In November 2016, the singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, renowned for his melancholic and romantic ballads, died a few months after the woman who inspired many of his famous songs – his Norwegian lover and muse, Marianne Ihlen.
On the summery idyll of Hydra, Greece in 1960, there was a bohemian community of artists and musicians living in squalid conditions. Marianne Ihlen was 24 years old and stunningly beautiful. She went to Greece trailing her (then) partner, Axel Jensen with whom she had a child.
Ihlen was then abandoned by her partner for another woman. She was heartbroken and alone in Greece and considered returing with her son to Norway. It was then that she met a handsome, chivalrous and sensitive poet from Canada named Leonard Cohen.
“Though I loved him from the moment we met, it was a beautiful, slow movie” – Marianne Ihlen
If the moon has a sister It’s got to be you. Leonard Cohen, “The Law”
“It was as if everyone was young and beautiful and full of talent – covered with a kind of gold dust. Everybody had special and unique qualities. This is, of course, the feeling of youth, but in the glorious setting of Hydra, all these qualities were magnified.”– Leonard Cohen
Marianne Ihlen on those times in Hydra, Greece
“Oh, those years were really good. Very good. We sat in the sun and we lay in the sun. We walked in the sun. We listened to music, we bathed, we played, we drank, we discussed. There was writing and lovemaking and…It was absolutely fabulous, you know, to have it like that. During five years, I didn’t have shoes on my feet, you know…And I met many beautiful people. Now they are cast to the winds. Some are dead. Many are dead.”
Final letter
Just before her death in July 2016 of leukaemia, a friend of Ihlen’s, Jan Christian Mollestad, contacted Cohen, who sent an email to his former lover, which Mollestad read out to Ihlen as she was in her final days. It said:
Dearest Marianne,
I’m just a little behind you, close enough to take your hand. This old body has given up, just as yours has too, and the eviction notice is on its way any day now.
“I’ve never forgotten your love and your beauty. But you know that. I don’t have to say any more. Safe travels old friend. See you down the road. Love and gratitude. Leonard
Four months later, Cohen died after a fall at his home in Los Angeles.
A lovely blogger friend on here Jonelle recently did an article on where to see the lotus blossoms in Tokyo. She had witnessed a little kid blowing soap bubbles through the stem of a gigantic lotus blossom and decided to do it herself. This is something I would love to do too. Many adults wouldnt blow the soap bubbles. They live properly adult lives – in other words they are thoroughly boring and lose touch with what makes them curious about the world.
I can relate to this way of being and seeing the world. With a sense of wonder and curiosity, an insatiable need to find out about experiences, places and stories from the world unseen. Behind the next mountain, at the next subway stop, on the next beach, in the next shop or park.
Insatiable curiosity towards learning more about everything in the world drives me and many people. For me, the journey of seeking and finding is the very definition of happiness. Curiosity and a thirst for knowledge has enriched me and strengthened me in many ways. What about you? Can you notice any connection there between curiosity and happiness?
American avante-garde composer William Basinski created The Disintegration Loops by a serendipitous and heart-wrenching series of events in his life and in the history of the world. This led to one of the great classics of the ambient and avante-garde genre – a four album opus called The Disintegration Loops.
Basinski recorded some loops from an easy-listening station in the 80’s. This sat in storage until one day he decided to digitise the samples in 2001. He started to record these on the digital recorder and found that with each play the tape was crumbling and distintegrating, as the magnetised metal on the tape strip wore away.
He finished his recording of the disintegration loops on the
day of 9/11. And from the rooftop of his Brooklyn apartment he recorded the
final hours of daylight as night fell over the smoky remnants of the World
Trade Centre in Manhattan. The following day on September 12th he
played back the recording and cued it to the video. The ambient soundscapes along with the video
suddenly took on a life of its own and had a deeper purpose. The result was a
haunting, melancholy and deeply affecting ambient work.
The four re-released albums of the Disintegration Loops (2012)
On the ten year anniversary of 9/11, MoMA held a live orchestra performance of Basinski’s work to mark the occasion. Also there was a re-release of the work as a 9 LP vinyl limited edition box set along with the original videos in 2014. Although nowadays the vinyl is something of a collectors edition.
