The future is bright, the future is orange
The aforementioned slogan from the mobile phone network seems to have caught on; the colour orange seems to be the mainstay in recent
visions of the future. It emerged widely during the
utility fad that
fashion underwent a few seasons ago, it was right there with new
zippers and
velcro and innovative fabrics and
hoods (for the first time since
the 80’s really, haha); it is synonymous with
sterility and
minimalism, and
industrialism.
You saw it in the infamous ‘Freestyler’ by Bomfunk MC’s clip, and you most certainly saw it in the Fifth Element. Set in the 23rd century, everything was orange. Bruce Willis’ muscle shirts, or what seemed to be left of them, and most exquisitely, Leeloo’s radical hair, the colour of which can only be described as bright f*cking orange.
I went through a phase of wearing orange eyeshadow, it was very rad at the time, until a boy (admittedly, he had a vendetta against me for breaking his best friend’s heart, but oh well) asked me “What’s wrong with you? Do you have rabies?”
“What?” I asked.
“Your eyes. You look violently ill”.
“Oh”.
Personally, orange is my favourite colour. It’s the most vivacious, the fizziest, like Fanta, it’s fun, it can be the tang of a mango or the subtlety of a cantalope. It’s the basis of 1960’s décor, it ties in with fantasic plastic, it’s played down with stripes of brown, it’s ugly, it’s fabulous, it’s there.
I concede that there is such a thing as overkill, but, a splash of orange here and there is enough to catch my eye and make me sparkle for a while.
Oranges are also, obviously, a fruit:
Citrus sinensis
ORANGE
TIAN CHEN
The fruit is ball-shaped or slightly elongated and 50-80mm in diameter. The skin is comparatively thick and firmly attached to the fruit so that it is not easy to peel.
The surface is orange in colour and covered in small oil glands. The fruit flesh is composed of about ten segments, which do not readily divide, and contain abundant juice. The flavour is sweet, or slightly acid and the flesh contains egg shaped seeds. The fruit ripens in the autumn and winter when the flesh becomes sweet or acid-sweet. It’s nature is neither warm nor cold and it contains no poison. It’s virtue is that it can promote a healthy stomach.
The flavour of the skin is bitter and pungent, it’s nature warm. It can clear phlegm, stop coughs and make for a healthy spleen and stomach. The flavour of the seeds is bitter, their nature warm. They help reduce swelling, and stop pain.
The fruit contains carbohydrate, vitamins, calcium, phosphorous, iron, citric acid, malic acid, alkaloids, flavone glucoside, volatile oils, esters, etc.
APPLICATIONS
- IN THE TREATMENT OF VARIOUS ILLNESSES AND DURING CONVALESCENCE. Eat one or two fresh oranges 2-3 times a day.
- VITAMIN C DEFICIENCY. Take 2-3 oranges and discard the skin. Eat early in the morning and again in the evening.
- ACUTE THROAT INFLAMMATION; PERSISTENT COUGH; HOARSENESS; LOSS OF VOICE. Slowly sip half a cup of fresh orange juice 3 times a day.
- ACUTE OR CHRONIC BRONCHITIS. Take one fresh orange, including the skin, cut into 4 segments and add 15 grams of sugar. Add water then steam for half an hour then eat, including the skin. Do this both in the morning and in the evening.
- BREAST FEEDING PROBLEMS; BREASTS RED AND SWOLLEN; FEVER WITH AVERSION TO COLD. Take 12 grams of orange seeds and crush them. Add 30 grams of boiled water and 30 grams of rice wine and mix. Drink half of this and use cotton wool to spread the rest on the affected place.
- FACIAL ACNE. Take an appropriate amount of the seeds of an unripe orange, add a little water and grind into a paste. Every evening spread on the affected place before going to bed.
PREPARATIONS
- ORANGE JUICE. Use fresh fruit, discard the skin and wrap it in clean gauze, then squeeze to obtain the juice.
- DRIED ORANGE SKIN. Take the orange skins and dry them thoroughly in the sun. They may then be kept for medicinal use.
- PREPARATION OF SEEDS. The seeds are simply thoroughly dried in the sun.