Exploring the nature of Capitalism

My father, a retired cultural anthropologist, has started a blog on the historical and cultural structure of capitalism, in his words;

The posts will compare and contrast the historical emergence of capitalism and its present form with other ways in which human beings organise and interact with their worlds. At the same time, they will introduce a few anthropological concepts which will be used in this exploration.

Grab a coffee and go here.

Jack in the Wild

ha! cool. via koast kollektive

Colin at St Lukes

thanks to Slack Painter

Bernie Fuchs Passes Away

But his work lives on.

Luigi Pirandello

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I think that life is a very sad piece of buffoonery; because we have in ourselves, without being able to know why, wherefore or whence, the need to deceive ourselves constantly by creating a reality (one for each and never the same for all), which from time to time is discovered to be vain and illusory . . . My art is full of bitter compassion for all those who deceive themselves; but this compassion cannot fail to be followed by the ferocious derision of destiny which condemns man to deception.

~Luigi Pirandello

What the hell??

wow

Death in Far Cry 2

I came across this idea on the Brainy Gamer podcast (bad name but good podcast) during an interview with Clint Hocking.

Ben Abraham is running an interesting gaming experiment, playing a game of Far Cry 2 with a self imposed permanent death limitation. One death is the end of the game, no reloads.

In a game that's so open to tactical experimentation as Far Cry 2 (and has such discreet saving opportunities), I've no doubt that you could find a direct causal relationship between the length of time since the player saved and how creative they're willing to be in tackling a particular situation. With the option of reloading completely removed, I've no doubt tactics would become highly conservative but each movement will be imbued with such weight, and each encounter saturated with such a fatalistic attitude (the player is guaranteed to die, it's just a matter when of and how) that it could really raise the already impressive atmosphere of the game to whole new level.

Or it could end up just feeling really cheap. I remember when I played through the game I died a few times just stepping out of my jeep, for no discernible reason, and you'd better hope you're not swimming when malaria strikes. Either way though, it's a great take on a game that's perfectly suited for the experiment, and if I can find the time I'd love to try it.

Leon Bonnat

As you'd expect, I'm a huge fan of tonal realists. Of the whole bunch though, my favorite has to be Leon Bonnat. After all the years I've spent looking at 'Job', it still gives me that electric buzz.


His work has been a huge influence on me. I used the above painting as a guide for this one of mine from some years ago, when I was trying to come to grips with ideas of light and tonal composition, notice the book! (I only link to my painting because a direct side by side comparison would be too painful)

I've never found a good book on Bonnat, I survive on infrequent reproductions in collections and crappy jpegs. Any suggestions would be most welcome!