Category Archives: Herman Park
Obviously lots of fictional writing going on in the blog recently — well, almost the past 7 months solid basically. I anticipate this changing next month, when a return to woodsy type posts will occur. This winter I've also been able to create at least the virtual part of the blog archives, found under the Virtual heading here:
https://bakerbloch.com/virtual/
This involved quite a lot of work. Its *9 years* worth of posts now. The plan is to add to this archive each month.
The fiction I've been working on starting in Dec and esp Jan is a separate work from Collagesity fiction that came before. Basically it seems to be manifesting as a *3rd* work to complement "Collagesity 2015-2016 Winter" (Dec-Mar) and "Collagesity 2016 Later" (Aug-Nov). So a kind of trilogy. Also, esp. since it is being created at essentially the same time frame during the calendar year, this 3rd work seems to act as a type of twin to "Collagesity 2015-2016 Winter". The latter began in mid-Dec and ended in early March. The title of the new work logically becomes "Collagesity 2016-2017 Winter."
I could go much further into an analysis of the structures. "Collagesity 2016-2017 Winter" appears to be evolving into 6 or 7 separate parts. I'm in the middle of creating part 5 right now. It's a strange process, because I can't seem to anticipate where I'm heading — can't plan the whole thing out. As "C1516W" ended up on the moon, and its successor "C16L" terminated in a visit to Mars, so the new work could wind down with some kind of et visit (Muff-Bermingham?). Anyway just to drop a note on that. You can follow the progression of the parts here:
https://bakerbloch.com/virtual/collagesity-2016-2017-winter/
The Dec posts (Parts 001 and 002) act as an introduction to "C1617W", or, in another way, a direct bridge between "C16L" and "C1617W". Each subsequent part of "C1617W" is composed of around 16 to 18 or 19 blog posts, starting with "Book Muncher?" from the beginning of Jan.
The weather's been so warm this winter that I've been able to get outdoors and hike quite a lot. Frank Park's Whitehead Crossing has been the most popular destination by far. I already have a queue of photos to share on this blog. WH Xing mythology will most likely develop more this spring, esp after Daylight Savings Time kicks in March 12th. I anticipate creating a Reality archives to complement the Virtual archives very soon. Whitehead Crossing and other Frank and Herman Park destination will feature large within.
And I haven't forgotten about the Bigfoot location either.
Filed under **VIRTUAL, ., Bigfoot, Frank Park, Herman Park, Whitehead Crossing
Creativity Review
SEE SUNKLANDS HEADERS:
The Sunklands site plugs along! I am very fortunate to have such a creative center. I plan to retain it into the foreseeable future. No problems here.
This will always go hand in hand with the Sunklands web site now. I've been blogg'n for 8 1/2 years. I love it. One of the problems for someone looking in is the multitude of subject matter. There's woodsy reality, there's viritual living, there's fiction… lots of stuff. But add it all together and you get artsy me.
Collages:
Bread and butter stuff, again. I'll keep collaging till the day I die most likely. The idea of series will keep evolving. I'll most likely always accompany collage creation with attempts at interpretation. The last coupling of collage and analysis is through the Boos series from last fall, which I consider perhaps my most unified and fulfilling effort in this direction to date. A new series has yet to form beyond it, but I've been busy with other art.
The base series of my modern or mature collages remains the 20 part Greenup set from 2004. Seems like a really long time ago now. Before that I more sporatically worked with the old time method (to me) of cutting images out of magazines and pasting them together. But I probably won't work in that way again. Digital collage is more my style. I'm not worried about the selling aspect, and create them only for the purpose of pushing the boundaries of the genre itself in a certain direction. They are "educational" in my eyes, although I'm not against selling *specific* examples in the future (just not whole series, perhaps).
Synchs:
The progression of synchs started in 1997 with the first steps toward the idea of a Rainbow Complex beyond just the "mere" Dark Side of the Rainbow, a gateway synch for certain. To me, it was the birth of rainbowology, which I haven't really written about all that much yet. Oh, there's been some pretend interviews with the likes of Booker T. and Pierre Schaeffer (actually alts), but I've chosen to keep certain key elements hidden until I figure out what to do with the concept as a whole.
But that's just the start. Synchs continue to this day, though creation has slowed recently to about once a year. I may even be at a longer pause currently. I'll have to talk to Hucka D. about this soon.
baker b. separated from alt Pierre Schaeffer in 2004 with the creation of the former's Greenup series. At roughly the same time came the latter's Billfork, Head Trip, and 4orrin1. 4orrin1 especially blew the lid off what I formerly thought an audiovisual synch could be. It remains blown.
