The liquid terror that rains on daily life is leaving wet stains of cultural production and seeping into the intimate crevices of the collective subconscious.
Among established fashion photographers, Steven Meisel stands out for the way he can transcend the genre by trespassing into art and peddling chronicles of the artifice that make up the reality of our times. Unlinked media memories go back to his plastic surgery and celebrity gossip story-shoots as examples.
This month's Vogue Italia features his vision of airports security checks, riot police and terrorist threat.
Airport security screening also provides the setting for a power-drenched tease search strip in this brilliant post by west coast sex geek writer Violet Blue:
"On wednesday, I will walk up to one end of a long line of men. Sometimes there are women, but it's always mostly men. They are there to watch me, and I am there to be watched. I start at one end, smile at the first man I encounter, and begin. Slowly. Carefully, I take off my glasses and fold them neatly, just like my nighttime bedroom ritual. Then I lean over and unzip one long black platform boot, and then the other. I present each piece of footwear as proof -- as if the sudden shortness in my height, and its message of vulnerability isn't evidence enough..."