7501. wonkers2 - 3/26/2004 10:13:14 PM
7502. PelleNilsson - 3/27/2004 8:11:17 AM
No, they are not old. They are made from soapstone by local artisans. I'm speculating about the Vandals who ended up in North Africa after having sacked Rome. But can a style survive for 1,400 years? Perhaps.
7503. jayackroyd - 3/27/2004 10:34:43 AM
7494
Janis Ian's website used to (I haven't been there in a while) have very interesting material on intellectual property, copyright law and record company contracts for artists like her, who sell in relatively low numbers, but sell enough (and are cheap enough to produce) to continue to make releases.
For some reason, I thought that she was way out of the closet, but she could well be straight. I can't keep this kind of thing, if you'll excuse me, straight.
Although a guy I know (gay) who has worked for one of the entertainment tv shows as a writer who says that there is no question about Tom Cruise's sexual preference. He says, and he's been reliable in the past, that Cruise signs contracts with his beards. And he predicted the demise of the Cruz marriage at the end of three years, which is the standard contract length.
7504. jayackroyd - 3/27/2004 10:35:51 AM
Nope, Boston is the only US stop.
I saw a major Gaugin exhibit at the Met here, a year or so ago. Banks, would you remember?
7505. wabbit - 3/27/2004 4:34:53 PM
Jay,
Is this the Gauguin show you saw?
7506. jayackroyd - 3/27/2004 5:05:09 PM
yes.
7507. arkymalarky - 3/27/2004 5:15:33 PM
I thought Janis Ian was openly lesbian.
On the subject of her essay, Korn has managed to blow that argument open with "Y'all Want a Single," which displays a number of interesting facts about the music industry in the video (I'm not a fan, just happened to see the video), and Howard Stern, who didn't seem bothered by all this monopoly business until he got his wrist slapped--not that it should have been slapped, but he should have been concerned before now--has taken it up as his anthem. This could get interesting.
7508. anomie - 3/28/2004 2:41:31 AM
"...I still have the taste of you in my mouth".
Zowie, talk about coming out iof the closet! Must be timed for the gay wedding set.
Really? I don't see why that couldn't work in a hetero way, too. ;-)
Judith: You're ruining my fantasy here!
But you're right, of course
7509. anomie - 3/28/2004 3:39:31 AM
Arky, You're right and you're right. Janis Ian has been open for years. So much for my fantasy when i heard the lyrics.
And yes. The hypocracy is amusing. Stern and Limbaugh in the same club?
7510. rdbrewer - 4/3/2004 9:25:26 PM
I saw Three Dog Night on a local public television special the other night. It was great. Those guys have incredible voices. Just amazing. They sounded as good or better live than on the albums, an unusual feat.
The last time I saw them, I was a kid, and I was watching something like Midnight Special. Back then, they looked like they were made up for Halloween. I remember big, freaky hair and, I think, brightly colored dusters.
They were backed this time by an orchestra, which has its good points and bad. Sometimes the orchestra filled in parts that used to be played by an old fashioned organ hooked up to a Leslie. I missed that warbling Leslie sound. At other times, the orchestra rounded out the sound very well. Ultimately, however, for this band, I think the orchestra was unnecessary. They didn't write for orchestra backup originally in the way the Moody Blues did, for example.
When I switched over to the channel, I didn't intend to watch the whole show. I was going to see what they looked like and then watch something else. I know all the songs anyway. But the pure singing talent grabbed me and kept me there. Watch it, if you get a chance.
7511. rdbrewer - 4/3/2004 9:34:16 PM
I saw Three Dog Night on a local public television special the other night. It was great. Those guys have incredible voices. Just amazing. They sounded as good or better live than on the albums, an unusual feat.
The last time I saw them, I was a kid, and I was watching something like Midnight Special. Back then, they looked like they were made up for Halloween. I remember big, freaky hair and, I think, brightly colored dusters.
They were backed this time by an orchestra, which has its good points and bad. Sometimes the orchestra filled in parts that used to be played by an old fashioned organ hooked up to a Leslie. I missed that warbling Leslie sound. At other times, the orchestra rounded out the sound very well. Ultimately, however, for this band, I think the orchestra was unnecessary. They didn't write for orchestra backup originally in the way the Moody Blues did, for example.
When I switched over to the channel, I didn't intend to watch the whole show. I was going to see what they looked like and then watch something else. I know all the songs anyway. But the pure singing talent grabbed me and kept me there. Watch it, if you get a chance.
7512. KuligintheHooligan - 4/19/2004 4:39:44 AM
Well, I don't feel so bad now. I can't stand this song, but always thought that for some odd reason it was a well liked one overall.
______________
"We Built This City is the single worst single ever constructed, according to Blender's ranking of reeking tunes.
The magazine's list of "The 50 Worst Songs Ever," which hits newsstands Tuesday in New York and Los Angeles and April 27 nationwide, distills the lamest popular rock-era records into one sonic landfill.
Starship's 1985 anthem, the runaway No. 1 stinker, "seems to inspire the most virulent feelings of outrage," editor Craig Marks says. "It purports to be anti-commercial but reeks of '80s corporate-rock commercialism. It's a real reflection of what practically killed rock music in the '80s."
Also sealing the song's fate were Starship's steep fall from grace as the admired Jefferson Airplane and "the sheer dumbness of the lyrics," Marks says."
7513. KuligintheHooligan - 4/19/2004 4:41:04 AM
pelle, a very nice family photo there in #7495. Thanks for sharing it with us.
7514. arkymalarky - 4/20/2004 12:09:53 AM
I don't like that song, but I can think of half a dozen off the bat that I detest a lot more. I don't like listing the worst songs. They invariably get stuck in my head for days. In fact, Bob used to like to entertain himself at my expense by humming a very few notes of the ones I most hated. "I've Been to Paradise (But I've Never Been to Me)" is the number one all time most revolting and annoying tune ever, imo.
And of course now I'll have it in my head for days.
And it's all your fault, Kuligin.
7515. wabbit - 4/20/2004 12:27:11 AM
hahaha! I'm with Kuligan, We Built This City is nasty, but I think I'd have to put the song in the #2 position ahead of it for being pure sludge. Achy Breaky Heart induces heartburn. Horrible song.
7516. wabbit - 4/20/2004 12:29:10 AM
Another fun list to have a look at:
Top five songs NOT to play while driving:
7517. judithathome - 4/20/2004 1:06:29 AM
I like music like 1 and 2 while I'm driving, too. I'd add Carmina Burana to my own personal list.
7518. wonkers2 - 4/20/2004 1:09:10 AM
Cap'n Dirty sez, "I ain't no opry fan, but CArmina Burana's right up my alley. I sing that one in the shower! Oh! Oh! Totus floreo, totus ardeo, etc."
7519. KuligintheHooligan - 4/20/2004 5:20:52 AM
Adding to wabbit's list in #7516:
Tchaikovski's 1812 Overture
7520. arkymalarky - 4/20/2004 11:06:24 AM
I think Disturbed is my favorite when I drive. I like the thought of squirrels sitting on the side of the road holding their paws over their ears. I'm generally just a station-flipper, though. Bob hates the flipping and the stations I stop on. I hate talk radio. The year we commuted together this was a very serious marital issue.
7521. Macnas - 4/20/2004 11:53:35 AM
Ha! Did you have the "My car, my radio!" fight, or the "I'm driving, I chose the station!" fight?
I'm half deaf in any case, and I like the volume up. My missus does not, indeed she keeps it at a level where it could be mistaken for the radio noise from another car 100 yards behind us.
"Why listen to the radio when you can't hear it?"
I can hear it fine
"Well I can't, turn it up a bit at least"
....There, ok?
"you didn't turn it up at all, you just pretended to"
...No I didn't
"....which? turn it up or just pretend to?"
Just drive the car you deaf fool.
7522. arkymalarky - 4/20/2004 3:37:03 PM
We had the "touch it again and I'll cut your arm off" fight.
7523. arkymalarky - 4/20/2004 3:38:51 PM
But we've had that exchange, too. Bob would be the role of your wife, but he's the one who claims to be deaf. I'm just trying to be. I'm the one who likes it loud.
7524. Macnas - 4/20/2004 3:42:53 PM
How's he getting on with the diabetes?
7525. arkymalarky - 4/20/2004 3:47:43 PM
Beautifully, thanks for asking. Lost over 30 pounds and his blood sugar has been normal/low--mostly 80s. He read somewhere that "stressors" can cause an onset of diabetes and one of those is an abscessed (sp?) tooth, which he found out he had, and had part of a root canal and antibiotics a few weeks ago, and since a few days after he started the penicillin his blood sugar hasn't been elevated, so we're hopeful that may have caused it. He has the other part of the root canal and a doctor's appointment May 3, so hopefully he'll find out something then.
I'm going to repost in Health, now that I'm on the subject. Since that bit of info was helpful to us, who knows who else might need it one day.
7526. Macnas - 4/20/2004 5:34:00 PM
I do think a quiz is long overdue.
A . What have “the Great Gatsby”, “Romeo and Juliet”, and “Oliver Twist” have in common? (other than the fact that they are all books/plays and have been filmed..)
B . Where do these lines come from?
“Riches more than mind can picture,
Wheat and barley, oats and hay,
Clover, beans, and mangel-wurzels
Shall be ours upon that day.
Bright will shine the fields of England,
Purer shall its waters be,
Sweeter yet shall blow its breezes
On the day that sets us free.”
C . With regard to “Barry Lyndon” :
Who wrote the book?
Who directed the film?
Who had the title lead role?
D . In Conrads “Heart Of Darkness”, what was the name of the man who went up the river and found Kurtz?
7527. PelleNilsson - 4/20/2004 7:36:05 PM
D. Marlow (half cheating, I have the book)
B. Animals speaking of liberation? I have no clue.
7528. Macnas - 4/21/2004 1:52:12 AM
Pelle gets D correct, and I'm wondering why he can't make the connection between his attempt at B, and the correct answer.
7529. KuligintheHooligan - 4/21/2004 2:46:20 AM
Animal Farm?
7530. Absensia - 4/21/2004 3:09:34 AM
C. Thackeray wtote it. Stanley Kubrick directed it and
Ryan O'Neal was Barry Lyndon.
7531. arkymalarky - 4/21/2004 3:27:58 AM
I just saw a new video by Prince, Musicology, that imho is absolutely great.
7532. Macnas - 4/21/2004 9:05:11 AM
Vic gets B.
Abs gets C.
7533. Macnas - 4/21/2004 9:07:51 AM
So far:
A : unanswered
B : KuligintheHooligan
C : Absensia
D : PelleNilsson
A is kind of tough.
7534. alistairConnor - 4/21/2004 10:44:26 AM
Hmmm. Let's see.
- I've read two of them
- Two of them have unhappy endings
- Two of them have been turned into musicals, I haven't heard of a song-and-dance version of Gatsby
- Robert Redford may well have played Romeo, I doubt if he's played Oliver
- I give up.
7535. Macnas - 4/21/2004 12:47:19 PM
I reckon it may be too tough.
7536. neato - 4/21/2004 1:03:09 PM
nono wait
7537. Magoseph - 4/21/2004 1:23:16 PM
Yes, wait, mac.
7538. Macnas - 4/21/2004 1:42:35 PM
Righto.
7539. neato - 4/21/2004 1:52:31 PM
what about a clue?
7540. Macnas - 4/21/2004 2:09:31 PM
A clue?
All these books are famous,
Each one in and of themselves,
On everybodys classics list,
They stand out on the shelves.
But if you leave the lists aside,
and give your full attention,
There is another famous book,
Where all these books are mentioned.
That's not bad for straight off the top of my head now is it?
7541. jayackroyd - 4/21/2004 2:53:18 PM
Pynchon comes to mind. Probably incorrectly.
7542. Macnas - 4/21/2004 3:10:05 PM
Incorrect, but on the right track, sort of....
7543. KuligintheHooligan - 4/23/2004 6:49:28 AM
In line with some complaints I made a few months back, I just read this today. It's about time.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040423/ap_en_ot/music_spelman_vs__rap_3
ATLANTA - Maybe it was the credit card that rap superstar Nelly swiped through a woman's backside in a recent video. Here at Spelman, the most famous black women's college in the country, a feud has erupted over images of women in rap videos, sparking a petition drive and phone campaigns.
Nelly planned to visit Spelman earlier this month for a charity event enlisting students for a bone marrow registry. But the rapper canceled the appearance after hearing that a protest was in the works because of his videos — especially "Tip Drill," the one with the credit card, which also shows men throwing money between women's legs and women simulating sex acts with each other.
Misogyny in pop music, especially hip-hop, has been around for years. What's new, students say, is an explosion of almost-X-rated videos passed around on the Internet or shown late at night on cable channels like Black Entertainment Television, also known as BET.
Never before, students say, have the portrayals of black women been so hypersexual and explicit.
"It's very harsh. This is something we have to see and listen to on a daily basis," said senior Shanequa Yates. "Nelly just didn't want to come here and face the criticism for the choices he's made."
7544. judithathome - 4/23/2004 4:52:01 PM
This is something we have to see and listen to on a daily basis," said senior Shanequa Yates
Oh really? People are forcing you to buy the music and watch the videos, Shanequa?
They don't have to "see and listen to" anything on a daily basis if the choose not to.
7545. arkymalarky - 4/23/2004 5:19:58 PM
I can't stand Nelly anyway, but the rap videos themes aren't much different from the hair band videos of the 80s. It's the same "I'm a(rock/rap)star who can have any and as many 'beautiful women' as I want and they'll do whatever I want" mentality (so what and who cares--can you entertain me with a decent song?) that I've always found not so much offensive as vacuous and boring. I really like seeing the beginning of a move away from that in hip-hop lately, as the rock/metal moved on to more interesting work--some good, some great, and some awful, like music almost always is, but interesting and different. And really nice vocals are coming back some--not the glass-breaking Mariah Carey type, but real quality interpretive and soulful singing.
7546. arkymalarky - 4/23/2004 5:21:48 PM
I actually liked "gangsta rap" better, because it invoked images and people that seemed realistic to me and the leaders in that genre have proven to be sharp people over time who've grown with their musical experience, imo, whether I agree with their perspectives or not.
7547. judithathome - 4/23/2004 5:24:07 PM
It can't come soon enough for me. I am sick to death of that screeching, reaching-for-the-sound-barrier type of "singing".
Now...if we could only get rid of the slutpuppy looks and sounds of the lipsyncers like Britney Spears!
7548. arkymalarky - 4/23/2004 5:26:19 PM
Britney Spears is just gross to me, but I'll tell you someone who I think has grown musically and is using a stupendous voice much better, and that's Christina Aguilera (sp).
7549. judithathome - 4/23/2004 6:00:34 PM
Her voice is great but her look leaves a lot to be desired. These girls don't seem to realize that sexy doesn't automatically mean sleazy.
7550. PelleNilsson - 4/23/2004 8:53:47 PM
Kuligin:
7551. Macnas - 4/25/2004 9:37:09 AM
Y'all are never going to get question "A", as not only would you have to have read the book, which I'm sure many have, but you'd also have to have remembered a fair bit of it, which I'm sure many do not. After all, as somebody once said "A man may no more remember everything he has read than carry with him everything he has ever eaten,"
The answer to "A" is Catcher in The Rye. The connection is that all the books/plays I mentioned in the the question (and more) are mentioned in it.
7552. Macnas - 4/25/2004 9:43:54 AM
re 7545
I don't really care what Nelly or whoever does wrt videos or song content, but some videos in particular are, as pointed out, pretty explicit.
So much so that my daughter is not allowed to watch any MTV or the like, (not that they play much music anymore....) she might see some music on the daytime television that she watches, but someone somewhere (on our national television network)is sensible enough to make sure that non-explicit videos are only shown during what you might call "childrens television" time.
7553. KuligintheHooligan - 4/28/2004 2:53:26 AM
pelle:
7554. arkymalarky - 4/28/2004 3:27:54 AM
Hey! I never realized that woman was also in American Gothic! I see it now--the perfect match! ;-)
7555. wabbit - 5/5/2004 2:22:38 PM
Auction history was made at Sotheby's this evening when Pablo Picasso's Garçon à la Pipe, from the fabled Whitney Collection, sold for $104,168,000 to an anonymous buyer, making it the most expensive painting in the world...The work exceeded the previous record of $82.5 million set in May 1990 by Vincent van Gogh's Portrait of Dr. Gachet. In addition to a record set by Picasso, auction records were also established for William Blake, Raoul Dufy, Sir Alfred J. Munnings and Frédéric Bazille.
Nice to have money.
7556. PelleNilsson - 5/5/2004 5:11:51 PM
A better view:
7557. Macnas - 5/5/2004 5:19:43 PM
Well worth the money....for fucks sake.
7558. judithathome - 5/26/2004 4:35:09 PM
For those of you who live in New York City, there will be a chance to see my sculptor friend's work...one piece...in the National Society of Bronze Sculptors show. He was chosen as one of thirty-six exhibitors from a pool of 900 to have his work in the show.
Don't know the dates yet or the venue but I will keep you posted.
7559. judithathome - 5/30/2004 6:54:45 PM
I got the name wrong in the above post but here is the information on my friend's accomplishment:
Fort Worth artist Deran Wright’s sculpture ‘The Minotaur’, has been selected to appear in the National Sculpture Society’s juried ‘2004 Annual Awards Exhibition’.
The National Sculpture Society is the oldest organization of professional sculptors in the United States. It is master sculptors and architects like Daniel Chester French, Augustus St. Gaudens, Richard Morris Hunt, and Stanford White who founded the NSS in 1893 and have
comprised its active membership since.
197 sculptors submitted 871 slides, of which only 36 were selected for inclusion in the show, which runs from September 13th through December 3rd in New York at the Park Avenue Atrium.
7560. judithathome - 5/30/2004 6:58:03 PM
And I also got the number of exhibitors wrong...it was almost 900 pieces not artists. Still, pretty impressive for a hometown guy!
7561. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 5/30/2004 9:33:01 PM
Kudos to your friend, Judith. Happy Memeorial Day!
My latest effort: “Shoal With Dunes.”
7562. Macnas - 5/31/2004 9:39:45 AM
Thats good, I know places like that.
7563. judithathome - 5/31/2004 2:58:42 PM
Beautiful, beautiful....Wiz, you're a wonder! Just water and pigment...lovely!
7564. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 5/31/2004 4:31:55 PM
Thanks Mac & Judith. We're soon off to The Cape for more of the same and my tongue is hangin' for some natural solitude. I'm world-weary and sick of the dailyness.
7565. Absensia - 6/9/2004 9:54:00 PM
Ray Charles dead at 73.
7566. judithathome - 6/9/2004 10:08:12 PM
I wonder if many will notice...the ALL FUNERAL ALL THE TIME story will likely push it out of the news.
7567. Macnas - 6/10/2004 11:10:15 AM
Poor old Ray's passing is over the news here this morning.
But it did mean I got to listen to "Hit the road Jack" on the way to work.
7568. alistairConnor - 6/10/2004 11:49:26 AM
Now that he's dead I suppose I can rip some tracks with a clear conscience... doesn't need the money where he's gone.
7569. Macnas - 6/16/2004 2:30:43 PM
I do think, that it is time for a quiz.
Let's base it around song lyrics:
A. "I'm just a puppet of wax, a puppet of sound"
Name the writer, and what was it written for?
B. "There is a light in the forest
There is a face in the tree
I'll pull you out of the chorus
And the first one's always free"
Name the song and the writer.
C. "My back to the wall
A victim of laughing chance
This is for me
The essence of true romance"
Name the song and the writers.
D. “Young, uniform minds,
In uniform lines,
And uniform ties.
Run round, With trousers on fire,
And signs of desire,
They cannot disguise”
Name the song and the writer.
7570. PelleNilsson - 6/17/2004 12:44:57 PM
I have no idea about anything of this.
7571. alistairConnor - 6/17/2004 1:21:24 PM
I feel vaguely guilty about not knowing the answers.
7572. Macnas - 6/17/2004 1:47:28 PM
I thought you'ed get at least one of the alistair.
7573. alistairConnor - 6/17/2004 2:27:35 PM
C is nagging at me. I suppose it must be the Undertones. Damian O'Neill and whatsisname.
7574. Macnas - 6/17/2004 2:33:34 PM
Nope, different band altogether.
7575. wabbit - 6/17/2004 4:49:48 PM
I think C is Steely Dan, and Ms. No should be able to get that one very quickly, I cannot for my life recall the title.
B - Tom Waits, Just The Right Bullets.
7576. Macnas - 6/17/2004 4:54:24 PM
Well done wabbit,
B. Just the right bullets, Tom Waits (wabbit)
7577. wabbit - 6/17/2004 5:39:58 PM
C - Steely Dan, Deacon Blues?
7578. Macnas - 6/17/2004 5:48:28 PM
wabbit is wight again.
B. Just the right bullets, Tom Waits (wabbit)
C.Deacon Blues, Steely Dan (wabbit)
Gots to go, see yez Monday.
7579. arkymalarky - 6/17/2004 7:08:40 PM
I could not think of the Steely Dan song title last night either, and I love that album. It's the only familiar one.
7580. arkymalarky - 6/20/2004 4:44:11 AM
A few meaningless observations on very current video stuff I've seen while working on this mess of a study. Maroon 5's lead singer is obnoxious and their current hit will not leave my head if I accidentally hear it, Res was right about Evanescence, Alannis (I still like Bob's nickname: All-Anus) Morisette is even more annoying with a boyfriend, and Modest Mouse is fascinating. I'd also like to see more of Brand New. And it seems there were some The Cure fans in the Mote and he has a new video out.
And I LOVE A Perfect Circle. Mose's boyfriend went into their concert a Bush man (don't get me started) and came out enthusiastic about voting for Kerry.
7581. alistairConnor - 6/20/2004 2:38:13 PM
The Steely Dan song is from Aja, isn't it? That's why I knew it.
Wild guess for D : sounds like it could be XTC, Andy Partridge.
7582. Macnas - 6/20/2004 2:44:08 PM
Aja is the Steely Dan album alright, thought you'd get that no bother.
And no, D is not XTC, but I like your style.
It's an Irish artist, one of the few guys around who writes good lyrics anymore.
Hint: Have you ever seen "Father Ted"??
7583. judithathome - 6/26/2004 9:32:40 PM
Here's the latest show at the Kimbell Museum in Fort Worth...I hope to be able to hobble though it soon:
Deja View
7584. judithathome - 6/30/2004 10:24:31 PM
My sister went to the dress rehersal for this last night...she said it is amazing:
Pageant Of The Masters
7585. KuligintheHooligan - 7/3/2004 2:37:37 AM
Who can guess from what song these lyrics come from?
Catch the mystery
Catch the drift
Catch the spirit
Catch the spit
7586. Ulgine Barrows - 7/9/2004 10:00:46 AM
A group named Spyder?
Tell us.
7587. wabbit - 7/13/2004 11:15:12 PM
No Rush fans? Me neither, but I think I recognize "Tom Sawyer".
Music I'm listening to lately:
Ollabelle - T-Bone Burnett produced this CD, which is a good recommendation in itself, imo. If you like American roots music, give this a try. Most of the music on this CD is traditional, but some songs were written by band members or others, such as a very nice verion of a Keith Richards song, "I Am Waiting". The lead singer of this group is Amy Helm, Levon Helm's daughter.
Night Train to Nashville - Music City Rhythm & Blues 1945-1970 - Wow. I'll never get tired of this. Blues/R&B from Nashville. Great stuff, arranged over two CDs more or less chronologically, which makes the first few songs boogie woogie. Try to sit still with this playing. I dare you. Christine Kittrell's "L&N Special" is playing as I'm writing. I had never heard her before, and this CD makes me wonder how many one-off recordings have been lost. The Smithsonian has done a good job preserving old recordings, maybe it will become a trend.
7588. wabbit - 8/4/2004 3:06:41 AM
7589. alistairConnor - 8/4/2004 11:08:25 AM
Can't get many Cartier-Bresson web pages to load this morning. Unsurprisingly. Will try again in a couple of days.
One aspect : He started his artistic life as a painter (and returned to it, over the last 20 years), and came to photography through the influence of the Surrealists. Indeed, he was perhaps the last of the great Surrealists.
Cartier-Bresson and the Surrealists
In 1925, while still at Lhote's studio, Cartier-Bresson began attending gatherings of the Surrealists at the Café La Place Blanche. He met a number of the movement's leading figures. His closest friend was the young poet René Crevel, who later committed suicide. At the age of 17, Cartier-Bresson belonged to a different generation than the founding members of Surrealism. He didn't engage in the debates, but he listened and adopted conceptions that would shape his early artistic life. He said he had been “marked, not by Surrealist painting, but by the conceptions of [André] Breton, [which] satisfied me a great deal; the role of spontaneous expression and of intuition and, above all, the attitude to revolt ... in art but also in life.”
The Surrealists' "destination-less walks of discovery" around the streets of Paris influenced him. Peter Galassi, in his book Henri Cartier-Bresson, The Early Work (Museum of Modern Art, New York), explains: “Alone, the Surrealist wanders the streets without destination but with a premeditated alertness for the unexpected detail that will release a marvellous and compelling reality just beneath the banal surface....
7590. alistairConnor - 8/4/2004 11:08:34 AM
“The Surrealists approached photography in the same way that Aragon and Breton ... approached the street: with a voracious appetite for the usual and unusual.... The Surrealists recognised in plain photographic fact an essential quality that had been excluded from prior theories of photographic realism. They saw that ordinary photographs, especially when uprooted from their practical functions, contain a wealth of unintended, unpredictable meanings.”
7591. alistairConnor - 8/4/2004 11:23:05 AM
Pierre and Marie Curie. There was a sign on the door, enter without knocking. I entered. Before saying hello, I took the shot. One mustn't be too polite.
They have dramatic faces. They knew too much about the reality of the world. It's a terrifying portrait. The position of the hands... I can't look at that photo for too long.
7592. Macnas - 8/4/2004 12:14:05 PM
I think I actually know this place, its off rue de rivoli I think.
7593. wabbit - 8/21/2004 4:46:39 PM
Neato has this in News Message # 3589 in thread 138:
Armed men stormed into an art museum Sunday, threatened staff at gunpoint and stole Edvard Munch's famous paintings "The Scream" and "Madonna" before the eyes of stunned museum-goers.
The thieves yanked the paintings off the walls of Oslo's Munch museum and loaded them into a waiting car outside, said a witness, French radio producer Francois Castang.
Police spokeswoman Hilde Walsoe said the two or three armed men threatened a museum employee with a handgun to give them the two paintings, including "The Scream" - Munch's famed depiction of an anguished figure with its head in its hands.
7594. anomie - 8/27/2004 10:32:47 PM
WOW,
Did you get that D70? Should I?
Help me prioritize:
D70
New laptop
LCD TV
really, though. How's it working out. And do I need the 18mm lens. I have a 24mm.
7595. anomie - 8/27/2004 10:34:43 PM
I was doing okay because no one had it in stock. I was relaxed. Then I saw it on the shelf while I was looking at new laptops. My knees almost gave out.
7596. anomie - 8/27/2004 10:58:20 PM
Without listening to media much, I've discovered several artists that I really like. Problem is, I think it was too much serendipity and not enough quality bubbling to the top. So here's my list of artists you absolutely must check out. What's yours?
Piano:
Keith Jarrett
Bob James
Guitar:
Earl Klugh
Peter White
General:
Cool Klugh/James
Acoustic Alchemey: All
Ottmar Leibert: Neuaveau Flamingo
7597. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 8/28/2004 2:30:13 AM
7594. anomie - 8/29/2004 4:32:47 AM
WOW,
Did you get that D70? Should I?
Anomie- It's the best camera I've ever owned--the instruction manual is a graduate level course, but the camera can take care of itself and adapt to any situation--utterly miraculous technology . . . with interchangeable lenses.
This is the best price around if you don't let their over-aggresive sales staff talk you into anything else . . .
7598. anomie - 9/4/2004 9:56:40 PM
WOW,
Thanks. I see it comes with an 18mm zoom lens for $1299.00. That's about 300 for the lens. Did you get the lens?
7599. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 9/4/2004 11:38:52 PM
No anomie, don't let them talk you into getting their lens package. Keep an eye on their price for the body only and don't pay more than $750 for it. Shop around for the same lens and get the filters at a place like Ritz Camera.
The sales staff are incredibly obnoxious and they will try to talk you into other items. I've also seen the D70 body on sale for as low as $575. It's now on sale for $705 Kit with the 18 - 70 mm macro lens.
A good deal (provided it's the Nikon lens and not another after market product) Tell them to shove their "Recommended Accessories." Be adamant and don't budge!
7600. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 9/4/2004 11:41:32 PM
You can always get an extra battery or data storage and transfer cards at Best Buy for reasonable prices.
7601. KuligintheHooligan - 9/4/2004 11:42:58 PM
I always buy those sorts of things on the Net. Best Buy marks them up entirely too much.
7602. anomie - 9/5/2004 12:17:10 AM
Wow! WOW. Thanks. I had no idea you could get them so cheap. New Nikons aren't usually discounted I thought. I may not wait.
I have a 24-70 Tamron, which will give me about 35mm on the D70. I also have some d-series lenses and some older ones. If I could find the body for 750, I'm sold.
Kuligin. I'll check your source. Thanks.
7603. wonkers2 - 9/5/2004 4:06:54 AM
I didn't look at the Nikon, but I'm very happy with my Canon digital Rebel.
7604. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 9/5/2004 4:37:05 AM
Good camera, but I have Nikon lenses that wouldn't fit a Canon.
7605. alistairconnor - 9/5/2004 9:39:46 AM
I need to get the Canon EOS electronic, with a 20 to 70mm lens. I already have a Canon 70-300mm zoom on my old-fashioned chemical camera, that I never use these days... I took it away on holiday, and found it very difficult to take any pictures with that lens - it used to do everything I wanted, now I can't get far enough away to take any pictures. My eye been ruined by years of snapshotting with a little Kodak digital.
What's more, the Canon had a film in it that must have been sitting there for a couple of years -- it turned out to be Ektachrome, so I'll have slides of my silly holiday snaps.
7606. anomie - 9/5/2004 10:59:30 AM
I'd be curious to know how the slides turn out after all that time.
7607. anomie - 9/5/2004 11:02:37 AM
Wonks, I'm stuck with Nikon lenses too. Otherwise the Rebel would have been fine for me. It's a good buy and I think takes a large variety of Cannon lenses - right?
7608. wonkers2 - 9/5/2004 9:55:56 PM
Yes. I thnk it accepts all Canon autofocus lenses. At least the 3 I already had work with the digital Rebel.
7609. alistairconnor - 9/6/2004 12:43:46 PM
sigh. Then I suppose I should look at a Rebel too.
... yes, about half the price of the EOS. Must be good enough for me too. $495 with the Canon 18 to 55 mm, that would do nicely.
7610. alistairconnor - 9/6/2004 12:47:39 PM
Looks like the Rebel hasn't arrived in France yet. Good. I haven't got the money yet.
7611. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 9/14/2004 4:15:45 PM
7612. wonkers2 - 9/14/2004 4:24:04 PM
Nice!
7613. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 9/14/2004 4:29:22 PM
Thanks wonk--if you click on it, you'll see a larger version.
7614. PelleNilsson - 9/14/2004 5:01:16 PM
I like the top left one the most.
7615. wabbit - 9/14/2004 6:17:34 PM
Gorgeous!
7616. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 9/14/2004 7:24:20 PM
Thanks, wabb! And to think that Mrs. Lawlor, (my second grade teacher) who "needed to prod me out of my dreaming" would always say: "Get your head out of the clouds, and come back to Earth."
Now she's in the Earth and I'm still flyin' high over the same sad little planet.
Pelle- that one is titled: "Oversand Station With Lemon Sky."
Here is a brief introduction written by the poet and art critic, John Yau, for the show's card;
7617. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 9/14/2004 7:24:57 PM
In Robert Dente’s monoprints, there is an upper and lower world. The upper world is made of different densities and layers of paint, which we translate into atmosphere, light, and wind currents; it is a radiant place of constant movement and change. In the lower world, we translate the paint into earth, stone, wood, grass, sand, and reflection; it is a place of stillness populated by solemn silhouettes. Although full of human traces, the world feels abandoned, as if the living have moved elsewhere or vanished. The acts of seeing and sifting, looking and reflecting are linked.
Dente arrives at a disquieting luminosity by having the paint remain paint. His juxtaposition of two distinct worlds is direct, and even simple, but the result is a state of complex feeling. Both dependent and independent, each world needs the other to become itself. The conjunction of movement and stillness is one of the activating formal tensions. Another formal tension is generated by the relationship between the works’ scale and the implied space of the artist’s subject matter. Between five inches and sixteen inches high and wide, these intimately scaled monoprints embrace the sky, and a vastness one associates with infinity. In its stillness and quietude the lower world echoes this immensity
7618. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 9/14/2004 7:25:06 PM
Dente evokes, as well as describes, a vast, various space with remarkable economy. It is one of the formal and emotional keys to his work. In Provincetown in Moonlight, the synthesis of the brush’s movement, tonal shifts and striations of color, endow the sky with a light that is both palpable and remote; it stretches out and back. Cropped by the monotype’s edges, the striations convey the artist’s sense that reality exceeds our attention, that it can only be glimpsed piecemeal, and that it is relentlessly modifying itself. At the same time, the two buildings standing on the crest of the slight inclination that lies just ahead offer a counterpoint to the sky. Dark and silent, they are like sentinels that are no longer sure of their official duties. This sense of loss suffuses throughout Robert Dente’s monoprints, and yet it should not be construed as romantic or even expressive. It comes from a place deeper than that, it comes from the very paint itself.
John Yau
Needless to say, I think he's a brilliant writer! {:?)
7619. arkymalarky - 9/15/2004 12:07:17 AM
Wow, Wiz.
7620. judithathome - 9/15/2004 1:37:40 AM
Superb...absolutely superb!
7621. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 9/15/2004 2:36:16 AM
Thanks ark & Judith; I try.
7622. judithathome - 9/15/2004 3:07:22 AM
Wish I'd bought some of your stuff early on!
7623. SnowOwl - 9/15/2004 3:10:06 AM
They're fabulous, Wiz. Thanks for letting us see them.
7624. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 9/15/2004 5:15:26 AM
Thanks again Judith and SnowOwl. It's such a beautiful planet, no?
7625. Ulgine Barrows - 9/15/2004 8:16:03 AM
Best seen from outer space
it can be refreshing
7626. Macnas - 9/15/2004 9:22:38 AM
Well done Wiz, you wapscallion.
7627. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 9/15/2004 3:00:10 PM
LOL-indeed!
Thanks Mac.
7628. Macnas - 9/22/2004 9:58:48 AM
If you like jazz, then this picture is going to be interesting.
7629. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 9/24/2004 6:38:51 AM
Thanks Macnas–great site.
7630. Macnas - 9/24/2004 6:43:26 AM
Isn't it though? Even to a non-jazz head like me, there is something cool about seeing all those artists together.
Plus the interface and site as a whole is very well done.
7631. PelleNilsson - 9/30/2004 8:52:32 AM
We move towards this year's Nobel prizes. According to Ladbrokes, the UK betting firm, the top candidates for literature are
7632. Macnas - 9/30/2004 10:15:52 AM
Who is Transtromer?
7633. PelleNilsson - 9/30/2004 10:40:56 AM
Tranströmer is a Swedish poet.
7634. Macnas - 10/5/2004 10:58:04 AM
I am currently listening to The Buzzcocks "ever fallen in love".
7635. alistairconnor - 10/5/2004 11:11:09 AM
But if you don't mind
I don't mind
Not the same song, but now it's buzzing in my head like a bluebottle.
7636. Macnas - 10/5/2004 11:15:33 AM
Ah yes, tunes that you can't get out of your skull.
Trepanning is the only thing that works.
I am now listening to The Pixies "this monkeys gone to heaven".
7637. Macnas - 10/8/2004 12:53:44 PM
Just before I head home, I am listening to The Damned "Smash it up".
7638. Macnas - 10/8/2004 12:55:11 PM
Ah feck it, I'll hang on for a few more minutes to listen to a particulary kicking Flaming Sideburns "street survivor".
7639. marjoribanks - 10/8/2004 3:31:25 PM
Yo wizardo, left a post for you in technology.
Your response would be appreciated.
7640. Macnas - 10/12/2004 5:21:26 AM
An interesting article on Dr.Strangelove, a favourite film of many.
7641. Marc-Albert - 10/12/2004 8:35:24 PM
Paramount Home Entertainment has finally dug into the studio's Jerry Lewis holdings, releasing a superbly mastered suite of 10 Lewis films.
The much-parodied French fascination with Mr. Lewis comes in large part, I suspect, from their habit of seeing Mr. Lewis's sweetly destructive naïf as a representation of something essentially American, just as Americans sentimentally (and inaccurately) believe Maurice Chevalier to represent the French soul.
Hehehehe!
7642. alistairconnor - 10/26/2004 10:50:03 AM
World's greatest DJ, John Peel dies
I really feel I've lost a friend... me and millions of others... erudite, witty, endlessly curious, a trustworthy guide and discoverer of great music, a godfather and a godsend to generations of (not only) British bands... the Pope of BBC Radio 1, dead of a heart attack, in Peru, at 65.
His show has been on the internet for ages, I bitterly regret not following it more often.
7643. alistairconnor - 10/26/2004 10:51:47 AM
Bye bye Uncle John.
7644. Macnas - 10/26/2004 11:03:33 AM
Well fuck it.
And Mike Read still lives. There is no justice.
7645. Ulgine Barrows - 10/28/2004 1:41:41 AM
Never heard of the guy (John Peel), sounds as if I missed out.
Never heard of Mike Read, either.
7631. PelleNilsson
re: Joyce Carol Oates
"These three have been touted for years. I wouldn't put any money on Oates. She's too productive"
Well, we can't have those Nobel winners making money, can we?
I just read the funniest beach novel, 2 months too late:
Big Love by Sarah Dunn
She proposes the theory that a man with a big penis can't be faithful, much like the owner of a fast car can't help driving fast.
Got to show off that tool!
Very funny.
7646. Macnas - 11/5/2004 7:03:21 AM
Did you know of Dean Reed? even if you did, this article makes good reading.
7647. angel-five - 11/10/2004 4:33:28 PM
I asked my GF last night which she liked more, REM or U2. She thought for a few seconds and then said U2.
This is one I could go either way on, depending on what mood I'm in and what day it is and which last good song by one of these groups I've heard. But I put these two groups in the same category and I wonder how other people would compare the two.
7648. Ms. No - 11/10/2004 5:44:11 PM
I think U2 has a wider range than REM, they take more chances musically. Also, I really liked U2's last album even though the current "hit" they're playing on the radio is shite. REM hasn't snagged me since Losing My Religion.
The only real connections I see between the bands are that they came to prominence around the same time and that both are known for their political activism. Musically, REM is firmly folk-based which is something that U2 has only barely come close to with the western flavor of the Joshua Tree album.
I suppose it's disloyal of me not to be more impressed with REM since they gained their popularity in the local circuit where I grew up, but I was always more of a B-52's fan and the punk/new wave UK invasion was my first love --- U2, Psychedelic Furs, Cure, Bauhaus, The Clash, The Fixx, Tears for Fears and the everlovin' Finn Bros out of Australia.
7649. arkymalarky - 11/10/2004 6:25:49 PM
I saw somewhere that Tears for Fears is reuniting, but I never saw any more about it.
7650. Ms. No - 11/10/2004 6:39:46 PM
Yes, they recently played a show here in LA and they're touring. The new album is heavily Beatles-influenced but that's the way Orzabal was heading when they split anyway.
I was quite saddened that I couldn't catch this show since it had a lot of great bands from my highschool days. Big 80's headliners all gathered in one place for a day-long concert. $45. A deal at twice the price.