Latest in this category is the blandly named (on purpose) "Collagesity Winter 2015-2016" fiction — it's actually what you could call a graphic novel set in Second Life (and its "moon" and also the *moon* of *that* moon). A next project could involve interpreting this fairly large work, like I do with my collage series. It falls in line with other fiction I've developed in spots down through time, the first successful one being perhaps "The High Octave Story" from way back in 1986 or so (rewritten in the early 90s, if I recall). Then along the same lines we have "Jordan's Rule" from c2001, and then also the larger "Paradox II: The Chancelling" that came along late 2005/early 2006. I need to finish that off… technically it could probably be called a hybrid work as well.
Looking at other hybrids on this page, "Map Synching Feeling" is an interesting experiment with map oddities; "6 Weeks of Shining" combines collage work, map research, and elements of audiovisual synching, tied together through Stanley Kubrick's film "The Shining"; "Baker Bloch in England" represents a fusion of collage, fiction and virtual reality a bit in the style of "Collagesity Winter 2015-2016" (except set in "reality"/ i.e., England); 2009's "Where are We on That?" is a good introduction to my original set of virtual characters, most of whom are still around (Baker Bloch, Baker Blinker, Hucka Doobie, etc.). Hybrids will keep being produced.
Virtual:
I continue to hold onto Collagesity, and certainly work on keeping it up paid off more recently with its use in "Collagesity Winter 2015-2016" mentioned before. But has it fulfilled its usefulness? One thing it's certainly not is a proper archives for the collages (and synchs). The Sunklands site, established last summer, instead has become this… but I would like to keep a virtual town going along with the site, if possible. Second Life's Collagesity remains a comparatively inexpensive satisfaction, I suppose, in this direction, but my guess is that in the future a virtual town will not cost as much, relatively speaking, and can be rolled into web site payments.
Another recent success story with the unfolding of the many Bigfoot dimensions. Polarity between Bigfoot Proper and Chesterton is involved, the two identified artsy centerpieces of the complex. Each has now been the site of a fulfilled marble race and connected toy/junk happening. Whitehead Crossing represents the other important woodsy center still, and lies on protected ground (Frank Park) in contrast to Bigfoot, which could go away with the snap of a finger. But toy/junk happenings may not ever really come to Whitehead Crossing, unlike what I thought before — up until maybe even this past winter. Bigfoot has taken over in this direction. Bigfoot may be temporary, but my attachment to Blue Mountain in general also is temporary now, as we plan to move to Middletown in 6-8 years. We have land there, we can set up a modular home with little maintenance for our old age, and Middletown is such a neat city with many creative plugins. I can't imagine leaving Blue Mtn. for anywhere else in the U.S. of A., although *England* remains a possible final destination. But that's a long story.
Back to toy/junk happenings. These will certainly continue beyond Blue Mtn. and into our Middletown existence. I'm just refining the process now; winging it as they say. And Bigfoot itself may continue into the future. I have the option to camp there even when living in Middletown, since we'll be retired. And Whitehead Crossing, too, probably has long term value, if in a more abstract way and connected to local Frank and Herman Parks as a whole. But I don't think I want to camp in Frank and Herman Parks. Too many aliens.
Filed under **VIRTUAL, Bigfoot, Blue Mountain, collages 2d, Frank Park, Herman Park, Heterocera^^, Middletown, Rubi^, United Kingdom, Whitehead Crossing
The long Xmas break is coming to a close. I *love* being off from work, but I guess most people at this point in time could say that. According to Forbes at least 2 out of 3 Americans dislike their jobs. Still there are worse options, like unemployment, like living in a town I really don't like (I do still like Blue Mountain quite a lot, just not as much as in earlier years). And I can see the finish line of my job now — 5 more years or so, perhaps 6. And that's it.
As I've probably already written about here, I am very pleased with the progress on Sunklands, which is now a blog wrapped up in a legitimate web site (still bakerbloch.com for now). I see the blog as sort of a volcano of ideas, spewing forth strings of energy. I might have just finished up a round of Collagesity style fiction, for example. Before that I was heavy into the interpretation of the Boos collage series. Before that, the focus was on physically making the collages of that series. And so on back down the line. But sitting behind the blog are also several other projects I don't talk about as much. The Sunklands site now seems to center around the collage art of me, baker b. But running in the background all the time in low hum mode is the maps research. It predates the digital collages, it predates audiovisual synching: for over 30 years now I've been working on this one project, trying to figure out how to put it in some sort of published form. And despite at least one valiant attempt, I'm still not there. Probably in about 10 years time I'll release a version of the research but with the understanding that new editions will be forthcoming. I look forward to retirement for time to focus on that very important life project as well. The hybrid "Map Synching Feeling" from last year is a nod in this direction.
