ODOR OF COMMERCIALISM

Since becoming the leader of the most powerful nation on earth and winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Barack Obama, had decided to apply his gifts to more modest endeavours...

And here he is doing it...

And here are the warnings, including: "Review State laws before hanging from rear view mirror"! A reminder of bad ol' days in the South, perhaps...?

There was story when Barack was running for President that Michelle Obama had told Glamor magazine that her husband snored and had B.O. Let's hope that the good people of China sent a few free sample of the Obama Air Freshener to the White House!

Our thanks to Polkadots & Moonbeams for bringing us back this excellent souvenir from Washington, home of republican democracy!

Images © Brian Sibley, uploaded via my flickr Photostream.

GETTING INTO PRESIDENTIAL GEAR

I wonder if there have ever been quite so many Presidential T-shirts on offer as those commemorating the 44th incumbent of the White House...?

Some, like the one on the left, that I spotted in a shop on 42nd Street when I was in New York recently, is pretty simplistic...

Others T-shirts (along with sweaters, baby suits, tote bags and coffee mugs) carry such slogans as: YES WE DID, And he shall be called Barack Obama, BARACK 'N' ROLL, THE TIME HAS COME, THAT ONE WON, HOPE WON and OBAMA IS MY HOPEBOY or - if you prefer a quote from the man himself - There has never been anything false about HOPE.

Some catch-phrases are clearly about looking towards the future: Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin again the work of remaking America; while a good few are about marking the progress of history: ROSA sat so that MARTIN could walk. MARTIN walked so that OBAMA could run. OBAMA ran so that our childen could fly; and still others are neatly (and punningly) saying good-bye to the past...


There is also an eloquently simple image created for the T-shirt (and allied products) trade that is surely one of the sharpest interpretations of this new presidency...


And, talking of logos on (or under) shirts, the brilliant comic book artist, ALEX ROSS whose work will be known to readers of Marvel and DC comics and who has created powerfully mythic imagery of some of the greatest superheroes has parodied one of his own classic Superman images (right) in order to create a new hero for a new era...


No PRESSURE, then...

OXYMORONIC

Happy Chinese New Year!

You are now entering my year which is

The Year of the Ox

In case you wondered here's what the Chinese believe (courtesy of Wikipedia) about Ox People...

The Ox is the sign of prosperity through fortitude and hard work. This powerful sign is a born leader, being quite dependable and possessing an innate ability to achieve great things. As one might guess, such people are dependable, calm, and modest.

Like their animal namesake, the Ox is unswervingly patient, tireless in their work, and capable of enduring any amount of hardship without complaint. Ox people need peace and quiet to work through their ideas, and when they have set their mind on something it is hard for them to be convinced otherwise.

An Ox person has a very logical mind and is extremely systematic in whatever they do, though they have a tremendous imagination and an unparalleled appreciation for beauty. These people speak little but are extremely intelligent. When necessary, they are articulate and eloquent.

People born under the influence of the Ox are kind, caring souls, logical, positive, filled with common sense and with their feet firmly planted on the ground. Security is their main preoccupation in life, and they are prepared to toil long and hard in order to provide a warm, comfortable and stable nest for themselves and their families.

Strong-minded, stubborn, individualistic, the majority are highly intelligent individuals who don't take kindly to being told what to do. The Ox works hard, patiently, and methodically, with original intelligence and reflective thought. These people enjoy helping others.

Behind this tenacious, laboring, and self-sacrificing exterior lies an active mind. The Ox is not extravagant, and the thought of living off credit cards or being in debt makes them nervous. The possibility of taking a serious risk could cause the Ox sleepless nights.

Ox people are truthful and sincere, and the idea of wheeling and dealing in a competitive world is distasteful to them. They are rarely driven by the prospect of financial gain.

These people are always welcome because of their honesty and patience. They are reputed to be the most beautiful of face in the zodiac. They have many friends, who appreciate the fact that the Ox people are wary of new trends, although every now and then they can be encouraged to try something new.

People born in the year of the Ox make wonderful parents and teachers of children. It is important to remember that the Ox people are sociable and relaxed when they feel secure, but occasionally a dark cloud looms over such people and they engage all the trials of the whole world and seek solutions for them.

It's not for me to say how accurate a description that is of my character -- and I'm not fishing for either compliments or insults! -- but I'll confess that it's already too late to heed the bit about not living off credit cards (which necessarily negates the bit about "prosperity") and the comment that Oxen are noted for "enduring any amount of hardship without complaint" is, in my case (as David will all too readily testify), absolute tosh!