7651. angel-five - 11/10/2004 6:44:30 PM
I think U2 writes better songs but REM has a way of hitting you with this simple groove, something as simple as Michael Stipe saying 'yeah yeah yeah yeah' in 'Man on the Moon',that I can really dig on. There's a fine line in REM's music between pretentious and apt that they cross back and forth over.
U2 can also just lay back and do a pop song; REM can't manage to do that without being all ironic. I'd also agree that they hit their stride earlier on and everything since, at least, Automatic for the People, has sounded kind of post-coitally disjointed and spent, whereas although U2 has just gotten a lot more poppish (the band that used to write staccato songs about massacres in Ireland is now out driving around with the windows down) they still write really good albums.
Plus there's that whole thing where Guinness and U2 make up about two thirds of the Irish economy and Michael Stipe just wants you to walk to work.
So, yeah, about four days out of the week I'm pretty likely to come down on the side of U2, Bono having summits with the Pope and all.
The other three, songs like 'Cuyahoga' and 'End Of The World' kick my ass.
7652. Ms. No - 11/10/2004 7:05:27 PM
I roll over for Texarkana every time.
7653. Macnas - 11/11/2004 3:31:01 AM
I like the folky type REM best, more so than anything they have made of late.
U2 I never got into all that much, I never bought anything they made. But many years ago, jaysus when I think on it, a very long time ago, I saw them play and in the live sense at least, they were great.
7654. Ms. No - 11/11/2004 11:13:22 AM
Mac,
I was just looking above and coveting your music collection. Good stuff there!
I'm just thrilled the Pixies are back together. I never did get enough of them
7655. Macnas - 11/15/2004 6:57:31 AM
Texas chainsaw massacre, as performed by bunnies.
7656. alistairconnor - 11/15/2004 7:12:24 AM
everlovin' Finn Bros out of Australia.
You mutherfockin bitch... Tim and Neil are New Zealanders of course.
7657. alistairconnor - 11/15/2004 7:18:22 AM
Hm. Ewe too? Bought the first album, Boy, in ... ??? about 1980 that would have been. My favourite record for several weeks. The whole sound, all the originality I have ever perceived in them was in that. Mid period U2 just seemed bloated, pompous and pumped up with subliminally recycled Stones and Zeppelin. I confess I haven't listened to anything they've done in about the last decade.
REM, I was aware of but basically I missed out on when they were hip, 80s and early 90s. Automatic is the only record I own. But yes, both musically and ethically, they are my pick. Stand in the place that you work, etc.
7658. Macnas - 11/17/2004 1:52:16 PM
"meet the new boss....same as the old boss"
What am I listening to?
7659. Macnas - 11/17/2004 2:21:41 PM
Or this one..
"talkin' 'bout them tiny cookies....that the peoples eat"
7660. arkymalarky - 11/17/2004 3:28:42 PM
Joe Walsh?
7661. arkymalarky - 11/17/2004 3:29:18 PM
The Who?
7662. angel-five - 11/17/2004 8:51:28 PM
The second one's Zappa.
7663. Macnas - 11/18/2004 3:05:16 AM
Well done Arky and angel,
First was The Who, (won't get fooled again), and second was Frank Zappa, (City of tiny lights).
7664. Macnas - 11/19/2004 4:08:21 PM
And what am I listening to at the moment?, at very high volume I might add....
"I got your picture, I got your picture, I want a million of them all 'round myself,
I want a doctor, to take your picture, so I can look at you from inside as well"
7665. thoughtful - 11/19/2004 5:38:14 PM
Played hooky this p.m. and friend and i went to see the william morris show. Learned a lot as always and saw lots of wonderful things.
In addition to the interior decor stuff he was famous for including tapestries, wall paper, rugs, and fabrics, he also did some wonderful stained glass windows and a lot of incredible books. Unbelievably intricate work.
7666. arkymalarky - 11/19/2004 9:24:47 PM
I'd love that first in my living room.
The first line of that sounds so familiar, Mac, but I can't place it.
7667. arkymalarky - 11/19/2004 9:25:17 PM
I'm better at going from music to words than the other way around.
7668. judithathome - 11/19/2004 10:55:13 PM
William Morris was a genius of decorative arts. His wall papers are fabulous.
7669. justears - 11/22/2004 6:11:15 PM
I've become an avid fan of Penelope Fitzgerald. Anyone else in here think she is remarkable? I've now read:
The Bookshop, The Blue Flower, Gate of Angels, and Offshore. (also the order in which I prefer them). Does anyone have a recommendation for the next one to read?
7670. Macnas - 11/23/2004 3:48:28 AM
Arky
Its the Vapours, Turning Japanese.
7671. Ulgine Barrows - 11/23/2004 4:08:34 AM
Well, Macnas. You didn't wait long enough. I knew that.
I've heard that 'turning japanese' is an euphemism for masturbation, because white people's eyes crinkle up into slits when they orgasm.
7665. thoughtful.
that is gorgeous - the cool blues and greens.
7672. Macnas - 11/23/2004 4:57:35 AM
UB's
I'll never listen to that song again, just in case.
7673. Magoseph - 11/23/2004 6:02:14 PM
Have you tried Google Scholar yet?
7674. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/23/2004 7:54:34 PM
7675. arkymalarky - 11/23/2004 9:03:19 PM
I've tried it, and it narrows things down considerably, but it may not be what the average student wants because it does cut out some really interesting and informative sites. I will probably find it very useful over the next few weeks, though.
7676. webfeet - 11/24/2004 11:23:01 AM
This is bullshit. Absolute bullshit, I say. No book thread? What, don't ye good people read?
Although I am happy to see that the boisterous, self-congralutory title, "Literature There's and Ours" has finally been deleted, though not from memory, maybe one day all the bookworms will come out of their crevices and start spinning their own little thread. Ah, it's just a dream.
I know, I haven't been around and should cast no stones. I am struggling to write my own work, and to keep our home from resembling a crack den.
Best to all friends and enemies, have a lovely thanksgiving and hope everyone is happy and well.
7677. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/24/2004 1:56:52 PM
For those of you interested in graphic design, here's a local brouhaha.
Logogate in Connecticut, or, The Rodneydangerfieldization of Graphic Design: Part II
7678. arkymalarky - 11/24/2004 2:45:16 PM
Hey Webfeet! Happy holidays to you, too!
7679. Jenerator - 11/24/2004 4:31:43 PM
webfeet,
I have really missed you!
Please come back and share suggestions and current reads and any new grand mere anecdotes.
7680. Max Macks - 11/24/2004 4:39:02 PM
Is this the place to talk about movies?
I mean does the Mote have a thread just for movie talk?
7681. Magoseph - 11/24/2004 4:49:07 PM
Yes, It's called Movies & TV, Max.
7682. alistairconnor - 11/26/2004 6:03:45 AM
Glory!
Shane McGowan (the drinking man's drinking man), inexplicably, is not yet dead. And the original Pogues are back together -- including bassist Cait O'Riordan, who left him for Elvis Costello in 1985...
The difference between them and bands like the Dubliners was, as MacGowan observes, "We played faster and took more speed."
I hope the magnificent wastrel has got some creative juice left. In the meantime, this article reminds me why I loved them so...
I suppose I could buy the remastered CDs, I would listen to them more often than those awkward vinyl things.
7683. Macnas - 11/29/2004 3:27:07 AM
Did you know alistair, that I've met McGowan? Roaring drunk with a woman on either arm, in the Flowing Tide in Abbey street, across from the theatre.
Anyhoo, I was up last night watching telly, with a tin of larger and a packet of tayto's, watching a program that Peel did back in 2000 about the Undertones.
Magic.
7684. Magoseph - 11/29/2004 3:36:10 AM
Wiz, what do you think of Marla's work Olmstead?
Gallery
From The Guardian:
A four-year-old girl's abstract paintings are changing hands for thousands of dollars in New York and drawing praise from the art world. But can work by such a young child be judged seriously or is the real genius in the marketing?
The latest phenomenon to hit the New York art scene is a painter whose large-scale abstract works have already been compared to those of Pollock, Miró, Klee and Kandinsky. When she had her first show in August, the canvases were selling for $1,500. When I originally arranged to meet her three weeks ago they had gone up to $6,000, and on my arrival at the gallery the one piece remaining had been priced at $15,000. What they'll be worth by the time you read this is anyone's guess.
Within a week of her most recent exhibition, she had been filmed by more than 10 TV crews, received calls from David Letterman, Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah, and been labelled a 'world-famous Abstract Expressionist'. But the artist herself is said to be oblivious to it all. She is, according to those closest to her, 'kind of reclusive', 'very sensitive', 'temperamental' at times, and extremely loath to talk about her work. Nevertheless, I am advised to come and interview her early - not just because her fame is spreading fast, bt because she has to go to pre-school at 12 o'clock.
http://www.marlaolmstead.com/images/triptonic60x60.jpg
7685. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/1/2004 9:18:10 AM
Well maggs, to be honest, not much. For an artist to have genuine vision, he or she has to create a unique order in their work. That's not happening here.
The marks are full of life and vitality and the colors are vivid, but all of the artists mentioned, go way beyond this kid.
I suspect the media is looking to exploit her precociousness with a brush.
I'd be curious to hear wabbit's take.
7686. wabbit - 12/2/2004 1:19:27 PM
12/01/04 LONDON (AP) - A porcelain urinal is the most influential work of modern art, according to a survey released Wednesday.
The poll of 500 arts figures ranked French surrealist Marcel Duchamp's 1917 piece 'Fountain' - an ordinary white, porcelain urinal - more influential than Pablo Picasso's 'Les Demoiselles d'Avignon,' Andy Warhol's screen prints of Marilyn Monroe and 'Guernica,' Picasso's searing depiction of the devastation of war.
Duchamp pioneered the use of everyday objects as art, an aesthetic that questioned the nature of art itself.
Art expert Simon Wilson said the choice of Duchamp's urinal "comes as a bit of a shock. But it reflects the dynamic nature of art today and the idea that the creative process that goes into a work of art is the most important thing - the work itself can be made of anything and can take any form," he said.
The survey was conducted by Gordon's Gin, which sponsor's Britain's leading art prize, the Turner Prize. The winner of this year's Turner Prize is due to be announced next Tuesday.
7687. wabbit - 12/2/2004 1:24:50 PM
I wanted to post that as a prelude of sorts to my comments about Marla. The age-old argument is, what is art, what is good art, and what good is art. I'm with WoW in thinking that good art is more than slapping colors on a canvas and not coming up with mud, which seems to be Marla's great talent. When WoW talks about the accident, he doesn't mean what happens with Marla - stumbling on a good composition or combination of colors. Those are tools he already has, and maybe she'll develop them, who knows, but for now her paintings are luck.
I accept that most people don't think that Duchamp's urinal is art. They want something pretty to look at, or perhaps something decorative, but not necessarily something they have to think about. This isn't to say that intent alone is enough for me, but intent counts for something. Several years ago I was standing in a gallery with a group of students looking at some large paintings by Sean Scully. Irving Sandler asked me what I thought of them and I said they looked like something that I would use as bedsheets. That doesn't mean the paintings weren't art, but imo they were decorative and that was all. And that's ok, many people liked them and defended Scully to me, but it sounded so much like people tasting an expensive bottle of wine and declaring it wonderful without realizing the influence of the label. The media has created a sort of anti-art market for Marla and it isn't pc to say that perhaps her paintings aren't great art. It's like poking the art world in the eye and saying, see you snobs, we've been saying for years that a child could do this, and here's proof. But it's still the label as much as the paint that creates Marla's market.
7688. wabbit - 12/2/2004 1:25:06 PM
I've been hashing this argument out with people for years and sway left and right depending on my mood. A couple former professors tried talking me into writing a book, but it's the kind of thing that would sell 25 copies and disappear. Someone more capable than I will articulate my thoughts someday. I wish more people would go to museums, or read, or just develop an interest in art forms that they are unfamiliar with, instead of being intimidated and condemning the lot. Meanwhile, I won't object if some people want Elvis on black velvet. Chacun a son gout.
7689. Ms. No - 12/2/2004 1:50:04 PM
I know practically nothing about art. I like what I like and that makes me something of a junk-food junkie I suppose. I can't think of anything specific off the top of my head but I've been persuaded to an enjoyment of some things after they were explained to me and other things no amount of hype or explanation or back-story will persuade me to enjoy even if I can acknowledge some particular skill or significance about a piece -- the Mona Lisa, for instance and most of Jackson Pollock's work and don't even get me started on Rothko. bleh.
I kind of like Marla's stuff but I would agree that it isn't "great" art. "Great" implies to me a certain amount of intent and self-knowledge which a 4yo simply can't posesses.
As I mentioned, though, "great" isn't a prerequisite for me liking something. There's plenty of significant art that gives me the big yawn. My personal tastes are fairly plebeian. I love Van Gogh, but I recognize that much of what appeals to me in his work is the strong lines and vivid colors....which are shared by cartoons and poster art like my beloved pin-up girls.
7690. Ms. No - 12/2/2004 2:14:37 PM
A couple of weeks ago a friend visited me from out of town and it happened to coincide with a tour the Phillips Collection is making to LA right now. I'm sure I've waxed tediously rhapsodic over this collection here before. Quite simply it is my favorite collection of any I've ever seen.
Anyway, I was so excited and got my friend hyped up to see it as well so we paid our money and we walked on in and I was having serious anxiety over whether she would consider the show worth the price of admission. It was only a small part of the Phillips Collection with Renoir's The Boating Party as the star attraction. I was so worried that she'd feel she'd misspent her $17.
I was ecstatic to see the collection again. There were certainly some paintings that didn't I didn't care for and I was sad to see that the African American painters hadn't been brought along, but there were 2 Van Gogh's, a Klee, a Kandinsky, a Daumier and three Picasso's that would have satisfied me if that were all that had been present.
Second only to having seen these works again -- my favorite being Van Gogh's The Road Menders -- I was joyously relieved that my friend thought the show was well worth the price of admission. Picasso's Bullfight is one of her all-time favorite paintings and it was in this show. I was so happy that something I love so much could be shared by someone else.
7691. Ms. No - 12/2/2004 2:17:03 PM
Also, I nearly got into a brawl.
yes.
In an art gallery.
There was a middle-aged trying-so-hard-to-be-something couple there and it was clear that it was some kind of tutuorial-Pygmalionesque relationship. He was probably mid-60's and she was mid 40's and they were wandering from painting to painting and he seemed to be sort of instructing her about the finer points of each piece.
She was making me nervous because she was pointing really closely to the works. I got a bit nearer to them and realized that they were talking about what the names of the fucking colors were. "I believe this is cadmium yellow. Don't you think that's cadmium yellow?"
All I could think was "It's a fucking VAN GOGH you stupid cow!!!" and then she did it, she actually touched with her pointy ignorant finger the actual skin of The Road Menders.
I saw red and went to body check her, had actually taken a step when one of the docents intervened with a sharp "No! You can't touch them."
The woman withdrew her hand but didn't seem very phased and as the docent walked away I could see her pointing again. Her finger was within an inch of the actual painting. I followed this couple around until they left the Van Gogh room --- I'd have kept following them but my friend grabbed me by the arm and restrained me.
I was incensed. I wanted to beat that woman with my fists. Pull her hair out. Scream and rail at her until she collapsed in a little shivering puddle of abject remorse for having dared to defile my God with her stupid, pointy finger.
And oh how I wish I'd been the one to touch it.
7692. wabbit - 12/2/2004 3:00:15 PM
I love the Phillips collection too. They have a small dark Degas that I adore, a woman leaning on her arm. And speaking of Sean Scully, they'll have an exhibit of his work autumn of 2005.
I'm not a particular fan of Pollock either, but some of Rothko's paintings shimmer. And some were painted with whatever was on sale at the hardware store, and it shows.
Ms. No, I can't tell you how many times I've come *this close* to clocking someone for touching. Some museum somewhere (London maybe?) has a sculpture piece that has been touched so many times, it is wearing away. They use it at the entrance to demonstrate why you shouldn't touch.
I have to use a wheelchair now when I go to museums and it's been a real eye-opener. I'm 6' tall when I'm on my feet, so it has never been much of a problem for me to see over most people, but when in a wheelchair, I'm constantly amazed at how I disappear. People think nothing of getting right in front of me. I try to stay back from whatever I'm looking at so I don't block everyone else, but there are always people who elbow their way right up to the wall. I've been tempted to role into a few of them.
7693. Ms. No - 12/2/2004 3:28:01 PM
I'm a stand back sort of person myself and even in my "tall" shoes I max out at about 5'5. Some paintings have to be seen close up, but I find that most things look better from 8 feet away, often more.
I recall an exhibit that I saw at MOMA that I wasn't all that impressed with until I turned away from a painting and saw another one on the opposite side of this huge gallery room. From 30 feet away the painting just came to life -- the water moved and you could feel the wind in the sails of the boat. It was amazing. I walked the entire perimeter of that gallery looking at the paintings from across the room for the rest of the day.
It's irritating as hell to be in a crowded gallery. And how crowded I think it is hangs directly on how many people are milling their way obliviously between the art and the other patrons.
I'm in full favor of you mowing down the oblivious. ;->
7694. wabbit - 12/2/2004 3:42:56 PM
Next time you come East, whaddya say we down a couple martini's and mow down the oblivious together? I could always pretend to lose control in the Guggenheim, it would be almost like bowling.
Another problem with wheelchairs is getting through the gift shop at a museum. There is usually just enough room for the chair, but not if your hands are on the wheels, so I get a good roll-up and zip between display stands. This is much more entertaining than it may sound, because I get to watch the employees and other patrons hold their breath in near panic when they see what I'm about to do. I haven't destroyed anything yet.
7695. Ms. No - 12/2/2004 3:46:44 PM
Oh god, I just got the image of you barrelling down the ramps at the Guggenheim shouting "GAAAAHHHHH!!!! Out of my way art-pansies!!!"
I'm laughing so hard my eyes are watering!
This is a definite date!
7696. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/2/2004 4:10:49 PM
Thanks for the hearty laughs, Gals, and it's the world's loss, as well as those twentyfive who won't get to share your stellar insights, wabb!
7697. judithathome - 12/2/2004 4:40:19 PM
There was a young girl who became quite the celebrity at age 12 for her paintings that looked like Picassos...Alexandra Nikita, I think was her name. A gallery here in town had several of her things and I never liked them but they looked tons better than that four year old's.
7698. thoughtful - 12/2/2004 4:43:15 PM
so if you had to pick just one museum...which would it be?
There are so many i haven't been to, it's hard to choose. Of the ones I've been to, it's a tough call, but I'd have to pick the Gardner in boston.
7699. thoughtful - 12/2/2004 4:46:10 PM
sigh...
7700. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/2/2004 5:55:02 PM
The Gardner is a delight and within walking distance to my favorite other Boston haunt – the Zen garden attached to The MFA. (It's free and a lovely place to ponder.)
I also like the Freer in D.C.
7701. judithathome - 12/2/2004 6:07:04 PM
The Freer is one of Keoni's faves.
I liked several funky little museums we went to in France and Germany...all very old and not one of which I can recall the name. They were very old and the floors creaked and the rooms were small but I had a wonderful feeling of having lived there before in several of them. I had that feeling a lot in Europe.
I'm convinced I did live there in other lives and how I got plunked down in Texas in this one, I will never know.
7702. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/18/2004 4:27:02 PM
My local art dealer finally got his website up. Brick Walk Fine Art
A peruse for flaws, problems or confusion is welcomed--I had nothing to do with the site, but I can pass a comment or critique on to him.
7703. judithathome - 12/19/2004 2:22:14 PM
Wiz, on first look at your page, I note the word "The" is repeated twice in line identifying the art cirtic who is quoted right after it.
For some reason, I couldn't copy and paste the single line.
7704. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/19/2004 2:31:56 PM
Many thanks Judith, you'd make a thoughtful copy editor with a good eye.
Speaking of thoughtful, have you heard from her? I won't be able to sleep until she forgives me for my snappish behavior in Matters.
7705. judithathome - 12/19/2004 3:15:46 PM
I'm sure she's forgiven you. After all, she's called "thoughtful" for good reason. ;-)
7706. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/22/2004 1:54:31 PM
New life for Bush monkey poster
A controversial portrait of President George W Bush, formed using monkey heads, has been projected on a giant billboard in Manhattan.
Chris Savido's acrylic painting, Bush Monkeys, prompted gallery managers to close down a 60-piece show at New York's Chelsea Market last week.
Anonymous donors subsequently paid for the picture to be posted over the entrance to Holland Tunnel for a month.
Some 400,000 drivers are expected to see the billboard each day.
7707. Ms. No - 12/22/2004 2:37:01 PM
I'm glad the Chelsea banned it. Thousands more people will now hear about the painting, see it and hopefully donate money to a good cause.
7708. wonkers2 - 12/22/2004 3:56:53 PM
They should have made the picture out of maggots instead of monkeys!
7709. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/22/2004 4:25:02 PM
The bidding for it, on ebay, is up to $12,400.
7710. Max Macks - 12/30/2004 1:38:40 PM
who would know it is a picture of Dumbya?
7711. Ulgine Barrows - 1/1/2005 9:51:08 PM
People who can't see the monkeys for the coffee beans?
7712. wonkers2 - 1/1/2005 10:14:28 PM
Maggots or dung beetles!
7713. Ulgine Barrows - 1/1/2005 10:17:52 PM
Well. There was hilarious story on Prarie Home Companion that made me think of Pelle.
Some kid, trying to start the car for his dad, but they hadn't scraped the windshield of ice. Kid went straight into the Mississippi and started driving that car real smoothly. Ran up aside an old Norwegian on skis who started shouting at him.
Kid let the Norwegian in the car, along with skis, and finally gathered this: the old Norwegian had made a ski trip on the Mississippi, mostly on his skis, down to New Orleans.
And it was a trip of a lifetime.
7714. wonkers2 - 1/1/2005 10:28:09 PM
Not much ice on windshields in The Big Easy.
7715. Ulgine Barrows - 1/1/2005 10:37:22 PM
Sure, and when that old/young Norwegian was coming down to the melt, I hope he met some kind folk such as you.
I'd like to thank you all, for my time here. You made it enjoyable for me, mostly; and I hope the same is true for you.
I'm onto something different for awhile.
7716. wonkers2 - 1/2/2005 8:07:16 AM
Peace be with you.
7717. alistairconnor - 1/3/2005 7:29:10 AM
Oh well.
I hope you're onto something good. As the song says.
7718. thoughtful - 1/3/2005 10:02:00 AM
Wiz, just saw your note above.
Nothing to forgive.
Just glad you got a grip. That stuff is not good for the heart nor the soul. Yours nor anybody else's.
Happy new year!
7719. thoughtful - 1/3/2005 10:07:20 AM
We went to the Yale art museum one day on our vacation. Wanted to see the exhibit on livable modernism...collection of decorative arts during the depression on display was disappointingly small. Though some of what was there was a stunner to see in a museum. We kept saying things like...your mother had a vacuum cleaner like that...my grandmother's phone looked exactly like that one.
Weird sensation.
7720. judithathome - 1/3/2005 12:53:06 PM
I saw an exhibit like that a few years ago...loved it. I kept thinking, I sold one just like that for a pittance! The curse of the antiques dealer...knowing you sold something for less than you could have.
7721. thoughtful - 1/3/2005 1:09:19 PM
And the flip side of the customer, knowing they probably paid more for something than they needed to. They say the only fair deal is when everyone walks away sure they could've done better.
7722. Magoseph - 1/5/2005 11:59:15 AM
Do You Speak American?
Tonight starting at 6 EST, there will be a three-hour program on your local PBS station.
7723. alistairConnor - 1/26/2005 5:21:29 PM
I just saw a French music-awards show on TV. The opening sequence, live, was a children's choir singing the Kyrie Eleison from the film Les Choristes.
I'm a sucker for choral music, for religious music, for choral religious music... but it just happens that it was the best film I saw last year too...
Gérard Jugnot plays a failed musician, in the late 1940s, prison guard in a reform school for boys, who saves them through music... tear jerker.
nominated for the Oscars, best furrin film. Won't win, but I read somewhere that the damn cute children's choir may be there for Oscar night too, singing the theme song "Sentiers de Gloire". Look out for it.
Sens au coeur de la nuit
L'onde d'espoir
Ardeur de la vie
Sentier de gloire
7724. Ms. No - 1/26/2005 5:28:53 PM
Oh, I heard a review of this on NPR and was really interested in seeing it. I'll probably end up waiting for video, but just hearing the little bits of soundtrack during the review thrilled me.
7725. alistairConnor - 1/26/2005 5:37:12 PM
I took the girls to see it when it came out, because we sing in the village choir. We loved it. Then it just built by word of mouth and became the biggest film of the year.
It was made locally, the landscape is my universe. The leading boy, who really does sing like an angel, is a pretty good actor too. My daughter knows a girl who knows him. (nearly famous)
7726. Ms. No - 1/26/2005 5:41:07 PM
Jeez, talented and gorgeous. Good thing he's French and not American. At least he's got a chance of growing to adulthood without becoming a complete fathead. ;->
7727. judithathome - 1/26/2005 6:32:08 PM
The director thinks this young man will lose his marvelous voice once he matures, though.
7728. judithathome - 1/26/2005 6:32:37 PM
I'll be willing to bet he'll still be good looking, though. ;-)
7729. resonance - 1/26/2005 11:39:46 PM
7730. Macnas - 1/28/2005 9:36:50 AM
Am now listening to "Punkrock Girl", by the Dead Milkmen.
7731. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/28/2005 6:31:08 PM
More new work for the Italy show.
7732. judithathome - 1/28/2005 7:07:15 PM
Gorgeous stuff, Wiz!!
7733. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/28/2005 8:04:38 PM
Thanks Judith, any favs?
7734. SnowOwl - 1/29/2005 1:23:42 AM
They're all beautiful.
If I had to pick I might choose Rainy Day in Venice, but it would be very difficult to find a favourite.
7735. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/29/2005 9:12:26 AM
Thank you SnowOwl, I appreciate the input.
7736. Magoseph - 1/29/2005 9:13:00 AM
Every picture of the Visions of Italy series reminds me of old provençal villages. Farm Fields with Sun Glints and Hilltop Farm With Sunlit View are my favorite—I like the way light, sheen, skin and brass tones are rendered in Whiz’s work.
7737. judithathome - 1/29/2005 1:13:36 PM
I like the farm pieces, especially after the rain.
But if I were able, I'd buy them all!
7738. wabbit - 1/29/2005 1:22:14 PM
Ooooh...
Difficult to pick favorites, but I think mine would be Farm, Early Evening and Hilltop Farm With Sunlit View
7739. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/29/2005 1:52:36 PM
Were back up!
Thanks for the feedback, all - I truly appreciate it. I'm trying to cull and decide which ones to make bigger. The farm fields and Monterrenti are larger than the first studies, but I'm having trouble deciding too.
Should I cut the San Gimignano pieces or improve and refine them? I vividly recall the feeling of walking her dark and cool streets while looking above to the entirely different world of those medieval skyscrapers.
Moreover, I haven't a clue about how Italians will perceive the work - I mean: is it a vision just for the touristas by a tourista or does it capture what they feel too?
France or Italy it's all medieval, I guess. I hate this part of putting a show together. I love the studio and abhor everything else. Nevertheless, more is coming - Venice, Sienna, Umbria, Rome. Pompeii and Sicily. Please bear with me. Or should I say bare with me. I'm on fire and I can't stop!!!
7740. wonkers2 - 1/29/2005 2:50:21 PM
Nice stuff, WoW!
7741. arkymalarky - 1/29/2005 3:06:57 PM
If my turtle-connection and difficult isp ever straighten up I'll have a look. My computer curls up at pdf for some reason.
7742. arkymalarky - 1/29/2005 3:08:00 PM
Man, it really sounds great.
7743. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/29/2005 3:38:20 PM
Thanks wonk, how are the matrimonial obligations going?
ark- the PDFs are about 1.5 megs each so if you don't have a lot of ram, it may be impossible to load. I'll send you a postcard.
7744. arkymalarky - 1/29/2005 4:31:57 PM
What a sweetheart! Thanks Wiz!
7745. wonkers2 - 1/29/2005 6:09:56 PM
So far, so good.
7746. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/30/2005 1:46:19 PM
wonk- There is a show on BBC America called: The Kumars At No. 42 that is both a hoot and informative in ways I think you'd appreciate.
7747. Macnas - 1/31/2005 4:39:08 AM
Kumars is a good show, gets a bit tired after a few episodes but better than a lot of television these days.
7748. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/31/2005 11:45:07 AM
I agree Mac, but it's still interesting from a cultural point of view in that it would broaden wonk's experience and help wrt his future in-laws. I enjoy their sense of humor and getting to know what makes people laugh is the best kind of info when encountering a new culture.
7749. wonkers2 - 1/31/2005 12:50:35 PM
Thanks. I'll see if its available on my local Comcast cable.
7750. judithathome - 2/11/2005 10:52:48 AM
Arthur Miller...RIP
7751. uzmakk - 2/13/2005 8:51:34 AM
Was going to post this in the Cafe, but decided to post here instead. I address this to all, but Pelle in particular since I know that The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire was on his "must read" list. I finished the thing(audio) about a week ago. I felt subtle elation afterwards -- like finishing the Lord of the Rings which I also read over a period of years. (Purchased the Two Towers when I was in 6th grade, so entered the experience sideways)
I have no electronic media except for stereo componet system in the living part of the house any longer and must come to the basement for my fix. I read upstairs.
Have read DOING OUR OWN THING by McWhorter recently and recommend it. Lots of references to popular culture and gay piano bars.
Also am reading Isaiah Berlin, THE PROPER STUDY OF MANKIND.
Other things too, but I mention these.
By the way, to all of you who have responded to my "drive by posts" I thank you and apologize for my lack of manners.
7752. wonkers2 - 2/13/2005 10:39:35 AM
"Attention Must Be Paid" by David Mamet Here.
7753. arkymalarky - 2/13/2005 11:53:10 AM
Hey Uz! I wish you would drive by more often.
7754. wonkers2 - 2/13/2005 12:29:26 PM
"No Tights Allowed" Tom Ling: "There are some parts of the body you can't choreograph."
7755. uzmakk - 2/13/2005 1:58:41 PM
Btw, McWhorter is a linguist and his book is an analysis of what is happening to our language. No crying or wringing of hands, just a call to pay attention.
----------------------------------
Monday, February 14 at 6:30pm ET -- C-Span
David M. Levy, professor at the Information School of the University of Washington Levy is the author of "Scrolling Forward: Making Sense of Documents in the Digital Age," and he will discuss the shift of the experience of reading from the fixed page to movable electrons and the effect that has had on language.
This is one of a series of lectures. I caught a good bit of the previous lecture before I left the house a Monday or two ago and intend to watch the rest of the series. Y'all can ask questions via email.
Digital Future lecture series
7756. arkymalarky - 2/13/2005 2:19:01 PM
I've heard McWhorter on TV a couple of times and was as impressed with him as I've been with anyone new that I've seen interviewed in a long time.
7757. judithathome - 2/13/2005 4:23:06 PM
I feel vindicated by my heading on the link to the story about Miller's death on the News thread! And by David Mamet, no less. ;-)
7758. arkymalarky - 2/13/2005 5:24:58 PM
That's what Dad always quoted from that play, too, and it always stood out for me, but I never knew if it would have had I not heard it from Dad long before I'd ever read it. I assume, the way I see the line, that I would have.
7759. judithathome - 2/13/2005 5:39:43 PM
If you'd heard it in the TV movie (with Lee J Cobb) or the theatrical movie (with Fredric March) when his wife said it, you'd have never forgotten. Mildred Dunnock played Linda Loman in both productions.
7760. wonkers2 - 2/13/2005 7:16:18 PM
Very good, Judith. I didn't pick up on it.
7761. judithathome - 2/14/2005 9:56:56 AM
Well, don't feel bad, no one else did, either....I had to pat myself on the back for it, after all. ;-)
7762. wonkers2 - 2/14/2005 10:11:34 AM
"On Bullshit" by Harry G. Frankfurt, Professor Emeritus of Moral Philosophy, Princeton Here.
7763. wonkers2 - 2/14/2005 10:16:57 AM
Frankfort: "The bull artist, on the other hand, cares nothing for truth or falsehood. The only thing that matters is 'getting away with what he says.' An advertiser or a politician or talk show host given to [bull]does not reject the authority of the truth as the liar does, and oppose himself to it, he pays no attention to it at all."
Are Bush-Cheney liars or merely bullshitters?
7764. Magoseph - 2/15/2005 7:52:29 AM
Uz, thank you for the C-Span link: "Scrolling Forward: Making Sense of Documents in the Digital Age".
7765. wonkers2 - 2/19/2005 8:24:50 AM
The Droogs are back, on stage this time. Here.
7766. wabbit - 4/15/2005 8:19:32 AM
How cool is this -- the Smithsonian Institution has just gone online with the ethnographic answer to iTunes: smithsonianglobalsound.org, with museum-quality annotation and royalties paid to musicians. I've added a link in the butter bar.
7767. Magoseph - 4/28/2005 5:13:58 AM
Culture and our President...
May 2005 issue
Small Favors Molly Ivins
The Whim of a Hat
Hey, the sun is shining, the bluebonnets are out, our big music festival, South by Southwest, rocked, and the puppy wants to play. You expect me to write about Terri Schiavo, Iraq, and Paul ("There is no history of ethnic strife in Iraq") Wolfowitz?
Instead, let us celebrate spring with a roundup of the President's verbal gaffes, boners, grammatical errors, and immortal contributions to logic. Remember, this is a contest between George Bush père and George Bush fils, with the old man still well ahead at this point, though I think you will agree, after reading the latest, that our boy is gaining on him.
These are, as always, taken straight from life and from W.'s mouth.
First of all, there's the ongoing situation in Iraq, where, as he put it, "it is a time of sorrow and sadness when we lose a loss of life." Our enemies in Iraq are very resourceful, he adds. "They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people and neither do we," says the Prez.
Don't worry, the President understands the financial implications of Iraq. He said, "I want to remind you all that in order to fight and win the war, it requires an expenditure of money that is commiserate with keeping a promise to our troops."
Then there was Bush's spluttering in the first debate: "In Iraq, no doubt about it, it's tough. It's hard work. It's incredibly hard."
If ever there was a man who understood hard work, it is our President. He was fully prepared for it by his time as governor of Texas. His former chief of staff, Clay Johnson, stated that in those days, Bush's workweek consisted of "two hard half-days" broken only by his two-hour midday break. We can tell that Bush still misses being governor because he said: "One of the most meaningful things that's happened to me since I've been the President, governor--the governor--President. Oops. Ex-governor."
On general strategery, the President said, "The best way to find these terrorists who hide in holes is to get people coming forward to describe the location of the holes, is to give clues and data." And he uttered these profound words of wisdom: "Free societies are hopeful societies. And free societies will be allies against these hateful few who have no conscience, who kill at the whim of a hat."
He added, curiously, "Free nations don't develop weapons of mass destruction."
Bush is not into process. "Oftentimes, we live in a processed world--you know, people focus on the process and not the results."
His focus on results led to this doozie on slavery: "It's very interesting when you think about it, the slaves who left there to go to America, because their steadfast and their religion and their belief in freedom helped change America."
Last year was a period of high stress for George W., who once again had to struggle with the education issue, observing that the "illiteracy level of our children are appalling."
President Bush also informed us during the campaign that God speaks through him. This disappointed many who thought the Almighty knew how to pronounce the word "nuclear."
Bush himself has noted, "I'm also not very analytical. You know, I don't spend a lot of time thinking about myself, about why I do things." But still, he is capable of deep self-awareness, as when he observed, "I am the master of low expectations."
End of recap. You must admit "kill at the whim of a hat" is almost worth the price of admission. Just try to remember, folks, this is historic times.
7768. wonkers2 - 5/8/2005 6:08:28 AM
Heretofor whimsical Colombian painter of fat people, Fernando Botero, turns serious over Abu Ghraib torture. Here.
7769. wabbit - 5/8/2005 7:18:30 PM
7770. wonkers2 - 5/9/2005 9:09:14 AM
Is Mass Culture Dumbing us Down or Smartening Us Up? The answer here.
7771. jexster - 5/14/2005 11:08:03 AM
La Pistache a Tante Nana - mp3
Huge selection of cajun music mp3's free here
7772. jexster - 5/14/2005 11:11:47 AM
E-OU CE QUE T'ES PARTI? WHERE ARE YOU GOING?
What is Cajun French?
French Dept Louisiana State Univ.
7773. jexster - 5/14/2005 11:42:03 AM
Mon petit garçon a plus des crises
Ma vieille a plus des rhumatismes
Sont plus malades at all at all
Depuis ils ont pris le Hadacol
Sois garanti tu prends quelque dose
Tes yeux sont clairs, tes joues sont roses,
Prends quelques bouteilles et je te promets
Tu vas jongler pour courtiser
J’ai fait serment dessus la Bible
Me sentir mieux c’est pas possible
Moi qui te dis je peux remercier
Le Hadacol à Nonc Dudley
Si t’as des douleurs mais tout partout,
Dans tes jambes et dans ton cou,
Si t’as besoin des vitamins
Le Hadacol peut le mettre within
Si les docteurs t’ont décompté
Y a une sauce pour t’as cassé,
Y a une chance pour ta santé,
Le Hadacol peut te le donner
Viens faire serment dessus la Bible
Te sentir mieux c’est pas possible
Moi qui dis qui a remercié
Le Hadacol à Nonc Dudley
"Pendant longtemps j’ai miséré
Sur juste du lait, du pain grillé,
Asteur c'est bien je me porte du suif,"
Say Nonc Ignace a L'Anse la Butte
"J’ai pris le tonique à Nonc Dudley
C'est ça ca pris pour m’engraisser,
Asteur ma vieille me trouve si mieux
Elle me prend pareil qu’un amoureux."
J’ai fait le serment dessus la Bible
De me sentir mieux c’est pas possible
Moi qui dis je peux remercier
Le Hadacol à Nonc Dudley
Valse de Hadacol
7774. jexster - 5/14/2005 11:56:44 AM
And the ever-populaire Jolie Blon
Jolie blonde, regardez donc quoi t'as fait,
Tu m'as quitte pour t'en aller,
Pour T'en aller avec un autre, oui, que moi,
Quel espoir et quel avenir, mais, moi, je vais avoir?
Jolie blonde, tu m'as laisse, moi tout seul,
Pour t'en aller chez ta famille.
Si t'aurais pas ecoute tos les conseils de les autres
tu serait ici-t-avec moi aujourd 'hui
Jolie blonde, tu croyais il y avait just toi,
Il y a pas just toi dans le pays pour moi aimer.
Je peux trouver just une autre jolie blonde,
Bon Dieu sait, moi, j'ai un tas.
In English
Pretty blond, look at what you've done,
You left me to go away,
to go away with another, yes, than me,
What hope and what future am I going to have?
Pretty blond, you've left me all alone
To go back to your family.
If you had not listened to all the advice of the others
You would be here with me today.
Pretty blond, you thought there as just you,
There is not just you in the land to love me.
I can find another pretty blond,
Good God knows, I have a lot.
7775. alistairConnor - 5/14/2005 1:29:48 PM
Asteur ma vieille me trouve si mieux
Elle me prend pareil qu’un amoureux.
Ah that's poetry.
7776. alistairConnor - 5/19/2005 1:44:25 PM
Oh la what have I done.
I've been meaning to get around to buying tickets for BB King, I've never yet seen him, and you always regret when you had the chance and then they die... and Taj Mahal on the same bill...
I just checked out the Jazz à Vienne web site and of course that concert is sold out already. Bugger.
