Skip to main content

Pig-turesque






I am a tiger, in the Chinese horoscope's zodiac. My western ego likes that. Tiger. Has a certain ring to it, don't you think? But, in truth, all signs (should one indulge in such diversions) each have their own characteristics, both good and bad.

I thought this was the year of the pig, but I have been set straight by an anonymous commenter (I wish anonymous benefactor's were as forthcoming).

To westerners pigs are fat, dirty animals with a propensity for over-eating. Jews and Muslims, alike, don't eat them and Christians distrust anything with cloven hoof. All slightly nutty points of view to us aetheists and bacon lovers.

In the Chinese zodiac pigs are: Hardworking, Giving, Willing, Helpful, Materialistic, Gullible, Oblivious, Obstinate. If you are born in the year of the pig then you are, reputedly, a compassionate soul who simply wants to keep the peace.

I was chatting with a friend about the Chinese astrological characters when I remembered that some time ago, I began a little book called 'The Wishful Little Pig' about a little porker who spent all of his time wishing that things were different to how they really were. Through time the pig moped and, all the while momentus and exciting events occurred while he looked the other way (inspite of his friend, the gerbera flower exhorting him to live his life in the present).

Maybe I will finish it as one of my little holiday projects - if my tigrish courage, vehemence, self-reliance, friendliness, hopefulness, resilience, vaanity and disregard don't get in the way.

Comments

  1. Anonymous9:55 pm

    Mr Mc it is the year of the rat, and vaanity only has one a. Love your pig picture its great.
    your friend the pig oink oink

    ReplyDelete
  2. JoeGreenz3:44 pm

    Thank you anonymous. Why did I think it was the year of the Pig. Don't know. Discussions about pigs I guess. My spelling is always dubious, always grateful to be set straight on matters of fact and spelling. Thank you for your feedback and compliment.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ze Frank thinks so you don't have to

Ze Frank appeared on my radar when I saw his presentation among the excellent TED Talks videos . This morning I was reading Russell Davies planning blog in which he referred to a clip by Ze Frank - Where do ideas come from. Here's the transcript: "...Hungry Hippo licks Aunt JEmima [sic] writes, "Are you ever gonna break into song again? Are you running out of ideas?" Hungry Hippo licks Aunt JEmima, that's a good question. I run out of ideas every day! Each day I live in mortal fear that I've used up the last idea that'll ever come to me. If you don't wanna run out of ideas the best thing to do is not to execute them. You can tell yourself that you don't have the time or resources to do 'em right. Then they stay around in your head like brain crack. No matter how bad things get, at least you have those good ideas that you'll get to later. Some people get addicted to that brain crack. And the longer they wait, the more they convince themse...
1 comment
Read more and leave a comment

Johnny Bunko competiton

The Great Johnny Bunko Challenge from DHP on Vimeo . There's a young chap in Indiana, one Alec Quig , who has written to me about creating a career based on a polymathic degree, from which he has recently graduated. He's an interesting young man and his concerns about going forward in life are the anxieties we all face at crossroads in our lives when we are forced to make choices. Dan Pink's latest book The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need might help: "From a New York Times, BusinessWeek, and Washington Post bestselling author comes a first-of-its- kind career guide for a new generation of job seekers.There's never been a career guide like it.the fully illustrated story (ingeniously told in Manga form) of a young Everyman just out of college who lands his first job. Johnny Bunko is new to parachute company Boggs Corp., and he stumbles through his early days as a working stiff until a crisis prompts him to find a new job. St...
Post a Comment
Read more and leave a comment

Why billboards must go.

The problem with billboards and advertising in public places is they are an invasion of privacy. Unlike magazine, tv, radio (etc) advertising you cannot choose to turn it off or avoid it. Nor does it offer anything in return. It is a medium that offers no benefit or advantage to the person it is inflicted on. At least television ads subsidise the programming. Without doubt some billboards are entertaining - I thought the anti GE poster for short lived MADGE activist group was particularly good. But most are rubbish. Literally. Badly executed. Nothing important to say. The debate has led to a great deal of hysteria - mostly from people with a vested interest in perpetuating the deployment of hoardings. Perhaps the idea that the issue at stake is 'property rights' is the creepiest. If you own a building you have every right to plaster anything you like on its external surfaces. Is that an antisocial point of view? I think so. In the UK you could have an ASBO slapped on you for si...
Post a Comment
Read more and leave a comment