Twilight Moon....Moon at Twilight.....AAAARRRGGHHH!

I was really hoping to find a nice twilight tinged photograph to post today. It has been one of those lazy, unproductive days that somehow remains stressful, and just begs for something serene to look at. I found a really good one last year around this same time that I wish I could find again. A tiki hut overlooking a small lagoon and a speed boat, a couple of torches pressed unevenly into the ground, and moonlight casting highlights on all of it through the still visible evening sky.



So today, I tried to recreate that image, or something akin. I even considered making a "twilight photo of the week" feature. Alas. I googled "best twilight photograph." So what do I get? I know you knew before I did. Yes, page after page after page of annoying Twilight the movie stills. There was nothing I could do. I tried "twilight photos", "pre-night photos", "best twilight photography scenes", "best beach photos twilight", and many more! Who could have guessed that there just happens to be a beach scene at twilight in the movie. There should be a word for things you can google that were once interesting and cool until inundated with some pop culture fad. Twilight, I'm afraid is, perhaps, forever ungooglable (could that be our new word?).



I have also become aware recently how utterly reliant I am on GOOGLE. You know, if you add a D and take away the OGLE, you get GOD. I'm not certain that the extraordinary power that Google is amassing is such a good thing. According to google, our information is safe for now, but it's there, and someone has access to it. I believe I've joked about it before, about how clicking on a link for flying lessons or fertilizers could put me on some terror watch list. Well, it's hardly a joke. We are quickly becoming a society of nosy neighbors. Except that, with all the new technologies, our neighbors are no longer the Johnsons down the road, the ones who call your parents the next day after seeing you sneak in through the bedroom window the night before. Rather, these new neighbors are.......... everyone, everywhere.



Why is this dangerous? Well, besides the simple enjoyment of privacy (the philosophy of a right to privacy as beyond my scope at the moment), there are several. Perhaps there has ever only been an illusion of privacy, as we so often crave for a golden age from the past which in reality never existed. In tightly knit small towns, didn't everyone know everyone else's business? Didn't news of the latest Hester Prynne always filter down to the most selective of listeners? Hasn't it always been difficult to find seclusion?



The difference now, for one, rests upon the rock of strangeness. We no longer know who knows who we are. An anonymous database by Google knows more about our habits than our closest friends! And unfortunately, whoever holds this information cares for your humanity about as much as a vegan cares about the size of the rack on a hunted buck. At least nosy Mrs. Johnson has to answer for her nosiness......to my parents; to the kids who tp her house every year at Halloween..........etc. Anonymity, ironically, is the enemy of privacy..... and restraint. Anonymity is one of those double-edged swords - it provides a wall of protection for those who would otherwise be harmed by telling the truth; however, it also protects cowards who spread lies and gossip behind a veil of secrecy.



Anyway, this photo isn't quite what I was looking for.......looks like the photographer really manipulated the colors here...........but, it IS pretty. Don't you think?