So I thought : what about George Clinton instead? ... What about Chick Corea? What about Oscar Petersen? The Cuban evening, or the Louisiana gospel evening? the Brazilians?
... so I went and bought season tickets, any seven concerts.
AND I get to see BB!
7777. judithathome - 5/19/2005 3:56:26 PM
Congrats, Alistair!
And I snagged a great #!
7778. wabbit - 5/23/2005 1:10:31 PM
I don't know if JJ or CharlieL lurk here anymore, but if they do, there is a nice little program they might want to check out now that mp3.com has changed their format.
Radio.blog lets you create a playlist and stream it from a website. The basic program requires a server that allows PHP and XML, but there are ways around the PHP. I was thinking they could create playlists of their original music and stream it from their websites, so folks could hear what they do.
It's a little involved to get set up, but a bit of patience and some website know-how will get you through. The directions available with the program leave a lot to be desired, imo, but I can write up what I ended up doing for anyone who might be interested. Don't mind the playlist I'm using, it's some of what was on this computer at the time. I suppose I should edit the playlist to display the band names...maybe another time.
7779. wabbit - 5/30/2005 12:32:19 PM
Nine Inch Nails has dropped out of the MTV Movie Awards after clashing with the network over an image of President Bush that the band planned as a performance backdrop, The Associated Press reported. The image was to accompany the song "The Hand That Feeds," which obliquely criticizes the war in Iraq. MTV said in a statement to its news division that the network was disappointed that the band would not perform at the awards, to air on June 9, but had been "uncomfortable with their performance being built around a partisan political statement." The Foo Fighters will perform instead. Trent Reznor, above, the leader of Nine Inch Nails, said on the band's Web site that the image of the president would have been unaltered. "Apparently, the image of our president is as offensive to MTV as it is to me," he said.
7780. arkymalarky - 5/31/2005 3:33:17 PM
Music right now is extremely political--more than it was in the '60s, imo. MTV can't have it both ways, though they've been trying their stupid balancing act ever since they started.
7781. Macnas - 6/1/2005 1:35:59 AM
MTV practising outright political censorship? Is that kind of like bleeping out swearing?
Assholes, them and their crap station. They don't even play music anymore, just wander around inside peoples houses and fix up peoples cars. Might as well be the Home & Leisure channel.
7782. arkymalarky - 6/1/2005 9:31:06 AM
Hahaha! Isn't that the truth. I watch a very little of MTV2, and I have watched Fuse, which has begun getting really crappy. Now there's the International Music Feed, which plays too few videos over and over, but that may improve as it gets on its feet. I just want a channel that does music videos, period. VH1 Classic is great for what it is, but I like the modern stuff, too.
7783. arkymalarky - 6/1/2005 9:31:47 AM
Bob hates videos--he just likes audio. But I like music videos a lot.
7784. Macnas - 6/2/2005 1:29:06 AM
I listen to more music than watch video, but I do appreciate a good one when I see it. Something hard to do watching MTV these days.
We get a different version of MTV here, and it plays very little music.
7785. arkymalarky - 6/2/2005 8:58:43 AM
I dunno. MTV here plays no music that I know of. MTV2 (a separate channel) plays a little.
7786. webfeet - 6/2/2005 10:14:56 AM
Has anyone else taken the trip to Philly to see the Salvador Dali show? Wabbit? It just closed at the end of May after a week's extension.
It was an extravaganza as outsized as Dali's ego. Impressario, madman, magician, choreographer, genius--whatever Dali's legacy it is clear after viewing the body of his work, particularly his early work, that he was above all, a master painter adopting his classical style through various movements.
Even if you don't go in for that peculiar fetishistic surrealism of his later works--the melting clocks and all that, which have unfortunately characterized his work at large, it is the discovery of the unconscious forces and obsessions that drove him which give them a frightening power. There is a hideous biological emptiness to many of these pieces as if the overriding desires of mankind were the same as insects, such as the female devouring the male after copulation. (a recurring nightmare of Dali's, the ultimate expression of commitment anxiety or homophobia depending on how you look at it)
7787. wabbit - 6/2/2005 10:24:46 AM
Damn, I forgot it was closing in May.
7788. jayackroyd - 6/2/2005 11:48:18 AM
The Max Ernst show at the Met may be more interesting. I enjoyed that more than I expected to.
7789. wonkers2 - 6/8/2005 10:57:46 AM
Class Divisions in American Literature Here
7790. Macnas - 6/9/2005 9:49:53 AM
"He'll rekindle all the dreams
it took you a lifetime to destroy
He'll reach deep into the hole,
heal your shrinking soul
Hey buddy, you know you're
never ever coming back
He's a god, he's a man,
he's a ghost, he's a guru"
Name the song and the singer..
7791. wabbit - 6/9/2005 10:32:41 AM
Been watching Hellboy, Mac?
"You'll see him in your nightmares,
you'll see him in your dreams
He'll appear out of nowhere but
he ain't what he seems
You'll see him in your head,
on the TV screen..."
7792. Ms. No - 6/9/2005 10:53:10 AM
Mac,
Nick Cave: Red Right Hand
Awesome tune!
7793. Ms. No - 6/9/2005 10:59:24 AM
Wabz,
They put it on a compliation disc of X-Files music as well -- which is how I originally heard it. RRH and Down in the Park by the Foo Fighters were my favorite cuts off that compilation album. Most of it was kind of lame if I remember correctly, but it was worth it for those two songs alone.
7794. Macnas - 6/10/2005 1:16:12 AM
Wabbit & Ms.No,
I never knew that tune was on the soundtrack, but it seems entirely appropriate!
Well done the both of you, and yes, it is a cracking song.
All together now: "People just ain't no good...."
7795. Macnas - 6/10/2005 8:45:46 AM
Try these for size:
1. "In the time of chimpanzees, I was a monkey"
2. "The money feels good, and your life you like it well, but surely your time will come, as in heaven, as in hell"
3. "Last night I felt, real arms around me, no hope, no harm
just another false alarm"
7796. PelleNilsson - 6/23/2005 10:18:59 AM
Jean-Paul Sartre would gave been 100 this year. I saw a short article about him. There is an interesting little discussion of Sartre's views on structuralism versus individualism (or, if you want, social determinism versus free will), but what caught my eye was the author's claim that "Sartre became [...] the most hated man in France. Can that really be true? Do the French, not some French, but the French in general really hate a philosopher? In particular a Nobel laureate who stuck by his principles and told the Swedish Academians to shove their prize up their collective ass? In find that hard to believe. He passed away in 1980, well before the -68 winds had died down.
7797. alistairConnor - 6/23/2005 4:19:23 PM
It's an odd thing, Pelle : he is deeply unfashionable, especially on the left.
Who is the major French philosopher of the last 50 years? The answer, almost unanimous : Foucault. (I think I agree)
There is a certain amount of re-evaluation going on. I think he suffered a great deal (somewhat unfairly) from the backlash against Communism in the 90s.
7798. alistairconnor - 7/7/2005 4:29:25 AM
Quite a cultural summer so far.
Working backwards :
Last night : Blues night at the Vienne Jazz festival. The lineup:
Big James Montgomery and the Chicago Playboys
Taj Mahal Trio
BB King
Big James : I like Chicago blues, but these guys are showmen. It was a good show, but didn't quite connect with me.
Taj Mahal : I've been meaning to catch up with this guy for at least a decade. It was worth the wait. You can't fake the blues in a trio format... From a strictly blues point of view, he was the hero of the evening. I'll be buying some records.
BB King : For thirty years, I've recognised him as the elder statesman of the blues... I feared he might be in a twilight zone, but no, he is master of his guitar, his band, his music. He wouldn't be doing this at his age (79, he claims, but only his mother knows for sure) unless he enjoyed it... well so did we. Excellent tight, creative eight-piece band.
7799. alistairconnor - 7/7/2005 4:30:04 AM
ah feck. Looked OK in preview...
7800. anomie - 7/23/2005 3:09:13 PM
Where else to ask this...
Anyone hear of the Rasmus?
7801. anomie - 7/23/2005 3:12:59 PM
..Anyway, I thought they were a teenybopper Swedish group taking the Danish teens by storm...
They're really good.
7802. arkymalarky - 7/23/2005 3:47:35 PM
I really like what little I've seen of them. Aren't they Finns?
7803. judithathome - 8/11/2005 10:23:11 AM
I heard an interview on NPR yesterday with a German jazz group called Quadro Nuevo and I went straight to Amazon and ordered their CD. They play all sorts of instruments and a demo on the program played a tango and the theme from Pulp Fiction...very slow "Wipeout" with odd instruments, very jazzy sounds.
I misread the price and ended up paying almost $20 with shipping...I hope I like the damned thing.
7804. Ulgine Barrows - 8/13/2005 1:16:53 AM
Are you happy with your purchase?
7805. judithathome - 8/13/2005 4:59:18 PM
I won't know til it arrives.
7806. Ms. No - 8/15/2005 10:13:33 AM
Goot Gott! Sorry to have dropped off so completely there, Mac. I've no idea what happened.
#1's a blank, #2's the Clash, I think, but I couldn't tell you the title. #3 sounds like The Smiths/Morrissey but I wouldn't bet big money on it.
I've discovered a lovely little internet radio station for all things 80's without the American Hair Bands. Most of the 80's stations here play way too much Madonna and Go-Go's and you'd think Depeche Mode and the Human League were the only British bands they'd ever heard of.
Anyway, Radio Nigel has quite a good little selection of "tunes I like to listen to". I'd post a link, but I can't figure out how to extract it from my WinAmp queue.
7807. Macnas - 8/15/2005 10:17:42 AM
I was looking at your post for a few seconds before I remembered what it was about!
1. Beck, Loser
2. The Clash, Guns Of Brixton
3. The Smiths, Last Night I dreamt Somebody Loved Me.
Well done you, they were tough.
7808. Ms. No - 8/15/2005 10:25:08 AM
I picked up the new Coldplay album this weekend after having avoided it. Silly I know, but I've been very resistent to this band for some odd reason and when I finally picked up the first album after similarly holding out I think I listened to it continuously for about a week straight. I'll still put it in the player for a road trip and let it cycle through two or three times and now I'm pretty convinced that the new album will get the same treatment from me.
I think perhaps some of it is the hype around them and some of it is my perception of Martin himself, but I enjoy the music so I'll just have to toss any pretentious music principals I might have pretended to and listen to what I like regardless.
Hell, I still love Styx and god knows that earns me some scornful looks. ;->
7809. Ms. No - 8/15/2005 10:29:57 AM
I also picked up the latest Hot Hot Heat album which I haven't yet listened to. I've been hearing them in various out of the way places for a few years now but they're finally getting some major radio play. I'd never bought any of their previous albums out of sheer laziness.
They're definitely an 80's influenced band. When I first heard them I thought of Duran Duran but their latest hit is more Ray Davies/Kinks inspired and I've heard various other influences in them in the few times I've managed to catch them in radio play the last couple years.
7810. Ms. No - 8/15/2005 10:32:04 AM
The third purchase was to replace an album I'd lost somewhere along the way --- Peter Murphy Love Hysteria.
I've been trying to get a copy of this on CD for years and either couldn't find it or mistook which album it was and passed it by. Oddly enough I may not even like it anymore, I just have fond memories of really liking it when I first owned it. We'll see how it holds up after 15 years of absence.
7811. Macnas - 8/16/2005 2:13:05 AM
Hmm Coldplay, they have some growers, do doubt. I have to say I don't like the latest song "Fix You", but doubtless the rest of the album will have some good stuff.
Hot Hot Heat. I've yet to hear of them, but they sound interesting.
Pete Murphy eh? his solo stuff is just to sparse for my taste, his more recent stuff in anycase. I cannot remember listening to his first album, so it might be better.
7812. Ms. No - 8/17/2005 10:09:17 AM
Yeah, Fix You is not my favorite cut on the album and Speed of Sound is too similar to their last megahit, but White Shadows is great and the album as a whole gives me a good vibe with a couple of stand-outs that I don't know the names of since I've been listening mainly in my car where I can't read the liner notes.
Murphy's stuff did get really sparse when he went solo, but he also had some more pop-friendly tunes. Love Hysteria's got All Night Long and Indigo Eyes which both got a lot of radio play. Dragnet Drag are Blind Sublime are solid but some of the other tunes can get tedious. It's hard for me to overlook the melodrama of some of his lyrics when they're all I can hear except for a vague drum kit in the back and some mystic bell-ringing.
None of his solo stuff touches Telegram Sam or The Passion of Lovers and his ballads have gotten kind of sappy. My Last Two Weeks doesn't compare to Crowds or All We Ever Wanted Was Everything, but he still gets me with some of his tunes and I'm a sucker for his voice.
7813. Macnas - 8/18/2005 2:08:11 AM
Ms.No, have you heard of Gavin Friday? You might like him.
7814. judithathome - 8/25/2005 9:19:03 PM
This appeared in my paper today. Welcome to the American Taliban:
Audiences are staging protests
By ANDREW MARTON
STAR-TELEGRAM SENIOR ARTS WRITER
The play was called The Kiss at City Hall and, at least in the mind of one Circle Theatre patron, its unsparing look at abortion was just too much to stand. So she did just that: stood up in the middle of the production and clomped out.
"But she first stopped in front of the stage," says Circle executive director Rose Pearson, recalling the incident two years ago. "And said to one of the principal actors, 'Young man, you should be ashamed of yourself.' "
An extreme reaction, perhaps, but emblematic nonetheless. Over the last five years, with more and more local theaters -- from Fort Worth's Stage West and Circle Theatre to Dallas'Theatre Three and the Plano Repertory Theatre -- brashly portraying nudity, violence and "adult themes," some audience members are voicing their unequivocal displeasure and dismay.
Fort Worth's Stage West had a scene of full-frontal nudity in its recent staging of The Coming World, and there is a healthy dose of salty language in its current presentation, Port Authority, which finishes its run Sunday.
At last year's Plano Repertory Theatre production of Shakespeare's R&J (based on Romeo and Juliet), several audience members stormed out after a kiss between two men. And last year, Dallas Theater Center's production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Topdog/Underdog sparked numerous walkouts during several of its scenes heavy with adult language and sexual content. Meanwhile, Theatre Three's January 2004 musical production of The Wild Party, with its staged orgy, unleashed a tidal wave of e-mails and phone calls.
One audience member actually called the director a "spawn of Satan" in an angry e-mail, says Kimberly Richard, the theater's director of publications and communications.
In an e-mail to the Star-Telegram, Mary Ann and Ray Scheel aired some of their discomfort with Stage West's Port Authority.
"There isn't any real reason to be so blunt either in word or action," they wrote. "I believe that it is just as harmful for adults to continually hear this in plays, TV or films as it is for children. It does damage to us mentally whether we are conscious of it or not, and this in turn [a]ffects our relationship with our spouses and offspring . . ."
Stage West's producing director, Jerry Russell, who directs Port Authority, is often the target of either audience adulation or outright rejection of his theater's grittier work.
"In Port Authority, a young man uses the language of young people today, talking openly about sexual things, and certain parts of that really bother some in the audience," says Russell, 69. "The protests we get reflect the much sharper divide right now along moral lines in the country as a whole."
Circle Theatre's Pearson says theatergoers are much more blunt these days about expressing their scalding displeasure with material they deem offensive. "They don't mind disturbing the performance and just leaving in the middle -- it's all about immediate gratification in making their complaint," says Pearson.
Anticipating these more barbed reactions, local theaters are warning their audiences with greater clarity -- through a movie-rating-like system, plus a barrage of brochures, postcards, e-mails and recorded box-office messages -- about every element of a production, from foul language to smoking on stage.
"We all now have an obligation to let people know what they are in for," says Terry Martin, producing artistic director of WaterTower Theatre in Addison, whose May 2006 production of Take Me Out will be publicized as containing "locker-room nudity."
While some theaters are concluding that their audiences desire a stronger mix of lighter fare with some more jarring social drama -- Fort Worth's Circle Theatre's next two productions are the decidedly sudsy Mitch Albom's Tuesdays With Morrie and Guys on Ice, a musical about ice fishermen -- other theaters understand that controversial subject matter can produce controversy -- and boffo box office.
Kitchen Dog Theater, which will present Bug in September, with its 20 minutes of male and female nudity, certainly recognizes this. Its production of The Dead Monkey, which featured darkly comic adult situations, incited audience outcries but also became one of the theater's biggest sellers.
"Oh, yeah," agrees Richard Hamburger, artistic director of Dallas Theater Center. "From our Topdog/Underdog to Big Love, Six Degrees of Separation and Angels in America, pretty much all of our shows that have been controversial, and moved from the arts pages to the news pages, have all ended up doing one thing: selling more tickets."
7815. judithathome - 8/25/2005 9:20:33 PM
It does damage to us mentally whether we are conscious of it or not, and this in turn [a]ffects our relationship with our spouses and offspring .
Then stay home and avail yourself of Reader's Digest.
7816. Ulgine Barrows - 8/26/2005 1:04:25 AM
Ms. No 7808, I am avoiding Coldplay because I'm smart enough not to be media victim, heh. It just seemed to be hyped too much, as you pointed out. I might buy it later.
I'd shoot you a scornful Styx look, but I really like their early stuff, so I won't. Death to Mr. Roboto, however. I hate that song. Bunch of juvie punks sneering at their Depression-era parents' hard work. Nothing like Styx's earlier work; that they came out with the roboto song after they were 'stars' is no surprise. They just got caught in a different machine than their parents did.
One of the first rock concerts I went to was when Styx released Equinox. After Grand Illusion, we parted ways.
I have a 1975 Bad Company concert t-shirt, too, and I melt every time I hear those first strains of
"Johnny was a school boy
When he heard his first Beatles song"
I cut that t-shirt up real fancy in the flashdance days. Hmm. Wonder what it'd fetch on ebay.
I really like the new Liz Phair "Everything to Me".... her fans have been disappointed in her, too. Said she didn't live up to "Exile in Guyville." And her response was, she was moving on to other things, to paraphrase.
Perhaps Styx will redeem themselves with me. They just turned psycho when they made it big, it seemed.
7817. Macnas - 8/29/2005 2:46:26 AM
Styx were never popular here in the old world, the odd tune would chart now and then, much like Toto and Speedwagon.
I did hear enough of a tune by one of the Styx band members to detest it forever. Desert Moon it was, an awful radio friendly thing, truely dire in all respects.
7818. Magoseph - 8/29/2005 6:57:05 AM
John G. Roberts Jr. could have easily ignored the letter from E. F. W. Wildermuth that came across his desk in December 1982. The correspondent, an octogenarian lawyer from New York, made an obscure procedural point about the Senate's jurisdiction based on his interpretation of the 17th Amendment; it was not the sort of question that would typically require serious attention from the White House counsel's office, where Mr. Roberts worked at the time.
The Grammarian
7819. Macnas - 8/30/2005 6:47:00 AM
For Billie Holiday fans, some music.
7820. Macnas - 9/5/2005 9:31:23 AM
Turners "The Fighting Temeraire" has been voted the greatest painting on display in England.
Good choice, it's on my picture wall already.
7821. Magoseph - 9/6/2005 3:34:15 AM
Nick Spitzer on New Orleans' Cultural History
7822. jexster - 9/6/2005 10:32:00 AM
Don't know him...I moved from NO to DC in 1973
7823. Ms. No - 9/6/2005 2:52:11 PM
Juditha,
Back in the 70's in Spartanburg it was the done thing to show up to the local production of Hair in order to storm out in a dither after the nude scene......which everyone knew was coming.
If people don't want to be offended then they ought to just stay the fuck home with their Precious Memories statuettes and Church approved reading.
Honestly, the very idea that your personal offense meter is more important than my enjoyment of live theater is beyond absurd. I paid my money to see this, I'm enjoying it. If you need to masturbate your ego by causing a scene do it on your own dime.
I think people should be fined and penalized for disturbing live performance.
"You're not grown-up enough to watch live theater. Sorry, there's a $50 fine for disrupting the production and you're now barred from attendance."
7824. Ms. No - 9/6/2005 2:52:36 PM
Mac,
No, I haven't heard of him. I'll keep an ear out.
7825. Ms. No - 9/6/2005 3:14:59 PM
Ulgine,
The problem was that Dennis DeYoung lost his freakin' mind. The Roboto album killed the band. They hated the album, they hated the concert and they hated DeYoung when it was all said and done.
Tommy Shaw left the band, John Panozzo died, JY and DeYoung both went solo and DeYoung gave us Desert Moon (gag!) . Then they got back together to do a greatest hits album and a re-recording of Lady. They did a reunion tour, hit big and decided they still didn't like DeYoung. So they replaced him as lead singer and went on tour without him. Then Chuck went public with his HIV status and he left the band mostly ---but played some of their live dates. They settled their lineup cut two albums and apparently have an album of covers out right now that kicks ass.
Best Thing, Blue Collar Man, Snowblind, Suite Madame Blue, Crystal Ball....those are the songs I love, but I can still sing along to every word of every album since Tommy Shaw joined the band up through Kilroy. I'm such a geek.
7826. Ms. No - 9/6/2005 3:22:06 PM
Oh, hey! Ulgine, if you like the older stuff best (and who doesn't) the Complete Wooden Nickel Recordings came out earlier this year. It's a double album CD with 35 re-mastered cuts for $20. Good deal!
7827. Macnas - 9/8/2005 12:06:46 PM
I am now listening to Linton Kwesi Johnson, Independent Intavenshan.
Thank you.
7828. alistairconnor - 9/9/2005 4:34:45 AM
A top natch poet.
Mmmm I need to pirate those 80s LKJ albums. I own the vinyl, after all, it wouldn't be a breach of copyright would it?
7829. Macnas - 9/9/2005 4:55:42 AM
I won't tell if you don't.
I've rediscovered my reggae stash, and am overdosing on the likes of Johnson, I Jah Man and Big Youth.
Hey, I know I'm Irish and dead fish belly white, but you'd have to be deaf not to like that dub.
7830. Ulgine Barrows - 9/17/2005 1:31:58 AM
Ms No, Suite Madame Blue, OK I'll play that card. Maybe. I abhor Mr Roboto so badly, you see. I liked reading your summation of the band's end credits.
eMusic has Peter Murphy 'Love Hysteria'.
You can join for a free two weeks and get free 50 tracks. I think you are smart enough to read the sign-up, you initially have to give a credit card and if you don't like the serive then you quit. If you forget, they charge you.
If you do decide to join, please email me, as I will also get free stuff, but no pressure if you don't like the service. They have no Britney Spears or Nirvana, current big names....it is all indies. Or they have bought out the rights of older stuff as with Peter Murphy, and the first Coldplay and 50 cent, also some excellent jazz and classical cuts.
Love Hysteria
http://www.emusic.com/album/10766/10766765.html
ulgine@hotmail.com
7831. Ulgine Barrows - 9/17/2005 1:56:10 AM
Oh good grief, I forgot how much I like his Indigo Eyes.
I have his albun with Cuts You Up.
7832. Ms. No - 9/23/2005 9:33:04 AM
Hmmm....I just might give that a try. I'll let you know if I do, Ulgine.
7833. Ms. No - 9/23/2005 9:33:47 AM
Connor,
I don't think it's wrong to download stuff you already paid for. Especially if you bought it on cassette!!! I've got no qualms about replacing old worn out cassette recordings or backing up my vinyl so I can travel with it.
One of my favorite albums ever Thanks I'll Eat It Here --- Lowell George's only solo effort --- I've bought twice on CD. The first one disappeared and the second one was so badly mistreated during a raucus house party that most of it won't play anymore. The man is dead, he's got no children and I've already paid for the right to listen to it twice.
Now if only it were all actually available online.
Sheesh.
7834. PelleNilsson - 9/24/2005 12:32:45 PM
I invite you to admire my latest ouevre "Misty Sunset With Concrete":
Let's put a more artistic touch on that:
Do you remember this horrible technique? When was that? 60s, 70s?
7835. judithathome - 9/24/2005 1:01:28 PM
Spooky!!
7836. judithathome - 9/24/2005 1:01:49 PM
Or should that be Groovy!!
7837. Ulgine Barrows - 9/24/2005 8:30:36 PM
The third one looks pregnant, to me.
7838. Ms. No - 9/27/2005 1:42:01 PM
Ha, actually the third one looks like something that could have been tooled on leather.
7839. wabbit - 10/3/2005 6:13:13 PM
7840. Linnea - 10/3/2005 10:11:34 PM
Anyone watch the Dylan special on PBS? I taped it last week, and finally sat down and watched it over the weekend.
I had a though while watching it: I'd love to hear him sing in Yiddish. His vocal style is perfect for klezmer music. The way he sings through his nose, and slides up, down and around the notes of the melody . . . "far from the twisted reach of craaaeeeeeaaaaazzzzy sorrow". . . can't you just hear it?
7841. Macnas - 10/4/2005 2:41:19 AM
Ahmm.....what's klezmer?
7842. jayackroyd - 10/4/2005 9:54:11 AM
Jewish pop music for dancing to. I think of it as woodwinds, but apparently that's a recent innovation.
Wiki
There are some Klezmatic clips here, the Klezmatics being a band of some general renown.
7843. Ms. No - 10/4/2005 9:57:30 AM
There's a version of Peter and the Wolf backed by a Klezmer orchestra with Maurice Sendak doing the narration that came out not too long ago. It's really wonderful. It's not in Yiddish, but there is a lot of Yiddish in it and Sendak has the correct accent.
7844. Ms. No - 10/4/2005 10:26:21 AM
If you're looking for it, however, it's called Pincus and the Pig, a Klezmer Tale.
7845. jayackroyd - 10/4/2005 8:38:14 PM
I've read 18. How about you?
Top 100 banned books
7846. ScottLoar - 10/4/2005 10:03:32 PM
Of those I remember: 3,5,6,13,41 (great American literature equal to no. 5), 47,52,69,70,77,84,90. And those I didn't remember are forgettable, like most of the Stephen King and kiddie stuff (excepting Little Black Sambo). I'm surprised Tales of the South's stories by the character Uncle Remus didn't make the list, probably because the sight dialect is beyond the ken of modern readers.
7847. judithathome - 10/4/2005 10:55:10 PM
I've read 27 of them...
7848. Magoseph - 10/4/2005 11:15:43 PM
I only read the following:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The House of Spirits by Isabel AllendeS
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Native Son by Richard Wright
7849. Macnas - 10/5/2005 3:00:05 AM
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Witches by Roald Dahl
Cujo by Stephen King
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
So, spiritually I might be safe!
7850. jayackroyd - 10/5/2005 6:47:23 AM
The one that surprises me is A Wrinkle in Time. The one that makes me sad is The Chocolate War.
7851. Macnas - 10/5/2005 7:20:09 AM
Funny, I recall Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn on school syllabus, as was Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the Flies and most every damn thing Steinbeck wrote.
7852. jayackroyd - 10/5/2005 7:28:53 AM
Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer are targets because of literally minded people who don't understand the depiction of black characters in the novels, nor the presentation of racism as part of the wallpaper of the time.
Catcher in the Rye has sex in it. Lord of the Flies (like The Chocolate War) upsets people who believe that children should unquestioningly obey authority.
You gotta love librarians. They really believe in this free speech thing, and really believe in the broad dissemination of ideas.
7853. Macnas - 10/5/2005 7:52:03 AM
Ah well, we should read whatever we fecking well like to, that's what I think.
7854. Macnas - 10/5/2005 7:55:11 AM
Reading for Irish leaving certificate this year:
Shakespeare - Hamlet
John Steinbeck - Of Mice and Men
J.M Synge - Playboy of the Western World
John McGahern - Amongst Women
Emily Bronte - Wuthering Heights
7855. Ms. No - 10/5/2005 10:23:33 AM
I've read 30 of the ones on the list in full and about ten others in part.
What I can't understand is how the list is so small, I mean, if you're going to go out of your way to put something like the Sleeping Beauty Triology on it, then why not list every other erotic novel out there?
Or is it only the most popular and also banned novels or something?
7856. Ms. No - 10/5/2005 10:24:35 AM
Mac,
Hmm...I've only missed one selection on that list --- McGahern's Amonst Women.
7857. jayackroyd - 10/5/2005 10:27:47 AM
That's the top 100--the most frequently banned--of 7000 odd banned books.
7858. Ms. No - 10/5/2005 11:25:57 AM
There are some totally bizarre choices on that list. Not that I don't find the idea of banning any books bizarre from the get-go, but How to Eat Fried Worms? Are they serious?
7859. thoughtful - 10/5/2005 12:14:28 PM
I was watching an AEI thing late at night and there was a woman on talking about how no wonder children don't read any more. She was talking about how political correctness has taken all life out of books. She said it was not just the right or the left, but everyone who got a say in which books were used to teach children to read. The left wouldn't allow books where mommy was depicted as a homemaker...the right wouldn't allow books showing cows as their utters were too sexy...the nutritionists wouldn't allow books that talked about ice cream or pizza as it's not good food. The result is books that are so bland and so out of touch with real experience that no one want to read them.
So whether books get banned or not, the impact in educational circles is far more insidious.
7860. judithathome - 10/5/2005 12:17:44 PM
Those insidious utters on cows are almost as risque as their udders! ;-)
7861. thoughtful - 10/5/2005 12:29:34 PM
did I do that???? That's udderly ridiculous!
There's something about how homonyms are stored in the brain that makes us blind to them when typing. The other day I actually typed hour for our!
and it's only getting worse.
7862. judithathome - 10/5/2005 12:31:39 PM
For me, too...I was just comforted that it happens to others...or should I say, udders?
7863. PelleNilsson - 10/5/2005 1:30:40 PM
Are utters and udders really homonyms in standard American English?
7864. Ms. No - 10/5/2005 1:39:05 PM
Yep. They shouldn't be, of course, but that's why were not British.
7865. jayackroyd - 10/5/2005 2:08:43 PM
Those aren't homonyms for me. I definitely voice the d's in udder. "Mary" and "marry" but not "merry", are as are "cot" and "caught."
These books are those banned by political organizations from libraries, including school libraries. The textbooks thoughtful is referring to are hopeless in any case, but there is something appalling about not letting children who want to read The Chocolate War read it.
7866. arkymalarky - 10/5/2005 5:21:01 PM
I'd only read thirteen, but I've taught several of them, including I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
7867. arkymalarky - 10/5/2005 5:22:06 PM
I've also taught several that I'm surprised didn't make the list, considering what's on it. I didn't look at whether they distinguished between high school and elementary libraries.
7868. Macnas - 10/6/2005 3:55:17 AM
I have to admit, I am one for finding books which I read as a child and giving them to my kids.
Beatrix Potter, with her funny and vivid stories, does not seem to be welcome in school any more.
My favourite is Squirrel Nutkin, life, death, mutilation and a hint of paganism.
I also found Enid Blytons "The 3 golliwogs" but decided against giving them that to read. Both my children have black friends, something I, and 99.9% of my generation never had. Personally, I never made a connection between the characters in Blytons books with real people, and like many others just enjoyed the stories. However, looking at it now, and seeing how my children would of course make a connection, it isn't suitable anymore.
7869. ScottLoar - 10/6/2005 7:46:30 AM
I never thought to give my daughter Little Black Sambo or recite some of the cruder rhymes I grew up with, but when she reached that age of discriminate understanding of literature I nudged certain works towards her. One was To Kill a Mockingbird, later Chidiock Tichborne's Elegy, Ted Hughe's Hawk Roosting, poems by Li Po. I'm still doing so, and she's nudging books to me and poems as well, understandably those of Silvia Plaith.
Most recently my wife and I visited The Art Institute of Chicago's exhibit "Toulouse Lautrec and Montmarte" which thrilled me to no end. I urged this on my daughter who came back with the same enthusiasm and the same comment on his paintings, "you see exactly as did Lautrec, there's no distance between what he saw and what you see".
I was so very, very pleased we shared the same mind.
7870. jayackroyd - 10/6/2005 8:15:28 AM
Little Black Sambo is widely beloved. It's funny, too, that people the story was about an African kid. There are no tigers in Africa. The kid is Indian. The author's a Brit. The kid's a wog, not a Negro.
There have been some recastings, one of them with illustrations by the renowned black illustrator Jerry Pinkney.
7871. jayackroyd - 10/6/2005 8:20:59 AM
Mac,
You'd have no trouble finding Beatrix Potter here. There's some store that seems to specialize in ceramics with images of Beatrix Potter characters on it. I too remember Squirrel Nutkin.
All,
I know someone who has been asked for advice on the construction of a children's book library, for reference by publishing folks in the business. They were looking for especially beloved children's books. Have any?
(For reasons that I don't entirely understand this request does not include the Seuss books and similar "easy readers" like PD Eastman's Go Dog Go or, a favorite of mine, A Fly Went By)
7872. Macnas - 10/6/2005 8:41:13 AM
Jay,
I meant that Beatrix Potter's works do not appear anymore in school libraries, or none that I can see at any rate. The general availability of her books, and indeed the long lasting industry in recreating the outstanding artwork in her stories as figurines (spelling?) is still as strong here as it ever was.
And on the books for the childrens library, do you mean they are actually looking for donations of suitable books, or advice on what would be suitable?
7873. ScottLoar - 10/6/2005 8:41:26 AM
Such subtleties about Little Black Sambo escaped me, my classmates, my teacher during my first year of primary school in the segregated American South, but thanks for setting me right 50 years after the fact. Even at a tender age I'd knowledge of the Brothers Grimm and understood fairy tales took license with the truth, so it wouldn't have troubled me to hear of tigers in Africa anymore than the tiger turning into butter and Sambo eating what we all ate - pancakes.
7874. jayackroyd - 10/6/2005 8:57:02 AM
Escaped me too, in New England. It's funny, though. Helen Bannerman wrote a story about an Indian boy, read by contemporaries as a story about an Indian boy. 75 years later, kids and their parents were reading the same story with the same illustrations, but they read about an African boy. Now it is still about an African boy, and effectively banned--to the point where the book is effectively gone in its original incarnation.
Now as a depiction of an Indian boy, it is no doubt just as racist. The changes in its perception are nonetheless interesting.
7875. jayackroyd - 10/6/2005 9:08:07 AM
And on the books for the childrens library, do you mean they are actually looking for donations of suitable books, or advice on what would be suitable?
No, they are trying to create a point of reference--what were the truly great, truly memorable books in people's lives. Like Scott's (and my) vivid memory of Little Black Sambo. Or, in my case, a book that turns out to be called The Biggest Bear.
Thinking about it was very interesting for me, because it turned out that my childhood favorites were frequently those read aloud on a children's television show, Captain Kangaroo. For those reading along books like
Michael Mulligan and His Steamshovel
Make Way for Ducklings
Stone Soup
The Five Chinese Brothers
and a great story about taxi cabs ("The PURPLE ONE!!!") that I cannot remember the title of.
What's also interesting is that those favorite books were almost always recipients of the annual ALA award to the best picture book of the year, the Caldicott. Whether the award affected the Captain's and my parent's choices, or whether the quality shone through, I couldn't say.
7876. jayackroyd - 10/6/2005 9:10:15 AM
Oh, and my elitist sniff about ceramics was not meant to disparage the outstanding artwork in her stories . I quite agree.
7877. wonkers2 - 10/6/2005 9:36:48 AM
My favorites as a young boy were Stephen Meader's and Howard Pease's adventure books.
7878. Macnas - 10/6/2005 9:43:25 AM
Conan Doyle's tales of mystery, adventure, the camp, horror, the ring and so on.
(I bought the collected works, in one big old hard back. Still a good read.)
Any Paddington Bear Book.
7879. jayackroyd - 10/6/2005 9:47:30 AM
I have the complete Sherlock Holmes, in two volumes. Still great stuff.
7880. Macnas - 10/6/2005 9:53:36 AM
I have another big book of Holmes, printed as they appeared in the Strand.
7881. wonkers2 - 10/6/2005 9:54:31 AM
Yeah, I read just about all of the Sherlock Holmes stories as well as all of Edgar Alan Poe's great stuff, including his poetry. I have fond memories of Rafael Sabatini's great sea adventure tales--"Captain Blood," "Sea Hawk" and a couple of others.
7882. wonkers2 - 10/6/2005 9:57:59 AM
And when he was around twelve Cap'n Dirty read Van de Velde's "Encyclopedia of Sexual Knowledge" cover to cover. He discovered the volume in a dusty box in the basement of his cousin's house.
7883. jayackroyd - 10/6/2005 10:01:34 AM
But these folks are looking for picture books. Not that this isn't interesting. I read Black Beauty at least a dozen times, and was a big fan of Jackon Scholz's baseball books.
A book that was read to us that I've never seen since was Uncle Wiggly about a rabbit and a collection of other animal characters. It must have been a series of some sort.
7884. Macnas - 10/6/2005 10:08:13 AM
Wonkers
Why am I not surprised?
7885. Macnas - 10/6/2005 10:09:09 AM
Picture books, hmmm, tough one. Good old Peter and Jane...
7886. Ms. No - 10/6/2005 11:04:57 AM
Okay, books with good pictures. I was another huge Captain Kangaroo fan but oddly enough the books Jay listed are the exact ones I remember, as well. There must have been others --- the show was on for a long time --- but I just can't remember them.
A Boy, A Dog and A Frog - Mercer Mayer (whole series)
The Giant Jam Sandwich - John Vernon Lord
Millicent the Monster - Mary Lystad
The King Who Rained - Fred Gwynne (pictoral homonyms)
Mog The Forgetful Cat - Judith Kerr
How Fletcher was Hatched - Wende Devlin
Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak
Tiki Tiki Tembo - Arlene Mosel
Timothy the Tiger(Terror?)- I can't find this book at Amazon, but I've got a copy at home so I'll fill in the blanks later.
7887. jayackroyd - 10/6/2005 11:09:27 AM
Do you remember the taxi cab book? It's driven me crazy for years.
7888. Ms. No - 10/6/2005 11:12:40 AM
It's not ringing any bells with me at all, but I wonder if there might not be a list somewhere of all the books ever read on Captain Kangaroo. It seems the sort of thing that would've been archived, right?
7889. Macnas - 10/6/2005 11:13:01 AM
Where the Wild Things Are, my boy reads that!
How the hell do you remember all that Ms.No?
I'd hate to be the one you had a grudge agin, you'd never forget!
7890. Ms. No - 10/6/2005 11:20:44 AM
I got a lit on an Amazon listmania, no taxi story, but there were others that I remembered when I saw the titles:
Harry the Dirty Dog and Millions of Cats in particular
7891. Ms. No - 10/6/2005 11:23:32 AM
Mac,
I honestly don't know. I've always had a good memory and it doesn't seem to be dictated by what things were important or exciting at the time.
I mean, I remember days spent cleaning my room or something I made for a lunchbox or a paper cut I got or some strange thing. I remember dreams that I had --- sleeping dreams, not goal-type dreams.
Somewhere it must be good for something other than my own entertainment, but even if it's not I quite enjoy it.
7892. Ms. No - 10/6/2005 11:55:05 AM
Jay,
Bob Keeshan put out a book called Books to Grow By that may or may not have a list of the books he read on his show. It does have suggestions for parents of what books to read for certain ages and to teach particular values or help deal with specific issues.
I don't think I'd buy it, but then again, it might make a good present for my Brother and Sil. I'll certainly check it out next time I'm at Barnes and Noble
7893. wonkers2 - 10/6/2005 3:32:55 PM
Macnas, Ha!
7894. jayackroyd - 10/6/2005 5:54:34 PM
For those following along at home in Foreign Countries, Bob Keeshan was the actor (and, I dunno, producer) who played Captain Kangaroo. He got his start on camera as a Howdy Doody character, a mute cow called Clarabell(? I think that's right).
He was a longstanding advocate for kids entertainment with heartwarming educational content. [Sigh] There's no way to type that that doesn't come across as smarmy or sarcastic.
