I often retire in the early hours of the morning listening to Art Bell’s Coast to Coast on headphones. Last night I fell asleep right before Rupert Sheldrake, a New-Age thinker who is more a poet than a scientist, came on as the featured guest. I did, however, wake long enough to hear of Sheldrake’s latest on-line “experiment,” before clucking my tongue in disgust and falling asleep again. Here it is, folks–and you may try it out yourself by going to Sheldrake’s website:

Photo Telepathy Test

Can you tell when someone is looking at your photo?
If someone looks at your photograph and thinks about you, can you feel it?
Find out by trying the photo telepathy test

Source: Sheldrake

Is this scientific thinking? No, I’d aver that it smacks of the kind of thinking done by 16th century savants, such as Cornelius Agrippa and the like. In fact, I’ve just been reading about Paracelsus’ weapon salve, which works on a similar principal, I believe, although Sheldrake will gussy it up by talk of “morphic fields.”

Truly, Rupert Sheldrake has gone off the deep end this time.

by Philip Ball. So far I’ve learned that the arquebus of the early 16th century was called the “alchemist’s weapon” because of its use of metals, black powder, and fire. Good stuff.

Let me be the first to wish you a happy birthday in snowy Canada from overcast Japan! May you have at least 100 more! Jesse

Cecil Touchon has kindly curated a show devoted to typical and untypical visual poetry by members of the Spidertangle group. It’s nicely done with interesting work from Kathy Ernst, Cecil himself, Jukka-Pekka Kervinen, Nico Vassilakis, Geof Huth (who gives us a colorful example), David Baptist Chirot (who’s a bit obvious in his atypical selection), Miekal And, whose alphabet written after too many cups of coffee is a favorite, and others. Many folks didn’t show: Bob Grumman of the Grukucrew (a small group of creators who persist in wrongfully bestowing variations of the word haiku on texts and vispo) didn’t favor us with a selection because, as he indicated in a note, he doesn’t do atypical work. Carlos Luis didn’t make it, and is missed, because he truly is one of the best of the bunch. I believe Cecil indicated that he is still open for submissions so perhaps more folks will participate. Here’s the link.

The moving hand, having writ, moves on… So it seems on the cutting edge of the art world, but wait a minute: what about the latest Turner prize? Wasn’t it given to a competent painter, whose works refer back to the visual constructions of the 1940’s and earlier? Many of the critics said that this was indeed the safe choice, and one that came after Tracy Emin’s messy bed, blinking flashbulbs, elephant dung-spattered icons, etc. etc. There was a bit of a feeling of…relief. Cecil Touchon, the talented collagist and painter now has a picture under discussion on Spidertangle which he calls Suprematist. It also harkens back to the heroic times when artistic ISMS actually meant something. Not now, of course, when the only ism applicable to such exercises in nostalgia is “mannerism.”

Cecil’s picture is handsome and I can well imagine that it will find a place in a hotel lobby or a corporate meeting room, but where exactly does it fit in our culture–what is its real value?