of poverty.”
If you dislike this, go here to see how you can help : )
The changing world of the Geisha…
“Japan is reeling from a 20-year economic slump, and has recently been surpassed by China as the world’s second-largest economy. What the Japanese call the “lost years” have taken a serious toll on some of the country’s most beloved cultural icons, including the Geisha. Instead of charging several hundred dollars for tea, dancing and artful conversation, many now have to look for other ways to make a living.”
The changing world of Japan’s Geisha from Matthew Allard on Vimeo.
Al Jazeera’s Steve Chao reports from Kyoto on the changing world of the geisha. Shot and edited by Matthew Allard, the piece gives us a rare, inside look at their modern world.
CLFmag LVS The Ocean Preservation Society
This is the proudest day yet for CLFmag because the Ocean Preservation Society has granted us permission to be their legitimate supporters! Woohoo! I know everyone has their cause which moves them and CLFmag is pretty much devastated by what’s happening to the oceans, and then OPS’s The Cove came out and I’ve never felt such emotion watching a documentary in my life, so how could we not do our little insignificant something to help? So thank you so much OPS and can’t wait to get the banner up and pledge our allegiance!
BEIJOS everyone!
(Sasha)
Go see the OPS site here
Conscience: The Story Of Stuff
If you like your entertainment with a side helping of guilty conscience, I have just the thing for you!! If you’ve already seen The Story Of Stuff before, watch it again (cos nothing much has changed anyway). And if you haven’t , set aside whatever it is you’re doing for the next twenty and bask in the glory of how well our species well and truly fuckied it up. This brilliantly executed animated short was compiled by activist Annie Leonard. It was first released onto YouTube December 2007 and has been continually bashed by the US right - i.e. the kind of people who don’t believe in dinosaurs - and praised by the left ever since, even heralded “a mega-hit on three levels” by non other than John Passacantando, Executive Director of Greenpeace.Hmmm, I know whose opinion I’m trusting. Enjoy!
Beijos! (Sasha)
Playing For Change
Ok, if there was ever, ever a feel-good warm and tingly pants video to lighten the heart of the most cantankerous old trout, this has to be it. What an absolute tribute to humanity. So here at CLF mag we want to give as much support to movements like this - the ones that use art as a means to connect people and give help to those who really need and deserve it, more than ever in this stupid world we live in…
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