His show featured reading good books to kids, running gags with Mr Moose and Bunny Rabbit (hand puppets) and his sidekick Mr Green Jeans. It was low key--the opening bit was his walking onto the set shaking keys on an enormous, hang-on-the-wall kind of ring to a whistled melody. There were some simple animated sequences ('Tom Terrific with Mighty Manfred the Wonder Dog'). All in all, it was a very reassuring quietly amusing, experience that I, at least, loved.
7895. arkymalarky - 10/6/2005 7:41:14 PM
Oh I'm loving this discussion. Brings back some great childhood morning memories.
7896. Macnas - 10/7/2005 2:41:05 AM
We had a show, called Wanderly Wagon. I was aged ahead of it, as in a bit too old to watch it, but I still did, as did everyone else. It ran from the end of the 60's to sometimes in the 80's I think.
You have to know, television in those days did not start until 4.30pm or so, and went off the air before 12.oo. There was only one channel and whatever was on was all that was on.
There was a dog puppet character on it, called Judge, who thankfully is still around today. He is still my very favourite all time TV memory. The Lamberts, the family of puppeteers who were responsible, are still very active in the puppet theater.
7897. Ulgine Barrows - 10/7/2005 3:09:47 AM
You poor child, never having Dark Shadows.
7898. jayackroyd - 10/7/2005 6:04:22 AM
TV for us came on at 6am and went off after the late movie on CBS. I still remember, verbatim, the CBS affiliate's sign-on, WGAN, owned by the Gannet family.
Three stations, one per network, plus PBS. The Captain was a morning show on CBS. There was an NBC show, Romper Room, directed at younger kids that came on, I think, after the late show. Seems to me that Romper Room had kids on it; a common kids show element of the time was audience participation in a segment. "Look Mom, I'm on TV." When I visited my grandmother in New Hampshire, we'd watch, on Saturday, out of Boston, Rex Trailer's Boomtown. This was a cowboy-themed show where there was a segment where kids marched past a camera, waving.
Chicago featured Bozo the Clown, which has similar elements, which I only know about from recounting of people from the area. There were local Bozos in other places, I believe.
At the end of the day, a guy named Lloyd Knight (he went to our church) played "Captain Lloyd," a seafarer who introduced movies and cartoons.
7899. thoughtful - 10/7/2005 8:51:27 AM
I'm reading a book now...rather listening as i get books on tape out of the library...that is quite something. The Cruelest Miles. The true story of the outbreak of diphtheria in Nome Alaska in the 1920s and the dog sled relay to deliver the serum. The race was the inspiration for the iditarod. The story of the heart shown by the sled dogs and the raw guts and endurance by the mushers has brought tears to my eyes several times. It is an amazing story.
It is so much what we need today and so much what we don't have. Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?
Some of the stories of the intelligence shown by the lead dogs are really unbelievable...make lassie look like a piker.
These guys are mushing through literally blinding blizzards...the snow freezes their eyelashes together and they can't see...the wind howls so loudly they can't hear. The trail obscured by snow, only the lead dog can find his way through scent to stay on the trail. In January in the pitch dark with only 4 hrs of sunlight a day. Temperatures 60 below. Wind speeds of 65 mph. Skin freezing solid with only 30 sec. of exposure to the air. Blood vessels in the dogs lungs bursting from the cold and they start drowning in their own blood, but continue to run until they literally collapse. Un-freakin'-believable.
If any of you have ever hiked, you will appreciate this...the team that did the longest run did a stretch of trail that required climbing 8 mountain ridges, ascending a total of 5000 feet...in the cold, in the dark, they averaged 8 mph...and that was after days of running to get to where they had to pick up the serum...hundreds of miles.
Un-freakin'-believable.
7900. wabbit - 10/7/2005 9:06:21 AM
7901. thoughtful - 10/7/2005 11:04:35 AM
thanks wabbit...that's bolto, just one of the dogs on the trail.
7902. wonkers2 - 10/9/2005 4:46:53 PM
Anybody else read Joan Didion's piece in the NYT Magazine last week about her husband's sudden death? It was vivid enough to make you feel you were there when he was stricken, at the hospital and later. But ever since "Play it as it Lays" I've had reservations about Didion which I can't put my finger on. Is it that her style's a bit too precious or that she tries too hard to be contrarian or something else? Robert Pinsky, the reviewer of her new book, "The Year of Magical Thinking," couldn't say enough nice things about the book and about Didion. Maybe it's her support of Goldwater in '64 or beginning her career at the National Review or her take on Schaivo that put me off. Any Didion fans out there?
She does have a clever way with words, but I'm not sure I agree with what they add up to.???
7903. Macnas - 10/11/2005 4:20:42 AM
Our own John Banville wins the Booker prize this year, with his book "The Sea".
7904. Magoseph - 10/11/2005 5:41:49 AM
Is it that her style's a bit too precious or that she tries too hard to be contrarian or something else?
I didn’t find the style precious in "Play as it Lays" and I thought the language was rather more literal than figural.
7905. Magoseph - 10/11/2005 5:43:57 AM
Again:
Is it that her style's a bit too precious or that she tries too hard to be contrarian or something else?
I didn’t find the style precious in "Play as it Lays" and I thought the language was rather more literal than figural.
7906. alistairconnor - 10/11/2005 5:56:16 AM
Once more with feeling?
7907. PelleNilsson - 10/13/2005 8:40:03 AM
The Nobel prize for literature was awarded to Harold Pinter. A good choice, in my opinion.
7908. wonkers2 - 10/13/2005 9:25:22 AM
I wasn't aware of Pinter's activism on Iraq and other international issues until I googled him just now. But I've seen a couple of his plays and movies. There's is never a shortage of something to talk about after seeing a Pinter play. I think of Pinter's work as being similar to Ionesco and Edward Albee. But it's been a long time since I've seen anything by any of them.
7909. Ms. No - 10/13/2005 11:09:21 AM
I remember a college professor of mine trying to teach Pinter in an acting class. She never told anyone that they got it right, but the problem was a bit more complicated than that. No, no one got it right, but that's because she couldn't explain it properly.
I never really "got" Pinter until I saw the film The Comfort of Strangers. It was a huge "Ah-HA!" moment and I couldn't gush over the man enough.
7910. PelleNilsson - 10/13/2005 11:58:12 AM
Many Swedes, including myself, had hoped that the poet Tomas Tranströmer, a perennial candidate, would get it. I don't read much poetry because I don't have the sensibility for it, but these lines, read many years ago, stuck in my mind.
One day in mid-life,
Death will pay you a visit,
And take your measure.
You will not notice,
But the costume will be made,
And when your day comes,
It will fit, perfectly.
(Culled from memory and in my free translation)
7911. wonkers2 - 10/13/2005 12:53:28 PM
Nice poem.
7912. judithathome - 10/13/2005 3:58:12 PM
never really "got" Pinter until I saw the film The Comfort of Strangers. It was a huge "Ah-HA!" moment and I couldn't gush over the man enough
I got Pinter long ago, but I have affection for anyone who even SAW Comfort of Strangers much less liked it! ;-)
7913. ScottLoar - 10/13/2005 5:58:10 PM
Pelle,
I take that poem as a gift, thanks.
7914. alistairconnor - 10/14/2005 2:48:57 AM
Pinter sort of oppressed my adolescence. A bit.
Not that I'm blaming him. Just that I "got" him way too early, or thought I did. I found him intensely depressing. Until an English lecturer from England explained the extremely dry, Cockney humour that underlies a lot of it.
7915. alistairconnor - 10/14/2005 2:50:39 AM
I remember a film, probably Godard, where some 1968ard cultural revolutionaries write the names of every modern dramatist they can think of, then cross them off one by one until they are left with Brecht and Pinter.
7916. wonkers2 - 10/14/2005 8:37:41 AM
Fear and Miscommunication in Pinterland Here.
7917. Ms. No - 10/14/2005 10:19:53 AM
Jude,
Ah, I think we've bonded on this before! ;->
Comfort of Strangers was the first time I saw Pinter performed by other than students in an acting class. Oddly enough I'd never read any of his work previously which now just boggles my mind. I'd have been happier with a hell of a lot less O'Neill and much more Pinter.
7918. wabbit - 10/14/2005 10:42:21 AM
Maybe now Turtle Diary will be released on DVD.
7919. jayackroyd - 10/31/2005 12:29:12 PM
None of you are gonna care, and it's really impolite to say I told you so, so I'm gonna get my satisfaction here:
PW:
A report in the Independent suggests the publisher should have foregone reprints of 2.7 million copies on THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE as Scholastic chairman Dick Robinson "admits bookshops have been left with 2.5 million unsold copies."
Harry finally maxed out.
7920. alistairConnor - 10/31/2005 12:55:05 PM
Simple, really. The book isn't as good as the previous ones. Word of mouth works. Just like the movies: you can't get a million people to see your film unless you've got a huge promotion budget, but if the film stinks, nobody will want to see it anyway.
7921. Ms. No - 10/31/2005 2:19:45 PM
Yeah, I was disappointed in the latest book....but I'm looking forward to the new film! I hope it's as good as the last one.
7922. PelleNilsson - 11/2/2005 12:10:21 PM
As Macnas informed us a while ago this year's Booker price was awarded to John Banville for his novel The Sea.
NYT book critic Michiko Katunami is totally pissed off. Excerpts:
The judges last month awarded the prize to John Banville's novel "The Sea" - a stilted, claustrophobic and numbingly pretentious tale about an aging widower revisting his past.
Max talks like someone with a thesaurus permanently implanted in his brain: his monologue is studded with words like "leporine," "strangury," "perpetuance," "finical," "flocculent," "anthropic," "avrilaceous," "anaglypta" and "assegais." Perhaps Max's grandiose language is meant to signify some sort of psychic defense mechanism on his part, but it's uncannily similar to the language employed by characters in Banville's earlier books.
Equally irritating is Max's penchant for describing and redescribing everyone in his life and everything he sees in minute physical detail that radiates a prissy disgust for the human body. He describes his daughter's "upper gums, glistening and whitely pink." He describes Mrs. Grace's "haunches quivering under the light stuff of her summer dresses." And he describes Chloe's teeth as possessing a "delicate damp grey-green" tinge "like the damp light under trees after rain." Of his own appearance, he observes: "This morning it was the state of my eyes that struck me most forcibly, the whites all craquelured over with those tiny bright-red veins and the moist lower lids inflamed and hanging a little way loose of the eyeballs."
'The Sea' washes ashore, lifeless
7923. jayackroyd - 11/2/2005 12:38:25 PM
Kakutani.
Her father is the guy who came up with the Kakutani fixed point theorem.
On Harry, I haven't found a copy lying around yet, so I haven't read it. But it's not surprising that it got to be hard to sustain the story. Series almost always decline. It's surprising that it kept building. My biggest disappointment was the third volume of the Pullman trilogy.
Although not Kai Meyer's Dark Reflections series. I've read the second one in manuscript, and it's better than The Water Mirror. Gene Wolfe get better, too.
But if I see another one of those Orson Scott Card Ender books, I'll scream.
7924. Magoseph - 11/2/2005 12:49:22 PM
His Love of Words Rivals His Contempt for Critics
Excerpt: Not everyone was thrilled by the decision last month to give the Man Booker Prize, Britain's most influential literary award, to "The Sea" by the Irish novelist John Banville. To begin with, two of the five Booker judges vehemently preferred another book, Kazuo Ishiguro's "Never Let Me Go."
Meanwhile, booksellers at the prize dinner grumbled that the novel was the least commercial of the six finalists (only 3,721 hardback copies had been sold before Booker night on Oct. 10; the total has since risen to just over 9,100). Mr. Banville subsequently appeared on a radio arts program with three critics, who all, he said, hated his book.
But all this is grist for the mill to the author himself, who seems to relish a good literary dust-up, or at least not to mind being at the center of one.
"Frankly, I am gratified to see myself vilified, and the jury being vilified," he said happily over lunch recently. "It cheers me up. I must have done something right to annoy so many people."
7925. PelleNilsson - 11/2/2005 1:08:11 PM
Thus, convex-valuedness is instrumental.
I'm sure we all agree with that crucial insight.
7926. Ms. No - 11/2/2005 1:24:18 PM
Jay,
I've read several of OSC's books but did not begin the Enders' series. I actually meant to, it seemed to be quite popular, but I became a bit disenchanted with Card before I got to it and so never picked it up. Now maybe I'm glad. ;->
7927. jayackroyd - 11/2/2005 1:46:09 PM
Thus, convex-valuedness is instrumental.
The Sea washes ashore, lifeless.
I'd say the apple didn't fall too far from the tree.
7928. jayackroyd - 11/2/2005 1:47:30 PM
Ender's Game is actually very good, and I think well of the next two as well. Xenocide and something I can't remember.
Sappy, though.
7929. Ms. No - 11/2/2005 1:56:29 PM
Yes, well, Card is a bit sappy. I admired him for giving me my first real and positive glance at Mormonism in a book I can't recall the title of at the moment. Might've been Lost Boys or maybe not. I had good luck with a couple of his others but then it all fell apart for me. Treasure Box was nearly a total loss.
7930. judithathome - 11/14/2005 1:45:26 PM
An article by John Updike:
Determined Spirit
7931. uzmakk - 11/22/2005 3:09:18 PM
I saw the 60minutes segment on Bono and U2 last Sunday. Has U2 made any truly memorable music? I don't think I know any U2 songs, therefore I don't hum or whistle them. They are not gentle on my mind.
7932. judithathome - 11/22/2005 4:36:36 PM
I have no idea what sort of music thay make...but your last sentence brought a very unwelcome memory of Glenn Campbell to mind...ha!
I loved John Hartford's lyrics but hated Campbell.
7933. arkymalarky - 11/22/2005 6:29:28 PM
Hey, I loved Campbell. And his guitar playing is superb.
Uzz--I didn't like U2 for a long time, but they've grown on me over the years. The only album I have is the Joshua Tree, and it's very nice. There are a handful of other songs of theirs that are really fine, imo. A lot of the music on that album would sound familiar to you, I bet. Bono's really been effective with his advocacy. I read a long interview in Rolling Stone a few days ago.
7934. judithathome - 11/23/2005 2:59:28 PM
Not bashing Campbell's talent but he was a piss poor human being and was a real shit to his first wife and daughter.
7935. arkymalarky - 11/23/2005 4:20:22 PM
Oh yes. And it looked for a while like he'd turned things around, but nope.
7936. judithathome - 11/23/2005 5:49:05 PM
I was friends with his first ex-wife, the one that never makes the biographies because she insisted on it, and the stuff she tells about him is chilling. She was only 17 when they married and both of them were too young but his abuse lasted long after they were divorced and their daughter only agreed to have contact with him after she was grown and had had years of therapy. He's a shitheel and that doesn't change.
7937. uzmakk - 11/23/2005 6:00:02 PM
Well, I don't know about all that, but I do remember the great Hartford, Campbell, NBC Debate.
Wrt, Bono's music vs activism. He was asked which he would be remembered for and he said, the music. I don't know about that.
7938. alistairconnor - 11/24/2005 3:46:02 AM
Well, the first U2 album sticks in my mind : Boy. Very distinctive, finely etched, rather mannered and precious. In my opinion, it contains everything that is original or interesting in their work, and it was made about 25 years ago. I recommend it.
Memorable songs:
I will follow
Shadows and tall trees
7939. Macnas - 11/24/2005 6:30:03 AM
I like the early stuff best too. I don't own a single recording of U2's, but I'll cock an ear to them if they are on the wireless.
Likes:
Fire
Out of Control
Electric Co
11 O'Clock Tick Tock
Party Girl
I also really like "bullet the blue sky", but find most of the Joshua Tree really pretentious.
I did see them live once, many many years ago, just as they started to sell records here at home. Have to say, they had (might still have) that spark that makes you want to join in.
7940. wonkers2 - 11/26/2005 8:42:58 PM
Anybody read anything by Jonathan Safran Foer? On the way back from DC we listened to the book tape of his novel "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" which was quite well acted (read). The book is a quite imaginative tale starting with a precocious boy whose father was killed in the World Trade Center and whose grandfather lost the love of his life in the bombing of Dresden. A brief account by a man's loss of his daughter in Hiroshima ties in a third tragedy for comparison. Foer is one of the most imaginative authors I've ever read, including Garcia Marquez.
Salman Rushdie is quoted in the blurb on the cover as follows "Jonathan Safran Foer's second novel is everything one hoped it would be--ambitious, pyrotechnic, riddling, and above all...extremely moving. An exceptional achievement." Another of his novels, "Everything Illuminated," was made into a movie which listening to "Extremely Loud..." made me want to see. I'd be interested in anybody else's reaction to Foer.
7941. wonkers2 - 11/26/2005 9:02:53 PM
Foer's precocious nine-year-old, Oskar, reminds me of a character out of Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye" or "Franny and Zooey." Sometimes Oskar's too precocious to the point of being annoying. His grandparents and several other characters in the book are also quite vividly drawn and emotionally moving.
A quick Google search revealed that Foer's is 28 and that he wrote his first book while a college undergraduate. So, no doubt there is a bit of himself in Oskar. I suspect we'll be hearing more of him. His wife, Nicole Krauss is a poet. Jonathan Foer
7942. marjoribanks - 11/26/2005 11:34:37 PM
Wonk,
I haven't read the second novel, but loved - and raved about somewhere in this forum - a lot of the first one. There are parts to it which are in the small handful of funniest things I'v ever read.
Foer is heavily watched, paid and marketed already, a total NYC publishing-lit-celebrity phenom. That Rushdie blurb is an indication of just how high up this young Princeton grad is in the new-author pecking order.
7943. judithathome - 11/27/2005 9:44:32 PM
Nicole Krauss
I just finished her novel, The History of Love...it was excellent! If her husband writes as well as she, that is one talented couple!
7944. wonkers2 - 11/28/2005 8:14:13 AM
Interesting. One of the google blurbs said she was a poet. Another said she's a novelist. It is a bit unusual to have such talent in both halves of a couple. I wonder who cooks and does the laundry?
7945. alistairconnor - 11/28/2005 10:31:46 AM
... filipino maid?
7946. Ms. No - 11/28/2005 12:38:02 PM
U2 is one of my all time favorites, but I'm much fonder of their old stuff than the new stuff. Party Girl, Stories for Boys, New Year's Day, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Unforgettable Fire. I have to laugh when they talk about ColdPlay being the new U2. Coldplay's been around for what, four years? They have two albums and they already sound like they're tapped out on their sound. Martin's lyrics are often trite and the band is too earnest by half without the required passion to get away with it. I like some Coldplay songs, but let's see if anyone remembers who they are in 25 years much less if they're still selling out stadiums for their concerts.
Mac, you could have all your U2 songs from their first live album: Under a Blood Red Sky
7947. wonkers2 - 11/28/2005 5:22:29 PM
Back to Jonathan Foer for a moment--his incredible imagination reminds me of and just might be in the same league with Pynchon, Barth, Garcia Marquez and Grass.
7948. Macnas - 11/29/2005 3:31:20 AM
Ms.No
Yeah I know, and that would be my favourite album if I had one.
Sorry wonkers, back to Jonathan Foer we go.
7949. alistairconnor - 11/29/2005 4:08:39 AM
Not familiar with Barth. But I approve of your other references, Wonk. So I'd better have a look at Foer.
7950. wonkers2 - 12/4/2005 1:40:47 PM
John Updike is being interviewed live for three hours on C-Span.
7951. wabbit - 12/6/2005 5:38:29 PM
So let's see who actually looks at this thread.
What are your favorite Christmas/whatever-Holiday tunes? I thought it might be fun to put together a Mote playlist and stream it through New Year's.
Ms. No will be keeping track of Motie song requests. Please limit yourself to 2-3 songs. If I don't have them already/can't get them, either a) be prepared to email me an mp3, or b) have an alternate request in mind.
Ms. No, Arky and myself have put together a sample of what we have in mind. It can be found here. If you want to play and you have some song requests, please post them here. I don't think I'll run out of bandwidth, but mirrors are welcome.
Caveat: I am going to be in the hospital as of 12/12 for at least five days. If I have your song requests by 12/10 (maybe 12/11 if I can still type), I will update the existing stream. If not, I will update as soon as I'm home.
I don't have much in the way of Kwanzaa or Hanukkah music, but I can look around and see what's available. Otherwise, it will be primarily Christmas stuff.
7952. Magoseph - 12/7/2005 7:09:44 AM
"All I Want for Christmas Is You", Mariah Carey.
Best wishes for your hospital stay, wabbit.
7953. jexster - 12/7/2005 7:57:22 AM
My all time favorite Crimmus tune?
Why is there any contest?
Klara solen på himmelen den lyser
Makes me cry..tears of Holiday Joy
7954. jexster - 12/7/2005 8:01:23 AM
And then there's Once in Royal David's City
7955. wonkers2 - 12/7/2005 8:03:48 AM
Take charge, wabbit, hospitals can be dangerous places.
7956. jexster - 12/7/2005 8:10:36 AM
Yeah...no shit..I had pneumonia and a nasty infection on my arm once..so they had me on two of the latest bug killers IV ..at the same time..
All of a sudden I was seized with chills like you wouldn't believe..lucky for me the presence of mind to note the onset came when they mixed the anti-biotics because I was on the verge of kidney failure....
Don't mean to worry you Wabbit.mostly I have be awed by the competence and orgazation of hospitals...but Wonk's right, they can be treacherous too
7957. alistairconnor - 12/7/2005 8:44:40 AM
OK, you aksed for it. A challenge for the archivist :
Snoopy's Christmas, by the Royal Guardsmen.
Another one I'd like to hear again : a more difficult challenge, because I don't know the name of the artists :
"All I want for Christmas is my upper plate"
a comic duo from, I guess, the 40s, on a 78 my grandfather had...
The flip side was "I saw Mommy smoochin' Sanny Claws"
7958. marjoribanks - 12/7/2005 8:46:53 AM
Christmas in Hollis: Run DMC
7959. jayackroyd - 12/7/2005 8:50:53 AM
I just downloaded that song from Itunes for this year's Christmas compilation.
7960. jayackroyd - 12/7/2005 8:53:17 AM
Bruce Springsteen's Santa Claus is coming to town
Merry Fucking Christmas by Mr. Garrison of South Park (I have that if you can't find it)
Joni Mitchell's River
7961. wonkers2 - 12/7/2005 9:23:21 AM
I had it but lost it when my computer crashed. Please put it up for everyone to enjoy.
7962. wabbit - 12/7/2005 9:35:15 AM
Ok, I have the Mariah Carey, Springsteen, Joni Mitchell, Run DMC, and Snoopy's Christmas. I think we should keep the music workplace friendly, which leaves out MFC, hysterical as it is.
AC, you are thinking of the Homer and Jethro songs, I'll see what I can do.
Jexster, Once In Royal David City is already there (King's College Choir). It is on the faint side, I'll try to jack up the volume on that one, but may not get to it until I'm back. The swedish song you would need to send me.
7963. wabbit - 12/7/2005 9:36:10 AM
wonkers2, what song do you mean?
7964. alistairconnor - 12/7/2005 10:05:33 AM
Homer and Jethro ! That sounds right...
Christmas candy sure is hard
I cain't even chew it just a little
But my favourite one of all
Is good old Peanut Broodle!
- Say Homer, that's Brittle!
- Buddy, without my upper plate, it is brutal!
hyuk hyuk hyuk...
7965. wonkers2 - 12/7/2005 10:40:30 AM
"Merry Fucking Christmas!"
7966. Macnas - 12/7/2005 11:08:09 AM
And, courtesy of Kevin Bloody Wilson:
Santa claus you cunt
Where's my fucking bike
I've unwrapped all this other junk
There's nothing what i like
I've wrote you a letter
And i've come to see you twice
You geriatric wanker
Where's my fucking bike
If i wanted a pair of fucking shoes
I would've fucking asked
This cowboy suit and ping-pong set
You can stick right up your arse
And so on and so forth.....
7967. Ms. No - 12/7/2005 11:19:43 AM
Wabz,
I'm past the first hurdle and actually remembered to bring the discs with me today so I can get them to the post office at lunchtime.
7968. wabbit - 12/7/2005 11:27:08 AM
Excellent, Ms. No, thank you!
Clearly we could do a not-workplace-safe stream; Kevin Bloody Wilson has reams of material (of which I have Santa's Stoned At Christmas, Twelve Adult Days of Christmas, and the aforementioned Hey Santa Claus).
7969. Macnas - 12/7/2005 11:35:16 AM
Wabbit, I'm fuckin' amazed you even heard of him.
7970. wabbit - 12/7/2005 11:49:17 AM
Forgot to mention, I also have Ho Ho Fuckin Ho.
7971. PelleNilsson - 12/7/2005 11:50:26 AM
"Klara solen på himmelen den lyser" = "The sun shines bright in the sky".
Of the titles in jex's link that is the one song I don't recall. Odd title too. If there one thing the sun doesn't to at Christmas time here, it is to shine bright in the sky.
I don't know any American or English X-mas songs except the most banal, but I insist that Elvis's Blue Christmas must be included in any list.
Mustn't Stan Freeberg have muredered some X-mas songs at one time or another?
7972. PelleNilsson - 12/7/2005 11:51:50 AM
"Klara solen på himmelen den lyser" = "The sun shines bright in the sky".
Of the titles in jex's link that is the one song I don't recall. Odd title too. If there one thing the sun doesn't to at Christmas time here, it is to shine bright in the sky.
I don't know any American or English X-mas songs except the most banal, but I insist that Elvis's Blue Christmas must be included in any list.
Mustn't Stan Freeberg have murdered some X-mas songs at one time or another?
7973. Ms. No - 12/7/2005 3:18:21 PM
Wabbit,
Okay, I'm missing the Instrumental disc that has Sugar Rum Cherry on it (and Nutrocker for Manheim Steamroller fans) so if you can find it somewhere else that'll be great.
7974. labwabbit - 12/7/2005 4:48:05 PM
"I'll Be Home For Christmas"
Has a bit more significance these days.
7975. jayackroyd - 12/7/2005 5:56:56 PM
If "Jethro" is a reference to the Jethro Tull christmas song, I have that.
7976. judithathome - 12/7/2005 6:03:53 PM
Somehow, I think the Jethro in question is a little more Southern than Tull.
7977. jayackroyd - 12/7/2005 6:50:54 PM
So here are the MFC lyrics, workplace friendly because they're silent:
Mr. Garrison: I heard there is no Christmas
In the silly Middle East
No trees, no snow, no Santa Claus
They have different religious beliefs
They believe in Muhammad
And not in our holiday
And so every December
I go to the Middle East and say...
"Hey there Mr. Muslim
Merry fucking Christmas
Put down that book the Koran
And hear some holiday wishes.
In case you haven't noticed
It's Jesus's birthday.
So get off your heathen Muslim ass
and fucking celebrate.
There is no holiday season in India I've heard
They don't hang up their stockings
And that is just absurd!
They've never read a Christmas story.
They don't know what Rudolph is about
And that is why in December
I'll go to India and shout...
Hey there Mr. Hinduist
Merry fucking Christmas
Drink eggnog and eat some beef
And pass it to the missus.
In case you haven't noticed
It's Jesus's birthday
So get off your heathen Hindu ass
and fucking celebrate!
Now I heard that in Japan
Everyone just lives in sin
They pray to several gods
And put needles in their skin.
On December 25th
All they do is eat a cake
And that is why I go to Japan
And walk around and say...
Hey there Mr. Shintoist
Merry fucking Christmas
God is going to kick your ass
You infidelic pagan scum.
In case you haven't noticed
There's festive things to do
So lets all rejoice for Jesus
And Merry fucking Christmas to you.
On Christmas day I travel `round the world and say,
Taoists, Krishnas, Buddhists, and all you atheists too,
Merry Fucking Christmas, To You!
(Clapping)
Thank you Mr. hat
7978. wonkers2 - 12/7/2005 7:40:42 PM
How about a workplace unfriendly version? It's funnier to hear it than read it.
7979. wabbit - 12/7/2005 8:19:48 PM
Mannheim Steamroller did Nutrocker? I thought that was ELO. I'm having no luck finding the Ellington, but it won't break my heart to buy that one.
Good ol' Mr. Garrison. The first time I heard that song, it reminded me of something someone said to me years ago. My sister was having a high school graduation party and a friend was here with his dog, a very nice basenji. One of the party guests spotted the dog and asked if it was a basenji (he was three sheets to the wind by then, but recognized the breed because his mother had had one). When I said it was, he said, "That's a wicked fucking nice dog." The dog, needless to say, is long gone now, but the dog's owner and I laugh about that to this day. I even found him a Christmas card one year that said Have a wicked fucking nice Merry Christmas.
So, have a wicked nice merry fucking Christmas, m'kay?
7980. jayackroyd - 12/7/2005 9:05:41 PM
m'kay is, of course, the guidance counselor's (Mr Mackey, I think) particular speech bit. The SP Christmas CD has him singing O Silver Bells, with the m'kay insertion everywhere.
Wicked good as far as I'm concerned.
For those foreigners reading along, "wicked" is an intensifer used in New England. "wicked hard" and "wicked good" are common constructions. "wicked fucking nice" is an especially strong statement.
7981. jexster - 12/7/2005 10:11:46 PM
How about the Channuka Song???
In honor of our friends of the Hebrew persuasion..they're keeping Kosher at the WH for Crimmus so I figger it is the least we can do
7982. jexster - 12/7/2005 10:34:27 PM
Discover Your White Bread Roots
Richard Steve's European Crimmus
7983. jexster - 12/7/2005 11:01:59 PM
All kidding aside, do not forget Santa Lucia Dec 13!
We'll dress Pelle up
I'll make the Lussekattor
7984. jexster - 12/8/2005 10:07:54 AM
Adam Sandler's 'The Hanukkah Song Part I'
"Okay... This is a song that uhh.. There's a lot of Christmas songs out there and uhh.. not too many Hanukkah songs. So uhh...I wrote a song for all those nice little Jewish kids who don't get to hear any Hanukkah songs. Here we go..."
Put on your yarmulke,
Here comes Hanukkah!
So much funukah,
To celebrate Hanukkah!
7985. Linnea - 12/8/2005 3:41:00 PM
I seem to remember posting this here once before, but I can't find it, so here goes. It's a great one.
The Christians and the Pagans
by Dar Williams
Amber called her uncle, said "We're up here for the holiday,
Jane and I were having Solstice, now we need a place to stay."
And her Christ-loving uncle watched his wife hang Mary on a tree,
He watched his son hang candy canes all made with red dye number three.
He told his niece, "Its Christmas Eve, I know our life is not your style,"
She said, "Christmas is like Solstice, and we miss you and its been awhile,"
So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table,
Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able,
And just before the meal was served, hands were held and prayers were said,
Sending hope for peace on earth to all their gods and goddesses.
The food was great, the tree plugged in, the meal had gone without a hitch,
Till Timmy turned to Amber and said, "Is it true that you're a witch?"
His mom jumped up and said, "The pies are burning," and she hit the kitchen,
And it was Jane who spoke, she said, "Its true, your cousin's not a Christian,
But we love trees, we love the snow, the friends we have, the world we share,
And you find magic from your God, and we find magic everywhere,"
So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table,
Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able,
And where does magic come from? I think magic's in the learning,
Cause now when Christians sit with Pagans only pumpkin pies are burning.
When Amber tried to do the dishes, her aunt said, "Really, no, don't bother."
Amber's uncle saw how Amber looked like Tim and like her father.
He thought about his brother, how they hadn't spoken in a year,
He thought he'd call him up and say, "It's Christmas and your daughter's here."
He thought of fathers, sons and brothers, saw his own son tug his sleeve, saying,
"Can I be a Pagan?" Dad said, "Well discuss it when they leave."
So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table,
Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able,
Lighting trees in darkness, learning new ways from the old, and
Making sense of history and drawing warmth out of the cold.
http://www.darwilliams.net
7986. Ms. No - 12/8/2005 4:13:33 PM
That's lovely, Linnea.
7987. judithathome - 12/8/2005 4:30:54 PM
Yes, absolutely lovely!
7988. wabbit - 12/8/2005 4:41:22 PM
And now it has been added to the stream - thanks, Linnea!
7989. Linnea - 12/8/2005 5:02:31 PM
Here's another one:
The Twelve Days of Invasion
Lyrics © 2002, Charlie King, Pied Asp Music (BMI)
On the first day of invasion my leader said to me
They're the most dangerous nation in the world
On the second day's invasion my leader said to me
They have weapons of mass destruction;
They're the most dangerous nation in the world
On the third day of invasion my leader said to me
They won't allow inspections;
They have weapons of destruction;
They're the most dangerous nation in the world
On the fourth day of invasion my leader said to me
They didn't sign the biological weapons treaty;
won't allow inspections;
weapons of destruction;
They're the most dangerous nation in the world
On the fifth day of invasion my leader said to me
DEMAND REGIME CHANGE NOW!
didn't sign the treaty;
won't allow inspections;
weapons of destruction;
They're the most dangerous nation in the world
On the sixth - All they want is oil
Seventh - They just can't be trusted
Eighth - They execute their people
Ninth - They helped to train Al Qaeda
Tenth - They invaded other countries
Eleventh - They were not fairly elected
On the twelfth day of invasion my leader said to me
(Spoken)They Plan To Use the Bomb
(Sing) not fairly elected
invaded other countries
helped to train Al Qaeda
execute their people
they just can't be trusted
all they want is oil
DEMAND REGIME CHANGE NOW!
didn't sign the treaty;
won't allow inspections;
weapons of destruction;
And they're the most dangerous nation in the world.
(Hope that formatting works. Can't seem to find it streamed anywhere.)
http://www.charlieking.org
7990. Linnea - 12/8/2005 5:28:46 PM
Here's great recording of traditional carols: http://www.gaudela.net/prior/tapestry_of_carols.html.
Can't find a download source for this one either (not that I looked very hard).
7991. Linnea - 12/8/2005 5:29:45 PM
http://www.gaudela.net/prior/tapestry_of_carols.html
(did it make a link this time?)
7992. Linnea - 12/8/2005 5:30:19 PM
Dang.
7993. wabbit - 12/8/2005 6:06:45 PM
I don't see that Charlie King anywhere. Maddy Prior neither, but I'll keep looking, that might be a bit easier.
Meanwhile, here is the not-workplace-safe stream.
7994. wonkers2 - 12/8/2005 7:01:37 PM
Cap'n Dirty sez, "Thanks, matey!"
7995. jayackroyd - 12/8/2005 9:05:37 PM
That's a hilarious collection. I'll be happy to burn cds for anyone who wants them if you send me the mp3s.
7996. wonkers2 - 12/8/2005 9:09:17 PM
Cap'n Dirty sez, "Put me on the list for a CD!"
7997. alistairconnor - 12/9/2005 3:28:00 AM
Ooh arrr, yes I'll have some Maddy Prior if you've got some.
7998. wabbit - 12/9/2005 8:56:01 AM
I'm not finding any Maddy Prior anywhere either, sorry.
Jay, email has been sent.
7999. Ulgine Barrows - 12/10/2005 2:06:35 AM
I can't get into the holiday spirit until I've listened to Twisted Christmas by Bob Rivers Comedy Corp.
My favorite is "The Twelve Pains Of Christmas" and doubly so, since this year our pre-lit tree on the twirling stand bombed out. We don't have a tree yet and it's the 10th. EEEEk.
The Twelve Pains Of Christmas
The Chimney Song
We Wish You Weren't Living With Us
Wreck The Malls
A Visit Form St. Nicholson
O Come All Ye Grateful Dead-Heads
I'm Dressin' Up Like Santa (When I Get Out On Parole)
The Restroom Door Said, "Gentlemen"
Foreigners
Joy To The World
A Message From The King
You're all totally wrong on U2, Atchung Baby is their finest work.
Comparable to Beatles' Rubber Soul in the progression of a band.
The earlier stuff, Boy & War, is also good & raw.
uzmakk, Bono's right, they'll be remembererd for their music, not the activism.
8000. arkymalarky - 12/10/2005 1:31:35 PM
Bro sent me a link last year to the Cable Guy's Christmas carols that was hilarious, but I can't find it now.
8001. arkymalarky - 12/10/2005 1:35:34 PM
Oooh. A millennial. I didn't notice it until I went back to the home page.
8002. alistairConnor - 12/11/2005 9:06:01 AM
Not sure I understand the user interface of the radio blog.
(translation: it sucks)
Sometimes it works OK. Unexpectly it starts only playing the intros.
8003. alistairConnor - 12/11/2005 9:28:22 AM
Probably a side-effect of my 64k internet access.
8004. jayackroyd - 12/11/2005 11:26:09 AM
It's been flaky for me too.
8005. Macnas - 12/12/2005 3:26:24 AM
It's been fine for me, you pair of ingrates!
8006. jayackroyd - 12/12/2005 6:58:20 AM
Mr Garrison came through loud and clear, so my standards were met.
8007. Ulgine Barrows - 12/13/2005 2:23:05 AM
dangitall, larky!
and I was just there, you sharpeye!
8008. Macnas - 12/14/2005 1:56:01 PM
"With all the will in the world,
Diving for dear life,
When we should be diving for pearls.."
Some of my favourite lyrics.
8009. judithathome - 12/15/2005 9:48:22 PM
Arky, do you know what the lyrics are to a song Eminem does which contain "ooops, there goes gravity"?
8010. arkymalarky - 12/15/2005 11:57:04 PM
I don't know them all, but here they are. It's the main song from the movie 8 Mile:
Eminem
Lose Yourself
Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted-One moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?
Yo, His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy
There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti
He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready
To drop bombs, but he keeps on forgetting
What he wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loud
He opens his mouth, but the words won't come out
He's chokin, how everybody's chokin now
The clock's run out, time's up over, bloah!
Snap back to reality, Oh there goes gravity
Oh, there goes Rabbit, he choked
He's so mad, but he won't give up that easy
No, he won't have it , he knows his whole back city's ropes
It don't matter, he's dope
He knows that, but he's broke
He's so stacked that he knows
When he goes back to his mobile home, that's when it's
Back to the lab again yo
This whole rap city
He better go capture this moment and hope it don't pass him
[Chorus:]
You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo,
You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime you better,
His soul's escaping, through this hole that it's gaping
This world is mine for the taking
Make me king, as we move toward a, new world order
A normal life is borin, but superstardom's close to post mortom
It only grows harder, only grows hotter
He blows us all over these hoes is all on him
Coast to coast shows, he's know as the globetrotter
Lonely roads, God only knows
He's grown farther from home, he's no father
He goes home and barely knows his own daughter
But hold your nose cause here goes the cold water
These ho's don't want him no mo, he's cold product
They moved on to the next schmoe who flows
He nose dove and sold nada
So the soap opera is told and unfolds
I suppose it’s old partner, but the beat goes on
Da da dum da dum da da
[Chorus:]
You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo
You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo, you better
No more games, I'ma change what you call rage
Tear this mothafuckin roof off like 2 dogs caged
I was playin in the beginnin, the mood all changed
I been chewed up and spit out and booed off stage
But I kept rhymin and stepwritin the next cypher
Best believe somebody's payin the pied piper
All the pain inside amplified by the fact
That I can't get by with my 9 to 5
And I can't provide the right type of life for my family
Cause man, these goddam food stamps don't buy diapers
And it's no movie, there's no Makai Pfeiffer, this is my life
And these times are so hard and it's getting even harder
Tryin to feed and water my seed, plus
Teeter-totter caught up between trying to be a father and a prima donna
Baby mama drama's screamin on and
Too much for me to wanna
Stay in one spot, another day of monotony
Has gotten me to the point, I'm like a snail
I've got to formulate a plot or I end up in jail or shot
Success is my only mothafuckin option, failure's not
Mom, I love you, but this trailer's got to go
I cannot grow old in Salem's lot
So here I go is my shot.
