Books ON STAGE

In Metro (the bookstore in elements), I read two books.

1. Nigella Lawson
She is a very attractive 'cook'. She teaches people to cook and 'seduces' you with good food. 'Passion' concludes my impression of her. Mrs. Chu told me that her cookbook won her a book prize. So I read. Her cookbook is not a book compiling of receipes. She is like talking to old friends sharing her cooking experiences. She did not hid herself. She only shares with people what she likes. 'I' is the word that she constantly uses. completely subjective view of cooking. She is in the centre of the stage, together with her food.

2. Forms with fantasy-published by Page One
This trend is everywhere, the baroque, neo baroque, mystic, the reincarnation of the old is everwhere if you know what I mean by the untraditonal christmas trees that have been sold during christmas time at citysuper. (www.tordboontje.com). Fancy, fantasy decorative elements are gradually replacing the cool, chic, minimal modern form.

Modern men are too bored. Technological advances fools us thinking that miracles and breakthoughs are not more than ordinary and we simply taken them for granted. Consumers are not easy to be amazed but always desire sth that is extraoridnary. So sth that has been less seen in the last decades revive because of the longing for something unusal.

The glamour, the Theatrical, the Bling bling are there on stage. Some people called is new(no)stagia. A new form that combines nostalgia & technology & innovation. Technology enables us to reproduce and overcomes the difficulties of handicrafts. Cloning becomes a routine. The stage with not just lighting but projection and all sorts of effects is prepared for eveyone. We could re-create fantasy and materialise fantasy. Display becomes the key of life.

However, there is a danger of making nostalgia a commodity for consumption. We are not so much like collectors who collect things with history. Instead, we buy things and reconstruct the commodity's history. This history is being priviatised. We, as human being, may and may not in future share history even if we live in the same zone.

Some people would rather live in self owned fantasy or virtual fantasy (on line world). They believe that is the safe place in compared with the world they live in, which has been peceived as full of dangers and uncertainties.

The Fantasy Land we need today is not for the mass but for private. I wonder, will people become more and more lonely despite that they have neo baroque decorative boutique like apartment or so called house/home. I am not against this trend and I do appreciate the aesthetic side and the creativity behind. You will easily find those decorative goods in my house. I frequently visit Homeless funiture store and cannot help myself appreciate those designs. All I am trying to say is... we have to have awareness as always.