Alien Observer rubric hosting Yuri Shwedoff from Moscow.

I watched his skull making acquaintance with the angles of the capital, his right hand refreshing itself among the gilt ornaments; and, in the purple shadow, his large feet. From a distant part of the theater his eyes came back to me; his mouth said: “Discipline is not bad. . . . It is at least a beginning. . .

I did not know what to answer. He said in his low quick voice: “Let them enjoy and obey!”

P.V.

Poor people make their living by killing the future on behalf of the rich.

Låpsley – Brownlow – 2015
18+ – Crow – 2014
My Morning Jacket – Like A River – 2015
Beacon – Bring You Back – 2013
Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra – Bottomfeeder – 2012
Cooly G – He Said I Said – 2012
Dean Blunt – 100 – 2014
El Perro del Mar – How Did We Forget – 2011
Trentemøller – Blue Hotel (feat. Steen Jørgensen & Marie Fisker) -2012
Korallreven ‎– Loved-Up – 2009
Gonjasufi – Nikels and Dimes – 2012
Timber Timbre – Hot Dreams – 2014
Snowbird – Porcelain (RX Gibbs Remix) – 2014
The Hundred In The Hands – Recognise – 2012
Yeasayer – Henrietta – 2012
Tei Shi – Go Slow – 2015
The Knife – Pass This On – 2008
Moderat – Damage Done – 2014
Memoryhouse – To The Lighthouse – 2010
Patrick Watson – Places You Will Go – 2015

Islam Halahla, Hebron, Palestinian Territory.

The war which is coming Is not the first one. There were Other wars before it.
When the last one came to an end There were conquerors and conquered.
Among the conquered the common people Starved.
Among the conquerors The common people starved too.

B.B.

Massimiliano Grandoni, Ancona, Italy.

I am an excitable person who only understands life lyrically, musically, in whom feelings are much stronger as reason. I am so thirsty for the marvelous that only the marvelous has power over me. Anything I can not transform into something marvelous, I let go.

Reality doesn’t impress me. I only believe in intoxication, in ecstasy, and when ordinary life shackles me, I escape, one way or another. No more walls.

A.N.

Font Salamat (2015) by Joluvian.

Since the release of his first typeface, Zulia Pro, Joluvian has spent his time dedicatedly experimenting with an array of calligraphic styles and typography, before starting on his second typeface, Salamat.
The journey began on a trip to Asia, where Joluvian was inspired by his time in the Philippines. After a series of discarded type sketches, the first stroke of what is now Salamat was then born.

What at first was a quick sketch, over time, evolved into a stylized typography; that lends to humanistic-expressive calligraphy, optimized with wide variety of swash capitals, contextuals ligatures, ascending and descending, starting and ending letters and a wide range of characters for each glyph.
Salamat provides the user absolute freedom to play, create words, sentences and even very stylized paragraphs. Giving one the freedom with type, the way the Philippines gave Joluvian the freedom to explore calligraphy and typography.

Joluvian considers Salamat a new benchmark in his career. He now possesses more typography maturity, and a refined focus to put into practice all the knowledge acquired in his recent years of study, for this and much more salamat (‘thank you’ in Tagalog) to the Philippines.

Mehran Naghshbandi, Iran.

That we are not totally transformed, that we can turn away, turn the page, switch the channel, does not impugn the ethical value of an assault by images.
It is not a defect that we are not seared, that we do not suffer enough, when we see these images.
Neither is the photograph supposed to repair our ignorance about the history and causes of the suffering it picks out and frames. Such images cannot be more than an invitation to pay attention, to reflect, to learn, to examine the rationalizations for mass suffering offered by established powers.

Who caused what the picture shows? Who is responsible? Is it excusable? Was it inevitable? Is there some state of affairs which we have accepted up to now that ought to be challenged? All this, with the understanding that moral indignation, like compassion, cannot dictate a course of action.

S.S.