So let's just break it down into categories:
Very pleased, once more, with progress on collage work. 2 10 work series came in the first half of the year, and then the 30 piece Boos series happened in November and December. If I can keep doing 2 or 3 series a year like that for the rest of my life I'll be pretty happy. It's very very important to allow time for 2d digital collage making. It's become my bread and butter, along with overall blog development.
And I have to add here that collage *interpretation* worked out well this year too. My interpretation of the Boos series might be my best writing yet in that vein. I also worked quite hard on the Stonethrow series interpretation in May, but that was only 10 collages as opposed to the 30 in Boos.
Audiovisual Synching:
Another type of collage in my mind, and one that keeps chugging along, although not at the hot pace of 2004-2007, or even 2013, another big synching year for me. But they still come. Carrcass-12 was formed this year in September. I still need to tape it, but I seemingly have all the elements in place now to do so. In a way, *this* is the center, and 2d collages just emerged from it instead of visa versa. But, really, the two go hand in hand in a bigger picture.
One thing I don't worry about, at least presently, is making any money off of these collage creations. Setting that on the backburner has allowed me more freedom to experiment. For example, I'm always examining the idea of a work of art as self contained vs. being part of a series of at least 10 works. Obviously to the general (buying) public the former would be more understandable and probably more desirable to exhibit on their own. But without the flow of ideas behind the work, collages seem hollow and more insubstantial and, eventually perhaps, even dispensable. It's a large topic. And this goes along with the needed interpretation of said series, adding depth. It's almost two sides of one thing: like the moon, collages have a light side (surfacely viewable; contained) and a dark side (hidden meaning; boundless). To explore both, for me, is to better see the whole.
Virtual Reality:
This year, probably for the first time in my Second Life involvement, I've kept together a virtual town for *a whole year*. That's quite an accomplishment in and of itself. But, viewed in another way, maybe it's a non-accomplishment, because I'm always going back and forth whether to sell the land at the first of the month, or even abandon it. Witness the "move" to Nautilus continent and the Mysten sim this past summer. Witness the more recent Nautilus City rentals. Just last week Spongeberg Resident decided not to destroy the town in January and shift everything over to that island city. And I'm well aware that Second Life will not last forever, and that if I retain a virtual presence it will soon have to come through some kind of other platform. But I haven't found that platform yet, and so my involvement with Second Life and virtual town making there persists. I'm thinking that the name Collagesity might be carried over into a post Second Life existence. I just like the name.
Art (Toy/Junk) Happenings:
One for this year: Bigfoot. Another big success story. Taking place on the western edge of the Blue Mountain Urban Landscape, October's Bigfoot art happening forms a great synthesis of junk, toys, and marble races, my best effort yet in that direction and a template of sort for all happenings to follow. Where is it headed? I'm not sure, but the happenings have become an indispensable part of my art now. They are also entwined with woodsy exploration. So let's go to that next…
Hiking/Exploring:
The weather has been super nice in November and December this year, allowing me considerably more hikes that usual for the time period. I have a backlog of photos to upload to the blog, actually, involving several more extensions of the Blue Mountain Landscape beyond Bigfoot (and Rediscovery). But Bigfoot is the big find of the year since it is attached to the successful happening. And the Blue Mountain Urban Landscape itself, taking a focus away from nearby Frank and Herman Parks. Too much stress, I feel, has been laid upon the latter to carry forth my art happenings, with Whitehead Crossing at the center of that quandry. More on that in a post to come. But Whitehead X-ing keeps being developed in its own way, and, as it seems to be turning out, in a *different* direction than the art happenings. Very important point there.
Sunklands Blog:
It keeps keeping on! I'm one of those that took to blogging like a duck to water. I can't see that coming to a halt anytime soon. It also acts as or subs for a personal/ work journal. I sometimes talk through life problems via the blog's various characters. I find refuge in a virtual village when the outside world becomes either physically or emotionally harsh. I weather the storm there and blog about it. I always seem to emerge a stronger person, and better because of the challenge. Thank you Sunklands!
