The Hipp Hopping Otamus.

Insomnia doth suck.

Otamus (Aka. Shrooms) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 20:59:07 +0000

It doth indeed.

Sunset in Katara

Otamus (Aka. Shrooms) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 08:47:35 +0000

The lighting reminds me of an architectural mixture between “Stargate” and “Blade Runner.” The colors also remind me of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged.”

A side entrance to the marble amphitheater in Doha, Qatar at sunset.

Katara Cultural Village

Otamus (Aka. Shrooms) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 08:45:00 +0000

Ramp-way up Katara’s marble amphitheater.

The National – Bloodbuzz Ohio

Otamus (Aka. Shrooms) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 18:25:37 +0000

From the album High Violet.

Little Dragon – Twice

Otamus (Aka. Shrooms) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 18:23:07 +0000

Grabbing for Sunshine

Otamus (Aka. Shrooms) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 09:17:48 +0000

For twenty minutes every morning, the sun throws a rectangular patch of hot light on my bedroom floor as it rotates from one side of our house to the other. If you lie in it, the warmth seeps in through your clothes into the back of your head, neck, and legs. But as the sun shifts and the light drifts under my desk, there is a sudden, unshakeable chill where the sun once lay.

The second best way to sun yourself indoors is to stand within a foot of a window full of sunshine and feel the heat radiating off of the glass.

Menton, France

Otamus (Aka. Shrooms) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 09:57:15 +0000

Oh lordy lord, I love how blue the Côte d’Azur is.

Menton, France

Insects are just like you and me except some of them have wings.

Otamus (Aka. Shrooms) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 10:56:07 +0000

A beetle sitting in contemplation on the water cooler.

I. Love. This. Book.

Insects are just like you and me except some of them have wings is a brilliantly surreal book of short, short (often shorter than flash) fiction by Tamil author, Kuzhali Manickavel. It’s dark, it’s funny, it’s bizarre and alienating. The style of her conversations is distinct; every conversation is sparse with words and permeated with a palpable sense of distance. There’s an evident disconnect between her characters and between them and their world.

Sometimes however, the stories can be so utterly bizarre that it is nearly impossible to find meaning, let alone reason, in them. (“Welcome to Barium,” for example, takes place in the heaviest place on Earth, in a sanatorium for exploding women and surrounded by courageous trees). The stories are often too short for you to get into the narrator’s head and make sense of what’s happening and why. It doesn’t help that Manickavel filters the stories out so well of any unnecessary fluff that the explanatory details get flushed out as well.

Whatever it is, though, you really have to respect the sheer creativity of this woman. This little book of short stories is the true definition of giving your imagination free rein. Manickavel is not bound by literary conventions and regulations. She does not feel compelled to expand or explain her stories for the sake of the reader.

Avignon, Provence

Otamus (Aka. Shrooms) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 06:35:33 +0000

A beautifully tiled but decaying basin that we passed on our way out of the Palais des Papes in Avignon.

Yelle-Que Veux-Tu?

Otamus (Aka. Shrooms) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 06:20:47 +0000

This song makes me happy. I love her dresses and her terrible dancing. Also, 4:04 onwards is funny.