Similarly, I think anyone who knows me will dispute the statement that Oxen "speak little"! I can hear the chorus all too clearly: "We wish!"

Of course, for those who - not unreasonably - don't believe in non-Chinese Astrology on the basis that it's impossible to believe that everyone born in one-twelfth of the year is, more or less, like everyone else born at that time, the Chinese Zodiac requires an even greater stretch of credulity to accept that everyone born in a span of 365 days will have common characteristics. 

Anyway, shelving the doubts for a moment (in the interests of blogging!) I'm pleased to note that share my Chinese Zodiacal sign with Walt Disney (appropriately) and Barack Obama (topically), but while those two Oxen were born in years that have the elemental supplement that makes them a Metal Ox, I was born in the year of the Earth Ox...

There are, it transpires, five elements to each of the Chinese signs of the zodiac: Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth. So, here's a more detailed analysis of my earthy personality...

Earth is a balance of both yin and yang, the feminine and masculine together. Its motion is inward and centering, and its energy is stabilising and conserving. It is associated with the color yellow and the planet Saturn, and it lies at the center of the compass in the Chinese cosmos. It is associated with the turn of each of the four seasons and with damp.

It is believed to govern the spleen, stomach, mouth and muscles. Its negative emotion is anxiety and its positive emotion is empathy. Its Primal Spirit is represented by the Yellow Dragon.

In Chinese thought Earth is associated with the qualities of patience, thoughtfulness, practicality, hard work and stability.

The earth element is also nurturing and seeks to draw all things together with itself, in order to bring harmony, rootedness and stability.

Other attributes of the earth element include ambition, stubbornness, responsibility and long-term planning. In pathology, the earth can represent selfishness and self-centeredness.

So, a few pluses and minuses there - especially for those who who have to deal with this stubborn, selfish, self-centred old Ox.

What was a big revelation, for me, was to discover that I am somehow associated with damp!

DAMP??

Must be why I love Venice so much...

Anyway, damp or dry, here's to the new year!

Click to enlarge and find your Chinese Zodiac sign.

You can read more about Chinese Astrology and the sign you were born under, here.

Images: Top Ox by H. H. Wong 黃可鏗; Middle Ox by Space Gallery.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

I drove into New York City listening to the inauguration of President Obama on the car radio.

I was very moved by the ceremony and by the fact that my driver was - like many Americans today - euphoric!

It's beautifully snowy in Central Park....

Click on images to enlarge

And the photographers are definitely OUT!


Images: © Brian Sibley, 2009

And here's buttons take on the snow.

"I'M WISHING..."

My bags are packed and, in a couple of hours, I'll be off to the airport. It's certainly an historic day on which to be flying to America!

As everyone knows, today's the day that the 44th US President, Barack Obama, will be inaugurated and will take office with more hopes and expectations riding on his shoulders than is, I think, altogether reasonable.

In his Presidential acceptance speech - a tour de force of oratory that was all the more powerful for having followed the ineptitudes of the last incumbent of the White House - Obama said: "Tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this moment, change has come to America..."

It was, of course, what America - and the world - wanted to hear; and, inevitably, it will be tempting to remember that quote divorced from the caveat that immediately followed: "The road ahead will be long, our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year, or even in one term - but America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there."

Wherever "there" is (if, indeed, it is anywhere), one cannot cavil with the sentiment - merely trust that it will be a good long time before disappointment and disillusionment set in; long enough, perhaps, for the beginnings of that promised change...

Meanwhile, as everyone will be focusing on Washington, I'll be in New York, filming an interview for the 'extras' on the forthcoming BluRay DVD of Walt Disney's first full length feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Released in 1937, it was a film that emerged from a depression era even more desperate and devastating than the one that now besets America and the world...

On the wall above my desk, as I write, is a Snow White clock, the face of which is inscribed by the late Adriana Caselotti who was the voice of Disney's heroine.

Miss Caselotti gave me this unique souvenir, twenty years ago, on one of several visits to her Hollywood home which, I am happy to inform you, had a wishing well in the front yard!

"I wish you," she wrote, "a continued beautiful and successful life."

Which seems like something we all ought to be wishing one another on this day of hopes and dreams...

Images: Caricature of Barack Obama by Bob Staake.