The Beast

The Beast is hungry - a villager offers a child in hope of not having their hovel burnt, food stocks pillaged and livestock raped.

When the Best hungers - the Beast is unstoppable.

I took this photo quickly and sprinted off - not wanting to attract the Beast's attention. It's is said that men have turned to stone under the disapproving gaze of the Beast.

eDoodling (?) - Doodling In the Post-Electronic Age

A friend has discovered the joys of the cell phone and sending pictures with it - I guess I'm the lucky recipient on an almost daily basis. These three showed up yesterday. I have no idea where they're from, but I suspect they had something to do with what he was doing in the morning. I thought about putting them here as just an image - but in reading a blog post, Requiem for a doodle, they sparked a thought.

Perhaps the multimedia message through the cell phone is the new doodle - I wouldn't know if the kids are doing it because I don't really know any (kids, that is) - but perhaps they are. It's not quite the same as sitting in a classroom - eyes about to glaze over - and with pen in hand, doodling whatever comes out of the subconscious - yet, in some ways it can be. The images snapped are not random and something has compelled the individual to take them and send them off to friends or family or perhaps upload them to a website, instantaneously. Doodled thoughts that used to end up in a drawer somewhere, maybe now are posted for all to see - those that would take an interest to anyhow - on the web.

In school the only thing that would keep my eyes from glazing over during a lecture delivered in a monotone voice was to doodle - I must have pages and pages somewhere. I still doodle in work meetings - it actually helps me concentrate on what is being said. I also carry a cellphone with a camera - one of the features that sold me on the particular model is that I can use it with one hand and it doesn't look like it's in use. I take snapshots of things that catch my eye whenever possible. The two (doodling and the e-snapshot) are not the same, but they are perhaps linked in that the mind is trying to capture, express and preserve a thought. Maybe.