Nick Cave’s incredible blog The Red Hand Files features Ask Me Anything question and answers. It’s a beacon of pure creative joy for anyone in search of inspiration. Here’s an unforgettable nugget of wisdom from Nick on how to forge on with big ideas and ignore the asshole inside of you, telling you to stop making things.
Let me say this – the ‘harsh inner critic’ that you speak of is in no way unique to you. The truth is that virtually anybody who is trying to do anything worthwhile at all, especially creatively, has seated in his or her brain, a horrible homunculus that blows a dreadful little trumpet, and only knows one song – a song that goes, “You are not good enough. Why bother?” This evil little gnome is full of bad jazz, and is, in the words of author Sam Harris, “an asshole.” The enemy of aspiration, this atrocious inner voice demands you turn away from whatever your higher calling may be and become a second-rate, cut-price version of yourself. As your very own personal detractor it is deeply persuasive in its dark business. Many of us listen, many of us accept its message, and many of us throw up our hands and give in. The problem is, of course, that this inner voice, this monstrous homunculus, is you.
Time to stop petrifying my ideas
The creative act is an act of war – but as much as this inner critic
is your adversary, it is also fundamental to the creative process. It is
what anyone worth their salt is doing battle with all the time –
we are in a perpetual dogfight with the lesser version of ourselves. To
lose the battle is to become the embodiment of the homunculus itself.
Defeated, we do nothing but sit in perpetual judgment of the world, idly
watching, as it goes down in flames. As vicious as this fight with our
own selves may be, it is this very conflict that puts the blood in the
art, the tears too, and carves the battle scars deep into the work
itself.
The world, for all its failings, is an extraordinary experiment in
rampant human imagination. At its best, it exists because there were
people who had the courage to follow through on an idea – who resisted
the inner voice that said, “You are worthless. Why bother?”
I’ve said it before. Beautiful ideas abound. These ideas swim around
us, ideas that can be of immense utility to world. Some ideas have our
singular names inscribed upon them and it is our responsibility to reach
beyond our lesser selves to the brightest version of what we can be and
breathe life into these ideas. This act of reaching is almost always
accompanied by the wretched homunculus and its dreary anthem of personal
incompetence, but it is our sacred duty, to turn around and kick this
little fucker in the balls. The fight with the dark force inside us is
the forge in which true art is formed.
Love, Nick
P.S. A homunculus is a very small human or humanoid creature.
Nemophilist – a haunter of the woods, one who loves the forest for its beauty and solitude.
This rare English word has fallen out of use since the beginning of the 20th century. Although, in Ancient Latin, the word Nemo means nobody. So this makes a Nemophilist a lover of nobody, or a solitude seeker.
A springtime forest alongside the canal in Edinburgh. Copyright Content Catnip 2010
Quæris Neminis parem? Nemo est nisi ipse (Do you seek Nemo’s equal? None is, except himself).–Seneca
There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar; I love not Man the less, but Nature more. ~ Lord Byron
It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men’s hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit. Robert Louis Stevenson
Our bodies and minds evolved and were adapted for hundreds of thousands of years for tasks like climbing a tree and picking apples, or hunting rabbits, or looking for mushrooms in the forest. They were not adapted to the very gruelling work that is involved in field work – ploughing, harvesting, bringing water, digging weeds – things like that. Yuval Noah Harari
The career of a sage is of two kinds: He is either honored by all in the world, Like a flower waving its head, Or else he disappears into the silent forest. Lao Tzu
If you’re in a forest, the quality of the echo is very strange because echoes back off so many surfaces of all those trees that you get this strange, itchy ricochet effect. Brian Eno
Here are a collection of my favourite ambient, dub, experimental and drone albums of all time. They are in no particular order because they’re all brilliant. I hope you will give them a listen, let me know if you enjoy them!
Everything is a spawling, epic atmospheric soundtrack that echoes the enormity of the universe. Over 3 hours the album ventures to explore the interconnectivity of all life. It’s by German composers Ben Lukas Boysen and Sebastian Plano.
This album from 2017 traverses the inner and outer worlds of existence and creates a texturally rich and sonically lush journey. Some of the more melodic moments could be by Max Richter. Although the style here is really unique in itself.
