ARS NOTORIA

(By way of preface, I'm Anderson Brown , recruited by Phil to be the "house philosopher." It may be that after a while Ars Notoria will evolve into a coherent set of writers - hopefully individually coherent as well of course - such that we can be seen to have a "house philosophy," but such things evolve naturally. In the meantime, I will sometimes let go with some abstruse philosophy, sometimes with political musings (I only rant by prearrangement) or something else. Discussions will emerge but meanwhile this is "What I'm Thinking About Right Now," served up once a week here on Ars Notoria.) Hillary Clinton is in Pakistan, and yesterday she faced a group of local people from an area heavily attacked by "predator drones," unmanned aircraft that have been heavily used to hit targets in Waziristan, allegedly an Al-Qaeda stronghold and the site of an ongoing Pakistani military operation. All of the comments from the locals reported in...

. [Scroll down to read a new addition to this post which first appeared on   http://acacciatura.wordpress.com/ ] By wordnerd7 de•lin•quent (dĭ-lĭng’kwənt, -lĭn’-) adj. 1. Failing to do what law or duty requires. 2. Overdue in payment: a delinquent account. [Latin dēlinquēns, dēlinquent-, present participle of dēlinquere, to offend : dē-, de- + linquere, to leave, abandon; see leikw- in Indo-European roots.] … Yes, I know. . . I know. The long gap between posts – if nothing else – proves that nearly all shades of that word apply to the writer of this blog. But whereas most people wander from their accustomed haunts when the days are long and the weather balmy, some of us put off going away until the wind picks up, the thermostat drops, and we can maximise our chances of surreal experiences. I’ve been busy haggling over steamer trunks, mules and camels, and calculating how many tents I’ll need. I’ve been recalled to duty at this site by @ISA, also known as Philip Hal...

When Phil invited me to contribute to this blog I told him I had nothing to offer, that intellectually (and you will probably agree after reading what i have to blog) I was not up to it, I write songs that no one listens to and take photographs that no one looks at, what could I offer? I guess i am preparing for the bright eyes amongst you to lower your expectations, a cheap trick, but an honest one. I said I would give it a go because, I suppose I was flattered. But what to write? I know Phil is political, a passionate man, a man of many interests, I didn't want to let him down - so, Phil if you are reading this (which I know you will be at some stage) - apologies for lowering the tone. So, here goes - Yesterday someone said something that made me think in a way I have never thought before. It was so simple. He said that when he and his girlfriend decided to have children they wondered what surname to give their children. They didn't believe in marriage and all its connot...

The dog is dogged in chasing pigeons, his three-legged ziggedy zag a Sack Posset perfection of tongue-waggling slobberised smiling. When I was a youngster the jacaranda’s purple bruise signalled the arrival of November, exam time and a momentary sobriety. Now, because of all the boojwah cattle cars farting fumes they have bloomed and it is just October. So here am I, in the park, with pepperment tea and a notebook, this one here where these words are, scrawling a strange sensation, like a singularity in my centre with the dog an electron planet wildly rotating sending silly birds whirring. I want to give the pigeons names but my sense of humour is so strangely inward, exclusive to various recluses, I would most probably get sued. I must start submitting actual poems to magazines again instead of parodies in assumed names. I mean, I must stop pretending that I have submitted parodies to every Australian Literary journal (a hoax hoax) and start actually attempting to contribute to our (a...

. Why blog on ARS NOTORIA? I have set up this website,  ARS NOTORIA ,  (the notable art) as an opportunity for like-minded people like you to jot down your thoughts and share them with us on what I hope will be a high profile blog. . ARS NOTORIA is conceived as an outlet: a way for you to get things off your chest, shake those bees out of your bonnet and scratch that itch. The idea is that you do so in a companionable blogging environment, one that that is less structured - freer. Every article you care to write or photograph or picture you care to post will appear on its own page and you are pretty much guaranteed that people will read with interest what you produce and take time to look at what you post. Personal blogs are OK, but what we long for, if we can admit it, are easy-going, loose knit communities: blogging hubs where we can share ideas and pop in and out as frequentl...