One Rainy Night in Kyoto (Explored) by Jake Jung
Via Flickr:
I was lucky to spot a geiko (geisha) on her way to work. :)
Note: this photo is available for licensing in Getty Images’ editorial FlickrVision collection. (The link is on the bottom right of this page.)
Der Zeitgeist (German for “the spirit of the time”) is the intellectual fashion or dominant school of thought that typifies and influences the culture of a particular period in time. The word is often attributed to German philosopher Georg Hegel (1770-1831) even though he never actually used the word. In works such as Lectures on the Philosophy of History, he uses the phrase der Geist seiner Zeit (“the spirit of his time”). Other philosophers associated with such ideas include Herder and Voltaire. The concept counters the Great Man theory popularized by Thomas Carlyle which sees history as the result of the actions of heroes and geniuses. Hegel believed that art reflected, by its very nature, the time of the culture in which it is created. Culture and art are inextricable because an individual artist is a product of his or her time and therefore brings that culture to any given work of art.
Zeit·geist - noun \ˈtseīt-ˌgeīst:
the general beliefs, ideas, and spirit of a time and place; the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era
Pinocchio weevil, Hammatostylus sp. by Andreas Kay
Via Flickr:
from Ecuador: www.flickr.com/andreaskay/albums
This looks like a high-tech motorcycle designed by some avant garde fashion designer
Shake a shrubbery, and Avengers sometimes fall out. (They’ll demand champagne, though. It is wise to propitiate them in this fashion.)
Der Lebenskünstler = literally “life artist”. A happy-go-lucky person who doesn’t take life so seriously but somehow always survives. They take things as they come, don’t plan ahead, don’t make a big fuss or react in any kind of dramatic fashion, they just go with the flow, deal with things as they present themselves. This person will not let pressure or demands of others get to them and will just do their own thing. A bon vivant. A little naive perhaps, or simply eccentric, but overall, a master in the art of just living.
What’s your favorite German word?
Rainy Night on Harajuku Street by Tokyo Fashion
Via Flickr:
A rainy November night in Harajuku, Tokyo, Japan.
The awareness of how little of the world you’ll experience, or how small your home is.
A phenomenon in which you have an active social life but very few close friends-people who you can trust, who you can be yourself with.
The realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and thoughts.
The amniotic tranquility of being indoors during a thunderstorm, listening to waves of rain pattering against the roof or window.
Boredom with the same old issues that you’ve always had—the same flaws and anxieties you’ve had for years.
A kind of melancholic trance in which you become completely absorbed in vivid sensory details—raindrops skittering down a window, tall trees rustling in the wind, the blades on a fan.
The moment in which you realize that you’re currently happy—consciously trying to savor the feeling.
The aroma of old bookstores, filled with thousands of ancient books, each of which is itself locked in its own era, bound and dated.
A thought that only seems to strike you late at night—an overdue task, a nagging guilt that won’t go away.
The feeling that no matter what you do is always somehow wrong.
The unnoticed excellence that carries on around you every day, hidden talents that go on ignored.
An image that sticks in your brain, and you have no idea how it got there.
A conversation in which everyone is talking but nobody is listening, words are layered upon each other like papers.
Nostalgia for a time you’ve never known. Wishing to be living in another era.
The atmosphere of a place that’s usually bustling with people but is now abandoned and quiet—a school hallway in the evening, an unlit office on a weekend, vacant fairgrounds, the afterimage.
A hypothetical conversation that you compulsively play out in your head, a debate, a conversation, something where you can connect more deeply with people than in reality.
The desire to be struck by disaster – to survive a plane crash, or to lose everything in a fire
The tendency to give up trying to talk about an experience because people are unable to relate to it.
The unsettling awareness of your own heartbeat.
The inexplicable urge to push people away, even close friends who you really like
20th-century-man
