Another drive at Golden Hour

A handsome dog stands watch at her gate.

Modern ruins at the side of the highway stand in the bush at golden hour.
Before the end of the season, I'll take a closer look.

"NEED FOR SPEED" on a Matrix? At first it seems paradoxical, but there's an alternative explanation. Maybe it's the driver's passive aggressive criticism of his own car. Maybe he's/she's saying that his/her car can't satisfy his/her needs (for speed)... like a 'bad' sexual partner. See musical reference here.

Of course... my theory's probably wrong.

These new towers in the general Glencoe area have been in the works for years. Now nearing completion, they resemble something from Assassin's Creed. Personally I think they were much more compelling when they were unpainted assemblages of concrete and scaffolding, but then again I'd probably say that all seaside condominiums without proper aesthetic attention look better during construction. It's part of a system of codified architectural archetypes that such structures be massive, cumbersome and kitsch.

Settled in the West, the condos catch the light of the sunset perfectly, but as one observes the normality and the poverty of the environs, one can frame them in the context of the larger economic picture. A scene like this typifies the polemic economics or 'poleconomics' of all developing nations, and indeed, of the metaphorical 'global nation' as well.

                

The spectrum is everywhere, from the colour wheel umbrella of the parked punch / juice / snow-cone man at the side of the street, to the kaleidoscopic cotton candy and corresponding semi-saffron shirt of the touring vendor above. The cotton candy man's shirt is Dragon Ball Z merchandise, but what's most fantastic about it is that it belongs to one of those underground, 'imitation' circuits of anime-based clothing that became popular generally across the lower economic strata of the country within the last decade or so. This guy really doesn't look like he's in the age group to enjoy Dragon Ball Z so what is the attraction? Is it the colour? The familiar anime aesthetic? Maybe it's just the power of cultural infection.

I'd swear this relic was the bus that Rosa Parks was on.

Observe the black garbage bag attached to these pipes. Part of me wants to believe that this is W.A.S.A.'s (Water And Sewage Authority) latest technological innovation, an Advanced Pipeline Repair & Water Retention System meant to ensure a proper standard of living for the local residents.

No drive is complete without expanse...

or decay...

Land mines or buoys?

 


The battleship and the airplane are outdoor features of a military museum, permanent fixtures of the long Chaguaramas main road.

I can't go anywhere without seeing obnoxious signs.

At this point I should mention that the 'destination' of this drive was the Annual Anchorage Pop-Rock Music Awards, a competition that was once celebrated as a launchpad for local musicians and bands. Like Anime-city, (another once beloved celebration of a local under-culture), Poprock has generally faded out of any kind of positive renown (or I'm not 15 anymore), but my age and maturation aside, I've heard mixed reviews about the event's success. After several years of being all but dead, it seems to be making a comeback.

Unfortunately some extremely worrying policy issues have been implemented. In response to a lack of creativity and quality among local bands, crowds started to thin. Poprock's response was not to adopt a creative solution to the issue (whatever that might be), or even to just die with honour. It was to ban original music within the prelims, which are essentially now just a cover-contest.

Really.

Local bands' original music sucks?

BAN ALL ORIGINAL SONGS THUS DESTROYING ANY HOPE

OF GOOD MUSIC EVER BEING MADE OR GAINING EXPOSURE.

yeh yeh yeh yeh yeh

NO.

We left after two acts.

The decrepit church and cemetery in the middle of the jungle was more promising. Passing cars returning from the beach provided a moving light source that illuminated the structure from different angles.