Boats Against The Current...

      So here I am, back again, ready for your scoldings; "Where've you been?!", "We nearly called the police!", "Make me a sandwich!" and so forth. Yes, I have been gone, and I refuse to make excuses (As good as they may be). I made a promise at the beginning of this project, and I intend to keep it, shall we call this 'strike one'? Except I get seven strikes, because I’m cheeky.
Anyway, now that I’ve brought myself to the computer I have finally become dramatically inspired by the eclectic mix of images above my desk. Possibly in an effort to procrastinate from writing this; I lean back on my chair and look up through the etherial glowing dust floating between me and the images of the late greats: Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich & Jacqueline de Ribes - mixed with the more modern striking advertisements of Tom Ford, Vivienne Westwood & a picture of Lady Gaga with her nipples out in a “Exploding Plastic Inevitable” dress, from a piece in Vanity Fair. It’s a peculiar and eclectic mix of images spanning from 16th Century drawings to 21st Century modern art. It astounds me every time I look at the wall, how well these things go together, despite the unmeasurable change occurring between the times in which they were created.
      Hence, somehow I moved from looking at icons from different ages to the idea of ‘change’. Specifically, the idea of cultural change: The movement in fashion, how people wish to be portrayed and how they are received. We change our selves, all the time, as I have talked about in a previous post. However if we change to fast, we might be seen as ‘weird’, ‘freaks’ and so on and so on. In the same way, if we change to slow, or don’t change at all, we may be seen as boring, conservative or ‘freaky’. I myself try to change a little bit faster than the general population, aka, trying to be fashionable, bohemian and liberal, however, I am not alone. There are countless amounts who are around on the same level of ‘change velocity’ - This is a personal choice. After seeing this in myself, I have continually tried to respect those who change at a different rate, or don’t change at all. I’m not going to see ‘change is bad’ or ‘change is inevitable’ - because neither statement is true for everyone. It is important to respect the choices of certain people to stay the same at a certain point in time (i.e. Our elders, some of whom still behave as if it’s the 70s). Because in a way, they represent our past, they serve not only as magnificent human beings, but furthermore as almost artifacts. Little souvenirs of our past; and we should respect them for that. In much the same way, we must respect those who seem crazy, or whacky, or obsessed with the future, because although they do not directly ‘represent the future’ - they do represent that hope for progression in the future.
      Therefore, where I have previously despised the idea of ‘static-ness’ and lack of change, I now see that really change is something that is neither good or bad. Whether change is happening or not or never will; we just have to deal with it as it comes, and we have to respect those who think differently.

X AJ

Sidenote: In homage to this marvelously uncoordinated spiraling failure of a post, attempting to address the issue of ‘change’, I have changed the design of the blog! And, in respect of things staying the same I will leave pictures of the old blog on the blog's very own Flickr Photostream!
I will continue to do this every time I change the blog design, because although it’s important to move forward, it’s also very important to never forget (or at least make an effort). Furthermore, who knows what I may use the photo stream for in the future - cock shots most probably

Also, brownie points for guessing the source of the quote; all in the comments below with your calamitous comments and despicable despite-mail.