A quiet day at Art Joglo Lembongan.
Endless boring computer work to scrape together some $’s and a mildly interesting conversation with a guy who runs a cannabis branding and retail business in Southern California. Luckily for the podcast he had a grip on reality, I presume because he’s Ukrainian ,so unpleasant things must jump into his life daily.
He had some interesting insights about cannabis legalization in Thailand and like all I speak to in the “industry” was genuinely surprised I actually know what I’m talking about.
On a not too far away topic i read a great piece (yet again) by the only person who can write about the reality of psychdelic culture in the 2020’s, Michelle Lhooq, at her blog “Rave New World”. Have a gander at it on substack.
The piece “Fuck Your Burn” about the disaster that was Burning Man 2023 captures perfectly how counter-cultures are always assimilated by capitalism.
She writes in fabulous little phrases and her use of the language is sometimes Didion like in its clarity.
Today I enjoyed….
“Why I thought the protest was a failure in many ways on-the-ground, yet became a super successful hypermeme in the performative space of social media. We also discussed the spiritual martyrdom of climate protests, the insidiousness of cyberpunk dystopia fantasies, and Burning Man’s tech utopianism vs the protestors’ anti-capitalist austerity”
“Tommy also discussed his disappointing experiences attempting to organize climate protests with the Burning Man community in the past, why he doesn’t think art can inspire Burners to action, and how the “transformational” festival’s ethos is really just late-stage capitalism and individualism”
She uses the English language in the way that many under the age of 30 do but somehow manages to strip it of it’s fluff and vacuity and instead create something razor sharp, it’s clever writing and I always look forward to her emails dropping into my gmail unlike the other 400 odd daily missives that i try to send to the bin as quickly as possible.
The Frangipanis are still flowering, I do love the deep red/pink ones. I could look at that splash of colour decorating the bare branches of the still immature trees all day.
My visitors on the weekend said they’d remove the Bougainvillea in the raised bed in front of the porch to get a better view. I never understand the desire for a “better view” i love trees and plants “blocking” my view that give me scale, beauty, context and most importantantly shade from the ever hotter afternoons we are getting at the moment.
Also watching the red ants on their busy, never varying path, through the tangled Bougainvillea is a daily highlight. They are without a shadow of a doubt the busiest of all the creatures on this island.