leonardcohenforum.com

The masks.

On February 25 this whimsical little Eden was invaded by reality.

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I suppose there will always be a snake in any "Eden"...

its4inthemorning wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2020 1:33 am The masks.

On February 25 this whimsical little Eden was invaded by reality.

4

hello. are you the lady they call 'bev'? anyway, yes, it looks like we are doomed, and that it really is the end this time. the virus is now in norway and getting closer by the hour. i have bought a large sack of rice and stocked my cupboard with tins of fruit, corned beef and dried milk, etc. - and my medicine chest has a good selection of pharmaceutical items that could be useful. i live on the uppermost floor of a block of flats, very secure. i am an optimist - am confident i can survive this until it's safe to venture out again. not sure what will happen to this forum if the webmaster succumbs, but will keep posting for as long as possible, just to keep in touch with any other perceptive people out there who didn't put their heads in the sand.
https://youtu.be/nye0Q-XSJGM

Optimism, yes, almost always the best frame of mind to maintain. Without optimism we are left only with waiting for the miracle, and miracle's odds are always slim. Hope you can venture out before your rice and corned beef are gone, and that your stock includes pizza ingredients (round or square is immaterial).

I am not the woman they call Bev, I am Curt. I can't hold a candle to dear Bev in terms of art, music, and knowledge of Cohen, and probably much more.

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Geoffrey wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2020 3:46 pm ...[1] it looks like we are doomed and that it really is the end this time...
[2] i am an optimist...

Am I the only one who finds these two statements to be totally contradictory?

LisaLCFan wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2020 7:27 pm

Geoffrey wrote: ↑Fri Feb 28, 2020 3:46 pm ...[1] it looks like we are doomed and that it really is the end this time...
[2] i am an optimist...

Am I the only one who finds these two statements to be totally contradictory?

at first glance they do indeed appear to be contradictory, but as a voracious student of rhetoric i can assure you that people commonly use the word 'we' in an exaggerated sense. it doesn't always mean that they are including themselves. a deadly virus will always have the potential of ending life as we know it, but the few well-prepared amongst us will almost certainly survive. not only am i an optimist, but also a thinking person - not a sheep. remember the world trade centre, messages coming through loud speakers telling everyone that they were safe, to remain where they were, to not panic. we must learn to question what others say, to not believe everything, to trust our own instincts. believe me, it is possible that a president who announces a threat as being "very low" may have less than honourable reasons for saying so.

I agree,Geoffrey.

Prompted by the Corona panic, this morning I ordered an English translation of Jean Giono's "Le Hussard sur le toit". In this novel, the panic reactions to the 1832 cholera epidemic here in Provence play an important part.
If the translation is worth reading (the original is !), I'll let you know.

Among all those whom the gods have graced with foreknowledge of the future, I always had a preference for the ones who know that Armageddon is imminent.
According to Jehovah's Witnesses, the Great Destruction is to take place in 1878, in 1881, in 1914, in 1918, in 1925, in 1975, before the turn of the century, and at the turn of the century.
I really like their generosity in questions of doom.

Why shouldn't this kind of foreknowledge qualify as optimism?

Today, there's over-population, lack of natural resources, climate-change, chem-trails, alien and foreign invaders, locusts, conspiracies, viruses — and each of these fashion phenomena is the end of the world.

Now every minutest change is indeed the end of the world — the world as it was. And the beginning of a new one. If it were otherwise, "no one that you hurt / Could ever heal" (If I Didn't Have Your Love).
So I do think that for such a dynamic world (and for humans being conscious that it is), the term "optimism" should be adequate enough.

As for the rest:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZbKHDPPrrc

all very interesting, jean - thank you. so very good of you to jump in. you may be thrilled to know that i recently bought a sony walkman (the incredible nw-ws413/ws414) to wear while taking my daily mountain hike. i have a lot of music on it, mainly opera - nothing that you would like - but also a french course. i always thought why not give the brain something to do while the body is exercising. so, i am brushing up on my french ("je m'appelle geoffrey" for instance). by the way, i love both james stewart and doris day. even more interesting than all of that, though, is a video someone recently dropped into my box. this entertainer may be thinning on top, may have plagiarised someone's melody, but boy does he have charm
https://youtu.be/wK2PkvwaEAo

Geoffrey, you have created a place where I can go whenever I start thinking too highly of myself and see all of the artistic talents I completely lack. Interesting writing and artwork was quite enough, now you are shaming me with your musical abilities. Where does this end? Have you any sculptures to offer, any poetry, to wipe out my last bits of self esteem?

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its4inthemorning wrote: ↑Sat Feb 29, 2020 6:14 pm Geoffrey, you have created a place where I can go whenever I start thinking too highly of myself and see all of the artistic talents I completely lack. Interesting writing and artwork was quite enough, now you are shaming me with your musical abilities. Where does this end? Have you any sculptures to offer, any poetry, to wipe out my last bits of self esteem?

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you are so good to me, curt. i have written some poetry, but mostly prose, vignettes - several volumes. no sculptures, apart from papier-mâché or shaping heads out of large potatoes. you have skills that i lack, i am sure - most people are gifted in one area or another. making pictures requires little skill, at least the ones that i produce. children are the real experts!

below are three lazy attempts at drawing a simple stork with a marker pen. just start by doing this sort of thing - it's almost impossible to not be able to do it. i did this now just to show you. then take it a step further, and in the end you will become more competent and surprise yourself
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"one two three, one two three, one" (flying storks)

old-fashioned notebook

"guided by a signal in the heavens"

a thin Irish vagrant? do i win the prize? thanks for setting your puzzle ("tramp o' lean" 4,5,7)although sometimes the clue is set first and then the answer revealed. you always were a difficult mother figure ("contrary Mary" 8,6,)

solongleonard wrote: ↑Fri Mar 06, 2020 1:33 am a thin Irish vagrant? do i win the prize? thanks for setting your puzzle ("tramp o' lean" 4,5,7)although sometimes the clue is set first and then the answer revealed. you always were a difficult mother figure ("contrary Mary" 8,6,)

very clever, michael - long time since i did a cryptic crossword puzzle. you always were fascinated by words.
glad you came back from where you've been
----------------------
leonard cohen wrote:
>"the word butterfly is not a real butterfly. there is the word and there is the butterfly" steer your way

"thank you friends, for endangering your household budgets"
-leonard cohen to an audience 2013.