Feet fail me not or not this may be the only opportunity that I got
[Chorus:]
You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo
You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime you better,
You can do anything you set your mind to, man
8011. arkymalarky - 12/15/2005 11:57:40 PM
Phew! I'm glad that worked out. I meant to preview and I hit post instead.
8012. wonkers2 - 12/16/2005 7:29:08 AM
The man has talent, but I don't think he's another Bob Dylan or Hank Williams.
8013. judithathome - 12/16/2005 10:16:19 AM
Thanks, Arky...Keoni likes that ad for Curtin Call the hits album, and he asked me "What is he saying, anyhow?" and I had to admit I wasn't sure...ha!
8014. arkymalarky - 12/16/2005 4:36:59 PM
Actually, it's harder to hear than a lot of his stuff, imo, but nothing compares to the Marshal Mathers LP.
8015. wonkers2 - 12/17/2005 3:57:07 PM
Anybody read Maureen Dowd's new book, "Are Men Necessary?" I bought one for my daughter for Christmas and have read about a third of it. Entertaining.
8016. PelleNilsson - 12/19/2005 1:20:04 PM
Here is Queen Silvia surrounded by an improbably ill-dressed bunch of nerds, who have just reveived their prizes in a nation-wide competition.
Your task is to figure out the nature of this competition. It has nothing to do with computers or the IT-sector. In fact, it has little to do with any specific subject at all. But it requires no little knowledge of the world.
8017. judithathome - 12/19/2005 2:51:04 PM
I have no idea but the little girl, third from the left, wearing a black bolero jacket and a white skirt knows how to stand to make her legs seem more slender...a model's trick that is taught in finishing school. Of course, she is skinny enough that she doesn't really need the illusion.
8018. anomie - 12/19/2005 5:44:15 PM
And the girl on the far left in red is standing in such a way to emphasise her bust and butt. All very attractive people.
Pelle: History essays?
8019. Ulgine Barrows - 12/20/2005 1:40:55 AM
8016. PelleNilsson
Well.
From the ratio of female to male, given they look too young for Nobel prizes, I'd say some sort of math or science competition.
8020. Ulgine Barrows - 12/20/2005 1:43:08 AM
Involving water.
8021. wonkers2 - 12/20/2005 9:59:37 AM
Swedish abstinence awards?
8022. PelleNilsson - 12/20/2005 1:24:17 PM
Interesting suggestions. But the competition is about international and domestic current events, both political and cultural. There is one winner from each of Sweden's 21 regions.
8023. Ms. No - 12/20/2005 1:56:59 PM
And these are the folks that made the best dioramas showing how the world would benefit from Swedish domination.
All parts and pieces obtained from IKEA.
8024. wonkers2 - 12/20/2005 3:45:42 PM
Great idea. Better than a spelling bee.
8025. Frankster - 12/23/2005 12:32:07 AM
I don't know if it's my favorite, but a memorable one which I can't find to save my life is Fay McKay's version of (I believe it's titled) "The 12 Drinks of Christmas", or the "The 12 Daze of Christmas" on the net or some music website. I heard it years ago and it is hilarious. Each verse contains a stronger drink, with Fay becoming more and more drunk as the song progresses. I think it was performed in front of a Las Vegas audience given where she is from and all the live laughter.
8026. Ulgine Barrows - 12/24/2005 5:03:48 AM
And now we have learned about Pelle.
He can wait no longer than one day for survey results, before spilling the beans.
And they say Americans are impatient!
8027. Ulgine Barrows - 12/24/2005 5:22:22 AM
Goyim Friends
All my goyim friends are making up their lists
And all my goyim friends get some pretty sweet gifts
Like snowboards, cell phones, paintball guns and iPods
Memberships to the last restricted golf clubs
But we, we will march on
Six-pack of socks from each of our Moms
It's oh so wrong
But we will march on
And all my goyim friends are eating up their ham
Honey-glazed, baked to perfection
With dinner rolls, gravy boats and turkey
Crème brulée, cherry pie, and fruitcake (yuck)
But we, we will march on
With General Tsao and egg foo yong
Takeout's not wrong
And we will march on
We have heard all of our goyim friends say
How lucky we are to get off each holiday
Like Tu BiSh'vat, Purim and Rosh Hashanah
Passover, Sukkot and Simchat Torah
And we, we have more stuff
From holiday fun
All the day long
While they have none
And we have marched on
We've got the day off
And another day off
See ya Monday!
8028. Ulgine Barrows - 12/24/2005 5:23:18 AM
The LeeVees, 'Hanukkah Rocks'
8029. alistairConnor - 12/24/2005 3:57:31 PM
I just realised, one I would have liked in the Christmas radio feed (a big hit around here it has been, all hail Wabbit)
"A fairy tale of New York" - The Pogues, with Christie McNicoll.
- You're a bum you're a punk
- You're an old slut on junk
- Merry Christmas yer arse I pray God it's our last
And the boys in the NYPD choir were singing Galway Bay
And the bells were ringin' out for Christmas day
8030. Ulgine Barrows - 12/26/2005 12:05:01 AM
I'm a Kirsty MacColl fan, myself.
But she's dead.
8031. alistairconnor - 12/26/2005 5:28:29 AM
Oh my god, where did I get "Christie McNicoll" ?
I apologise to the memory of Kirsty MacColl. And I'll try to track down a record or two. That Pogues song is the only thing I know. Saw her sing it in Lyon in about 1990.
The record was re-released in the UK for this Christmas.
8032. Linnea - 12/26/2005 8:47:36 PM
There's a song by Kirsty's dad that I often play around this time of year:
The Moving-On Song by Ewan MacColl
8033. PelleNilsson - 1/1/2006 11:57:10 AM
Some of you with long memories may recall the Haysweep Project that Uzmakk and I had going in this thread in the autumn of 1998.
A problem then was that I couldn't find a picture of the actual thing, but the other day I came across one.
The hay hides the multitude of 3-foot iron spikes that collect it. In his right hand, the operator holds the lever that connects to The Sacred Mechanism. We must now visualize the equipage in motion. When the time comes to dump the hay, the operator briefly disengages the lever, moves it down a notch and lifts. The tips of the spikes dig into the ground and the whole contraption turns on itself leaving the hay behind. The operator then uses the lever again to roll the spikes forward and a new hay-gathering cycle begins.
8034. Macnas - 1/3/2006 5:15:11 AM
That's one poor looking nag.
8035. wonkers2 - 1/4/2006 12:20:04 PM
Lord Horatio Nelson mythology dispelled by Roger Knight in his new book "The Pursuit of Victory":
Nelson did not, regretably, engage single-handed with a polar bear in the Arctic;
he did not ignore the signal to withdraw from the battle of Copenhagen by clamping a telescope to his blind eye;
his body was shipped back to England in a cask of brandy, not rum, and sailors did not reverently swig from it.
Lord Nelson.
8036. wonkers2 - 1/8/2006 6:14:43 PM
The Unmasking of JT Leroy: In Public He's a She
8037. Ms. No - 1/9/2006 11:26:02 AM
Has anybody here read any of Leroy's books?
8038. wonkers2 - 1/15/2006 3:14:07 PM
Cap'n Dirty sez: "Here's the first line of a book in case anybody's interested in pursuing Jay's guessing game:"
"The year I turned ninety, I wanted to give myself the gift of a night of wild love with an adolescent virgin."
8039. Ulgine Barrows - 1/17/2006 11:07:05 PM
I still read to my son every night. We are currently on "Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane", which is a gripping story for an almost 11-yr-old. Er, and me, too. Surely a movie will follow.
So, tonight we were quibbling about the pillows AGAIN, which is part of the drill as we settle down to read. You would just have to be there, it's not a bad bicker.
Tonight, I told son in a royal voice, "I'm thoroughly ensconced in the pillows and can't possibly move, unless you spell ensconce correctly."
Little pecker did! I gave him a high-five.
And moved, among much giggling.
8040. wabbit - 1/30/2006 4:23:51 PM
Playwright Wendy Wasserstein, who chronicled the feminist struggles and successes of the baby-boomer generation in such wryly observant works as "The Heidi Chronicles" and "The Sisters Rosensweig," has died of lymphoma at the age of 55.
8041. judithathome - 1/30/2006 4:39:25 PM
Bummer.
8042. wabbit - 2/3/2006 9:14:35 AM
WoW, we await images and a report on your smashing success in Siena!
8043. alistairconnor - 2/3/2006 9:19:12 AM
I thought your show opened in Siena in March?
8044. alistairconnor - 2/3/2006 9:30:47 AM
Oh ah and if you want to send a poster for the kids...
Moulin Chorel
42140 Marcenod
is the address.
8045. judithathome - 2/3/2006 5:02:47 PM
I'm shocked this didn't happen in Kansas!
No Culture For YOU!
Some parents in this prairie town are angry with an elementary school music teacher for showing pupils a video about the opera "Faust," whose title character sells his soul to the devil in exchange for being young again.
"Any adult with common sense would not think that video was appropriate for a young person to see. I'm not sure it's appropriate for a high school student," Robby Warner said after two of her children saw the video.
Another parent, Casey Goodwin, said, "I think it glorifies Satan in some way."
Tresa Waggoner showed approximately 250 first-, second- and third-graders at Bennett Elementary portions of a 33-year-old series titled "Who's Afraid of Opera" a few weeks ago.
8046. wonkers2 - 2/3/2006 5:28:44 PM
Ignorance unlimited in Colorado.
8047. arkymalarky - 2/3/2006 6:51:37 PM
Uh-oh. I just got through teaching Goethe's Faust in AP English.
8048. Ms. No - 2/3/2006 7:06:51 PM
If the parents had any culture they'd realize that it's a morality tale they could get on board with since Faust is clearly not to be emulated and all deals with devil are bad ones.
Sheesh. Bunch of loons.
8049. Macnas - 2/6/2006 4:44:08 AM
Oh for fucks sake.
8050. Macnas - 2/6/2006 4:46:41 AM
"Go'in down to Southpark, gonna have myself a time"
8051. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 2/10/2006 5:08:11 PM
I thought this guy's haircut belonged in this thread because of its title.
8052. alistairConnor - 2/11/2006 6:19:15 AM
Way cool! He's got to be French!
though he would probably get a hard time from the cops...
(hair would seem to be modelled on the képi worn by French gendarmes) 
8053. wonkers2 - 2/12/2006 1:50:31 PM
8054. wonkers2 - 2/12/2006 2:07:51 PM
Sample quote: "'...unrestrained anatomy makes some of the more vigorous movements,' as he put it, 'a little bit comedic.'....'Americans are so licentous and so puritanical simultaneously.....Nudity is like calling something 'Free Beer.' I always threaten to make people do stuff naked, and I'm all for it, but to me, it's usually more trouble than it's worth. If something is swinging around, that's all anybody looks at.'"
8055. jexster - 2/14/2006 11:14:50 AM
From the Been There, Done That Dept
Damn I shoulda written a book!
YES, MARRIAGE MATTERS
BEAUTIFULLY CRAFTED, CANDID...A tremendous comfort to those who mourn." Flora Biddle, Chairman Emerita, Whitney Museum of American Art
INSPIRING READING...Tells the story of grief as a way of showing how deeply satisfying the bond between two gay men can be." George Haggerty
8056. Ulgine Barrows - 3/3/2006 6:27:06 AM
What book club is THAT from?
8057. PelleNilsson - 3/9/2006 10:51:39 AM
Each year IHT faithfully reprints his wonderful account of Thanksgiving in mangled French-English, but otherwise Art Buchwald has slipped from view. Here he is again, probably for the last time.
Dear Reader,
I am writing this article from a hospice. But being in a hospice didn't work out exactly the way I wanted it to. By all rights I should have finished my time here five or six weeks ago.
This is what happened: I was riding the elevator at the acute care facility next door when I saw a sign that said there was also a hospice in the building. I arranged a tour and everything looked very good to me.
I talked to my doctor, Mike Newman, and he said, "It's your choice. You're the only one who can decide what you want to do." Which was, I thought, a good answer. That's when I decided to discontinue dialysis.
One of the reasons for the decision was that I lost a leg at Georgetown Hospital. I miss my leg, but when they told me I would also have to take dialysis for the rest of my life, I decided - too much.
Several things happened. My decision coincided with an appearance on Diane Rehm's radio talk show. She has over a million listeners. I talked with her about my decision not to take dialysis.
The response was very much in my favor. I had more than 150 letters, and most of them said I did the right thing. This, of course, made me feel good.
It is one thing to be in a hospice; it's another to get on the air and tell everybody about it.
When I got to the hospice, I was under the impression it would be a two- or three-week stay. But here I still am, six weeks later, and I've gotten so well Medicare won't pay for me anymore.
Now this is what it's like for someone who is in the hospice: I sit in a beautiful living room where I can have anything I want and I can even send out to McDonald's for milkshakes and hamburgers. Most people who are not in hospice have to watch their diets. They can't believe I can eat anything I want.
I have a constant flow of visitors. Many of them have famous names, so much so that my family is impressed with who shows up. (I would not be getting the same attention if I were on dialysis.)
I hold court in the big living room. We sit here for hours talking about the past, and since it's my show, we talk about anything I want. It's a wonderful place to be, and if for some reason somebody forgets to come see me, there's always television and movies on DVD.
I keep checking with the nurses and doctors about when I'm supposed to pull out. No one has an answer. One doctor says, "It's up to you." And I say, "That's a typical doctor's answer."
I receive plates and baskets of delicious food - home-cooked meals from my son and daughter-in-law, treats from the delicatessen and frozen yogurt from Häagen-Dazs.
Everybody wants to please me. Food seems to be very important, not only to my guests, but also to me. If they bring food, they get even better treatment from me. One day I told a friend I wanted a corned beef sandwich. The next day I got 10 corned beef sandwiches.
Also, I have received dozens of flower arrangements, something I would never get if I were on dialysis.
I don't know if this is true or not, but I think some people - not many - are starting to wonder why I'm still around. In fact, a few are sending me get-well cards. These are the hard ones to answer.
So far things are going my way. I am known in the hospice as The Man Who Wouldn't Die. How long they allow me to stay here is another problem. I don't know where I'd go now, or if people would still want to see me if I wasn't in a hospice.
But in case you're wondering, I'm having a swell time - the best time of my life
8058. Macnas - 3/9/2006 10:59:25 AM
Sounds a whole lot better than the hospices here.
The only thing different from an ordinary hospital I noticed in a hospice, was that the patients were allowed to smoke in a small room just off the ward.
As it was a cancer ward, where people came to die, it didn't make any difference whether they wanted to smoke or not I guess.
8059. alistairconnor - 3/9/2006 11:00:21 AM
It's unusual for someone with kidney failure to be having a good time. Probably misdiagnosed.
Nice story.
8060. uzmakk - 3/10/2006 11:52:15 AM
...now, the Haysweep comes in because the point of it all, or is it the means, is a book of Haysweep quality and mystique.
8061. uzmakk - 3/11/2006 7:08:56 AM
...so the day starts at 6, no more 3 hour wake up time. I run the cafe from 11- 2. Three more hours in the shop in the afternoon gives me an eight hour day. The cafe gives me inspiration, keeps me in touch with the peasants, provides a nexus for subversive activity, and keeps the pressure on me for the Haysweep project. Everybody's got to know about the Haysweep. Gosh, I hope my Mote password relating to a central asian tribe doesn't get me in trouble.
Arts, Crafts and Culture.
8062. uzmakk - 3/11/2006 7:17:41 AM
Btw, the Mote Boat, though not finished, is on the fireplace mantel. The fireplace mantel itself is not yet finished.
A wingnut who posted on a local forum is being held in Federal Prison.
8063. uzmakk - 3/11/2006 8:24:00 AM
I expressed my dismay when an oscar was awarded for some aspect of the movie, Monster. (Theron, best actress?)
I recall having a discussion with Connor at the time in which I referenced the proverb "To understand is to forgive" and G.K. Chesterton's characterization of this type of thinking as "the devil's sentimentality". A recent argument brought this quote and characterization to mind again and I post an excerpt from Forbidden Knowledge, Shattuck, simply as a point of possible interest --
More Kevism Debunked, or At Least Questioned
Over $100,000 worth of damage is done to a local athletic field. What should the punishment be? Kev doesn't know, but it should be mild because the vandals' brains were not completely developed. There is scientific evidence.
College students burn several churches down south as a joke. They then burn other churches to throw the police off the track. Should the punishment be harsh? Not too harsh; the psychology of youthful group behavior necessarily mitigates the severity of the punishment.
There is a proverb "To understand is to forgive." G.K. Chesterton called this attitude 'the devil's sentimentality.' Under carefully controlled conditions, as in listening to the 'sincere' and seductive narrative voice of The Stranger, our empathy for another person can be stretched very far. We can venture too close and lose our perspective on humanity. Once we understand another life by entering it, by seeing it from inside, we may both pardon and forgive a criminal action. We may not even recognize it as criminal. We are all guilty in some way. How can we ever judge anyone else, punish anyone else?
That line of thinking leads to an unacceptable dilemma. Either justice is impossible and escapes us, or justice, if we do attempt to establish it, is inhuman. The action of Billy Budd confronts and blocks such slack thinking. Captain Vere in his fanatic resolve to maintain strict discipline aboard ship remains fully human, and tragic.* Etc., etc.
_______________
*During the past twenty years, the most probing commentaries on Billy Budd have been written by legal scholars.....
--Forbidden Knowledge
Roger Shattuck
"We are all guilty in some way. " This is what allows Kevin to assign ultimate blame to the citizens when people in government commit crimes. Kev has great faith that his conception of a bureaucracy is the reality, that the little flow lines on his mental chart exist in reality. The ultimate blame is weak and watery when Cheney assigns it to himself or when Kev assigns it to "the people".
What came to my mind upon hearing the church burners' characterization of their actions as a joke was M+M's characterization of some of his lyrics as a joke. In both cases I think we can say we can say we are dealing with a perverse sense of humor, a pathetic rationalization or a lie. But perhaps I'm just not hip.
8064. arkymalarky - 3/11/2006 11:34:55 AM
So you're running a cafe. What's on the menu?
And Eminem's lyrics are no joke, even to him, but they're relevant and even if they aren't, supporters of First Amendment principles can't be relativists and be depended on to defend those principles very well. It's not very productive to be an all-or-nothingist, either: either everyone is responsible or no one is--either actions and speech are evil or neither is. Destruction of people or property isn't comparable to spoken perversity in any sense, humorous or not, whether it's Eminem vs college students or a Danish cartoonist vs Islamic fundamentalists.
Would that it were all so simple. Then, of course, there would be nothing to discuss. And we'd all be dead or in prison--those of us who weren't murderers or wardens.
8065. uzmakk - 3/12/2006 7:36:03 AM
Hearty soups in the winter. Salads, both green and grain, in the summer.
And Eminem's lyrics are no joke, even to him,...
Quite so. I believe he was being interviewed, his argument was falling apart, so his lyrics or a specific lyric, became a joke. He lied, and it was a big lie, because it had to do with the validity of his "philosophy". It should be no surprize that MnM doesn't think very well. Nor, did the students who burnt the churches. No doubt talk and the commission of a crime are two very different things. But the thinking, the sensibilites, that led to the crime are interesting. A joke.(?) A good sense of humor may be more important than we think.
8066. arkymalarky - 3/12/2006 10:39:36 AM
I'm a fan of Eminem. Or was, until he got it out of his system. At least part of his philosophy is/was that society creates its own monsters then hypocritically acts shocked when they make the news.
8067. arkymalarky - 3/12/2006 10:43:27 AM
Sounds like a great menu. Wish we had something like that here. It's been tried, but not well. People would serve great food, but didn't run the business end well--or they'd have a great idea and awful food.
8068. alistairConnor - 3/13/2006 4:33:38 PM
Once we understand another life by entering it, by seeing it from inside, we may both pardon and forgive a criminal action.
Is this your greatest fear, Uz? That if you understand the devil, you will become like him?
You lack confidence in yourself, perhaps?
8069. alistairConnor - 3/13/2006 4:34:46 PM
Don't read Dostoïevsky.
You might forgive terrorists.
Or become one.
8070. anomie - 3/13/2006 5:08:41 PM
Once you understand the devil, you become less like yourself and more like him - no? Not sure confidence is a factor.
8071. uzmakk - 3/14/2006 8:49:22 AM
It is a question of sympathy for the murderer not one of becoming him. My greatest fear? Hardly. Yes, I am a snivelling coward and lack self-confidence, but that has nothing to do with the argument.
re: Dostoievsky
Very much to the point. Likewise, Arky's fandom of MNM. I have no argument with the pov that society is imperfect. Down with Bush! Down with Bush! Down with Bush!
I have heard a book called MegaCity(?) mentioned on NPR. The thrust of the book: if this is the shape of the future, and it appears to be, God help us.Surely some Motie or other has read it? There will be a great deal of reason to commit crime and there will be a great deal of it. It will be very understandable, what will we/they/the state do? Captain Vere in his fanatic resolve to maintain strict discipline aboard ship remains fully human, and tragic.* Etc., etc.
8072. uzmakk - 3/14/2006 8:51:44 AM
My second sentence was to be, Of course the argument can be extended. Perhaps I should have left it in.
8073. alistairConnor - 3/14/2006 2:12:37 PM
Uz, I think you have a conception of justice which is radically different from mine : though they may well converge with respect to outcomes, they derive from different roots.
Culturally, (DANGER : GROSS STEREOTYPING AHEAD), Americans are wedded to the idea of popular justice : offenses are determined by what the community (or its dominant, right-thinking element) deems offensive; those who offend will be punished according to the desiderata of the right-thinkers. This is organically tied up with the fact that you elect your judges.
I take a more detached view of what justice is. I do not wish for my animal pulsions, or some socio-religious rationalization of them, to be visited on offenders. I wish such matters to be handled dispassionately by professionals, who are accountable only very indirectly to public opinion (or to a government). The aim, after all, is to preserve society from disorders, and protect individuals from both wrongdoers and injustice.
In this framework, society is not endangered if I choose to try to understand, or empathise with, or even forgive a criminal. To abandon this capacity would be to diminish my humanity. However odious the crime, the criminal is a human being, and respectable as such.
8074. uzmakk - 3/14/2006 4:59:20 PM
What an excellent post, Connor. I am off to a brainstorming session with the County Commissioners regarding tourism. We are going to put our primitive minds together and see what we come up with.
Actually, I am attending as a mere citizen and this is billed as a brainstorming session, but more than likely just window dressing in the name of democracy. Naturally I will bring up the quarry. In a valley as promising as mine is for tourism why would we want a quarry?
8075. Ms. No - 3/14/2006 5:11:48 PM
AC,
Where do your judges and laws come from if not the people?
I understand and even agree with the view that our laws should not be determined by the current fashion or public faddishness, but at the same time there is nothing truly "outside" to draw from. We can go to great lengths to be calm, reasonable, rational beings and still we cannot help but reflect the views of our times. It's how we end up with slavery under such a brilliant document as the US Constitution.
Any fans here of Brecht's Three Penny Opera?
8076. wonkers2 - 3/14/2006 5:15:39 PM
Yes. Great show. I've seen it a couple of times and have a tape of Lotte Lenya singing Brecht and Weill.
8077. anomie - 3/14/2006 5:23:51 PM
"The aim, after all, is to preserve society from disorders, and protect individuals from both wrongdoers and injustice."
Your last word covers a lot AC. If we go inside the criminal mind and find the crime was a reaction to the injustice of society, or necessary to survival (physical, mental or emotional), we may bend toward forgiveness. I'm sure you know this generally, but even the most evil acts might be explained away by such factors, real or imagined. Nevertheless, punishment or isolation must be inflicted, even though it may not be perfect justice. It is as you say preservation.
8078. anomie - 3/14/2006 5:26:22 PM
MsNo, would you recommend it?
Anyone endured any of the Beckett on Film series?
8079. alistairConnor - 3/14/2006 5:39:56 PM
Yes No, but there is a difference between democracy and mob rule.
What about that Moussaoui case? I admire that judge, she's a real professional.
8080. wonkers2 - 3/14/2006 5:48:29 PM
Threepenny Opera is one of the all time great shows. Another is "The Fantastics." Last I heard it was the longest running show in history in NYC.
8081. wonkers2 - 3/14/2006 5:49:05 PM
(Excuse me for butting in, Ali."
8082. Ms. No - 3/14/2006 6:10:45 PM
Anomie,
Most definitely, but I think some of the message depends on which version you see. There are several translations out and to my knowledge the one truest to the original is not licensed for production in the U.S. The story isn't greatly altered, I don't believe, but the language is softened sometimes a LOT.
The reason I bring it up during this particular discussion is because one of Brecht's main goals was to distance the audience from the characters of the play so that rather than empathizing and getting caught up in sentimental emotions they might look more rationally at the action and engage in self-reflection be it personal or more usually cultural and political.
Brecht attempted this with many of his plays, particularly his "teaching plays", but I think it's most easily seen with Three Penny because in the end the audience is called upon to vote between characters and this sentimentality or faddishness in justice that we've been talking about really comes to light.
8083. Ms. No - 3/14/2006 6:17:26 PM
AC,
Democracy can be described as a tyranny of the majority since a pure Democracy means that 51 people decide what is best for the other 49, but I'm still not sure where you're diffrentiating between how U.S. laws are formed and how French laws are formed (I assume youre talking about French laws as opposed to NZ, but either is fine).
8084. anomie - 3/14/2006 6:21:15 PM
Ah, I see this is a musical, which explains why I would never have noticed it. Being a musical is bad enough, but I really can't stand even threeminutes of opera singing.
8085. Jenerator - 3/14/2006 6:28:31 PM
Of all of the plays and musicals and operas I have been to, I have never seen Phanton of the Opera. My mom is taking me for my birthday!
8086. anomie - 3/14/2006 6:39:10 PM
I fast-forwarded through the DVD. But I hope you enjoy it. I managed to sit through Les Miz in London, only because I like the story. Didn't go back in to Cats after intermission.
8087. uzmakk - 3/14/2006 7:47:58 PM
Very exciting, 8 month plan, looking for input, perfect opportunity. Stop the quarry, promote the cafe(my dining room)and the bindery. Promote a development plan for the valley based on tourism. Its time for bare knuckles with the local judiciary. I love a good fight.
8088. alistairconnor - 3/15/2006 5:27:35 AM
Les Miz : saw it in NZ with a mostly Australian cast... yeah great story, but no memorable songs. Of the modern French musicals, Notre Dame de Paris is better (my choir has one of the songs in our repertoire : Ave Maria paiën)
8089. uzmakk - 3/15/2006 8:43:52 AM
Conner,
I really do appreciate your post. I do have questions. All I have time to say right now is that I am reading William Hazlitt on The Pleasure of Hating and loving it.
8090. Ms. No - 3/15/2006 12:29:18 PM
Anomie,
3-Penny isn't remotely operatic but it is definitely a musical play. Kurt Weill did the score for this one so it's full of marches and beer-hall songs and really insistent, aggressive rhythms. Then you'll get a song that sounds a bit langorous and maybe even sweet until you notice what the lyrics are about and then you get dumped into a kind of hissing, spitting, spoken part.
Brecht's musicals aren't meant to be pretty or "musical" in the sense of Gilbert & Sullivan or Rogers & Hammerstein. Brecht used songs as a tool to remind the audience that what they were watching wasn't real. That they were watching a play, a representation. He'd have characters directly address the audience, mingle among them, hold up placards that said things like "Don't look so sentimental", turn their backs on the audience.
So, if done in the manner Brecht intended, none of his musicals should really resemble what most people think of as a "musical". They certainly don't look anything like Andrew Lloyd Webber's works. Brecht's influence has been so great, though, that you've probably seen more of him than you know. Everyone has been influenced by him at this point to some degree.
Woody Allen has a film called Shadows & Fog which has a lot of ties to 3-Penny as well as Kafka and other giants of German Expressionism. Much of the film's score is taken either directly from Weill's Army Song or based closely on it.
8091. PelleNilsson - 3/15/2006 1:00:34 PM
You are displaying a great deal of insight here, Ms No.
8092. Ms. No - 3/15/2006 1:51:09 PM
I'm passionate about this play in particular because of my experiences with it. I'm sure I get a rather manic glint in my eye when I talk about it. ;->
8093. anomie - 3/15/2006 3:23:13 PM
Ms. No, I will seek it out and watch it, no doubt thinking of you the whole time.
On the subject of unconventional musicals, I am fascinated with a French movie called Eight Women. A murder in an isolated house is the setting for eight women, (all stars in their own right), of various relations sing songs, do silly dances, and act out petty squables.
8094. Ms. No - 3/15/2006 3:44:48 PM
Ano,
I don't know that there is a film of it worth watching. I know that the Steve Martin - Bernadette Peters Pennies From Heaven is also based somewhat on 3-Penny, but I liked Shadows and Fog much better --- and it has the advantage of not being a musical. ;->
8095. Ms. No - 3/15/2006 3:47:36 PM
I'd never heard of 8 Women but I just looked it up on Netflix and saw who's in it and now I'm definitely going to have to check it out. Thanks for mentioning it!
8096. anomie - 3/15/2006 3:50:49 PM
I think you'll see why I used the word "fascinated". It's one of the oddest movies I've ever seen.
8097. uzmakk - 3/16/2006 6:20:46 AM
Ms. No,
Your introduction of 3 Penny Opera was apt and an education. My highschool drama club staged 3 Penny. They were an ambitious bunch. All I recall at this point is that I was impressed.
8098. uzmakk - 3/17/2006 10:42:13 AM
Conner,
You asked if my apparent "not wishing to understand" as due to fear or a lack of confidence, that if I began to understand/empathize I might feel the foundations and illusions of my own goodie-two-shoes being/morality begin to crumble and wash away and this would scare me. The honest answer is no. Though I do have it in me to strangle a man to death, and though I do understand a good deal of the "causes of crime", I don't get any sensation of sliding toward hell with either dread, joy, or resignation. It is the sliding that is supposed to scare me, is it not?
Aren't you being a bit cowardly by turning the important dirtywork of society over to a professional, because you are fearful that you may be suffering from a bit of socioreligio remnantitus?
But, speaking of fear and lack of confidence
8099. uzmakk - 3/17/2006 10:43:53 AM
Heavens, I have to get used to the Mote again. Sent that baby out without a second look.
8100. Ms. No - 3/17/2006 11:59:38 AM
I'm still trying to figure out where you get judges and laws that don't come out of the social values of a democratic nation --- assuming one's nation is nominally democratic.
8101. alistairConnor - 3/17/2006 12:14:14 PM
Hell, No, I don't believe I said any such a thing. I merely said that the business of prosecuting and judging offenders should be held at arm's length from the gut reactions of ordinary decent citizens.
And no, the process of forming laws is roughly similar in the US, France, and New Zealand. That's not the question I was discussing.
Both laws and justice must, obviously, come out of the social values of a democratic nation. But both need a lot of scrutiny, and need to be constantly measured against values which must necessarily underpin a nation which is "democratic" in the full sense : in particular, standards of individual human rights.
Otherwise, in a narrowly-defined democracy, 51% could vote a law to cut the balls off the other 49%.
8102. alistairConnor - 3/17/2006 12:28:24 PM
Uz, my remarks in Message # 8068 were provocatively ad hominem, perhaps because if I addressed your views in political language it would have been even nastier.
But perhaps I misunderstood. We probably agree that justice should be administered in an unsentimental manner. To me, this cuts two ways :
- it means that justice should not go soft out of pity for people who didn't get a good start in life;
- it also means that it should not seek to punish out of anger and revenge.
Justice ought to seek the best outcome, and needs not only to be just (and seen to be just) but to be effective. This might mean that some idiot who burns down a church or ruins a football field gets some sort of non-custodial sentence, for example, because sending him to jail would turn him into a full-time criminal, at a far greater overall cost to society than if he's forced to spend his time helping out old folks or kids for a couple of years.
A justice system which is closely coupled with public opinion is not likely to have the latitude to develop effective strategies. We don't vote on the structural design of bridges; we don't elect the engineers either.
8103. arkymalarky - 3/17/2006 12:36:34 PM
Otherwise, in a narrowly-defined democracy, 51% could vote a law to cut the balls off the other 49%.
That's already been done in the US.
8104. Ms. No - 3/17/2006 1:01:58 PM
Connor,
I confess to twitting you a bit, but your original post gave me the impression that you believe the justice system in America consists of little more than wild-eyed mobs appointing a nominal "Judge" to oversee lynchings in the town square.
Most of our judges are hired or appointed not elected just as are most attorneys for the State.
8105. judithathome - 3/17/2006 1:17:57 PM
MsNo, have you ever seen a production of Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris? I think you'd really like it.
8106. judithathome - 3/17/2006 1:18:54 PM
Also, check Neflix for a French movie called Le Bal.
8107. uzmakk - 3/17/2006 3:36:18 PM
Connor,
I guess you don't think much of the jury system. It puts the mob right into the middle of the whole process.
8108. uzmakk - 3/17/2006 3:39:15 PM
the mob= "ordinary decent citizens"
8109. PelleNilsson - 3/17/2006 3:49:53 PM
Or the reverse.
8110. alistairConnor - 3/17/2006 5:02:22 PM
You've intrigued me with the Brel thing, Judith... tell me about it!
8111. Magoseph - 3/17/2006 5:27:47 PM
It's playing soon, the 17th, I think.
Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris - Musical
Jacques Brel is Alive and Well & Living in Paris is a musical revival which originally opened off-Broadway at The Village Gate Theatre in 1968 and ran for more than four years, often playing to sold-out houses. Often referred to as the Bob Dylan of France, Jacques Brel wrote songs about people actively questioning their own values as well as the rising tide of conservatism around them. With a cast of four actors and four musicians, the show celebrates Brel's relevance and enduring passions. Translated from the French by American poet Eric Blau and lyricist Mort Shuman, the show is a blend of ballads, tangos, boleros, rock and classics. Each piece tells a story, examining themes of love, war, adventure, broken dreams, people from all classes, being young, growing old and death, but always remembering life has much humor in it.
Cast Members:
Robert Cuccioli, Natascia Diaz, Rodney Hicks, Gay Marshall
Venue:
Zipper Theatre
336 West 37th Street (Between 8th and 9th Avenues)
New York NY 10018
Running Time:
Approximately 2 hours, including one 15 minute intermission
8112. alistairConnor - 3/17/2006 5:54:20 PM
Well, Mort Shuman is well-respected in France in his own right. Horrible singer, but great songs : "Il pleut sur le lac Majeur", "Papa Tango Charlie", etc.
Brel, of course, is in the pantheon of intangible cultural references. Not French, he was Belgian - Flemish, in fact. I wish I could have seen him in the title role of "Man of La Mancha", one of his great moments.
8113. uzmakk - 3/18/2006 7:45:26 AM
Uz, my remarks in Message # 8068 were provocatively ad hominem, perhaps because if I addressed your views in political language it would have been even nastier.
I was going to let this go, but I must register my amusement.
But perhaps I misunderstood. We probably agree that justice should be administered in an unsentimental manner. To me, this cuts two ways :
- it means that justice should not go soft out of pity for people who didn't get a good start in life;
- it also means that it should not seek to punish out of anger and revenge. I agree with bullet one. And perhaps we agree on bullet two also. We must moderate our anger and revenge, but dispense with it? Impossible, you bloodless toad! (provocatively ad hominum)
Justice ought to seek the best outcome, and needs not only to be just (and seen to be just) but to be effective.Seen to be just by whom? Just by whose judgement? Effective by who's judgement? This might mean that some idiot who burns down a church or ruins a football field gets some sort of non-custodial sentence, for example, because sending him to jail would turn him into a full-time criminal, at a far greater overall cost to society than if he's forced to spend his time helping out old folks or kids for a couple of years.
I agree with this because I am a right thinking American savage who prefers American democracy to European civilization. Just because I'm a savage and you are civilized doesn't mean we can't come to some kind of an agreement.(nyuk, nyuk, nyuk) My first thought is not to lighten the sentence, whereas it is the first thing out of our liberal talkshow host's mouth. A matter of degree and priorities as with most things. There's nothing like a short jail sentence, a very short jail sentence, to "build character" among those who are not completely lost.
A justice system which is closely coupled with public opinion is not likely to have the latitude to develop effective strategies. We don't vote on the structural design of bridges; we don't elect the engineers either.
Do you think that the analogy between the human and the mechanical is a good one? Once again, it is a question of degree; none of us denies that we are designing some kind of a system and that our outlook is essentially mechanical. I'm not fond of your compartmentalizing and cutting the feedback loops to the citizenry, Citizen Connor.
8114. uzmakk - 3/18/2006 7:13:07 AM
Connor, I believe you are speaking of a professional class which shares your conception of "individual human rights." Yes?
8115. arkymalarky - 3/18/2006 10:23:21 AM
I want to start an "Uzmakk for President" movement. I get dibs on campaign chair.
8116. judithathome - 3/18/2006 3:36:06 PM
I just ordered a CD by this guy, with whom I post on another forum. He is insanely talented as this piece shows. Give it a listen:
Steve Schalchlin's Song "Save Me a Seat
8117. uzmakk - 3/20/2006 8:09:31 AM
Thank you for the vote of confidence, Arky, but I am going to take your previous advice which was to work for one's issue if one has an issue. However, if I was drafted to run for POTUS I might reconsider.(nyuk nyuk)
Judith, would you like a comment? Too much visible ego in that particular song for me. This is not to say that the man is not oozing talent.
8118. alistairconnor - 3/20/2006 8:58:32 AM
Connor, I believe you are speaking of a professional class which shares your conception of "individual human rights." Yes?
No, I believe there are fundamental human rights which, once agreed upon, should be set in concrete, and then scrupulously defended by a professional class. This is not a particularly European concept.
Otherwise, you start making exceptions, and you go to hell. For example : yes, in principle, everyone is entitled to a fair trial, and is protected against arbitrary detention, and cruel and unusual punishment. But we except terrorists, obviously. Also, paedophile murderers. Oh, and while we're at it, that guy whose dog craps on my lawn every day.
8119. Ms. No - 3/20/2006 10:34:52 AM
Alistair,
You're forgetting the Parable of the Cave.
What we perceive to be fundamental human rights today may not even encompass those that next year we will perceive to be human.
Would you truly argue for a system of government that was not answerable to the governed?
8120. alistairconnor - 3/20/2006 11:20:14 AM
That's not what I'm arguing at all. I'm saying (again) that fundamental principles should be held at arm's length. In France, we have a constitution that gets changed every time something in it becomes inconvenient for the government. That doesn't offer individuals much protection from their government. I think the US model is somewhat better in that respect.
On the other hand, you're right that it's a conservative mechanism I'm talking about : it's no easier to extend new rights than to abrogate old ones.
8121. anomie - 3/21/2006 6:04:01 PM
Sarah McLachlan
Sarah McLachlan
Am I the only adult male who missed this artist?
She's a frickin genius if she has anything to do with the arrangements. Every song has a hook and and a vocal miracle.
Good lord, this is why we are human...listen to this women.
8122. Macnas - 3/28/2006 2:35:26 AM
Nikki Sudden is dead.
8123. wonkers2 - 3/28/2006 6:21:48 AM
Especially that guy whose dog craps on my lawn every day!
8124. Ms. No - 3/28/2006 9:58:35 AM
Connor,
Sorry, I didn't mean to wander off.
I'm saying (again) that fundamental principles should be held at arm's length.
I agree that they should but I don't know how you're suggesting that we ensure such a thing.
Personally, I believe I'm fondest of Plato's model, but only if the folks in charge are truly wise and just, which cannot be counted upon. Since it cannot, I must subscribe to a more democratic ideal.
