There has been the school of thought that art should hide the artwork. Pointillism is the antithesis of this view in that the viewer is acutely aware of the individual spots and therefore the artist's technique rather than the content is at the forefront.

I was schooled in naturalism, but even with my romanticist tendencies, when you look at my works you don't automatically think of the artist and her chisel. But a good artist is trained to see the brush strokes - the tricks and techniques - in spite of the artist's intentions.

It may not always be obvious, but technique is there for those trained to see it.

The earthquake in China and the cyclone in Myanmar show the clear brushstrokes of a master. It might not be obvious to many, but the serious student can get beyond the content and see the technique.

In China, the earthquake registered 7.9 on the Richter scale. It was strong enough not just to cause the collapse of a high school, but to cause the instant collapse of it.

It wasn't just that a school collapsed. The artist's technique can be seen in the fact that the school collapsed in such a way as to prevent any children from escaping.

It wasn't just any school that collapsed instantly. It was the particular school which attracted the top students.

The canvass here was large. Another teenager managed to survive the earthquake only to be trapped by concrete and bricks. They had to cut her legs off. She survived the earthquake only to have to live through that.

It wasn't just in any country, but in that nation cursed with a poor human rights record which is about to host the summer olympics. Let's not pretend this paint fell randomly on the canvass.

In Myanmar, the cyclone just managed to hit a densely populated, poor region of a country run by rulers who think of aid intended for those who need it as pirates' booty. Only a true master could envisage such a horrific irony.

Imagine! There is aid, but we can't get it too them! This artist is a fatalist - make no doubt about it! Of all the nations in the world, this cyclone hits here. Really, every inch of the canvass was planned methodically. Bravo.

Yes - the brushstrokes of the artist are clearly visible. Make no mistake. He exists.

I've often suspected as much.

I'd respond with something about a sentient mud-puddle, courtesy Douglas Adams (he's with God now, you know), but I'm sure it would be a waste of time. Lets just agree that there is a God, and he is an artist of human suffering, shall we?

There is yet another conclusion that can be drawn, which although less divine in origin, is almost equally sublime. China is Myanmar's biggest partner, and the only one who has the ears of the junta. But by the juxtaposition of these two natural disasters, China comes out smelling like a rose in comparision to the cartoon-villains in Myanmar (Burma). China not only cares about its citizens, it moves heaven and earth to rescue them, even flying its premier out to the disaster zone. The Burmese generals are not only afraid to leave their newly constructed fortress-capital, but are afraid that any outsider would take the credit for any rescue. There are even accounts of Burmese celebrities being forbidden to privately aid citizens (sort of an anti-good Samaritan rule). So the people can just perish.

From a sick mind.

Get some help.

here we see more proof of an artist at play.

How else can we explain such stupid responses?

Your use of irony bears no small resemblance to the brushwork of Jackson Pollack. Not sure if you were trying to hide that.

..... if we are taking about the same scoundrel. (Believe me - you think Auguste was any different?)

I read Kafka in Ville-Evrard. This place here is equally vile.

You learn what horror is. You are angered by the stupidity of people; by the wrongness of people. But then you see how wrong you yourself were. There is so much worse yet. The horror in the lack of comprehension is exquisitely indescribable.

Ah, if only Pollock used a brush....

continues unabated. Salvador Daley would have been proud.

You're beginning to sound like Hieronymus Botch! Relax. There is still a restaurant at the end of the universe.

Our patients are urged to entertain only positive, life-affirming throughts. You don't want Dr. Tassigny to have your hands tied to the bed at night again, do you?

That was spoken like the true Catholic you are. But I would have thought you'd be a little more sympathetic - your treatment was worse than mine.

Such is life that the only two people who can talk to a dead woman is a dead man and a fictional character.

hated it when I called him "Rodint".