Filed under **VIRTUAL, ., Bigfoot, Blue Mountain, carrcasses, collages 2d, Frank Park, Herman Park, Heterocera^^, Lower Austra, MAPS, Nautilus City, Nautilus^^, Rubi^, Whitehead Crossing
Rediscovery>Wealthy Mountain
Yesterday, tried to reach Bigfeet Swamp for more hiking fun and toy happening scans but was blocked by the high water of Leola Creek. I could try wading, but that's risky if you can't really see the bottom well because of the slippery rocks involved.
So I instead walked just uphill to Rediscovery (parking my car at the town mall once more). This is Leola Creek again, just below the Hand Lake dam.
The dam. Water is still pouring out of the mountains, despite the rain having stopped several days back. But man did it come down in the 2 weeks before that.
I was pleased to find the The Finger of Hand Lake still intact, if a bit shrunk and soggy looking. Compare with here from about 2 weeks ago.
Yesterday I also decided to head over to Wealthy Mountain in Herman Park for what turned out to be a considerably more extensive hike, where I visited both Lion's Roar and Tinsity/Green Oz Creek in the same sweep. Here's a nice little falls about halfway up the side of Wealthy Mtn. on a fork of Byng Creek that I don't think I've taken a picture of for this blog yet. About a 30 footer, I would reckon, a gently cascading affair. Considerably more dramatic in person that it appears in the below photo.
Near the top o' Wealthy Mountain looking out toward lower land to the south.
A more prominent rock of Wealthy Mountain on a branch of Green Oz Creek.
A shot from the Wallace/Tinsity area already covered in some detail in the related blog category.
Colorful Tinsity fern. The leaves appear almost a bit past their peak here, but perhaps all the rain has dampened the fall colors, as it were. The actual peak for the Blue Mountain region traditionally comes in about a week's time from now.
I plan to take 1 or 2 more days off next week for hiking possibilities. A fun time of the year!
Filed under Bigfoot, Blue Mountain, Byng, Green Oz Creek, Herman Park, Wealthy Mountain
I'm glad that Hucka D. is starting to attend meetings with Carrcassonnee. Or should I refer to him as Hucka Doobie now? hehe. We'll see how long it lasts. Short attention span that man-insect has! But I get the gist. Carrcassonnee's diner is symbol of Hand Lake, as the larger TILE Temple that she originally inhabited in the newest version of Collagesity is Drink Lake. We know now that the two, in real life, are directly north and south of each other — as the temple and diner were (as well) in fake or virtual life. That's another link or resonance. Further, both Hand and Drink are drinking lakes, and have a water plant nearby that also have a direct north-south relationship. Directly. Hucka D. has stated that a Fringe event has happened in the center of Hand Lake in past/present/future, and *caused* The Finger. Interesting theory. Carrcassonnee seems to back it up but unsure still. The rock in the Collagesity diner is supposedly owned by Peter SoSo, who may be the same as Fringe's Peter. Carrcassonnee might even double for Olivia, as we've talked about before. LINK
If there's something to all this, Reiden Lake must figure into the mix, a place linking the two realities of Earth depicted in Fringe….
I'm getting hints that Hucka D. doesn't want me to talk about that much yet. So let's go here instead: the image of a lake as a hand that basically seals up the whole Falmouth collage series, acting as an Omega element…
(The actual lake in the extended collage) is Tarn at Leaves near Stonetwaite. TaL is filled with algae, as I know Hand Lake is now when visiting midday this past weekend. Mr. Bean has become one with the lake or tarn; seems to be laying down on its shore and drinking from it or perhaps even drowning in it — becoming one with it either way. Same basic color. Then extending from *his* body is an upright map version of Lake Horton in Nauvoo, Illinois, a place famous for the death of Joseph Smith, prophet and founder of Mormonism. The lake contains a single island which is called Gilligan's Island. And the lake is shaped like a hand of sorts.
Gilligan's Island is another Omega Point.
bent thumb
Filed under **VIRTUAL, Blue Mountain, Drink Lake, Herman Park, Heterocera^^, Illinois, Lake District, MAPS, Rubi^, United Kingdom
*Hand*
I've decided to rename Finger Island into Hand Island, with the attached lake it dominates likewise turning into Hand Lake. I do this because there's clearly not one finger-like extension projecting from the main bulk of the island, but *two*. My reasoning is that the other 3 fingers are represented but hidden, perhaps clustered together like this…
… or maybe even this.