8125. Ms. No - 3/28/2006 10:23:06 AM
anomie,
Yes, I think she is responsible for a lot of her arrangements. I could be mistaken. She's quite a talented artist and I've enjoyed a lot of her work but her vocals are so specifically stylized that I can get over-done on her sometimes ---- not her music so much as her vocal style.
My personal modern, musical goddess is Tori Amos. Not every single thing she puts out sends me, but, so many times, listening to her play is like having my chest torn open and a whirlwind blow through it--- not painful, but cathartic and energizing. She plays piano that way as well. An aquaintence of mine has actually seen her use a drool bucket during performance. Talk about tearing it up and leaving it all over the stage. She's like a force of nature, and at the same time she can be cute and sweet and fragile seeming and incredibly girly. Tori Amos is like the archetypal woman to my mind. Like if you looked up woman in the Dictionary of the Universe there she'd be.
However, most of her songs are not as lyrical as MacLachlan's so they're harder to sing along to. I know a lot of people enjoy both artists, but if what appeals to you about MacLachlan is the melodiousness of her music then certain of Amos albums would probably not appeal to you much at all.
8126. anomie - 3/28/2006 3:52:56 PM
Ms. No, I know exactly what you mean about a singer like SM overdoing it. From what I've heard, (mostly the Afterglow concert), she stops short of the country-western yodel. I think her restraint creates a certain tension that adds to the experience cause you can feel her potential to explode. I guess I was a bit manic with my recommendation, but music is sometimes a completely irrational thrill - almost an astonishment of some kind. And with all due respect to whales, is an experience unique to humans.
I like all styles of music. I've heard of Tori Amos many times but I don't know if I've ever listened to her perform. I'll check her out. Thanks for the recommendation. I like artists who feel their music, but I could do without the drool bucket. Ha!
8127. Ms. No - 3/28/2006 4:11:47 PM
I'm hardly one to throw stones at others for enthusiastic endorsements ---- and I don't think I'd actually want to watch Tori use a drool bucket, but the very thought that she'd be so committed to her performance that she needed one is kind of cool to me.
Her first two albums are probably her most accessible for a first-time listener. I'll bet you've probably caught a couple of her tunes on the radio somewhere once or twice if you're ever in the habit of listening to the alternative music stations.
8128. anomie - 3/28/2006 5:35:13 PM
Well Ms.No, I think you just made Tori Amos a few bucks off me. I listened to a few Amazon samples and the Beekeeper album sounded real good. Excellent production...her voice and piano came through very clear even on my crummy laptop. I'll start with that one.
8129. Ms. No - 3/28/2006 5:52:20 PM
That's one I don't have, but she is an amazing pianist. I like her really big, bright stuff the best --- but I'm a fan of "big" piano stuff anyway. Or the way I define big, anyway --- Billy Joel, Scott Joplin, Chopin, Randy Newman
Amos studied at Juliard for awhile but got grief there because she wasn't much of a rule follower. I think her first band in LA was called Y Can't Tori Read --- which refered to her kind of blase attitude about learning to actually read music. She was a piano prodigy from a very young age, why did she need to learn to read music?
I've no idea whether she reads now or not. I don't think she arranges for anyone but herself so she may not. It would be interesting to know.
8130. wabbit - 3/28/2006 6:50:22 PM
Since you two are discussing Tori Amos and Sarah McLachlan (and you should both email me, btw), anyone like Kate Bush (even in small doses)? Wendy Waldman?
Ok, I'm old, shoot me.
I've been trying to get a cd of Jesse Colin Young's first album, Soul Of A City Boy for ages, without having to pay $150 on eBay. I even wrote to JCY and *he* doesn't have a copy (he lost a lot of stuff in a house fire). That and Together (aka Good Times) are just a couple things on vinyl I would like to have on disk. I suppose I'll get around to doing a transfer some day. Some albums just don't seem to be available.
8131. judithathome - 3/28/2006 7:41:37 PM
What in hell is a drool bucket?
8132. judithathome - 3/28/2006 7:43:32 PM
Did no one listen to my link of Steve Shack's song upthread? This guy is an amazing personality and his life's story is extremely uplifting.
He's wonderful with lyrics AND music...
8133. wonkers2 - 3/28/2006 7:55:41 PM
Drool bucket? A can that guys who chew tobacco carry around to spit in? I've heard it called a spit bucket or can, not a drool bucket.
8134. uzmakk - 3/28/2006 7:57:05 PM
You are not paying attention, Judith.
8135. Adam Selene - 3/28/2006 8:15:23 PM
Ok, so this is the right thread...
Any of you listen to Nellie McKay?
... and you call yourselves cultured. For shame.
8136. arkymalarky - 3/28/2006 8:50:42 PM
I can't listen with my current setup, Judith. One of these days....
I like Kate Bush and Bro really loves her. I love her Wuthering Heights sung by Pat Benatar, whom I only like sometimes, but she does a great job with that song, imo.
8137. anomie - 3/29/2006 4:42:49 AM
Wabbit...It took me only 5 or 6 albums to catch on to Sarah McLachlan, so maybe I'm on a role with female vocalists. I'll check out your suggestions.
Just the name Jesse Colin Young gives a nostalgic twinge, but I can't remember a specific song. Still, I'm surprised his stuff isn't released on CD. Seems practically everything else is.
8138. anomie - 3/29/2006 4:47:02 AM
Speaking of expensive, hard to find albums. Michael Tomlinson stuff is going for a pretty penny at Amazon and elsewhere. I guess he sued his record company and pulled all the stock back. He was a sorta folk-rockish guy from the 80s. Used to hear him on "The Wave" radio station in La. I only had one of his records but it's one I'd replace if the price was reasonable.
8139. anomie - 3/29/2006 4:51:59 AM
Judith, I'm listening now. You're right...very talented and a nice piano. It's a little too musical-theater for my taste. As I listen I see the dark stage, single spot on the lonley piano player...
8140. uzmakk - 3/29/2006 8:59:10 AM
A Phraes
The hearth, the heart, the center --
From ruminations on the title of this thread.
8141. Ms. No - 3/29/2006 11:21:18 AM
Juditha,
I did miss that, I'm not sure how. What a wonderfully resonant voice he has. I hear a lot of different influences working together that I don't know that I've heard put together that way before. Quite a unique sound. A little outside my usual choices but he's certainly talented.
What's his story? This is a friend of yours, right?
8142. Ms. No - 3/29/2006 11:27:54 AM
Wabbit,
Yes, I do like Kate Bush --- have you heard her new album? I haven't yet but the rumblings about it have been good, I think.
Anyone here hooked up with Rhapsody?
8143. Ulgine Barrows - 3/29/2006 11:42:16 PM
eww. no. No Rhapsody.
8144. anomie - 3/30/2006 4:51:01 AM
Tori Amos album, Beekeeper, is good. Melodic and full of harmonies (self-harmonies, sounds like...seems to be part of the theme throughout the cd). Comes with a DVD I'd be glad to send to send you Ms. No. From the little I've watched so far it seems to be mostly interviews where she she discusses her music....very new-agey, touchy, feely.
Her voice and style is hard to pin down. At best it's like smoke coming off a knife edge. She's not at all imitative, but I can hear a mixture of styles and voices ranging from bluesy Ricky Lee Jones, to warbally Dolly Pardon.
I have a feel this album (also comes with a pack of wildflower seeds) may not be typical of her. But it shows off her voice pretty well.
8145. Ms. No - 3/30/2006 10:26:06 AM
I don't know that she's ever used actual backup singers. I think it's always just her own voice double and triple and however-many tracked over itself. There are all kinds of vocal synthesizers that will let you sound like your very own chorus.
As for her influences she sometimes puts me in mind of Joni Mitchell because she's another soprano with unique phrasing (though not so bizarre as Amos' gets) and prone to making full octave leaps from one note to the next.
Yes, I'd love to see the DVD. Thanks so much! Drop me an email at bridgeburner99@yahoo.com and I can give you an address.
Speaking of female vocalists and their pianos.....Fiona Apple anyone?
8146. Ms. No - 3/30/2006 10:28:02 AM
Ulgine,
Can you tell me a bit more? Will I be subject to spam without end? Spyware? Is it hard to use or what?
8147. anomie - 3/30/2006 3:52:30 PM
Too Funny, Ms. No, I was listing to TA this morning on the way to work thinking...Janice Ian, Enya, Joni Mitchell. Joni Mitchell! WTF! Thought I was going off the deep end until I saw your note.
Another coincidence: Fionna Apple's O Sailor tune was running through my head at Best Buy yesterday. (She's just down from Amos as you know.) There on the cover was something about...Includes "O Sailor": The song that sticks in your head...or some such. Very weird. But yes I like the little I've seen of her music videos.
8148. anomie - 3/30/2006 4:03:39 PM
Ms. No, email is on the way...
8149. anomie - 3/30/2006 4:05:51 PM
This is probably not news to anyone, but you can watch recent music videos at Yahoo. I found this out while doing a search on Fiona Apple's O Sailor video.
8150. Ms. No - 3/30/2006 5:55:56 PM
The only song off the new album that I've heard so far is the title track Extraordinary Machine. Her first two albums were so different from one another I'm wondering if she's continued that trend and changed it up yet again.
I loved her first album mainly because I could hear so much of Nina Simone's influence in her work and I'm a huge Nina Simone fan. The second album sort of shocked me when I first heard it and I had to play it a couple of times before I learned to like the whole thing. Now I love both (although I still couldn't tell you the whole title of the second album).
I'll have to take a look at O Sailor when I get a chance. I can't remember the last time I saw a music video since I don't have cable. Hell, I don't think I've even turned my television on except once in the last two or three months and that was to watch the Triplets of Belleville.
8151. judithathome - 3/30/2006 6:06:23 PM
Uz, sorry, I did miss your response.
MsNo, Steve is an on-line friend, He has a show off-Broadway called "The Big Voice" where Ethel Merman is the voice of God. He is a brave man who has faced death and stared it down. Anomie is correct that his music reflects a certain genre but he's a talemted guy in that genre and I'd rather listen to Steve than Usher, 50 Cent, Jessica Simpson, or myriad others popular these days.
8152. uzmakk - 3/30/2006 7:05:55 PM
I saw these guys recently, purchased a CD(Postcards from Gypsyland) and will purchase more. Besides being good musicians and playing jazz manouche, their website is excellent.
8153. Ms. No - 3/30/2006 7:48:38 PM
Juditha,
Ewwww! Yeah, those folks are so NOT on my listening list.
8154. Ms. No - 3/30/2006 7:51:02 PM
Uzmakk, those guys are FABULOUS!! Where'd you find them?
I love that I can wander through the site without resetting the music every time I change pages.
8155. Ms. No - 3/30/2006 8:03:35 PM
Okay, I've now discovered a whole new style of music to obsess over thankyouverymuch. ;->
8156. Adam Selene - 3/30/2006 9:10:02 PM
Come on...Nellie McKay is the real thing... talent like this only comes around once in a lifetime...
8157. Ms. No - 3/30/2006 10:54:02 PM
I couldn't find a place to hear her until just now --- none of the samples were working at the places I was checking but NPR has an archived performance.
She's wonderful. Another artist to aquire! And yet another girl and her piano. ;->
8158. Macnas - 3/31/2006 2:48:57 AM
Jack McGahern is dead.
8159. alistairconnor - 3/31/2006 2:49:58 AM
Ah music! I remember music.
I really need to get plugged into something, anything, to get the sluggish musical juices flowing again.
And more importantly, need to take in hand the delicate business of orienting my daughters' musical education. Their early influences have been eclectic and their tastes are sound, but they are necessarily soaking up the FM radio, so I need to be hip to what's hip, and throw them a few things out of left field.
Need to buy them some CDs. I am heartily sick of the Corrs and the Cranberries, which were my most recent contributions. They are going to thrash whatever I get them, so it had better be things I can live with.
(this is along the lines of a Memo to Self. Sadly I can't check out music from work, and my band is not broad at home.)
8160. Macnas - 3/31/2006 2:55:48 AM
alistair, don't bother, you'll hate what's current and hip, it jars so much with the music we like.
They'll be into the teens when they "rediscover" punk or whatever, and end up plundering your old collection.
8161. alistairconnor - 3/31/2006 3:08:16 AM
I guess you're right. I've tried to bone up on the current English bands -- Arctic monkeys and the like -- but it all sounds so samey and derivative to my old-fart ears.
8162. Macnas - 3/31/2006 3:42:01 AM
The only band (see? I still call them bands!) I like of that crop is Franz Ferdinand. I still like good lyrics.
8163. Ms. No - 3/31/2006 10:39:55 AM
In the last year or so I've been hearing a lot of heavy 70's and 80's influence in the "alternative" bands. It's still early days for most of them, but I'd be quite happy with compilation CDs from this period. Franz Ferdinand, the Killers, Hot Hot Heat, She Wants Revenge, The Strokes, Muse, The Mars Volta, The Dead 60's, The Bravery, Snow Patrol, Arcade Fire, Deathcab for Cutie.
BTW, if you're looking for more eclectic stuff and you happen to have broadband connections, www.kcrw.com has a bunch of excellent music programs that are available streaming and archived. Hell, all their programming is good. It's worth checking out even if you don't live in the States.
8164. Ms. No - 3/31/2006 10:54:22 AM
Alistair,
You might give Nickel Creek a listen. You can catch an...oh, crap, no broadband, right? Well, if you manage to get to a fast enough connection at any point. The link I just posted for KCRW, look up their show "New Ground" and check the archive for Nickel Creek. There's an interview but they actually play 5-7 songs so you'll get a good sense of what they sound like.
It's a bluegrass band, but not in a twangy, hillbilly sense. These kids are amazing and there's a kind of trick-pony cover song that they do during this interview that has to be heard to be believed.
Actually, I highly recommend this archived show to anyone who doesn't get a rash at the first notion of hearing fiddles. If the thought of bluegrass makes you cringe then think of it as Celtic music instead and that might soothe you. If that doesn't do the trick then maybe you'll have to pass, but, truly, Nickel Creek is one of the best things to come out of the new century.
8165. uzmakk - 3/31/2006 11:53:39 AM
I want the eyeball banner at the head of this thread changed to "Kick Jexster's ass."
8166. uzmakk - 3/31/2006 11:56:09 AM
Ms. No,
Community concert series.
8167. judithathome - 3/31/2006 4:27:53 PM
Too much visible ego in that particular song for me.
Uz, I meant to address this earlier...the song is about the guy's funeral so of course it would be full of ego. Just sayin'.
8168. Adam Selene - 3/31/2006 8:07:26 PM
Ms No - I'm glad you like her! I saw her in concert at the Birchmere in january (washington dc) and she just blew me away! I'm going to see her on broadway (as Pollie Peachum in Threepenny Opera) this spring. I can't remember when I've been so taken with a performer, but she is just amazing, especially in person.
8169. uzmakk - 3/31/2006 8:29:41 PM
Well, Judith, that certainly explains things.
8170. Ulgine Barrows - 4/1/2006 1:03:12 AM
8146. Ms. No
Rhapsody has DRM. ewww.
Go get this Greta Gaines song about her favorite bong from eMusic.
http://www.emusic.com/samples/m3u/song/10909473/13937213.m3u
and wabbit, Don't pay that kind of money for Jesse Colin Young, go try allofmp3.com.
8171. Ulgine Barrows - 4/1/2006 1:04:28 AM
DRM is retarded, stupid, backways, old school.....
don't put up with it!
8172. Ulgine Barrows - 4/1/2006 1:05:49 AM
I am not saying to steal, I am saying buy from sites that don't restrict your use of the files you buy.
8173. Ulgine Barrows - 4/1/2006 1:52:05 AM
turn it up
i love this song
lets go get jamie's bong
it's so cool that he named it, the honeycomb
it's a yellow graphics, 3 feet long
and it bubbles,? intercom
it gets you so toasty you can't leave home
it's like pulling honey
from a honeycomb
???
feels like we'll never get old
heart are skippin
???
watching the day unfold
throw some ice cubes down the tube
with a little vodka to set the mood
and don't pass till you finish your hit
or you gotta drink the water, and it tastes like ***
??? left we all got sad
what do they do exactly in rehab?
sorry dude but while you're gone
could we at least borrow your bong?
honey from a honeycomb
???
feels like we'll never get old
heart are skippin
???
watching the day unfold
turn it up
i love this song, yeah
turn it up
i love this song
how I love that smokin gun
it hits us up with load of fun
too bad there's a price to pay
I just saw jamie and he walked away
from us
turn it up
honey from a honeycombe
feels like we'll never get old
????
8174. Ulgine Barrows - 4/1/2006 1:55:39 AM
that was the great gaines song from emusic
the cough at the end of track is in character....
8175. Ulgine Barrows - 4/1/2006 1:57:06 AM
judithathome is gonna have a field day with my typos ~
8176. Ulgine Barrows - 4/1/2006 1:58:59 AM
and, if you sign up for emusic and don't tell me, I'm angry.
8177. alistairConnor - 4/1/2006 3:23:17 PM
Thank you 'Zno for the recs... I will probably sign up for what passes for broadband out here in the sticks... end of the line, 512k when it works... should be enough for music, I'm not looking for video.
8178. arkymalarky - 4/1/2006 5:04:31 PM
Lost another damned post.
Alistair, I thought you had broadband. I have been wondering about mobile kits for RVs and contacted Internet in Motion, but they don't even have a dealer in AR. I think HP now has a laptop with it built in--like your own hotspot. I don't know anything about it, but if anyone does, I'd love to find out. I'll keep an eye out in the Technology thread.
8179. Ms. No - 4/1/2006 7:48:28 PM
What's DRM?
8180. anomie - 4/7/2006 11:31:00 AM
Hey Ms. No, I picked up Fiona Apple's "When the Pawn" from the library. First time I've heard her album stuff and it's very good. I like the energy. She doesn't sound like anyone else, but I hear Tom Waits in the music and arrangments.
I got another Tori Amos cd I didn't like very much. Fortunarly it was from the library too. Can't rememebr the name but the song Cornflake Girl is on it.
So 3 for 3 female artists of late. Not bad.
8181. anomie - 4/7/2006 11:34:29 AM
Anyone know of Ottmar Liebert...a sort of new-agy flamenco guitarist? His first cd was very good if you like guitar music. I'm watching a concert video of his I got from Netflix right now. Good way to sample his style for very little cost.
8182. Ms. No - 4/7/2006 1:34:59 PM
Anomie,
Ah, yes, Cornflake Girl is off of her second album - Under the Pink. I like that particular song mainly because the piano sends me into raptures --- also because it's available to sing at my regular hangout on their karaoke night and nobody but me ever even tries any of her stuff. I get a kick out of it because she's one of the few contemporary sopranos whose songs I can sing.
I'm glad you enjoyed When the Pawn. My current fave off that one is Paper Bag but I really like Fast As You Can and I Will, as well. Apple's first album, Tidal, is less electronic, more just her and the piano in a torchy, jazz-club singer kind of mode and the Nina Simone influence is very apparent. I'll have to go back and listen to some of my Tom Waits and then Apple again because I wouldn't have thought of them together if you hadn't mentioned it.
It's always a good time to give Tom Waits another spin!
8183. anomie - 4/7/2006 1:42:13 PM
I heard Tom Waits a lot. If I had to analize it, I'd say it was the chord changes and choice of chords and the almost dissonant instrumentation, like a trumpet that just barely stays within the chord structure and maybe shimmies beyond it.
I'd like to hear you sing. I'll check out the song again. Maybe it'll grow on me. maybe that's why I remembered it.
8184. uzmakk - 4/15/2006 8:03:19 AM
Was the discussion of 3 Penny Opera back thread inspired by the new production which is opening at Studio 54 in NYC next week? I just heard about it on NPR. It was a good interview, but I didn't learn anything that I hadn't already learned from Ms.No. I might go.
8185. Adam Selene - 4/15/2006 8:32:33 AM
I'm a huge fan of Nellie McKay and I'm going this summer just to see/hear her in 3p opera. I saw her in concert at the Birchmere i January and she just blew me away. No tickets yet... still planning the date.
What was the gist of the NPR review?
8186. uzmakk - 4/16/2006 5:37:07 AM
It hasn't yet opened so it wasn't a review, more of a discussion of what 3POpera is and what they intend this production to be. For instance, if some versions have been cleaned up to make them more palatable, they have pumped the original slime back into this one and added ingredients made available only through modern chemistry, in order to shock modern audiences, which was Brecht's original intention.
8187. uzmakk - 4/25/2006 8:06:14 AM
Did 3POpera open yet? Has anyone read any reviews?
8188. Ms. No - 4/25/2006 4:03:29 PM
Oooh! It sounds awesome. I wish I was going to be able to see that production.
8189. Adam Selene - 5/7/2006 8:08:02 PM
Well - I just bought my tickets to 3p opera. $90 each, for 5th row balcony. (whew..add that to Amtrak and it's getting pricy!!)
You can find review summaries and links from the Nellie fan site.
8190. wabbit - 5/10/2006 10:24:26 AM
YouTube has got some fun videos:
Evolution of Dance
It runs six minutes and is work safe, if you aren't eating or drinking anything.
8191. anomie - 5/10/2006 4:46:41 PM
Very cool, Wabbit. There's another one with robot dancing that's hilarious. It's only a minute or so long. I'll try to dig it up.
8192. anomie - 5/10/2006 5:22:10 PM
Fabchannel.com
Here's an interesting web site to check out for free concert videos and music. The sound seems pretty good but I'm on a cheap laptop.
The Amsterdam music website Fabchannel.com has received the Webby Award in the category music.
Webby Awards are for websites what Oscars are for movies. Fabchannel broadcasts pop concerts which were given in the Amsterdam theatres Paradiso and the Melkweg on the internet.
According to the manager of Fabchannel, Mr Justin Kniest, it is the biggest concert archive on the internet.
8193. anomie - 5/10/2006 5:24:14 PM
Last three paragraphs above should be in quotes...from the A-dam news site.
8194. Ulgine Barrows - 5/12/2006 9:32:01 PM
meh
8195. DanDillon - 5/15/2006 1:23:06 PM
Yet another fine reason for this forum's name... from Wiktionary
mote (verb)
1. to embarass or patronize either with or without malice, especially in a case of situational irony; short for demote;
"And as Elizabeth tripped Frank — causing him to drop his soda — Andrew, who was looking on happily, shouted, 'Moted!'"
8196. wonkers2 - 5/15/2006 4:42:53 PM
Welcome back, Mr. Dillon. Long time no see.
8197. wonkers2 - 5/15/2006 4:43:07 PM
Stick around!
8198. arkymalarky - 5/15/2006 7:22:47 PM
I second Wonk! How are the children doing?
8199. DanDillon - 5/17/2006 2:45:47 PM
We're all well. Thanks for asking. How's life in your neck o' the woods?
8200. arkymalarky - 5/17/2006 4:01:25 PM
Very good. School's out in two weeks and the kid's home cleaning my house (remuneration is generous--a tank of gas).
8201. alistairconnor - 5/18/2006 3:46:40 AM
Moted! I like it...
French translation (courtesy of the daughters) :
Cassssssééééééééééééé!
(Cassé, broken)
8202. wonkers2 - 5/19/2006 7:02:07 AM
Interesting obituary.R.I.P. Peter Viereck.
8203. wonkers2 - 5/19/2006 7:28:25 AM
"God is like Kilroy; He,too, sees it all;
That's how he knows of every sparrow's fall;
That's why we prayed each time the tightropes cracked
On which our loveliest clowns contrived their act.
The G. I. Faustus who was
everywhere
Strolled home again. "What was it like outside?"
Asked Can't, with his good neighbors Ought and But
and pale Perhaps and grave-eyed Better Not;
For 'Kilroy' means: the world is very wide.
He was there, he was there, he was there!
And in the suburbs Can't sat down and cried."
Final stanza of Peter Viereck's "Kilroy Was Here"
8204. wonkers2 - 5/19/2006 7:51:57 AM
From Poetry Magazine:
"Schlessinger, recalling that Viereck, amazingly enough was the great-grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm I, through the Kaiser's mistress, the actress Edwina Viereck, calls him a 'romantic classicist, a poetic constitutionalist, an immoderate moderate, a Bohemian who argues for propriety and restraint.' Viereck himself put it this way: 'Progress is achieved in zig zags, by constant readiness to readjust to reality. A straight line is th longest distance between two points and the bloodiest.'"
8205. wonkers2 - 5/25/2006 6:11:21 AM
8206. jexster - 5/26/2006 12:33:13 PM
For the ages...
check out #2 on ITunes/MSNMusic/Rhapsody etc...
"Chimes Of Freedom" - The Byrds
"Chimes Of Freedom" - Youssou N'Dour
"Chimes Of Freedom (live)" - Bruce Springsteen
"Chimes Of Freedom (Live Version)" - Bob Dylan
8207. Ulgine Barrows - 5/26/2006 11:55:31 PM
All that i'm asking tonight, is that I make it back home alive
No explosions, no crashes, no fights, I wanna get back home...
Back home...back home...
I wanna get back home...
Back home...back home...
I wanna get back home...
Back home...back home...
I wanna get back home...
Back home...back home...
Back home tonite
~Lost On Yer Merry Way
Grandaddy
8208. Ulgine Barrows - 5/26/2006 11:58:47 PM
Here comes the chaos
Perfectly on time again
Is it ever gonna end
I feel so far away from home
Always so far away
ooopsie...Grandaddy again....goodnight
demolition can be fun
8209. Ulgine Barrows - 5/27/2006 12:44:03 AM
Off on a merry way, Often in a lotta days, Lost on yer merry way
Cause unrevealed and never known...And never known...
Trouble with people like me, Tie 'em down and then they vanish instantly
Let this one fly...
Its really no problem, you see, When the sky ignites and your days crash quietly,
Let this one fly...
Off on a merry way, Often alotta days, Lost on yer merry way
~yeah, I forget: Grandaddy again
8210. Ulgine Barrows - 5/27/2006 1:03:00 AM
Mary Anne, doesn't understand,
I wanna be her man, stupid Mary Anne.
Now I must complain, that she lacks a brain,
But my hearts in pain, it's driving me insane.
I think it's funny that Mary's such a dummy
You gotta really love her coz she has a lot of money,
And if she would only marry me,
It would really improve my economy.
Oh, Mary Anne, doesn't understand,
I wanna be her man, oooohhh stupid Mary Anne.
Stupid Mary Anne
I think it's funny that Mary's such a dummy
You gotta really love her coz she has a lot of money,
And if she would only marry me,
It would really improve my economy.
Oh, Mary Anne, doesn't understand,
I wanna be her man, oooohhh stupid Mary Anne.
DEAD MILKMAN......yay
Mary Anne, Mary Anne I wanna be your man,
Mary Anne, I wanna take your hand,
Mary Anne, I wanna see your plans,
Mary Anne, Oh won't you understand,
Mary Anne, I wanna be your man,
Mary Anne, I wanna take your hand,
Mary Anne, Oh won't you understand
OOOhhhhhhh - stupid Mary Anne
8211. Ulgine Barrows - 5/27/2006 1:08:17 AM
I won't be the one who's going to let you down
Maybe you'll get what you want this time around
I won't be the one who's going to let you down
Maybe you'll get what you want this time around
The trick is to keep breathing
~garbage
8212. Ulgine Barrows - 5/27/2006 1:10:42 AM
I helped her out of a jam I guess
But I used a little too much force
8213. Ulgine Barrows - 5/27/2006 1:14:24 AM
So now I'm going back again
I got to get her somehow
All the people we used to know
They're an illusion to me now
Some are mathematicians
Some are carpenter's wives
Don't know how it all got started
I don't what they're doing with their lives
But me I'm still on the road
Heading for another joint
We always did feel the same
We just saw it from a different point of view
Tangled up in Blue.
I'm running.
8214. Ulgine Barrows - 5/27/2006 1:19:42 AM
head like a hole.
black as your soul.
i'd rather die than give you control.
head like a hole.
black as your soul.
i'd rather die than give you control.
bow down before the one you serve.
you're going to get what you deserve.
bow down before the one you serve.
you're going to get what you deserve.
8215. Ulgine Barrows - 5/27/2006 1:43:15 AM
Jam on cuz Backstreet's got it
Come on now everybody
We've got it goin' on for years
8216. wabbit - 5/28/2006 6:25:39 AM
8217. alistairconnor - 5/29/2006 3:41:36 AM
Some are carpenter's wives
Fancy that. In my head, it was "fishermen's wives". Had it wrong in my head for all those years.
I like my version better. More euphonious.
Some are mathematicians
Some are fishermen's wives
8218. Ulgine Barrows - 6/9/2006 7:36:59 PM
eh-there is something cultural here about a fishwife that I'm sure I don't understand.
8219. arkymalarky - 6/9/2006 9:24:17 PM
They're known for their vulgar speech.
8220. Ulgine Barrows - 6/9/2006 10:41:08 PM
ears perking up, tucking tail
Thanks.
8221. Ulgine Barrows - 6/9/2006 11:11:55 PM
"It Came From Nashville", Webb
8222. arkymalarky - 6/10/2006 7:16:56 PM
8223. Adam Selene - 6/23/2006 8:24:26 PM
Gonna see Nellie McKay (my heartthrob) in tomorrow's Threepenny Opera matinee at Studio 54 off Broadway. Been waiting a couple of months for this with tickets in hand (well.. in will-call, anyway.) Can't wait... probably won't sleep much.
Not that I'm looking forward to a 3-hour Amtrak ride... well, actually I am. Nice chance to spend time with my wife after a week of late-night software patch-parties. Semi-annual delivery schedules are great usually... except about twice a year when they are hell. (DLL-Hell, if you know what I mean.)
Anyway - I hope the show is fully-staffed. This is extension week, who knows if the original cast will all be there. Not that I care about the rest... but I sure hope Nellie is healthy!!
8224. Adam Selene - 6/23/2006 8:25:32 PM
re: 8222. Ok, Arky - which one is you?
8225. arkymalarky - 6/23/2006 8:39:04 PM
Not me, but Bro's the one on the far left!
And I hope you and your wife enjoy your evening tomorrow. I know it'll be fabulous.
8226. Adam Selene - 6/23/2006 8:43:13 PM
Arky - your Bro's a banjo picker?? Who wudda thunk it? ;)
Thanks for the good wishes.. I'm really looking forward to it. I loved Nellie at the Birchmere in January and have been waiting for a chance to see her perform again.
8227. wabbit - 6/24/2006 3:22:49 PM
I dragged my mother to see Livingston Taylor last night. She's heard my enthusiatic reviews for decades and she was delighted that she went and now knows what I was talking about. I haven't seen him live in years. I saw him back at the beginning of his career in a local high school gym, of all places, with about 20 other people. I was embarrassed at the poor turnout, but he sat on a folding chair and sang his heart out for an hour or two for us. The tiny group meant I was lucky enough to be able to position myself on the floor just in front of him. I never took my eyes off his hands; he plays finger-picking guitar and I was mesmerized. Another time I saw him he must have been high - he was introduced three times before he actually made it out to the stage - but the show was fabulous, as usual.
He's teaching at Berklee now - lucky students. Last night's performance was peppered with commentary about writing and composing and some history of popular music. His range of knowledge about music is impressive. He sings and plays better than ever and his new CD, There You Are Again, is really great. He played both guitar and piano (alas, no banjo) and sang a lot of new material and some old favorites. I could have used a hanky; tears welled up more than once.
Afterward, he signed CDs and small posters in the lobby for about 100 people. You can imagine what is must be like to be gracious and cordial night after night with people who act like they know you, but he seems to enjoy it and worked through the line with the aplomb one might expect from a seasoned pro who loves his audience. 
I managed to be the last person in line, which was fine - I had dragged out my dog-eared but well-loved copy of his very first album and wanted to get him to sign that instead of the CD I had bought earlier in the evening. Just as my turn came up, two very rude women decided that they would return (they had already gotten their CDs signed) and continue talking with him while I was getting my album signed. One of these two creatures wanted him to correct a spelling mistake in her name, and then asked him to add a little heart. Sheesh. I bit my tongue. He tried to ask my name while they were clamoring for his attention, and I said, "No need, just sign it." Which, in hindsight, sounds really brusque. I was trying not to take up too much of his time; it was getting late, the weather was bad and he had to get home too, yet ces deux vaches carried on, one asking questions about Six Days On The Road, which happened to be on the album he was signing for me. I would have asked him to please sign the record itself as well, but these two women were just making my teeth hurt and I thought it would be too much of an imposition, after them, to ask. Anyway, he signed the album, shook my hand and said thanks, and then was dragged away by someone else.
So now I feel like a real shit, having been unintentionally rude to someone for whom I have only the utmost admiration. I'm sure he didn't even notice, but I feel bad about it anyway.
Anyone who remembers the wonderful folk music of the 60's-70's, who loves show tunes and lyrics and who hasn't seen this "thinking man's Taylor", let me highly recommend him. It was a treat.
8228. arkymalarky - 6/24/2006 8:15:20 PM
I'm glad you and your mother enjoyed the concert, Wabbit. It's a shame people dominate a moment without thinking that it's important for other people, as well. Maybe you could write him a short email about how much you've enjoyed him over the years, etc.
8229. wonkers2 - 6/24/2006 10:01:34 PM
Saw a quite interesting documentary tonight--"Sketches of Frank Gehry." The documentary on the architect, who some say is currently number one in the world, was directed by his long time friend Sidney Pollack and included a quite a bit of footage of commentary by Gehry's psychiatrist of many years as well as interviews with many others, architects and a director of the Guggenheim who worked with Gehry on his spectacular museum in Bilbao.
Gehry's architecture is different from any other I've seen, and he is a very interesting person. This movie is a "must see" for anyone interested in architecture and art.
8230. arkymalarky - 6/24/2006 11:02:19 PM
I guess this goes here. In this seminar we saw the neatest little almost-silent film called "World Song" and I looked for the credits at the end because I'd love to have a copy of it, and turns out it was produced by General Motors. I think we're going to have a means to purchase any resources we aren't given, but I wondered if you were familiar with it, Wonk.
We've had people come from all over the country, some who were born and/or lived in other parts of the world, some who are "experts" in language acquisition, teaching ESL, developing and running ESL programs, or on laws pertaining to ESL, and the things they've shared have been wonderful for the most part.
A friend of Bro's presented this evening. He works with Public Radio and searches out stories and background on events in AR history and writes songs about them. We spend a lot of time talking about working with other cultures, but tend to forget that people may come here for many resons, none of which include a burning curiosity to see Arkansas culture firsthand, but they would generally like to know about us--as Arkies, not just as Americans--and it so happens there are about a dozen Taiwanese in the program who just loved this guy. He gave us cds and a lot of info on AR history and our cultural connections to it.
8231. judithathome - 6/25/2006 6:37:38 AM
Went to see Side By Side By Sondheim yesterday and once again, sat in awe of the man who uses words like a slilled painter to create a visual. Luckily, my favorite song, I Remember, was done by an extraordinary tenor and it made my chest ache and brought tears to my eyes...in that good way that lyrics sometimes do.
My only quibble was they had a woman do Send In The Clowns and I thought it was weak...I love hearing that done by a male voice and with some of the phrasing spoken rather than sung.
8232. Adam Selene - 6/25/2006 9:51:23 AM
Well, Mrs. Selene and I had a great day in NYC yesterday. Dropped the dog off with a neighbor, caught the Amtrak to Penn Station while we did Sudoku and crosswords for 3 hours, shared a great cheesesteak and fries at Penn, caught a cab to Studio 54 (while sweating out a terrible traffic jam) arriving just minutes before ThreePenny Opera matinee at 2pm.
We were first row, upper balcony - excellent seats. Studio 54 is a nice intimate theatre just barely off Broadway - reminded me of the London stage were we saw Mama Mia last year. Not a bad seat in the house really, not like the Lyric in Baltimore where there really aren't any good seats beyond 6th row, main floor.
Wasn't crazy about the actual story, or the melodies for that matter, but the performances were magnificent all around. Cindi Lauper was herself, a bit affected like the pop-star she is but still very much in place in a musical. Of course, she (and nearly everyone else) was hugely overshadowed by Nellie McCay's brilliant voice and stage presence. You'd think she was born to play Polly. I was amazed to hear how 3 months of Broadway has improved her voice control and her stamina. She was great before, but so much more consistent now and she now has the total command of her vibratto and upper registers.
(phone - will continue later.)
8233. Adam Selene - 6/25/2006 10:29:55 AM
Out of time now... but to finish.
The play was a hoot - very enjoyable as long as you know what to expect. (But don't bring your kids. Definitely R+ rated.) After the show, we caught a cab back to Penn, grabbed some bagged sandwiches, and ate on the train - then did some more sudoku and crosswords. Picked up the dog about 930pm, watched a little tv and snacked, then crashed.
All and all a realy nice outing, we both had a great time. (And it should be for $500 total!)
8234. judithathome - 6/25/2006 4:19:55 PM
Money well spent!
8235. judithathome - 6/25/2006 4:22:36 PM
8236. arkymalarky - 6/25/2006 7:59:40 PM
Wow, sounds like it was great, Adam, from start to finish.
Just a brief fyi, it's "Cyndi" Lauper. Don't ask how I know, or why I care. ;-)
8237. arkymalarky - 6/25/2006 8:00:09 PM
Blast it, I hate when my smily's do that.
8238. Adam Selene - 6/25/2006 8:08:45 PM
Hey, if I could spell, I wouldn't need my wife to edit my crosswords! ;)
p.s., my wife's name is Cyndie. :)
8239. arkymalarky - 6/25/2006 10:49:57 PM
Cool! First I've ever seen that spelling.
8240. arkymalarky - 6/25/2006 10:50:38 PM
I think crossword editing is a new one on me, too.
8241. alistairconnor - 6/26/2006 3:35:56 AM
I understand about DLL Hell, Adam...
And the show sounds great. It's been a long time since I've seen a decent musical.
8242. Adam Selene - 6/26/2006 6:56:41 AM
lol - we do crosswords together. She's the technical expert, I'm a domain expert. She knows all those little special words that crosswordists are so fond of, while I know a lot of trivia and junk. Makes for a good team. Not that she needs me... she has been doing crosswords in pen ever since I met her.
8243. judithathome - 6/26/2006 3:00:29 PM
True crosswordists do that...I have a special pen, even.
8244. wonkers2 - 6/26/2006 4:36:30 PM
8245. judithathome - 6/26/2006 4:57:04 PM
Tonight on PBS, we have a program called Hpw Art Changed The World. Check it out!
8246. judithathome - 6/26/2006 4:58:14 PM
Sheesh...I screwed it up on two threads!
HOW
8247. Adam Selene - 6/26/2006 6:37:57 PM
What's this "we" have a program? Are you invovled in it Judith? (Looks very interesting. I'm gonna check it out tonight. Thanks for the notice!)
8248. arkymalarky - 6/26/2006 8:13:12 PM
I'd do mine in pen before I went to sleep, and when I got sleepy I'd make pen splotches on the sheets, which really irritated Bob. But we bought really nice sheets a few weeks ago (a first for us), so no more pen-crosswords. I read now anyway, because it's the only remote possibility I have of getting everything I need to read read, if that makes sense. Underlining and highlighting can be a problem, but I have it under control--so far.
8249. arkymalarky - 6/26/2006 8:15:57 PM
Yes, fill us in Judith! I haven't gotten to watch tv in over a week, except news at my parents' house where I'm eating lunch and supper--no time to go home, too expensive to eat out, and too fattening to eat what the seminar provides--except steak Thursday and Cornish hens Friday.
8250. judithathome - 6/26/2006 8:46:56 PM
I just meant anyone reading has a chance to watch it...those of us on the Mote...we.
I'm going to tape it...it runs 5 weeks so I'm going to tape it every week.
8251. alistairconnor - 6/27/2006 4:23:52 AM
A little political spat here!
Subtext : Judith's "we" referred (if only subliminally) to the fact that PBS belongs to everyone.
