Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Help...?

What the hell is this?


I mean, okay, it's Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in a press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. But what is that picture behind them, the national emblem of Afghanistan?

It looks like an enormous dead tree taking over the earth, with a Christmas ornament and an ear of corn hanging on it.

Then there's like a tree root coming through the ceiling or something, and something that resembles either a rock, a skull or a mortar shell embedded in the wall over the tree.

Meh. I don't like modern art.

11 comments:

Jess said...

No idea. It's weird, that's for sure!

Nick said...

hmmm...maybe its from a culture different to yours, and symbolic to them. One could easily ask what on earth is an eagle doing spread out, looking like roadkill, with a talon full of spears?

Andy said...

Point taken. Still, from an aesthetic standpoint, I'll take a bald eagle over a Charlie Brown Christmas tree anyday.

Anthony said...

It reminds me of the illustrations to "The little Prince". Somehow it seems very much in keeping with the bizarre planets he visits ...

Brechi said...

OMG...i was totally thinking the same thing as tony with the Little Prince and the Baobob trees that live on the little planets.

p.p. said...

Um... that's not a good analogy for Afghanistan...a dead tree with one doomed leaf.

I recall reading a short story about tree with one leaf; was it Poe? I dunno.

All I remember from the story is that a sick girl proclaimed that she would die when that last leaf fell, so a relative went outside and hand painted a leaf on the tree. The girl recovered, but the relative died from being outside in the rain. Anyone?

Andy said...

That still doesn't explain the Christmas ornament or the thing stuck in the wall.

Anthony said...

Peter's story sounds as if it could be one of Oscar Wilde's fairy tales, but don't quote me on that.

Going back to "The little Prince", I was interpreting thing stuck in the wall as a planet in the distance. As for the ornament, who's to say it isn't a personal touch by the owner of said tree (not seen 'cos he's away on holiday)?

p.p. said...

"The Last Leaf," by O. Henry.

Very short....

http://www.hueber.de/downloads/lehrer/fs/last-leaf.pdf

Andy said...

But, what does this have to do with Afghanistan?!?!?!?

p.p. said...

Absolutely nothing. I just found the name of the story, as it reminded me of the tree...