draw things paint things write things make things, number 309 … The Man in the Orange Castle

The clown car is full.

Good Afternoon.   

How is your day going? Sometimes I like to think of a day as a vinyl record, with song titles like 

Didn’t Sleep Well
Why Does That Hurt?
Going to Be a Rough One
So Fat
Talking Is Trouble Today
Lower Your Expectations, Dummy
All Terrible Things Must Be Ignored
The Key to a Clean Inbox Is Anger
House Is Filthy Again
Call That Stupid Guy Back
Job Hates You
Kid Won’t Listen
More Bad Things Coming Up
Client Won’t Listen
Alcohol Is Not the Answer Yet It Erases the Question
Spouse Won’t Listen
Late Night Revenge Snacks
Total Collapse of the Heart

Of course the album would be called Bad Every Day (Someday You’ll Be Dead Anyway).

The news doesn’t help. Watching the Trump cabinet appointments is like watching that scene in Blazing Saddles where Hedley Lamarr is interviewing bad guys for ‘deputies’.

As always, I do not say this with even the slightest sense of schadenfreude — we’re about to get our own B-grade, less-indictable set of slurpee heads here in Canada when the governing Liberals get absolutely crushed at the next election. I don’t know how the new guys are going to cope with tens of thousands of immigrant refugees fleeing north. I guess we’ll see. One can usually assume the worst. 

All of this stuff is beginning to feel like living in a J.G. Ballard story. 

Just to underline things, the other night we watched Cosmopolis. Oh, the good ol’ days, when the enemy was just slick capitalist greed. This is a movie that felt more like a play. Starring (a very young-looking) Robert Pattinson but loaded with other names — Paul Giamatti, Juliette Binoche, Samantha Morton, Mathieu Amalric and a few others you will recognize. Directed by David Cronenberg, which is a bit of a problem in the sense that it has that very Canadian look to it ... the lighting feels discounted, depleted, even flat. Never looks rich. Based on the book by Don DeLillo, which I read in some other lifetime, and remember enjoying, but would never imagine as a film. I don't think his books are meant to be translated that way (see: White Noise). Cosmopolis is a story about self-abnegation, which is slightly different than self-sabotage or self-destruction, and the main character seems both insulated from and helpless before the downward trajectory he's chosen. Events are at the same time plastic and yet kind of grimy. 

As a corrective, the next night we watched Brittany Runs A Marathon. Simply put, a young woman is both told and then discovers that she needs to change her body and her life. This will be resisted — not just by Brittany’s brain but by the people around her who don’t like change (reminding me of a Joyce Carol Oates story called The Swimmer). It follows a classic four-act structure, wherein the ultimate contest is Brittany versus finally-getting-her-head-on-straight. Not easy. My Gen Z daughter spent a lot of time hiding her eyes, even leaving the room. The struggles feel real and the resolution is unavoidably emotional and satisfying. 

So we can all just tell ourselves that if we work hard enough and learn from our mistakes then everything will be okay.

Except when that’s not true. Still seeing a deluge of commentary by other artists talking about their work no longer moving, people just not spending/buying. A post-Covid, cost-of-living, cheap-AI-art (I’m looking at you, Temu), losing-contact-with-real-things, with-analogue-life, ongoing-pessimism thing. All sorts of creatives just giving up, not knowing what else to do. I had to make a face when I saw one artist post about her daughter complaining, “Mommy, there’s too much art in the house!” Which is a true thing, and incredibly dispiriting, seeing your house or studio fill up with work that is not moving. These pieces need to live in the world, in people’s lives. 

And then in Canada we have a postal strike to pile on the distress. 

Not good. 

So I’ve closed both my Etsy shop and my Big Cartel store until the strike is resolved. I support unions. Yes, Canada Post is losing money. The management of Canada Post wants to make up for this by moving to compete with other parcel post services. It wants to do this by using contract workers to ship and deliver on weekends. So then you’d have two classes of workers — ones with rights and ones without. We’ve already seen how this little experiment has played out in the college system.

Not good. 

What exactly has Canada Post management been doing for the last decade? They have a truly national presence, and network, with outlets just about everywhere in the country. So what have they done to capitalize on this incredible asset? What innovative services have they tried to offer? Banking? Passports? Bill payments? Printing? Insurance? Parcel lockers? Internet kiosks? Mobile phone retail? Travel insurance? 

Nope. So it’s the same old story: whole tranches of managers “lead” their institution over the cliff and then shift the responsibility to the employees. 

Well, when the Conservatives get in, they’ll just privatize the whole mess anyway. Which is just trading a lethargic basket case for a full-on shit show. 

If I had to give any notes to the Canadian left, after seeing what happened to (what passes for) the American left in the last election:

• You don’t need buckets of money. You need a message.
• That message should be short and make sense and be addressed to people who need help (don’t forget: governments are supposed to do things that help, that serve the people).
• Pick three things. Three important, doable things (I don’t know if fixing Canada Post would make that top three, but you could have some ideas on that anyway). Three things that make sense and define you as a candidate/party. Run on that.
• And don’t be mealy-mouthed about the rest of it. Just say who you are, clearly and repeatedly. When asked a question, don’t dither. Don’t play afraid.
• Calling the other guy a monster will not help. The people who won’t vote for that guy already believe that. And the people who are voting for the ‘bad guy’ don’t care. 
• Maybe you’ll lose anyway. But at least you’ll have an identity. That goes a long way for next time. 

Okay, enough of that. One of the stickers I put on the back of my artwork (I love a good sticker) reads:

On November 19th, Pluto — the tiny planet (yes, I said planet) of big, foundational change — shifts back into Aquarius, where it will remain for twenty years. Apparently, this represents a real game changer, a collective turning point, where the signs are mostly positive. Like Occupy Wall Street but with resources and a plan. Of course, you can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs … 

In the meantime I’ll keep posting my paintings, and perhaps some art gift boxes (different smaller pieces combined as a set to fit a gift box), which I could still deliver locally. I’ve been making some fun things lately, and I still enjoy sharing that, as it has its own kind of meaning.

Have a good weekend, everyone, 
djb  

Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind.
— Nathaniel Hawthorne 

This Tinyletter (yes, I’m still calling it that) has been brought to you by the vanity license plates …  

ERIE
TAB CAT
CRESC 22
JARV E
BIG NED
STAR

E / T / C / E / T / E / R / A 

Donald Trump Nominates Movies as Department of Education / Kiss Me Deadly, original ending / We are undone, prepare to die / kid dances to impress / you need to wellness / donkey loves chicken