This offends Adam the alleged libertarian...
8252. Ulgine Barrows - 6/27/2006 4:32:35 AM
hey there, alistairconnor, I saw you up on the board and it brightened my day.
8253. alistairconnor - 6/27/2006 4:45:25 AM
Happy to be of service
Or to service you, but that's another thread
8254. Adam Selene - 6/27/2006 12:34:26 PM
Oh, that "we." I just wondered if Judith had something to do with the show.
And I have donated to PBS, believe it or not - libertarians also believe in paying for quality tv... sheesh. Although I do get tired of hearing: "Only PBS brings you quality shows like this without commercials..." When they are showing music concerts that they NEVER show except during pledge week, with commercials!
8255. wonkers2 - 7/2/2006 8:39:26 PM
8256. wonkers2 - 7/3/2006 8:38:00 AM
The Gypsy Strings at the Rivera Court
8257. alistairconnor - 7/3/2006 9:59:44 AM
erm, those "hubpages" links don't work for me Wonk... gives me a login page.
8258. wonkers2 - 7/3/2006 10:40:41 AM
Sorry, I guess it's still password protected because it's still in beta testing mode. The site is being developed by my son and two of his buddies in Berkeley, CA. Thanks for letting me know the link didn't work. The software works quite well for publishing web pages with or without photos. Also, it works for video.
8259. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 7/18/2006 12:22:51 PM
Sorry for the indulgence, but I wanted to share this with some of the people here who are rooting for this guy's efforts . . .
Review by Patricia Rosoff for September Issue of Art New England Magazine, Boston
Exhibition: Italy, Ephemeral and Eternal, at the Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Matthews Park, 229 West Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut, April 2-May 20, 2006.
A salient reality of Bob Dente’s prints—filtered through the dreamlike haze of their incorporeal yearning—is the fingerprint of pigment, which constitutes both the temporal and the ephemeral in this work. A sensitive photograph might render as well the ageless vistas set before us and their sleepy dance of tone, but it is the powdery reality of earthen color that lends these twilights their mood and these dawns their misty, blushing warmth. Always, beyond the dreamlike quality of these images, so evocatively pensive, there is always the utter factuality of printmaking as a physical act.
Much as these views of the ancient Italian countryside may echo in the footsteps of such earthy nineteenth-century poetic romantics as the Frenchman Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875) and the American George Inness (1825-1894), they proclaim their modernity in their emphasis on image-making—and image-seeing—as a physical act. Consequently, the “narrative” in these works is as thoroughly abstract as their agenda is ethereal.
These are meditations, all right, but they are also stories of pigment smeared and pigment stamped. Of pigment brushed wetly across a printing plate that must suffice for a sky, of landscape that overlays it with a sticky thumbprint of earthen architecture. Devoid of human figures, though pregnant with the fact of timeless human occupation, these are pictures animated, literally by the touch of the artist—who is in effect, and for our benefit, their sole occupant.
What is most interesting and poetic, ultimately, is the way the pictures play with the construction of pictorial space. A landscape, by all conventional rights, should read in perspective depth; instead, Dente’s somehow read vertically—rise, rather than recede, more like a Rothko. Their interplay of push-and-pull constitutes a compressed dialogue of surface color and touch.
In works like “Tuscan Farm, Longs Shadows with Early Morning Mist,” the distant, misty view of serpentine woods snaking through ochred hills rises like a dream above the foreground in which a glinting cubicle of a red-roofed farmhouse paired against a dark curtain of woods with the solitary sentinel of a cyprus tree. A dream within a dream, worthy of a haiku, and indelibly grounded in a dialogue between the art of today and that of the nineteenth century.
8260. wabbit - 7/18/2006 1:41:32 PM
WoW, great review, and fully deserved! I'm going to pick up the mag next time I'm in Borders.
8261. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 7/18/2006 3:30:44 PM
Thanks wabb, but don't waste the money–besides, the last time I was in Borders, they didn't have it on thje shelves. It was taken over by new people and I think their circulation dropped significantly. Wait for the Robert Hughes' book! ({;?})
8262. wonkers2 - 7/18/2006 3:39:12 PM
Congrats, Wiz! Your prints are beautiful. And good luck with your recent paintings.
8263. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 7/18/2006 3:43:30 PM
Thanks wonk.
8264. wabbit - 7/18/2006 5:17:04 PM
Hughes? Cool, alrighty then!
8265. arkymalarky - 7/18/2006 7:57:14 PM
Posey Hill made the list on CDBaby. I'd never heard of it, but Bro says it's a good thing.
I guess this can go here too: I just ordered a set of these poi. A neighbor in CO does it and it looked so fun I had to try it. She loaned me a set of hers and I had a great time with them. I hope it cools down by the time I get mine in the mail.
8266. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 7/19/2006 4:06:16 PM
That was a joke, wabb, but a guy can dream!
8267. judithathome - 7/19/2006 6:57:22 PM
Arky...this year's party is looking like a BANNER year!
Oh, and sorry to report, Frankster can't make it because he has moved and has some other unexpected expenses come up but he sends his regards to everyone...here AND at the bash in Arkansas. Never heard back from Seadate. I like to think he'll just show up, unannounced.
8268. judithathome - 7/19/2006 7:01:48 PM
Wait for the Robert Hughes' book! ({;?})
I love Hughes but I don't think even HE could write a more evocative review of your work, Wiz...beautifully done...and you must be so proud!
8269. arkymalarky - 7/19/2006 7:46:04 PM
I'm really looking forward to it! That's a bummer about Frank, but I will hold out hope for Seadate. And I'm hoping Frank will surprise me again one of these days!
8270. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 7/19/2006 9:26:59 PM
Thanks Judith, I'm grateful but even more pleased that there's a reviewer out there who actually gets it–it's hope for all artists in this trendoid-driven art scene.
8271. anomie - 7/28/2006 5:29:06 PM
So, Ms. No, I was all cool with Tori Amos. She's good looking, talented and compelling to look at even if her videos are sometimes cheesy. I bought the two disk set of videos...no problem, until the one where she played with RATS. Yes Rats! Not pretty cuddly lab rats but regular RATS! And snakes. Snakes I can handle.
I'm reevaluating my committment. Ha!
8272. wonkers2 - 8/5/2006 3:28:22 PM
The Gypsy Strings at the Rivera Court
8273. wonkers2 - 8/14/2006 10:26:00 AM
Here's a shockerGunter Grass admits he was a member of Hitler's Waffen-SS.
Grass is Germany's best writer, author of the widely acclaimed "Tin Drum," which is perhaps the most biting satire of the atrocities of Nazi Germany.
8274. judithathome - 8/14/2006 12:05:31 PM
I don't know that he is their best writer but he is certainly very good.
8275. PelleNilsson - 8/14/2006 12:57:40 PM
Have you read Grass, wonkers? Personally, I think 'The Flounder' is better than 'The Tin Drum*.
8276. wonkers2 - 8/14/2006 1:01:12 PM
Well, he's my favorite living German writer. Very imaginative guy. If you haven't seen Tin Drum, put it on your list. Or better, read the book. It's incredible that the man who wrote that book was in the SS. He was only 18 at the time and I guess he was drafted.
8277. judithathome - 8/14/2006 4:50:52 PM
I've seen the movie AND read the book. I think the best German writer is Thomas Mann but if you narrow it down to living author, I won't quibble.
8278. wonkers2 - 8/14/2006 10:27:14 PM
No doubt Thomas Mann is widely considered to by Germany's best. I like Grass better although I've read several of both.
8279. Magoseph - 8/15/2006 6:15:30 AM
As soon as I finish "Rabbit at Rest", I'm reading Buddenbrooks.
8280. PelleNilsson - 8/15/2006 11:35:23 AM
I read it in German during a beach vacation in Portugal long ago. It was a paperback printed on cheap paper. Maybe you know what salty spray does to such stuff. At the end it was hardly recognizable as a book.
I would like to reread it, but my German is no longer good enough, and to read it in translation wouldn't be the same.
Will you read it in English or in French?
8281. Magoseph - 8/15/2006 12:41:26 PM
In English, Pelle, and the translator is John E. Woods. I have a yellowed copy printed in 1924 and translated by H.T Lowe-Porter and I read that one long ago. My oldest son gave the new one to me as a gift before I moved up here. The copy was packed and I just unearthed it lately. It is known as being much better than the one by Lowe-Porter, but you must know that.
8282. PelleNilsson - 8/16/2006 12:23:34 PM
I wouldn't know anything about that, Mago. If I were to reread Buddenbrooks I would of course do so in Swedish, so I don't see a need to bother about the quality of this or that English translation.
8283. Magoseph - 8/16/2006 12:58:15 PM
So, Pelle, you're assuming that your Swedish translation is the best one so far--there could be a newer better one, were you to reread it.
8284. wonkers2 - 8/16/2006 6:36:27 PM
Gunter Grass under siege. Writing "The Tin Drum" more than suffices for having joined the Waffen-SS as a teenager. It's a German masterpiece on WWII on the same level or higher than Catch 22, in my opinion.
8285. wonkers2 - 8/16/2006 6:42:58 PM
Of course, when considering great WWII era novels one should remember "The Naked and the Dead" by Normal Mailer and Thomas Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow." Also, "From Here to Eternity" by James Jones. "For Whom the Bell Tolls" on the Spanish Civil war is also one of the best modern war novels. That's all that come immediately to mind.
8286. PelleNilsson - 8/17/2006 2:43:43 AM
No Mago, I'm saying that if I cannot read a book written in a particular foreign language I prefer to read it in Swedish rather than in a second foreign language.
8287. alistairconnor - 8/17/2006 3:16:53 AM
A major reason why I want to improve my schoolboy German (one day) is to read Grass in his own words.
Lech Walesa, the former Polish president, and Jacek Kurski, a deputy for the ruling Law and Justice Party, have called on Mr. Grass to relinquish his honorary citizenship of Gdansk, the city of his upbringing.
[...]
Adam Michnik, the editor of the daily Gazeta Wyborcza, also spoke up for Mr. Grass, adding that “literature has never been Lech Walesa’s strong card.”
One of many weak suits, then.
8288. alistairconnor - 8/17/2006 3:55:07 AM
Talk of the devil, Wonk...
Spanning the period between the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and the years just after the First World War, Against the Day moves from the labour troubles in Colorado, to turn-of-the-century New York, to London and Gottingen, to Venice and Vienna, to the Balkans and Central Asia, to Siberia at the time of the mysterious Tungska event, to Mexico during the revolution, Paris, silent-era Hollywood, and one or two places not strictly speaking on the map at all.
With a worldwide disaster looming just a few years ahead, it is a time of unrestrained corporate greed, false religiosity, moronic fecklessness, and evil intent in high places. No reference to the present day is intended or should be inferred.
The sizeable cast of characters includes anarchists, balloonists, gamblers, corporate tycoons, drug enthusiasts, innocents and decadents, mathematicians, mad scientists, shamans, psychics and stage magicians, spies, detectives, adventuresses, and hired guns. There are cameo appearances by Nikola Tesla, Bela Lugosi and Groucho Marx.
As an era of certainty comes crashing down around their ears and an unpredictable future commences, these folks are mostly just trying to pursue their lives. Sometimes they manage to catch up; sometimes it is their lives that pursue them.
Meanwhile, the author is up to his usual business. Characters stop what they're doing to sing what are for the most part stupid songs. Strange sexual practices take place. Obscure languages are spoken, not always idiomatically. Contrary-to-the-fact occurrences occur. If it's not the world, it is what the world might be with a minor adjustment or two. According to some, this is one of the main purposes of fiction.
Let the reader decide; let the reader beware.
Good luck.
Synopsis, by the author, of a novel about to be published...
Guess who?
8289. wonkers2 - 8/17/2006 5:38:13 AM
Interesting. Pynchon and I were college contemporaries. I knew some people who knew him but never met Pynchon. He was known as the leading campus creative writer, a bit of a legend among English majors along with Richard Farina. Pynchon turned out to be much better than Farina who was killed in a motorcycle accident before he reached thirty. I did know him and thought he was a bit phony. Pynchon's books are hard to get through. It's been said that he writes for English professors.
8290. wonkers2 - 8/17/2006 5:39:45 AM
A good book for trying Pynchon is "The Crying of Lot 49." It's only 150 pages or so.
8291. alistairconnor - 8/17/2006 8:26:15 AM
I enjoyed Mason/Dixon and Lot 49. I venerate Gravity's Rainbow. I've never read V.
8292. alistairconnor - 8/17/2006 8:30:10 AM
This guy sounds like a character from Pynchon...
Adolf's rascal nephew William Hitler. I never knew he existed.
8293. jexster - 8/19/2006 6:52:27 AM
Comcast Culture Commerical
With Mr. T
Geek in shower singing "Born to be Wild"
Get your motor running
Get it on the highway
Searchin for a monkey
Searchin in the highway....
Mr. T breaks thru wall
"Don't be a culture fool....get comcast with ondemand"
8294. wonkers2 - 8/22/2006 6:37:50 PM
Cap'n Dirty sez, "Check out these tomaters!"
8295. uzmakk - 8/29/2006 9:25:32 AM
I heard a strange movie title floated the other day, Cellar Door: The Boy.
8296. wonkers2 - 8/29/2006 9:47:29 AM
Whatever happened to clrdr? He was one of our few actual luminaries. As I recall he had published at least one book.
8297. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 8/29/2006 11:10:08 AM
A Motie insulted him–beyond his capacities to forgive.
8298. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 8/29/2006 11:25:40 AM
8299. alistairConnor - 8/29/2006 12:14:04 PM
Oho! So you're an official artist now?
Can we expect a "neocon realism" period?
8300. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 8/29/2006 1:07:17 PM
If the powers that be only knew!
8301. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 8/29/2006 1:08:32 PM
8302. wonkers2 - 8/31/2006 8:53:19 AM
Django's ghost reappears in Detroit.
8303. wonkers2 - 8/31/2006 9:20:27 AM
Django Reinhardt Lives in Detroit!
8304. Ulgine Barrows - 9/4/2006 3:39:24 AM
well, I forget where I am supposed to post about music I've just discovered
I have the key in my hand
All I have to find is the lock
8305. wabbit - 10/12/2006 5:54:42 PM
8306. thoughtful - 10/27/2006 12:38:43 PM
I had an opportunity to visit the corcoran gallery recently. I'm not one much for modern art. This despite the fact that my threshold for calling it art is pretty low....it should look like something that required more effort and talent than a 3-yr old would put forth. Granted, that eliminates a lot of art.
I find it most frustrating when looking at a piece of 'art' for which i have not a clue as to what the artist could possibly be thinking only to find it's labeled, "Untitled". Thanks.
Of course, that may be more sensible than the one labeled "rectangle" on which there wasn't a single right angle, let alone a 'rectangle'...unless the artist was punning me "wreck tangle", I've not a clue.
To me art should trigger more than just an emotion or sense in me...it should help communicate something of what's on the artist's mind. But I find a lot of contemporary art fails to do that.
So after walking the gallery and finding a few pieces that were at least colorful or clever or very creative, I decided that the only way to approach it is with a sense of humor....the laugh being on the gallery who shelled out $$$ for this crap.
Always remember the time john & yoko put a store-bought apple on display in an art gallery as commentary on the whole thing....
8307. wonkers2 - 11/1/2006 8:21:34 PM
8308. judithathome - 11/1/2006 10:43:41 PM
Ahh, poor guy...I hope he's out of the dark now and at peace.
8309. wonkers2 - 11/2/2006 7:00:48 PM
Me too! He wasn't a happy guy.
8310. wonkers2 - 11/16/2006 7:22:37 PM
View Fernando Botero's Abu Ghraib Paintings
8311. judithathome - 12/3/2006 9:34:46 AM
Who is Nino Rota?
He wrote the soundtrack music to War and Peace, Romeo and Juliet, The Leopard, The Godfather, Waterloo, Death On The Nile, Hurricane and literally hundreds of other film soundtracks.
At the age of 12, he conducted a 250 piece orchestra in a production of his own oratorio, The Childhood of St. John the Baptist. He composed hundreds of compositions for orchestra, ballet and the stage. He was friends with and a student of the legendary conductor, Toscanini.
The New York Times anointed him, the Mozart of the 20th Century, in 1923.
But he is most remembered for composing the scores for 19 Fellini films from 1951 until his death in 1979. If you love Fellini films, how can you not adore the melodies of Nino Rota.
For 30 years he shared a piano bench with Maestro Fellini who would describe a vague idea and, voila! - Nino would miraculously find the notes that Fellini wanted, almost as if they already existed!
In Fellini's own words, Nino was gifted with a limitless inventiveness and inexhaustible musical wealth and at the same time a scholarly humility.
One has only to recall the haunting themes of
La Strada, Nights of Cabiria, La Dolce Vita, 8 1/2, Juliet of the Spirits, Roma and Amarcord
to understand why Fellini felt this way.
His late in life compositions for Casanova, Orchestra Rehearsal and, the Oscar winning, Godfather themes are among his most enchanting.
Nino Rota was born on December 3, 1911, making 2006 the 95th anniversary of his birth. I urge you to seek out the many wonderful recordings of the Milanese, musical maestro that played such an integral part of Fellini¹s films.
Here's a toast to the memory and music of Nino Rota!
Don Young: Felliniana Archive
8312. tmesis - 1/2/2007 12:09:48 PM
Classical music fans -
Has anyone watched Leonard Bernstein's The Unanswered Question? It's a DVD set of Bernstein's 1973 Norton Lectures at Harvard, six in all. I've been watching rented discs of the lecture series from Netflix; I seem to have struck gold. Pretty electrifying stuff - in the first lecture he draws analogies between the then new theories of Chomsky's universal grammar, and aspects of music. There's a certain dilettantism to this that is made palatable by Bernstein's musical erudition, wit, and charisma. He also doesn't condescend to his audience -- in the first or second of his Young People's Concerts series, he plays a Webern piece for an audience of mostly children, respecting them and trusting their ability to perceive his point. A memorable segment from the first lecture illustrates the why and how of the melodic line of the classic children's taunt "Neener neener neeeener" (eg "sakonige has hairy balls!"). The lectures are delivered with lay people in mind. I'm looking forward to finishing the series.
8313. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/2/2007 2:01:00 PM
Oooohhh! A beautiful enticement, tmesis; it sounds delightful.
8314. wabbit - 1/2/2007 2:24:19 PM
It does indeed. The DVDs are available at Amazon and get wonderful reviews.
8315. dandillon - 1/4/2007 2:24:20 PM
According to the AP, Malaysia will levy fines on people incorrectly using the national language and will set up a specialized division to weed out offenders who mix Malay with English.
Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Rais Yatim said fines of up to 1,000 ringgit ($271US) can be imposed on displays with any wrong form of Malay. Fines will be imposed after a first warning.
The move was to ensure "the national language was not sidelined in any way," Rais said.
Most Malaysians speak Malay, also known as Bahasa Malaysia, while English is widely spoken. Manglish -- a pidgin of English, Malay and other local dialects -- is widely used in the Southeast Asian nation.
The government will try to swap commonly used English language words with Malay substitutes.
Critics have said Malaysia's decision to sideline English in favor of Malay is hurting its global competitiveness level.
I say this sort of thing never works.
8316. alistairConnor - 1/4/2007 3:15:45 PM
Hi Dan... I beg to differ.
Europe in particular is littered with languages which have been standardized, or even invented, and imposed on the population. It may well be that this can no longer work in the electronic age, but to say it "never works" is an exaggeration.
8317. wonkers2 - 1/4/2007 4:29:16 PM
The French have tried it, but foreign words creep in anyway.
8318. Dubai Vol - 1/4/2007 4:35:30 PM
I know that the campaign against "Franglais" is decades old and backed by legislation. In my limited experience, it seems to be effective, but frankly I find the notion counterproductive. The sooner we all speak one language, the better off the world will be. The internet has pretty much sealed the deal that English will be the one language we all speak. Lucky us.
The sooner everyone gets on board the better off they will be. Legislating against English today is just asking to be marginalised. TR I speak several languages passably well, but I can read the writing on the wall and it's in English.
8319. wonkers2 - 1/4/2007 5:08:37 PM
I envy your ability to speak several languages. I used to be fairly fluent in Spanish, but I don't get the opportunity to use it very often, and the words don't come to me as well as they used to.
8320. alistairConnor - 1/4/2007 5:39:31 PM
Germans speak High German, Italians speak Tuscan, Norwegians speak some damn dialect invented by academics with whiskers, France speaks Francian, a dialect of the Loire valley. All were imposed through their use as official language, and in the education system, to the exclusion of all others. This was an essential component of nation-building, consolidating or even creating out of whole cloth "national" characteristics that the inhabitants shared, and which differentiated them from their neighbours across the borders, often in a completely artificial way.
And it worked. Whether it was a good thing is another question, but it's what they are trying to do in Malaysia.
And, from my limited personal experience, it seems to be working.
8321. alistairConnor - 1/4/2007 5:48:47 PM
Dubai : I will start believing that English will be the only world language, when I see signs of it becoming the only language in the USA... funnily enough, things seem to be going in the opposite direction.
Sure, on paper at least, it would be in the economic self-interest of everyone in the world to drop their own language and communicate in English. But guess what, people don't always act according to their best economic interests. Cultural elements intervene. To put it mildly.
And if you re-examine the question in a couple of decades, you might well still think that there will be only one surviving language... but the writing on the wall will be Chinese. I think it's all bullshit, the number of languages spoken on earth will gradually diminish, they might eventually merge but that will take millenia of globalised culture and communication, rather than centuries.
And we will be much the poorer for it.
8322. Ms. No - 1/5/2007 6:55:41 PM
Irving Norman
Just got back from the Dark Metropolis exhibit at the Crocker. If you live in or within easy travel distance of D.C. you really should check it out. The tour won't reach D.C. until November so there's time to plan. I'm a little overwhelmed at the moment and don't know what to say. The website has a lot of images but they're greatly diminished by the format. These works are huge and to be fully appreciated you really need to see them live.
I'm bummed because the exhibit leaves Sacramento on Sunday and I don't know that I'll have a chance to get back and see it again before it's gone. It's a lot to take in all at one go, but I'm very glad I got to see it. I'd never even heard of Norman before but the billboard ad they had up for the exhibit caught my eye. Stunning work.
8323. Ms. No - 1/6/2007 12:44:41 PM
Turns out almost no one had heard of him before because he was Black Listed back in the day due to his Communism. I called an artist friend of mine from the gallery when I got done to tell her she had to come down and see the exhibit sometime this weekend before it left. She made the 40 minute drive the minute we hung up the phone.
I can't tell you how nervous I was to have gotten her that excited -- what if she thought it was crap and I was nuts for calling in such a lather?
No worries. She called me when she and her husband got home from the exhibit and we chatted for about an hour. She was amazed she'd never heard of the guy. Norman's works are unique and powerful and amazing to look at and the fact that he's been essentially eliminated from the canon of modern art due to McCarthyism is shameful.
Even now, the exhibit is going strange places. Sacramento (rather than San Francisco), Pasadena, Utah?? and D.C.
And that's it.
I have a feeling there'll be much bigger tours later on. I just hope that at least the artist's widow gets a chance to bask in the appreciation Norman should've had himself.
8324. judithathome - 1/6/2007 4:22:50 PM
Where and when in Utah? We might be able to go see it in combination with seeing Keoni's daughter...
8325. Ms. No - 1/6/2007 8:47:04 PM
Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art in Logan, Utah from June 5 through October 13, 2007.
I have no idea where Logan, Utah is, but I just went back to the site and was looking at the paintings again and discovered that you can mouse over a little bar at the bottom of many of them and it will bring up detail windows of different parts of the larger paintings. I'm bowled over again by the minute detail. There is no "resting" in the works that appear on this tour --- nearly every square inch is a miniature picture in and of itself. A different composition for each face and body, a sea of individuals that make up a mass of anonymous humanity sort of like snow -- each snowflake is unique but seen altogether one is simply aware of the drifts. There are multiple "comments" in each of the works. Little by-plays and individual scenes that stand alone but are piled one upon the other to make a frenzied urban landscape.
There is plenty of despair, but it is clear that he loves his little people --- that he has great love for humanity in general and what he rages against are industry and the war machine and those institutions which promise to raise us up but succeed mainly in undercutting our humanity. Not hard to see his politics at all, but the works are so endlessly fascinating to me that I don't find them didactic.
8326. judithathome - 1/6/2007 9:21:24 PM
Thanks, MsNo...Logan is north of Ogden, where Keoni's daughter lives...can't tell exactly how far but probably not too far to drive there and back in a day.
8327. wonkers2 - 1/7/2007 12:09:57 PM
I enjoyed an hour yesterday viewing the Annie Liebotwitz exhibit of a couple hundred big prints of her pictures of musicians at the Detroit Institute of Arts. The exhibit was broken into several musical categories--blues, country, rock, pop contemporary, rap and, finally a room with Detroit musicians which included pics of John Lee Hooker, Aretha Franklin, Eminem, White Stripes and several others. Her pictures of Missippi Delta blues singers were outstanding--Othar Turner, Willie Foster Johnnie Billington, R.L. Burnsides, Eddie Cotton?,BB King and others. She also had great shots of Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, Lyle Lovett, Nora Jones, Max Roach, Bruce Springsteen, Dr. John, Dan Van Zant, Lucinda Williams, Po Monkey's Lounge, Cedell Davis and many others. Her pictures were both color and black and white. Liebowitz narrated the exhibit herself on the hand held audio players. If the exhibit comes to your area it's well worth a look.
8328. wonkers2 - 1/7/2007 12:16:41 PM
In her brief narration on each photograph Liebowitz described how she went about approaching her subject and taking the picture. She explained that when she couldn't get it right she often canceled and rescheduled on another day and perhaps at another location. Sometimes she had to go to great lengths to get the subject to cooperate. She described one case of a reluctant musician whom she tracked down to a town on the Florida coast. Someone told her he liked to fish so she arranged a charter boat for him and his wife, and got him to pose for some pictures when they returned to the dock later on in the day. A few of her pictures she described as quick snap shots. But many resulted from shooting a couple of rolls of film. Her accomplishment appears to have resulted both from talent and great persistence.
8329. wonkers2 - 1/7/2007 12:17:43 PM
Seeing Liebowitz's exhibit was a humbling experience for this aspiring photographer.
8330. CharlieL - 1/9/2007 4:37:15 PM
Hi, everyone. Been away from here for a long while. Hope to be here more in the future.
8331. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/9/2007 4:54:19 PM
Hey Chuckster-nice wallpaper & welcome back!
8332. wabbit - 1/9/2007 6:17:23 PM
CharlieL, what is your band's website?
wonkers2, there is a PBS "American Masters" episode on Liebowitz, it's worth seeing, though a bit biased (made by her sister).
8333. wonkers2 - 1/10/2007 10:56:30 AM
Thanks, I saw nearly all of it a couple of nights ago. Quite good. She has talent, single-minded persistence and a willingness to learn from others. She came across as a nice person in her narrations for the DIA show. Someone who cares about her subjects and analyzes them and is able to capture what they are all about in her pictures.
8334. alistairconnor - 1/10/2007 12:52:07 PM
Hey Charl! Welcome back, it's been a long time...
Please pay no attention to the philistines dissing Irish music in the café...
8335. arkymalarky - 2/3/2007 3:47:17 PM
Charlie, if you're still around what is the festival you play at near Estes Park? I think Bro's band may be there this summer, and I wondered if you were going to be there.
8336. arkymalarky - 2/3/2007 3:51:36 PM
On another subject, though I can't yet get anything much out of YouTube, I hope Viacom's decision comes back to bite Viacom bigtime. They pulled some crap with Dish Network a few years ago, Dish stuck to their guns and explained why to their customers, and Viacom had to eat it and back down. People evidently didn't want their MTV badly enough to drop Dish for it, which I found very funny.
8337. wonkers2 - 2/10/2007 6:43:45 PM
"Move it On Over" by Hank Williams For Jex. Before your time, but part of your heritage.
8338. wonkers2 - 2/10/2007 6:46:13 PM
8339. jexster - 2/10/2007 9:41:57 PM
I ain't from Monroe Wonk! Kewl tho
8340. jexster - 2/10/2007 9:42:39 PM
Nor from Vidor...Robert was raised on Hank Williams
8341. wonkers2 - 2/10/2007 10:21:29 PM
Me too. I remember the day he died as vividly as when JFK died.
8342. jexster - 2/10/2007 10:36:19 PM
Had a friend from DC....via Alexandria...loved him..then too the Senator's man Friday back from the days of his Gov race....Manny Walker RIP..loved that Vidor shit
8343. wonkers2 - 2/11/2007 5:03:11 PM
Big Mama Thornton sings "Hound Dog" Detroit's Finest Blues Rock Singer
8344. wabbit - 2/12/2007 12:51:54 PM
Beyonce and Mary J. Blige are R&B? Wow, I'm out of touch with the Grammy Awards categories. Disappointed (but not too surprised) that Carrie Underwood won New Artist, I was rooting for Corinne Bailey Rae. Hooray for John Mayer, The Police, Stevie Wonder and the Dixie Chicks. Hooray that James Blunt's dreadful You're Beautiful didn't win anything. Boo and a bitchslap to Jaime Foxx, he has become so obnoxious.
8345. arkymalarky - 2/12/2007 10:46:04 PM
I thought Best New Artist was the kiss of death anyway, so I'm glad she got it.
Your comment on James Blunt cracked me up, because Bob and I both like that song and Mose VIOLENTLY despises it. If you want a Mose rant (which are pretty entertaining, if I say so myself), just mention that song to her.
8346. judithathome - 2/13/2007 8:19:11 AM
I'm officially old...I don't recognoze half those people mentioned in the Grammy posts.
8347. judithathome - 2/13/2007 8:19:37 AM
recognIze...it's too early for this.
8348. arkymalarky - 2/13/2007 4:31:01 PM
I would say teaching high school makes me know many of them, but my students don't listen to most of those, so I don't really know. Spook gave me the Dixie Chicks album, but I've only listened to it a little. I need to put it in my car. Now that I have Sirius radio, it's actually worse. 57 channels and nothin on is right.
Mose's favorite female vocalist is someone whose name I can't remember now. It seems like it's two initials and a last name, but that may be someone else. I'll have to call her after she gets off work to find out, because now it's--Imogene Heep? Is that a real person?
8349. wabbit - 2/13/2007 6:14:33 PM
8350. arkymalarky - 2/13/2007 11:59:18 PM
Yep. Mose adores her. Has her as her main phone ringtone.
8351. wonkers2 - 2/15/2007 6:04:01 PM
Moties are missing a great video above in #8343 above. Big Mama Thornton is "the real deal." She was the first to record "Hound Dawg" several years before Elvis turned it into a big hit. If you want to hear and see some real Detroit blues, give it a try. I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy it.
8352. arkymalarky - 2/15/2007 6:10:17 PM
As soon as I'm on WildBlue (supposedly next month) I'll check it out.
8353. wonkers2 - 2/15/2007 6:57:21 PM
You'll like it. She's a legend in Detroit.
8354. prolph - 2/16/2007 5:11:09 AM
arky et.al. more on the goya, I really liked your asking the studemts what
atracted them. i have had the good fortune to see it in madrid. several
times in fact. it is a huge picture and stunning to see for the first time
well and more times, the most atractive in real life is the fire which
acrually lights up the room. the light is so brilliant that a young man next to me were both looking at the ceiling to see if there was a light aimed at the picture. manet also did a similar picture and while i like manet he didn't come close. it is always for me to see a real life picture that i have
loved for years in books and then have the paint leap off the canvas in a museum,
patsy
8355. Magoseph - 2/16/2007 5:19:56 AM
8356. arkymalarky - 2/16/2007 10:00:48 AM
The one instance (and I haven't had many opportunities, unfortunately) where the opposite occurred for me was the Mona Lisa. It didn't help that I had to hop up and down to see it over all the other people. So I went around the corner to some other Renaissance paintings and enjoyed them virtually alone.
Since I haven't seen it, I'll mention your experience of seeing it irl to the kids. They need to know, and I tell them when I can, what a shadow teaching or seeing in a book is compared to the real work.
8357. wonkers2 - 2/17/2007 7:17:23 PM
A children's book banned for one word. Scrotum
8358. judithathome - 2/17/2007 10:15:28 PM
Another massive picture with impact is The Night Watch at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Also, in Paris, the most moving group of paintings I've ever seen, Water Lilies by Monet at the L'Orangerie on the grounds of the Lourve. They are in an oval room on the first floor...you walk into it and there is nothing on walls but these extended and curved canvases encircling the walls...in the center of the room are low circular couches that you sit on on and look around the room and feel immersed in the lily pond in Monet's garden at Giverney.
8359. prolph - 2/18/2007 1:04:21 AM
remember when we were asked to give favorite poem in the fray?
we could all give our favorite art work, At the louvre i cared nothing for the mona lisa amd went strait for helenic area and of course i wasstoned so to speak wheni reached the stairs to then and looked strait up to winged victory.
first trip to london i was eager to see the elgin marbles
i was rushing toward them when my husband asked if i didn't want to see whaat i was about to step on and looked down to see the roseta stone.
so back to favorite poems "the world is so full of wonderful things..."
8360. wonkers2 - 2/18/2007 10:25:06 AM
Goya is my favorite Spanish painter. Better than El Greco in my opinion and equal to Picasso.
8361. wonkers2 - 2/18/2007 10:31:10 AM
A single word in a children's book creates an uproar. Scrotum
8362. wonkers2 - 2/18/2007 10:32:21 AM
Sorry! My memory's going! Saw the story on the Internet yesterday and again today in the morning paper.
8363. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 2/18/2007 11:30:02 AM
FYI Department: Robert Hughes has a wonderful book out now on Goya.
For wabbit and other interested parties:
Re “What They Keep for Love” by Randy Kennedy [Feb. 11]
:
Alanna Heiss, whose P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center is showing works that artists refuse to sell, says of the exhibition: “We are talking about religion here, aren’t we? We’re talking about God.” As an artist I have to ask: How much God is there in art theories like appropriation, deconstructivism, simulation and consumerism, which from the mid-1970s on have dominated the syllabus of many institutions that teach, critique and exhibit art?
Blame for the current state of the art world lies not only with the legions of wealthy collectors purchasing status in the souks that make quantity art shopping easy, but also with the style of art that our contemporary scholars have valued above all, art that illustrates what we know intellectually in place of art illuminating what we do not.
Sara Klar
Brooklyn
8364. judithathome - 2/18/2007 6:05:57 PM
Robert Hughes is my favorite art critic. And he's a sexy guy, to boot!
8365. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 2/18/2007 9:02:53 PM
Not anymore, Judith. I've been reading his autobiography and he's a mess after his head collision in Australia a few years ago.
8366. alistairconnor - 2/19/2007 6:03:22 AM
Mose's favorite female vocalist is someone whose name I can't remember now. It seems like it's two initials and a last name, but that may be someone else.
I'll bet it's KT Tunstall...
She became known in France because an ISP used this song in its advertising
(Black horse and a cherry tree)
I've been listening to the album over the last week, it doesn't resemble that song much but it's growing on me.
8367. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 2/19/2007 10:27:59 AM
Adorable with an infectious beat.
[That was meant to be head-on collision above.]
8368. arkymalarky - 2/19/2007 10:59:08 AM
It was the name, Alistair, but that was my mixup. For her, Imogene'd da man.
WRT Tunstall, she doesn't do much for me, but I haven't heard much of her.
8369. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 2/20/2007 8:18:31 PM
8370. prolph - 2/22/2007 12:09:39 AM
wizard,i laughed out loud. thanks, patsy
8371. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 3/8/2007 5:51:38 PM
My pleasure, Patsy!
Meanwhile . . .
Fishing Village, Red Boat, Foggy Morning
8372. wabbit - 3/8/2007 5:57:15 PM
Beautiful. Quiet, still, beautiful.
8373. wonkers2 - 3/8/2007 8:57:19 PM
Wiz, very nice! But where are the sailboats?
8374. alistairconnor - 3/9/2007 3:48:45 AM
Damn fine Wiz... but now I can't find the "work in progress" versions you posted a while back... I wanted to compare them.
8375. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 3/9/2007 4:07:50 PM
Many thanks, all. Wonk, they're coming, but slowly–I still have a lot to digest about sailboats, and Alistair, I think those studies are somewhere in The Cafe.
I'm getting ready for a show called "Outports And Fishing Sheds."
Here's a watercolor study from Newfoundland . . .
8376. judithathome - 3/9/2007 4:19:52 PM
Whoa...I love that! I like how the water absorbs some of the sky color and the village seems to be playing referee between the two!
8377. arkymalarky - 3/9/2007 5:43:13 PM
I agree with Judith. I love them both and the red and blue in both.
8378. prolph - 3/9/2007 11:13:20 PM
wizard, you are a great artist thanks for your paintings, patsy
8379. wonkers2 - 3/10/2007 12:08:06 AM
Wow, that one's great!
8380. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 3/10/2007 11:47:27 AM
Thanks again for your encouraging responses. I love the Monopoly Board quality of the little structures and their resilience to the potentially overwhelming power of nature. I tend to associate vulnerability with beauty somehow. There's no grandeur in the buildings, just functionality.
I know this sounds pretentious, but it's really what I care most about when I'm captivated by a place, and why I think it's worth capturing–especially for the souls who will be deprived of these places in the future.
There was a most remarkable British artist, Richard Parkes Bonnington who died at twenty-six and he had incredible talent. He painted fishing villages in England and France in the early nineteenth century and I think, in retrospect, he influenced me more than I realized.
If you're ever in New Haven, there is a wonderful collection of his work at The Yale British Museum.
8381. wabbit - 3/11/2007 8:17:17 PM
I want to take a watercolor class with you sometime.
8382. wonkers2 - 3/12/2007 9:42:42 AM
Who owns the music of days gone by?
8383. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 3/12/2007 9:42:48 AM
Ha! Thanks wabb, though it's highly unlikely that this burned-out teacher will ever teach again.
I just finished a big plate of that subject and I'm very excited about it. I'll post an image after I print something I like.
8384. prolph - 3/14/2007 5:03:23 PM
wizardm where will your show be? patsy
8385. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 3/14/2007 5:22:27 PM
In Connecticut, Patsy.
8386. judithathome - 3/22/2007 3:30:40 PM
Wiz, I tried to email you and it came back...I used the address I always do.
Anyhow, in the mail today I received something you sent me and I am agog at how beautiful they are! Thanks you, thank you, thank you!
8387. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 3/29/2007 2:23:44 PM
You're very welcome, Judith! (I just saw this, sorry for the late response.)
If you click on these thumbnails you can see some of the recent harvest . . .
8388. wonkers2 - 3/29/2007 3:15:20 PM
Beautiful pictures, Wiz.
8389. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 3/29/2007 4:07:12 PM
Thanks wonk, do you want me to send a card to your brother?
8390. wonkers2 - 3/30/2007 7:20:37 AM
Please send me one also. We are going to NJ in May for a birthday party and might make it over to Connecticut.
8391. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 3/30/2007 7:33:53 AM
Sure thing and if you have the time, come for dinner.
8392. uzmakk - 3/30/2007 7:50:01 AM
A reductio ad absurdum:
Courbo's revolution comes to pass. Active citizenship sweeps the region. Thousands begin to attend city council meetings. The interminable public comment period lengthens. Meetings begin to begin before they have ended. Time begins to move backward. A chronosynclastic infundibulum forms...
These are exciting times, Ladies and Gentlemen!
8393. uzmakk - 3/30/2007 7:57:00 AM
Extremely appealling paintings, Wiz. So well composed.
Who was it that said they were actually had tickets for that production of 3 Penny Opera at Studio 54(?). Did he see it? Did he do a couple of paragraphs for The Mote?