There's deeper reasons for the name change, however. When feeling the initial desire to turn Finger Island into Hand Island because of the two fingers conundrum outlined above, my mind also turned back to Herman Park and a projected *fourth* lake to be created by Lisa The Vegetarian there called, well, Hand Lake — to complement the perhaps already created Heart Lake, Head Lake, and then soon to be created Health Lake, the last of the four. This duplicates the composition of the 4Hs in the 4H club pledge and famous 4 leaf clover emblem: head, heart, hands and health. There we have a plural form of the same word we've applied to the Blue Mountain pool: "hand" to "hands". But the thing is, Hand (or Hands) Lake was reportedly the only one of the 4 never fulfilled by Lisa V.
References to this from the Frank and Herman Einstein Blog:
https://bakerbloch.wordpress.com/2013/02/15/4404/
"Thanks for that information, Hucka D.," I said. He smiled. He went to the shelf and removed a red book. Small — no title on the spine or on the front. He opened to page 156.
Noticing this I said, "I've already received that message."
"Received it more," he came back levelly. He continued to flip through it. "Have you read about Drink Lake yet? Fascinating. You know Lisa the Vegetarian was given Hand Lake and then decided to expand it through this book. The book is the father. Norris was a father; Anderson was a father. Together they created a memory pool of Sandusky County and Clyde extending almost from the years 1860 to 1900, a two score. Booger was told of this."
https://bakerbloch.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/maps/
McCartney charges Lisa the V. to center the US of A in Arkansas, and kind of tells her how to do it. She creates Head Lake, Heart Lake, Hand Lake, and then Health Lake spinning the opposite direction. To control the spin she must buy all of neighboring Wealthy Mountain — actually Health Lake and Wealthy Mountain are part of one complex, along with Wysei [ which you haven't found yet]. Then she expanded Hand Lake through the TILE Creek, which was showing off her genius for the first, real time.
bb:
Real genius for the first time, you mean.
Hucka D. (continuing):
That expansion is very important. You must study it this spring. For without that expansion, Herman Park does not exist. All would be in the aether still.
I will. I promise.
Who are the singers?
Hucka D.:
They are the genius of Lisa the Vegetarian. They are the expansion of Hand Lake. They are TILE Creek. They will protect.
In addition, Lisa the Vegetarian had several June 2015 posts devoted to her after she topped the voting in the Mystenopolis town deity contest. As far as I know she still holds this rank, even though I, through Baker Bloch, soon left the Mysten sim to return to the Rubi Woods.
So what about this expansion of Hand Lake into TILE Creek, extending from Hand Spring to Drink Lake and a bit beyond?
Well, let's first explain I also found out this morning that Hand Lake (former Finger Lake once more) lies directly north of Drink Lake, and both bodies of water are sources of drinking water for their respective towns of Blue Mountain and Boulder. *Both* are drinking lakes. In the below 2 images from GoogleEarth, the position of The Finger in Hand Lake is placemarked by a yellow pin, and then a corresponding spot directly south of it in the middle of Drink Lake is similarly marked with a yellow pin. Toggle back and forth to see the overlap. The pin locations are less than 4 miles apart. I was quite surprised to find out how close the 2 pools were.
These are my preliminary thoughts:
The Finger formation of Hand Lake *has* to be the working of Lisa The Vegetarian. She reinforced this through the creation of a second, smaller finger-like extension from the same dominating lake island. She clearly wanted *me* to understand that this was the legendary Hand Lake, *created* but then *displaced* into the Blue Mountain area from the Boulder area. She displaced it directly north of the lake she created *in place* of it near Boulder, or the considerably larger Drink Lake. The Mmms moved in sometime after this. Hermania was created sometime after this. Mossmen learned of the location, and Herman Park as a whole.
Last thoughts for now:
Overlapping Hand Lake and Drink Lake pins and replacing land south of former with south of latter gives the following image, where the two towns of Blue Mountain and Boulder effectively touch in the general pin regions. The 2 town water plants are also obviously a focus of the overlap; they're also directly north-south of each other, and also "touch" boundaries in the below image.
If we eliminate land *north* of Hand Lake and replace it with land north of Drink Lake instead, we get the following, with the disappearance of both towns and setting the joined drinking lakes in a relative wilderness setting….
Filed under **VIRTUAL, ., Blue Mountain, Boulder, Drink Lake, Hand Spring, Herman Park, Nautilus^^, Tile Creek, Yd Island