Everything is a divine soundscape of the entire epic universe from microcosm to macrocosm, and the rich, varied textures show that the universe is a beautiful place. Originally conceived as the soundtrack to a videogame, all 3 hours of this album are very rewarding. You will find yourself floating along, it’s an easy listen. Great to write or code to or do anything that requires a lot of concentration. Although, for meditation I would imagine listening to this on good biurnal speakers would transport you into another dimension.
The Biblio-Mat is a random book dispenser built by Craig Small for The Monkey’s Paw, a quirky antiquarian bookshop in Toronto. The Biblio-Mat vending machine contains books of a random variety of sizes, themes and styles, all for $2. The machine makes a satisying whirring and stirring mechanical sound once the coins are inserted. The ring comes from an old telephone bell which triumphantly announces the book’s arrival.
The odd and wonderful bibliomat book vending machine
I recently read an article on a great site I follow by Australian photographer Leanne Cole. She talked about why going to New Zealand as a tourist became an unexpectedly stressful experience for her. This was because of the behaviour of other tourists.
Everywhere in the world you can encounter people who behave
badly, but some cultures tend to accept rude and obnoxious behaviour in public more
than other cultures. These people generally end up making bad tourists when
they visit abroad.
I should mention at this point that I’m not perfect! As a young person in my late teens I was guilty of some obnoxious behaviour while overseas, I’m sure. A result of being young, going on pub crawls and being always ready to party in Shanghai. But with age comes (hopefully a bit of) wisdom.
It made me ponder though, how do we become good tourists and not be labelled as annoying assholes while overseas? Here’s what I think on it.
What makes a good tourist?
Someone who attempts to learn at least a few
words in the native language in a country in order to communicate. Learning how
to say: hello, bye, thank you, excuse me can make your time in a place easier
and also shows respect to the people in the country you visit.
Someone who embraces a country’s cultural and
social norms and goes with the flow in terms of what’s important and the
unspoken social rules there.
Someone who takes the time to learn the cultural
values of a country and what’s important to people there, and then implements
the same to fit in seamlessly. The ‘when in Rome…”principle.
Someone who is patient and will patiently wait
in lines at tourist attractions without loudly moaning, pushing in or being
obnoxious.
What makes a bad tourist?
Someone who sees a new country through the lens
of their own country and imposes their own viewpoints and perspectives on a new
place, in an arrogant way.
Someone who is rude, loud, obnoxious and
demanding towards local travel operators, hoteliers, taxi drivers, etc.
Someone who is not patient or kind to locals or
people they meet.
Why? It’s a cultural thing
Although it’s very easy and possible to typecast people from specific countries as being (in general) bad tourists. I have neatly avoided that here. It’s a cultural thing though, for sure.
Respect starts in one’s home country is embedded in every part of a society. If a culture has a strong historical tradition of formality and respect for elders and people in high positions like bosses, parents etc – what happens is that people (for better or worse) will follow rules and customs of expected behaviour. This makes a society orderly and tourists from these countries are generally more well behaved, respectful and considerate of others. Visiting countries like this where people know how to behave is an easy, trouble-free experience. I am thinking of two places like this – Poland and Japan. It’s no coincidence that they are my two favourite places. What do you think? Does this theory bear weight or am I talking bullshit? Let me know what you think and if you can think of other examples, both good and bad write in the comments below.
A leisurely ride along Melbourne’s main yarra cycle trail from St Pauls Cathedral in the CBD to Walmer Bridge in Abbotsford
On a blazing hot 37 degree day in Melbourne I commandeered a blue bike from the cycle rack in front of St Paul’s Cathedral on the corner of Swanston st and Flinders st. It’s possible to rent your own bike from Melbourne City Council for the measley sum of $8 for a week, with unlimited free 45 minute cycles between bike stations. After that if you don’t make it to the next bike station, you are charged a small fee for each hour you have the bike with you. I think it’s about $1 per hour or something like that, which is no big deal, it works out to be far cheaper than hiring a bike for the day.
My blue chariot for the day
The journey starts near Federation Square, a towering behemoth of architectural splendour, and you cruise underneath of gumtrees and in the shadow of large skyscrapers. Along-side you to the right is the Yarra River, a brown snaking river that harbours a lot of kayaks, small pleasure boats and rowers. The path along the yarra is wide and easy to cycle on, it’s both paved and gravel.
