The word 'Mississippi,' meaning "great river," probably originates from the Algonquian language (but cf. Ojibwe "misi-ziibi"). Words are filters, just as the color blue is allowed to filtered through in the image above.
The Seine river flows near Giverny in France. One day in 1897 Claude Monet sees it through his eyes. He creates an interpretation in oil paints. What beauty! It is subsequently photographed, existing in the alternate medium of film. A reproduction is printed in a huge coffee table book. I randomly opened a copy of the book's proofs near the fireplace at the reception area of my son's school. In my mind's eye, I see the Mississipi River of last Friday afternoon. My phone camera captures the image which then travels through the air waves to this blog's server. You now see it here -- as rendition of digital information (JPEG format), whose source is Monet's digits.
The river has been re-transmitted at least eight times. This is the flow of cinema: from eye to various mediums, edited, refined and degraded -- then to your eye, hopefully your third one, because it is not only what you have seen, but what you have heard in words, which crystallizes into an idea, taking on a life of its own.
