Tree Suites of Austria

Italian architecture firm Peter Pichler designed a series of free standing buildings in Kitzbühel, Austria called Tree Suites. Each private suite is accessed using a private elevator. Room amenities include a bedroom with a large balcony looking out into the trees, and luxury bathroom with a sauna.

Happy Thanksgiving 2019!

In these trying times in the United States, I'd like to address all my followers and regular readers of "Oh, By The Way:"

On this holiday of gratitude, let's give thanks for the recent glimmers of hope, the things that make us good, strong, honorable, and loving human beings. Let's give thanks to the people who bring light and calm and love to our lives and to the world. Because we are basically leaderless and because of a small faction of people who wish to bring ugliness and darkness to our country, let's give thanks for the actions and goodwill in our lives--whether done by others or ourselves--that strengthen the fabric of humanism and the choices to unite, protect, and find value in this existence. Hold dear these things and live up to these ideals for which we are grateful. Let us find value in ourselves and others and express this gratitude in our intentions, deeds, and words. Let us counteract the current dark tone with this gratitude for life and living. Let's be grateful for the value of human experience and know that their darkness has no true power and will not take that away.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2019

Thanks, Jesus 2019

As we eat our Thanksgiving meal, let us thank not an imaginary figure in the sky but those who are TRULY responsible--migrant workers and immigrants legal or undocumented--for helping to bring our food to our tables, through their numbingly long days of low-wage, backbreaking work.

BEAUTY: Painting--Kazuo Torigoe

The trompe-l'œil work of Japanese fine art painter Kazuo Torigoe is astounding. He plays on a long tradition of a style of still life illusions which dates back to the Renaissance. I love his fruit and bugs and the fact that some of them extend past the "frame" calling into question exactly where the painting stops and the actual wooden frame begins...if at all.

https://kazuotorigoe.com/

"Brainwasher" by Nox Vahn

Oh my god this song scares the sh*t out of me and I LOVE it. The low rumbling blast in "Brainwasher" by Nox Vahn reminds me of the random mechanical/motor sounds heard all during the film "Blade Runner 2049." And of course the claustrophobic lyrics are heavy and dystopian.
Wow.

Here we are again

It's the same music
It's the same time
It's the same rhythm
It's the same rhyme
It's the same club
Its' the same high
It's the same DJ
Now get in line
Here we go again

It's the same haircut
It's the same tie
It's the same promise
It's the same lies
It's the same Monday
It's the same drive
It's the same paycheck
Now get in line
Here we go again

It's the same comment
It's the same like
It's the same ringtone
It's the same flashing lights
See, it's the same machine
It's the same design
Here to control you
Now get in line
Here we go again

https://noxvahn.com/

Abandon Them!

Hypocrites

"Listen To Their No" by Underworld

Wow, what an explosive, joyous song from Underworld (Karl Hyde and Rick Smith). "Listen To Their No" is just released on "DRIFT Series 1," a collection of songs they recorded weekly over the period of the last year. They set about creating a new piece of music and an accompanying video experiment to be published every week. The album features highlights from this ambitious, prolific, and fruitful endeavor.

Say it: magic's never broken.

https://underworldlive.com/

Someone Great Is Gone

"Someone Great" by LCD Soundsystem.

I wish that we could talk about it
But there, that's the problem
With someone new I could have started
Too late for beginnings
The little things that made me nervous
Are gone in a moment
I miss the way we used to argue
Locked in your basement

I wake up and the phone is ringing
Surprised, as it's early
And that should be a perfect warning
That something's a problem
To tell the truth, I saw it coming
The way you were breathing
But nothing can prepare you for it
The voice on the other end

The worst is all the lovely weather
I'm stunned it's not raining
The coffee isn't even bitter
Because what's the difference?
There's all the work that needs to be done
It's late for revision
There's all the time and all the planning
And songs to be finished

And it keeps coming and it keeps coming
And it keeps coming 'til the day it stops
And it keeps coming and it keeps coming
And it keeps coming 'til the day it stops
And it keeps coming and it keeps coming
And it keeps coming and it keeps coming
And it keeps coming and it keeps coming
And it keeps coming 'til the day it stops

I wish that we could talk about it
But there, that's the problem
With someone new I could have started
Too late for beginnings
You're smaller than my wife imagined
Surprised you were human
There shouldn't be this radio silence
But what are the options?

When someone great is gone, when someone great is gone
When someone great is gone, when someone great is gone
When someone great is gone, when someone great is gone
When someone great is gone, when someone great is gone
We're safe
For the moment
Saved
For the moment

http://lcdsoundsystem.com/

I Miss My Mom

Burgundy

Another meditation on a color.

Moon Duo Are Groovy

Oh my, I am obsessed with these neo-psychedelic tracks from "Stars Are The Light," the newest release by Moon Duo. Float--or groove--away as Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada perform "Flying," "Lost Heads," and "Eye 2 Eye."

https://moonduo.org/

Salvador Dalí's Tarot Deck

Apropos of a past post about my collection of Tarot cards here, I am excited that just yesterday, German art book publisher Taschen began selling Salvador Dalí's legendary Tarot deck.

Taschen says:
"Legend has it that when preparing props for the James Bond film Live and Let Die, producer Albert Broccoli commissioned Surrealist maestro Salvador Dalí to create a custom deck of tarot cards. Inspired by his wife Gala, who nurtured his interest in mysticism, Dalí eagerly got to work, and continued the project of his own accord when the contractual deal fell through.

The work was published in a limited art edition in 1984 that has since long sold out, making Dalí the first renowned painter to create a completely new set of cards. Drawing on Western masterpieces from antiquity to modernity (including some of his own), Dalí seamlessly combined his knowledge of the arcane with his unmistakable wit. The result is a surreal kaleidoscope of European art history."

Along with the cards themselves (in both Spanish and English, of course), Taschen includes a booklet by renowned German tarot author Johannes Fiebig which features an introduction to Dalí’s life and the project’s making-of, a comprehensive explanation of each card’s composition and its meaning, and step-by-step instructions on how to perform readings.

https://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/art/all/44640/facts.dali_tarot.htm

What Happens Next: Pete For President 2020

"We know that the purpose of the presidency is not the glorification of the president. It is the unification of the American people. That is why we have the office."
--Pete Buttigieg

I Miss My Dad

"Prospect" by Nox Vahn and Marsh

I love the darkness of this song, "Prospect" by Nox Vahn and Marsh.

https://noxvahn.com/
https://soundcloud.com/marshmusician

BEAUTY: Painting--Jillian Denby

The bucolic landscape paintings of artist Jillian Denby remind me of works by Constable and Fragonard...except for the puzzling, fascinating groups of people far in the background, doing who knows what...skimming ponds, building fences...which makes for wonderfully elusive narratives.

Top to bottom: Big Fence With Bird; Disguise; Falling Figure; Hollow; Idyll With Pea Fowl; Mirror, Mirror; Swimming; Swing With Cow; Tangle; Watch

https://jilliandenby.com/