Careening through the bike path – there is nothing better.
Along the way you pass the stadiums of AAMI Park and the MCG with the Royal Botanical Gardens on the other side of the bridge.
The Yarra River trail runs parallel to the citylink toll road on your left. There is an interesting and mysterious island in the Yarra River called Herring Island where there are apparently sculptures, it’s mostly closed to the public, which makes it even more compelling! I haven’t been but I am bursting to get over there.
riding alongside the freeway and Yarra
You go past Loys paddock and picturesque parkland. As the trail goes underneath the Citylink freeway, the underpass features a little known Melbourne secret. An open-air gym with exercise equipment, a climbing wall and various other things underneath of the freeway! This was a surprise to me and it piqued my curiosity. I got off my bike and begun taking photos of the secret gym and the guys working out. In retrospect this might have come off as being a bit creepy or pervy? LOL…who me? I got on my bike and kept going.
A free climbing wall and outdoor free gym underneath of the Eastlink freeway Where people park their bikes to go to the free gym
You soon reach St Kevin’s boat shed, Scotch College and Melbourne Girls College. All spectacular relics of affluence sitting on the Yarra imposing their presence. The trail makes many winding turns along the snaking path of the river, as increasingly lush and beautiful native bushland surrounds you.
The Walmer Bridge continues the ride, but you need to cross over to the other side of the river to keep going. I got confused and ended up in scrubland with a dwindling dirt path in front of me – so I turned back.
Underneath the freeway, families who looked to be recent migrants were fishing in the river. I shudder to think of how clean the fish would be that were pulled from the Yarra. Another tunnel More splendid riverside greenery Approaching Abbotsford The iconic Vinegar girl neon sign in Abbotsford Many apartment buildings have sprung up recently alongside the Yarra in Abbotsford – I would live there! Walmer St Bridge where you need to cross over to the other side to continue the trail
By this point the mercury had hit a toasty 37 degrees and it was 4 pm, I was roasting. I moseyed my sorry ass over to the nearby Victoria Gardens Shopping Centre, where they have an IKEA and all kinds of other newfangled crap to buy and also thank Christ – a cafe where I gulped down an iced coffee along with a litre of water. Then, newly fortified, I took the journey back to the city the same way. Rewarding myself at Federation square with a nice freezing cold pint of beer.
Enjoying an iced-coffee in Victoria Gardens Shopping Centre Gorgeous old snow gums
This is a wonderful ride for people of all ages and abilities if you ever go to Melbourne.
Melbourne’s Blue Bikes
During the great weather of spring and autumn it’s a good time to get a hold of one of these bikes.
The bike stations are located all over the city centre, along with inner city suburbs like Richmond, Fitzroy, Port Melbourne, St Kilda, Carlton and South Melbourne.
If I was living there I would certainly make use of these blue bikes instead of using my own bike, there are no worries about locking them up, maintaining or caring for them. Each bike comes with a free helmet, in keeping with Australia’s bike helmet law.
And with most of Melbourne being flat, it’s a pretty easy ride. Although the terrain is easy, there are other environmental hazards to watch for, like swooping aggressive magpies, billions of mozzies and flies, and the 40+ degree heat which can be a bit of a deterent to foreign cyclists.
I was amused to see a few Melbourne bike commuters riding their expensive bikes and expensive suits through the city but wearing one of the ‘free’ blue bike helmets, in other words they stole a helmet from a blue bike…how very stingy and cheap!
You simply download the app to your phone. Then pay your $8 and then you go to the nearest bike station, punch in the code that shows on your app into the bike stand, the bike unlocks itself and the time starts from then. It’s really easy.
Today is winter solistice in the southern hemisphere. This is a time of rebirth and a triumph of life over death. It’s a reflection and renewal.
Winter solistice
Incantations
Tonight is the night of the Solstice, the longest night of the year. As the Wheel turns once more, I know that tomorrow, the Sun will begin its journey back to us. With it, new life will begin, a blessing from Earth to her children.
It is the season of the winter goddess. Tonight I celebrate the festival of the winter solstice, the rebirth of the Sun, and the return of light to the Earth. As the Wheel of the Year turns once more, I honor the eternal cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth.
Content Catnip 
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