8394. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 3/30/2007 10:56:56 AM
Uzmakk, what a nice surprise and thank you for the response–as well as the artfully arcane analysis!
8395. judithathome - 3/30/2007 2:59:05 PM
The Lord of the Steppes! Great to see you, Uz!
8396. alistairConnor - 3/30/2007 3:30:20 PM
The concept of chronosynclastic infundibulum requires development...
How's your quarry activism going?
8397. concerned - 3/30/2007 8:52:04 PM
Anybody hear about the 6' milk chocolate Jesus going on display in an art gallery in NY? Scurrilous rumor has it that art connoisseurs are invited to orally sample the artwork itself. How many licks does it take to reach heaven?
8398. Ms. No - 3/31/2007 10:41:41 AM
I imagine that depends greatly on which part is being licked.
8399. wonkers2 - 4/4/2007 5:23:31 PM
A Short Story About Ann Coulter [I debated whether to put this in the politics thread, the sex thread or this one.]
8400. wonkers2 - 4/4/2007 5:26:01 PM
Chapter 2 "Back in Ann Coulter's Ass Saddle Again
8401. judithathome - 4/6/2007 9:01:20 AM
The Death Of Common Sense
By Lori Borgman
_______________________________________
Three yards of black fabric enshroud my computer terminal. I am mourning the passing of an old friend by the name of Common Sense.
His obituary reads as follows:
Common Sense, aka C.S., lived a long life, but died from heart failure at the brink of the millennium. No one really knows how old he was, his birth records were long ago entangled in miles and miles of bureaucratic red tape.
Known affectionately to close friends as Horse Sense and Sound Thinking, he selflessly devoted himself to a life of service in homes, schools, hospitals and offices, helping folks get jobs done without a lot of fanfare, whooping and hollering. Rules and regulations and petty, frivolous lawsuits held no power over C.S.
A most reliable sage, he was credited with cultivating the ability to know when to come in out of the rain, the discovery that the early bird gets the worm and how to take the bitter with the sweet. C.S. also developed sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn), reliable parenting strategies (the adult is in charge, not the kid) and prudent dietary plans (offset eggs and bacon with a little fiber and orange juice).
A veteran of the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, the Technological Revolution and the Smoking Crusades, C.S. survived sundry cultural and educational trends including disco, the men's movement, body piercing, whole language and new math.
C.S.'s health began declining in the late 1960s when he became infected with the If-It-Feels-Good, Do-It virus. In the following decades his waning strength proved no match for the ravages of overbearing federal and state rules and regulations and an oppressive tax code. C.S. was sapped of strength and the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband, criminals received better treatment than victims and judges stuck their noses in everything from Boy Scouts to professional baseball and golf.
His deterioration accelerated as schools implemented zero-tolerance policies. Reports of 6-year-old boys charged with sexual harassment for kissing classmates, a teen suspended for taking a swig of Scope mouthwash after lunch, girls suspended for possessing Midol and an honor student expelled for having a table knife in her school lunch were more than his heart could endure.
As the end neared, doctors say C.S. drifted in and out of logic but was kept informed of developments regarding regulations on low-flow toilets and mandatory air bags. Finally, upon hearing about a government plan to ban inhalers from 14 million asthmatics due to a trace of a pollutant that may be harmful to the environment, C.S. breathed his last.
Services will be at Whispering Pines Cemetery. C.S. was preceded in death by his wife, Discretion; one daughter, Responsibility; and one son, Reason. He is survived by two step-brothers, Half-Wit and Dim-Wit.
Memorial Contributions may be sent to the Institute for Rational Thought.
Farewell, Common Sense. May you rest in peace.
_______________________________________
Note from Lori Borgman: This piece was first published March 15, 1998 in the Indianpolis Star. It has been "modified" and "edited" by others and circulated on the Internet, even sent to me several times. Imagine my surprise to see it attributed to some guy named Anonymous. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I take having my work circulated on the web as a compliment.
8402. Ulgine Barrows - 4/8/2007 3:55:00 AM
I'm reading a book so good, it's shut down my library account. I can't check out anything until I return, or pay for it.
Lisa Pearl Rosenbaum, "A Day of New Beginnings".
I start crying, about every other chapter, and have to put it down.
It is about about Jews in Poland during the war, and knowing one's family history. I don't think my ancestors were Polish Jews, but why would this book make me cry so much, if not?
I thought I was Scot-Irish Catholic, and English.
Anyway, worth checking out. And shutting down your library account until finish.
8403. wonkers2 - 4/18/2007 3:28:33 PM
There is a spectacular Richard Avedon exhibit at the Stanford Art Museum. If you're in the Bay Area it's worth a look. Avedon Exhibit
8404. wonkers2 - 4/19/2007 6:06:28 PM
Hot Club of Detroit: Swing One
8405. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 4/19/2007 6:26:14 PM
Thanks for those heads-up, wonk. One forgets how good Avedon was when he didn't cater to the famous . . . and the jazz accordion was a surprise too.
8406. wonkers2 - 4/19/2007 7:03:04 PM
Toward the end he said he wished he'd devoted his entire career to the project. It's hard to describe how overpowering the "In the American West" prints are. They are reminiscent of Walker Evans but much more brutal. Sort of a cross between Evans and Diane Arbus. The irony of putting that show next to Jane Stanford's jewelery collection was heavy.
8407. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 4/19/2007 7:11:24 PM
Are you familiar with the work of Lee Friedlander? If not, you might enjoy his work.
8408. wonkers2 - 4/19/2007 10:38:36 PM
No. I'll check it out. Tnx.
8409. anomie - 4/21/2007 5:20:18 PM
Bjork is on SNL tonight. Always fun to see what she's up to.
8410. arkymalarky - 4/22/2007 9:24:15 AM
I saw her name recently. I thought she'd dropped off the planet. How was she on SNL?
8411. anomie - 4/22/2007 12:54:45 PM
She was the inimitable Bjork, always something new, but always the same somehow. She hopped around barefoot in that way she has, and belted out incoherant lyrics from that huge mouth agape. I always get the sense that she's the only musician on stage while her "band" consists of technicians using computers and robotic percussion techniques.. This time out she also had an all female brass section dressed in ridiculous, clownish jump suits. I felt a little sorry for them actually.
8412. anomie - 4/22/2007 1:00:46 PM
She was showing a little age in her face so I checked IMDB. Bjork, that young punkish-rock girl from Iceland, is 42 years-old.
I'm almost sorry to have to tell you that.
8413. alistairConnor - 4/22/2007 1:20:32 PM
Hey that's OK. She's my sister. We're young.
I've always thought she had huge potential. Still hasn't found a decent producer.
8414. anomie - 4/22/2007 1:23:48 PM
Oh yes. 42 is a great age. I'd do it again. I was just surprised to see it on Bjork.
8415. wonkers2 - 4/22/2007 1:59:54 PM
Any Madeline Peyroux fans?
8416. arkymalarky - 4/22/2007 2:27:06 PM
Hey, I heard just the other day that Maynard What''s-his-name of Tool and A Perfect Circle just turned 43. I had to call Mose and rub that in. She's always on me about the music I mostly listen to "at my age." I told her I've liked the same type of stuff forever and I'm not likely to change, so just deal with it. Maynard is among her very favorites, that geezer. Heh.
8417. wabbit - 4/25/2007 5:22:36 PM
Holy HackySack, YouTube is going to replace tv. And this is a sequel ... episode 1 is here.
Take that, old chum!
8418. wonkers2 - 4/25/2007 6:46:49 PM
Ha! Pretty funny, old chum! Here's Episode 2
8419. wonkers2 - 4/26/2007 2:24:28 PM
8420. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 4/26/2007 7:00:16 PM
Those are terrific!
8421. wabbit - 4/30/2007 9:08:52 AM
Bjork hasn't lost her flair.
8422. wonkers2 - 5/1/2007 8:41:18 PM
8423. concerned - 5/1/2007 10:46:51 PM
Sapphire Buddha carving.
8424. alistairConnor - 5/6/2007 4:23:53 AM
My kids cruising blogs. Found some kid's translation of a song from English to French :
When she's sad, hold her tight
Which was translated, almost accurately, as :
Quand elle est triste, tiens-lui le collant
which, re-translated, is :
When she's sad, hold her panty hose
8425. Magoseph - 5/6/2007 4:34:49 AM
When she's sad, hold her thigh
8426. wonkers2 - 5/6/2007 3:38:52 PM
The Cap'n sez "French wimmen don't wear panty hose."
8427. Ms. No - 5/9/2007 7:17:44 PM
Was just listening to this on YouTube and thought I'd share the joy. This piece brings joyful tears to my cheeks every time I hear it. You all know it, but when was the last time you heard it all?
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor
8428. wonkers2 - 5/9/2007 8:52:34 PM
Nice. Thanks.
8429. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 5/10/2007 7:28:48 AM
Loved the visualization of it!
8430. Ms. No - 5/10/2007 8:15:08 AM
It was surprisingly entertaining to just watch the notes happen.
8431. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 5/14/2007 12:37:01 PM
8432. wabbit - 5/14/2007 2:39:37 PM
Hey, a page to yourself, how cool is that? Congrats, that's some nice exposure, and well deserved!
8433. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 5/14/2007 5:39:29 PM
Thanks wabb, but you know the drill--with the morass of artists and their dealers humping their way to the middle of the pyramid-scheme. It's all writ on water. The text is pathetic and the mag, if truth be told, is a meretricious rag for naive collectors and unschooled decorators.
Art is lost and indecipherable to the majority of people.
8434. wonkers2 - 5/14/2007 7:19:13 PM
8435. wabbit - 6/1/2007 5:29:54 PM
I haven't written any art stuff for several years, so bear with me.
I saw the Edward Hopper show at the Boston Museum of Fine Art. This is not what I would call a retrospective so much as a review of some of his work done in a few American locales. If you have never seen Nighthawks in person, it's there, in a room with Office At Night and New York Movie and nothing else. Those three are considered "iconic" works by Hopper, and I suppose they are, although Office At Night is over-rated, imho. The boss is disinterested in his sexy 'J-Lo from a scene in Out of Sight' secretary. Snore. Of the three, New York Movie is the most interesting. The usherette is lost in her thoughts, having seen the movie playing on the screen in the left side of the painting. It's a wonderful juxtapositioning of two versions of the fantasies we all play out in our heads.
Hopper's career came late, when he was in his late thirties, and didn't really form until he was in his forties. He made a living as an illustrator, and hated the term. Most people in the art world will tell you, privately if not publicly, that illustrators are not considered real artists. I think WoW will agree with me here: many so-called illustrators are very fine artists indeed, and many of the well-known, well-heeled artistes owe their careers to a small group of critics and to snobbery. I'll leave that for another day.
There are no drawings in this show, none of the illustrations from his early career, which is a disappointment. Two notebooks in a display case are very interesting, but you really want to turn the pages and see the thumbnail drawings Hopper made of his various works that were displayed or sold. In most cases, the thumbnails are far more interesting than the oils.
The shame of Hopper's illustration career is that while he hated being an illustrator, he was a very good one. This show is weak on great oils, but heavy with excellent watercolors and etchings. The etchings are very fine, and it is regrettable to me that he gave up printmaking in the early 1920's. He was quite skilled. His watercolors are wonderful, far more textured than almost any of the oils. There is a room of work from his Gloucester years, mostly watercolors of houses (remember, he said all he ever wanted to paint was the light on the side of a house). Two works stand side-by-side, both of the same street scene in Glouscester (Prospect Street), and the oil looks like a lazy man's copy of the watercolor. I don't mean that it is flat, or lacking in detail, it is simply lacking. It has none of the atmosphere of the watercolor.
None of the early Paris paintings are in this show, but if the oils up to the early twenties that are here are any measure, we aren't missing much. It wasn't until the twenties that Hopper's paintings became his own, more than his spin on George Bellows or Robert Henri. Even so, I'm not a huge fan of his oils, especially of the female nudes. He never seemed to differentiate flesh from the walls in whatever room he was painting, and that matters, at least to me. I don't find his nudes sensual at all, or even interesting. If you've ever looked at female breasts in a work by Michaelangelo, you know what I mean. Hopper's clothed figures are far better, but they are not what interests Hopper. Even the rooms and buildings play second fiddle to the light, which is his real subject. The final piece in the show, Sun in an Empty Room, is one of the best. Simple, not grandstanding, no theatrics, not trying to be something it isn't. It is a painting of light on a wall in a room, and that's enough.
About halfway through the show, I was struck by a thought of Hopper living in today's world. I looked at Early Sunday Morning and couldn't help but think how much he would love Google's Street View. It would be, so to speak, right up Hopper's street.
8436. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 6/3/2007 1:26:38 PM
Many thanks for your take, wabb. My wife was a grants-juror for the Mass Arts Council recently and asked me if I wanted to come to Boston with her and see that show. I couldn't get tickets and passed; so your appraisal helps mitigate my lost opportunity. I also think his watercolors and etchings top his oils, but I hate the crowds at popular shows and can't enjoy perusing the work with the many distractions.
8437. wabbit - 6/4/2007 9:34:20 AM
WoW, I was there at about 1pm on Friday afternoon and the gallery wasn't at all crowded. I thought there would be more people, but it was a treat not to have to elbow my way through the masses. If you find yourself in Beantown, you might swing by in the late morning/early afternoon and check it out.
8438. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 6/4/2007 9:53:29 AM
Thanks again wabb. How much to get in and did you buy your ticket there without a reservation?
Btw, you can peruse many pages of his sketchbook at their website.
Click on: Hopper's Sketchbook
8439. wabbit - 6/4/2007 11:25:33 AM
I'm a member, so I didn't have an additional charge. It's $23 (inclusive of museum admission) for non-members. I'm sure you could buy a ticket at the museum without a reservation, there were people doing that when I was there (maybe 15 people in line, not bad at all).
I was happy to see the sketchbook online, at least you get to see the contents beyond just one page. Great stuff, interesting to see how he kept track of his work. The Smithsonian has a nice "scrapbook" site about Hopper.
There is a painting in the show of a house on Rte. 6 in Eastham (you can see it online here) that I know you would get a kick out of seeing. The Cape hasn't been that empty for as long as I've been in MA (since 1966). You'd appreciate all the Cape work, I think.
btw, the image of the Prospect Street work I linked to in my initial post is the watercolor, not the oil.
8440. prolph - 6/4/2007 5:28:51 PM
wabbit, thanks for your post, I will add to painting light on a wall. I have a book-art in new mexico 19001945- Which has a section of -tje faraway nearby-many eastern paiters are included and some were sort of not able to deal with faraway. hopper came to santa fe and his mearby is a white wall with a few bluish houses and the church behind and tiniy bit of mountain and sky.
deapite having been an intrepid solo traveler i am regularly pulled back to santa fe where i was born,
patsy
8441. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 6/5/2007 8:57:16 AM
Thanks again, wabb--for the info and the links. I found it interesting that Hopper's dealers received 1/3rd commission on sales rather than today's going commission of 1/2 (and often more in NYC). Also, that besides his talent and genius for dramatic light, he was very compulsive in terms of his record keeping; whereas, in today's art world, artists are solely recognized for their compulsions while genius and talent are no longer prerequisites.
8442. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 6/5/2007 9:27:36 AM
BTW, the Smithsonian link is a Bon-Bon--thanks again!
8443. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 6/9/2007 9:35:54 AM
I thought this to be a wonderful read . . .
Why the art world is a disaster
By Roger Kimball
It is now that we begin to encounter the fevered quest for novelty at any price, it is now that we see insincere and superficial cynicism and deliberate conscious bluff; we meet, in a word, the calculated exploitation of this art as a means of destroying all order. The mercenary swindle multiples a hundredfold, as does the deceit of men themselves deceived and the brazen self-portraiture of vileness.
--Hans Sedlmayr, Art in Crisis
Some of what she said was technical, and you would have had to be a welder to appreciate it; the rest was aesthetic or generally philosophical, and to appreciate it you would have had to be an imbecile.
--Randall Jarrell, Pictures from an Institution
Last month, a friend telephoned and urged me to travel to Bard College to see 'Wrestle, the inaugural exhibition mounted to celebrate the opening of "CCS Bard Hessel Museum," a 17,000-square-foot addition to the college art museum. It sounded, my friend said, spectacularly awful. She’d just had a call from her husband, a Bard alum, who had zipped through the exhibition while doing some work at the college. Huge images of body parts, yes, those body parts, floating on the walls of a darkened room, minatory videos of men doing things, yes, those "things" to each other, or to themselves, all of it presented in the most pretentious fashion possible. It really was something . . . special.
Well, these folks are not naifs. They've both been around the avant-garde block and back a few times. If they said an exhibition was ostentatiously horrible, then it was likely to be something worth taking some trouble to avoid--unless, that is, your job description includes regular stints as a cultural pathologist, in which case it is something that duty requires you to inspect, docket, and file away for the instruction and admonition of future generations.
This is my unhappy position. So, one fine May morning I motored up to lovely Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, home of the elite, super-trendy Bard College. Bard is one of those small educational institutions whose ambient wealth has allowed them to substitute avant-garde pretense for scholarly or artistic accomplishment. If your bank account is healthy (tuition and fees for first-year students: $47,730) and young Heather or Dylan is creative, i.e., not likely to get into a Harvard or Yale or Williams, then Bard is a place you can send them and still look your neighbor in the eye. The college is probably best known for its baton-wielding president, Leon Botstein, who conducts orchestras in his spare time and whom the music critic Tim Page once described as the sort of chap who gives pseudo-intellectuality a bad name. Bard also has the distinction of being, as far as I know, the only college in the United States to honor the memory of Alger Hiss, the perjurer and Soviet spy, by establishing a chair in his memory.
It had been a long time since I had visited Bard. Back in the early 1990s, I ventured into its sylvan purlieus to write about the opening of the Richard and Marieluise Black Center for Curatorial Studies and Art in Contemporary Culture. Now here we had, attached to the old edifice, the Marieluise Hessel Museum of Art. Two Marieluises? It turned out to be like the evening star and morning star of philosophical lore, Hesperus and Phosphorus: two names but one and the same orb—in short, as William Demarest put it in The Lady Eve, "It's the same dame." The German-born businesswoman shed the unfortunate (or maybe not) Mr. Black somewhere along the line. Although married again, she is taking no chances and now endows her endowments with her maiden name. Marieluise has been busy. In the early 1990s, when the Black Center opened, her collection of contemporary art consisted of some 550 items. It has grown to 1,700, of which approximately 200 items are on view in "Wrestle."
8444. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 6/9/2007 9:36:10 AM
You will not be able to see "Wrestle." By the time you read this, the exhibition will have closed. But do not pine. You haven't missed anything. Have I become jaded? Too many close encounters with Gilbert and George, Matthew Barney, and all the other exotic fauna that populate the galleries and art museums these days? Perhaps. In any event, I thought my friends overstated the awfulness of the exhibition. Don't get me wrong: it was plenty awful. Body parts, "explicit" images, and naughty language galore. The exhibition certainly merited the warning to parents at the entrance. But it wasn't worse than dozens of other exhibitions Iíve seen, youíve seen, weíve all seen.
I thought about this as I picked my way through the galleries at the Hessel Museum. A "video installation" by Bruce Nauman in which a man and a woman endlessly repeat a litany of nonsense, tinctured here and there with scatological phrases. Been there. Photographs (in four or five different places) by Robert Mapplethorpe of his S&M pals. Very 1980s. Histrionic photographs by Cindy Sherman of herself looking victimized. Been there, too. Nam June Paik and his video installations. Done that. A big pile of red, white, and blue lollipops dumped in the corner by Ö well, it doesn't much matter, does it? Any more than it matters who was responsible for the room featuring images of floating genitalia or the room with the video of ritualistic homosexual bondage. Ditto the catalogue: its assault on the English language is something you can find in scores, no, hundreds of art publications today: "For Valie Export, the female Body is covered with the stigmata of codes that shape and hamper it." Well, bully for her. "As usual with Gober, the installation is a broken allegory that both elicits and resists our interpretation; that materially nothing is quite as it seems adds to our anxious curiosity." As usual, indeed, though whether such pathetic verbiage adds to or smothers our curiosity is another matter altogether.
No, the thing to appreciate about "Wrestle," about the Hessel Museum and the collection of Marieluise Hessel, and about the visual arts at Bard generally is not how innovative, challenging, or unusual they are, but how pedestrian and, sad to say, conventional they are. True, there is a lot of ickiness on view at the Hessel Museum. But it is entirely predictable ickiness. It's outrage by-the-yard, avant-garde in bulk, smugness for the masses. And this brings me to what I believe is the real significance of institutions like the art museum at Bard, the Hessel collection that fills it, and the surrounding atmosphere of pseudo-avant-garde self-satisfaction. The "arts" at Bard are notable not because they are unusual but because they are so grindingly ordinary. Leon Botstein described Marieluise Hessel as a "risk giver." An essay in the Bardian, the college magazine, elaborates on this theme:
She was drawn to work that challenged and subverted the status quo, work that flaunted [the author means "flouted," but, hey, this is Bard] and struggled with urgent, utopian notions of gender and identity, feminism, and the politics of AIDS, among other issues.
Mr. Botstein and the Bardian have it exactly wrong. When it comes to art, Ms. Hessel is neither a risk taker nor a risk giver. Like Bard itself, she simply mirrors the established taste of the moment. Far from "challenging" or "subverting" the status quo, the 1,700 objects she has accumulated are the status quo. And far from "struggling" with questions about gender or feminism or anything else, she has simply issued a rubber stamp endorsing the dominant cliches of today's academic art world. "Academic," in fact, is the mot juste: not in the sense of "scholarly," but rather in the sense that we speak of "academic art," stale, conventional, aesthetically nugatory. A wall full of photographs of two girls does nothing to "interrogate" (a favorite term of art- and lit-crit-speak) identity any more than a mutilated doll forces us to reconsider our usual notions of whatever-it-is those odious objects are supposed to make us reconsider. Really, the only thing exhibitions like "Wrestle," or institutions like the Hessel Museum, challenge is the viewer's patience.
Ms. Hessel once enthusiastically recalled her introduction to contemporary art as a young woman in Munich: ÒIt was like entering a cult group.Ó That cult has long since become the new Salon where the canons of accepted taste are enforced with a rigidity that would have made Bouguereau jealous. The only difference is that instead of a pedantic mastery of perspective and modeling we have a pedantic mastery of all the accepted attitudes about race, class, sex, and politics. Since skill is no longer necessary to practice art successfully, the only things left are 1) appropriate subject matter (paradoxically, the more inappropriate the better) and 2) the right politics.
Again, my point is not to deny the repellent nature of much that was on view in ÒWrestle.Ó It deserves its ÒXÓ rating, all right. But it has been a long time since shock value had the capacity to be aesthetically interestingÑor even, truth be told, to shock. Decades ago, writing about Salvador Dal’, George Orwell called attention to, and criticized, the growing habit of granting a blanket moral indemnity to anything that called itself art. ÒThe artist,Ó Orwell wrote, is to be exempt from the moral laws that are binding on ordinary people. Just pronounce the magic word ÒArt,Ó and everything is O.K. Rotting corpses with snails crawling over them are O.K.; kicking little girls in the head is O.K.; even a film like LÕAge dÕOr [which shows among other things detailed shots of a woman defecating] is O.K.
8445. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 6/9/2007 9:36:18 AM
Orwell was writing in the 1940s. Already that attitude was old hat: it had definitively entered the cultural bloodstream with the Dadaists shortly after the turn of the last century. What those folks didn’t know about "challenging" and "subverting" conventional taste and attitudes wasn't worth knowing. In essentials, they pioneered all the tricks on view in "Wrestle"--the sex, the violence, the tedium, the presentation of everyday objects as works of art. The difference is that Duchamp was in earnest: "I threw the bottle rack and the urinal into to their faces as a challenge," Duchamp noted contemptuously, "and now they admire them for their aesthetic beauty." No wonder he gave up on art for chess. Duchamp mounted a campaign against art and aesthetic delectation. In one sense, he succeeded brilliantly. Only the campaign backfired. Once the aloof and brittle irony of Duchamp institutionalized itself and became the coin of the realm, it descended from irony to a new form of sentimentality. I do not have much time for Marcel Duchamp; in my view his influence on art and culture has been almost entirely baneful; but it is amusing to ponder how much he would have loathed the contemporary art world where all his ideas had been ground-down into inescapable cliches, trite formulas served up by society grandees at their expensive art fetes in the mistaken belief that they are embarked on some existentially or aesthetically daring enterprise. Perhaps Duchamp, aesthete that he was, would have savored the comedy. I suspect his amour-propre would have caused him to feel nausea, not amusement.
Why is the art world a disaster? The prevalence of exhibitions like "Wrestle," of collectors like Marieluise Hessel, of institutions like the Hessel Museum and Bard College help us begin to answer that question. Their very ordinariness enhances their value as symptoms. In part, the art world is a disaster because of that ordinariness: because of the popularization and institutionalization of the antics and attitudes of Dada. As W. S. Gilbert knew, when everybody's somebody, nobody's anybody. When the outre attitudes of a tiny elite go mainstream, only the rhetoric, not the substance, of the drama survives.
That's part of the answer: the domestication of deviance, and its subsequent elevation as an object of aesthetic--well, not delectation, exactly: perhaps veneration would be closer to the truth. But that is only part of the puzzle. There are at least three other elements at work. One is the unholy alliance between the more rebarbative and hermetic precincts of academic activity and the practice of art. As even a glance at the preposterous catalogue accompanying "Wrestle"--accompanying almost any trendy exhibition these days--demonstrates, art is increasingly the creature of its explication. It's not quite what Tom Wolfe predicted in The Painted Word, where in the gallery-of-the-future a postcard-sized photograph of a painting would be used to illustrate a passage of criticism blown up to the size of its inflated sense of self-worth. The difference is that the new verbiage doesn't even pretend to be art criticism. It occupies a curious no man's land between criticism, political activism, and pseudo-philosophical speculation: less an intellectual than a linguistic phenomenon, speaking more to the failure or decay of ideas than to their elaboration. Increasingly, the "art" is indistinguishable from the verbal noise that accompanies it, as witness the little red band that surrounded the catalogue for "Wrestle." This "work" was by Lawrence Weiner and read: "An Amount of Currency Exchanged from One Country to Another." The point to notice is the usurpation of art by these free-floating verbal clots, full of emotion but utterly lacking in what David Hume called "the calm sunshine of the mind."
A second element that helps to explain why the art world is a disaster is money--not just the staggering prices routinely fetched by celebrity artists today, but the bucket-loads of cash that seem to surround almost any enterprise that can manage to get itself recognized as having to do with "the arts." The presence of money means the presence of "society," which goes a long way toward explaining why yesterday's philistine is today's champion of anything and everything that presents itself as art, no matter how repulsive it may be. If tout le monde is going to an opening for Matthew Barney at the Guggenheim, you can bet your bottom black tie that the nice lady next door who gave MOMA $10 million will be there, too. The vast infusion of money into the art world in recent decades has done an immense amount to facilitate what my colleague Hilton Kramer aptly called "the revenge of the philistines."
A third additional element in this sorry story has to do with the decoupling of art-world practice from the practice of art. Look at the objects on view in "Wrestle": almost none has anything to do with art as traditionally understood: mastery of a craft in order to make objects that gratify and ennoble those who see them. On the contrary, the art world has wholeheartedly embraced art as an exercise in political sermonizing and anti-humanistic persiflage, which has assured the increasing trivialization of the practice of art. For those who cherish art as an ally to civilization, the disaster that is today's art world is nothing less than a tragedy. But this, too, will pass. Sooner or later, even the Leon Botsteins and Marieluise Hessels of the world will realize that the character in Bruce Nauman's "Good Boy, Bad Boy" was right: "this is boring."
8446. judithathome - 6/9/2007 7:31:17 PM
It's not quite what Tom Wolfe predicted in The Painted Word, where in the gallery-of-the-future a postcard-sized photograph of a painting would be used to illustrate a passage of criticism blown up to the size of its inflated sense of self-worth. The difference is that the new verbiage doesn't even pretend to be art criticism. It occupies a curious no man's land between criticism, political activism, and pseudo-philosophical speculation: less an intellectual than a linguistic phenomenon, speaking more to the failure or decay of ideas than to their elaboration.
It may not "quite" be that but it is perilously close.
8447. prolph - 6/10/2007 12:49:16 AM
yes, wizard you are right, Are you publishimg the above ?--i hope so.patsy
8448. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 6/10/2007 9:18:58 AM
Indeed, Judith!
Patsy, the above was published in the current edition of The New Criterion.
8449. wabbit - 7/3/2007 6:25:50 AM
It's been a busy month for me and I've fallen far behind in my Mote reading. I just finished reading the Kimball piece - thank you for posting that, WoW. I remember getting into a debate in grad school about who was the most influential artist of the 20th century. The bulk of the debate vacillated between Picasso and Matisse, but I thought Duchamp was, for better or worse, more influential. It's a shame the irony was lost so quickly. A former teacher told me that when she was getting her MFA at Yale, she wanted to paint landscapes, but was told point-blank she would not receive a degree unless she painted something more "avant-garde". She said she essentially threw paint onto canvas, figuratively speaking, ending up with work she hated, but it got her a degree. What a shame. Her landscapes were beautiful.
8450. wabbit - 7/3/2007 6:27:33 AM
Beverly Sills, the acclaimed Brooklyn-born coloratura soprano who was more popular with the American public than any opera singer since Enrico Caruso, even among people who never set foot in an opera house, died last night at her home in Manhattan. She was 78.
The cause was inoperable lung cancer, said her personal manager, Edgar Vincent.
Ms. Sills was America’s idea of a prima donna. Her plain-spoken manner and telegenic vitality made her a genuine celebrity and an invaluable advocate for the fine arts. Her life embodied an archetypal American story of humble origins, years of struggle, family tragedy and artistic triumph...
8451. alistairConnor - 7/5/2007 2:59:07 PM
Another obit :
George Melly, jazz singer, anarchist, Liverpudlian, Surrealist, tart.
I read his autobiography, "Owning up", and recognised him as a kindred spirit. Missed a chance to see him perform when I was living in London in 1987, good lord that's 20 years ago. A colleague's father managed a pub in Deptford where Melly was appearing, he invited me but I turned him down out of sheer misanthropy.
8452. judithathome - 7/5/2007 3:12:05 PM
Boots Randolph died this week, too.
8453. betty - 7/6/2007 8:40:04 PM
oh I would give my kingdom for a good landscape.
8454. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 7/6/2007 9:13:42 PM
Prescient as always, wabb!
Will these do, betty?
8455. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 7/6/2007 9:17:47 PM
Adored the Melly obit, btw--thanks, ac.
8456. judithathome - 7/7/2007 11:02:21 AM
Wiz, I love those...ink wash?
8457. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 7/7/2007 2:18:45 PM
Thanks Judith; no those were actually black ink solarplate intaglios of some watercolor studies of a Tuscan tower complex near Siena that I've been working up lately. It's called: Montarrenti and these are views of the back.
Here's a watercolor: 
8458. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 7/7/2007 2:25:12 PM
As you may have noticed, I've been a bit hung up on this place for awhile . . .
8459. wabbit - 7/7/2007 4:17:07 PM
Gorgeous.
8460. betty - 7/7/2007 8:16:33 PM
Wiz, those are lovely. and I can see why you would be hung up.
I love her landscapes.
8461. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 7/16/2007 8:50:57 AM
8462. wabbit - 7/21/2007 5:55:34 PM
How cool is that?!
8463. wonkers2 - 8/1/2007 8:53:23 PM
8464. wonkers2 - 8/12/2007 6:14:49 AM
Was Elvis a racist like jexter?
8465. wabbit - 8/16/2007 11:48:24 AM
Max Roach, a founder of modern jazz who rewrote the rules of drumming in the 1940’s and spent the rest of his career breaking musical barriers and defying listeners’ expectations, died early today at his home in New York. He was 83.
8466. wabbit - 9/6/2007 7:21:08 AM
Luciano Pavarotti, the Italian singer whose ringing, pristine sound set a standard for operatic tenors of the postwar era, died early this morning at his home in Modena, in northern Italy. He was 71.
His death was announced by his manager, Terri Robson. The cause was pancreatic cancer...
8467. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 9/6/2007 11:15:38 AM
Some Thoughts About Ink Stains
When mundane tedium is too much to bear or civilization seems to be crumbling faster than anyone anticipated, we all seek escape and renewal--maybe even a modicum of enchantment once in awhile. Art may well have evolved because it offers a respite from the anguish of a world gone mad. The fruitful illusions in a work of art can serve as a kind of aesthetic Rorschach test, transporting us to a realm of inner yearning while introducing us to our own vital nature. The basic ingredients for this kind of liberation havenÕt changed in centuries. They include an artistÕs desire to playfully invent a particular language of experience, combined with the viewerÕs mutual appetite to participate in the revelations possible in an imaginative idiom. If you have never pondered Victor HugoÕs ink drawings or MorandiÕs etchings and watercolors, then youÕre in for a refreshing release via the mindÕs eye.
The traditional meaning of the term graphic art is defined as a process for the creation of an artistic expression on a piece of paper: drawings, watercolors and prints. ItÕs a very old and arcane method evoking eidetic patterns from our visual intuition and history. In contemporary terms, this process downloads patterns of awareness to the viewerÕs brain, instantaneously--without words or electronics. That these objects for contemplation are also silent may well be their most humane gift; they rescue us from an environment that bombards us with distractions, preventing significant thought and meditation.
Every work of art is really about discovery and if truth be told, artists donÕt create anything--they discover. First they learn how to regain their childlike grace through play and then they learn a vocabulary that communicates their wonder. It is such an enticing form of joy; we readily recognize it and share in its curative powers. Artist and viewer become one in the treasure hunt as the image turns into a message in a bottleÑor a Grecian urn, as John Keats would have it.
And like other Romantic vagabonds infatuated with Italy and longing to escape the humdrum, I have played with brush and ink in hopes of rediscovering the revitalizing sensations of that antique land.
8468. judithathome - 9/6/2007 12:04:29 PM
Very good..seems you are also a master at rendering thought as well as one of rendering the Tuscan sky.
8469. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 9/6/2007 1:19:57 PM
Thanks for responding, Judith. For a dyslexic who is confounded by words, it's always a struggle. When my passion, however, takes over, it gets easier and I focus better. I'm a very sloppy reader who scans and misses a lot. In college, "a friend" gave me LSD and I became catatonic for seven hours because my mind raced too fast for me to speak. I think the verbal part of my brain is tangled up somehowÐwhich may account for my painting skills.
(Btw, something weird happens with apostrophe’s and dashes when I paste text from a Word document.)
8470. jexster - 9/6/2007 1:24:40 PM
Ave Maria
Schubert
RIP
8471. wabbit - 9/6/2007 2:06:22 PM
Well said, WoW.
fwiw, the weirdness is Word's doing, not yours. It has to do with the way punctuation marks, or anything other than standard upper/lower case letters, are encoded. In a Word document, there is always formatting involved, so when you copy something from Word, you copy the encoded text, not plain text.
8472. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 9/6/2007 3:06:10 PM
Thanks wabb, but I also think the MAC has a glitch as well.
The following is what happens when I input a dash (which is an option-shift underline on a MAC) — — Ñ
Those were three attempts and the third one worked so 'splain to me Lucy?
8473. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 9/6/2007 3:07:53 PM
Ha! The third on work in my preview but not in the actual post.
8474. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 9/6/2007 3:08:34 PM
The Third onE workED . . .
8475. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 9/6/2007 3:09:18 PM
I'm confused!
8476. wabbit - 9/6/2007 3:34:36 PM
Nope, it's the same problem. Ever get those empty boxes instead of spaces when you copy/paste from a Mac to a Windows PC? It's all to do with ASCII and Unicode/Western-ISO/Western-Windows etc. and various styles used in Word. It's most often a problem with so-called smart characters, like curly quotes and em dashes.
Third one didn't work for me. I see two em dashes (the wide ones) and one N with a tilde (¥ - that should be the N with tilde, but probably won't be for everyone). Now, if I change my browser character encoding to Western (MacRoman), I see your essay perfectly, but the em dashes in your 2-out-of-3 example aren't right.
Try it. I'm using Firefox on a PC, but you should be able to do this with any browser regardless of platform. In Firefox, go to View > Character Encoding > More Encodings > West European > Western (MacRoman).
8477. judithathome - 9/6/2007 4:36:01 PM
It's all Sanskrit to me....ha!
8478. judithathome - 9/6/2007 4:37:31 PM
By the way, Wiz...when we were in Arkansas, Arky had your posters up, framed very nicely, and they looked fabulous.
8479. jexster - 9/6/2007 4:42:30 PM
Sooey pig Wizzer!
8480. wabbit - 9/6/2007 5:06:05 PM
JaH (everyone else too),
You should see them in person, it's worth the trip. The colors and textures are really something, very tactile and evocative and emotional, and his portrayal of light is exquisite. I know I say his work is gorgeous all the time, but it really is something to experience the originals.
8481. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 9/6/2007 6:16:52 PM
Wabb you'll always be the go-to-gal for heavy liftin'.
And I guess it's BlushOrama time.
Thanks again!
. . . except for jexster, whose code I never understand.
8482. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 9/6/2007 8:23:23 PM
8483. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 9/17/2007 3:05:39 PM
I'm hoping for some input on the monograph for my next show. Any and all thoughts would be most welcomed--as well as spotting typos, miscommunication errors, bad grammar, etc.. Many thanks!
INK STAINS
[A free catalog to anyone responding. It's a 1.5 meg download if you want it on your hard drive, btw--but I think you can view it in html.]
8484. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 9/17/2007 3:07:17 PM
Opps!
INK STAINS
8485. judithathome - 9/17/2007 3:16:13 PM
Wiz, I think this sentence "It's such an enticing form of joy that we readily recognize, and eagerly share in for its restorative power." is a little awkward...maybe dropping the comma after "recognize"? And maybe change "such" to "very much"...don't listen to me, however, because I'm in awe of the entire thing!
8486. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 9/17/2007 3:34:26 PM
Not at all Judith, that's good advice--thanks!
8487. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 9/17/2007 4:14:44 PM
INK STAINS [revised]
8488. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 9/20/2007 9:50:31 PM
Judith, thanks again for being the only response, I made quite a few more changes and I'm happy where it ended up so it's going to press. And because you were the only one who took the time, look for a surprise in the mail.
8489. concerned - 9/20/2007 10:21:01 PM
Might you want to add '2007' after 'December 8'?
No need to thank me.
8490. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 9/21/2007 7:38:53 PM
Well it's a good point so thanks anyway!
8491. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 10/4/2007 8:45:24 PM
I adore Lois Dodd . . .
8492. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/6/2007 5:52:38 PM
FWIW Department: INK STAINS [Final version with new work]
8493. wabbit - 11/6/2007 7:01:59 PM
So many beautiful prints! I really love your use and understanding of light.
8494. wonkers2 - 11/6/2007 7:16:39 PM
Impresionante, Robert!
8495. wonkers2 - 11/6/2007 7:17:26 PM
One can only hope to be as sharp and healthy as Lois Dodd when we reach her age.
8496. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/6/2007 7:59:19 PM
Thanks to you both--now I can only hope the printer knows his art and craft.
Lois has the right stuff.
8497. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/7/2007 10:39:09 AM
wabb- Wrt "the light"-- George Inness has had the most effect on me. When the sun is low on the horizon and the shadows are long, the light is kinder than other times of the day--I think because there is more atmosphere for it to travel through. Without the complexity of color, the light becomes the star. Thanks again for your response.
8498. wonkers2 - 11/7/2007 2:42:56 PM
8499. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/8/2007 10:36:32 AM
Ouch!
8500. wonkers2 - 11/11/2007 3:14:35 PM
Here's an interesting site with a lotta Goodshit
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