The last month has been hectic, we've been house-hunting, which has been a huge stress on me as the one who's been doing all of the scouring and calling and arguing with landlord's that it's utterly ridiculous to only hold a property for 2 weeks when anyone who's an up-and=up tenant with an actual current lease has to give 30 days. I'm a little concerned now as we have to give 30 days on Sunday, but still haven't found the right place. We're due to look at a bungalow tomorrow morning that from the couple photos in the posting looks like it might be right, so I've got fingers mightily crossed. I really won't feel comfortable giving notice without knowing I've got somewhere to move in a month, but if we go month-to-month our expensive loft gets even more expensive. It was fun for a year, but it's really not worth the extra money, the ridiculously drafty energy inefficient windows (seriously I had a folded envelope sitting on the sill in front of the closed and locked window and it was fluttering like a hummingbird wing before a gust blew it off onto the floor, and this is a self-described "luxury" apartment.) the terribly underpowered stove (10 minutes to boil water if the oven is on, and then it can't keep up a boil once you've added the pasta) oh and some of the wiring is dodgy.
I've also just had the flu, which I knew I was going to get because everyone at work seems to have had this nasty 2-day flu and I've been so stressed with the car problems and house hunting and school and workload that I suppose it was inevitable.
On a happier note, as one of my 5 year plans was to do more things that make me happy and are productive, I've actually implemented Baking Sunday/Guinea Pig Monday, in which I bake something on Sundays and turn all my co-workers into Guinea Pigs on Monday. This way I get to test out all the tasy looking recipes I've been collecting, I get feedback on whether they're good and I don't gain 4000 pounds from eating a whole pan of brownies every week. Plus it will give me something to post about every week, if nothing exiciting has happened to me. I forgot to take a picture of week one which was a chocolate mocha brownie recipe from Bon Appetite's Fast and Fresh cookbook, with some randomly crafted cream cheese espresso frosting I decided they needed because the rack was in the oven too high and the very top of the brownies fot a little too browned looking for my aesthetics. They went over pretty well.
This week I decided that the Candy Apple Pie recipe I found on the Kitchn, really needed a try. I actually just followed the recipe on this one, usually I end up adding at least one extra spice or ingredient, but I just stuck to the directions this time, though I did use less pecans because the amount called for just looked like way too many as I was pouring them in. This is definitely a keeper. I wasn't very happy with my graham cracker crust, but it tasted fine, which is what counts, but it will probably take more practice to turn out pretty.
The recipe can be found here. Now I just need to figure out what to bake this Sunday.
27 February 2009
15 February 2009
Soundtrack to a Book Swap
So I'm finally getting off my butt and running this swap that I've wanted to do for like 5 years.
Back when I was still trying to write my novel (well I'm still trying to write it, I guess, I mean back when I thought I'd do more than incessantly re-work the 1st chapter) which reminds me I should start incessantly re-working the second chapter. I used to create these elaborate playlists to write to. I actually had a playlist and music profile for each of the 3 main characters. You know how there are method actors, well I might just be a method writer. Each character has a type of notebook paper and pen they like, their own handwriting, everything. (I never write first drafts on the computer, even my regular work, I'll figure out what copy should be on paper with pencil first.)
Anyway, I'm digressing, I always thought the book soundtrack was an under-explored idea and then [The Real] Tuesday Weld came out with his I, Lucifer album which was a soundtrack for the book of the same name that Glenn Duncan wrote. (It's both a great book and a great album that you should check out if you've never read/ heard them.) and I was excited to see someone else felt that way. OK, Poe's Haunted is also sort of related to her brother's book House of Leaves, but she also said that it was not a soundtrack it just followed similar themes because both works were influenced by their father's death. So obviously even though it's clearly related to the book (especially the song where her brother reads part of the book) she's just not that into the idea of writing an admitted soundtrack to a book.
At any rate I'm hosting a swap over on swap-bot for a soundtrack to a book. It should be both interesting and a nice challenge. Take a book and make a mix CD that relates to the book, either a true soundtrack, or where all the tracks are inspired by and related to the book's theme and/or characters. Then send a copy of the book and the mix to your partner.
You should sign up. It'll be fun.
Back when I was still trying to write my novel (well I'm still trying to write it, I guess, I mean back when I thought I'd do more than incessantly re-work the 1st chapter) which reminds me I should start incessantly re-working the second chapter. I used to create these elaborate playlists to write to. I actually had a playlist and music profile for each of the 3 main characters. You know how there are method actors, well I might just be a method writer. Each character has a type of notebook paper and pen they like, their own handwriting, everything. (I never write first drafts on the computer, even my regular work, I'll figure out what copy should be on paper with pencil first.)
Anyway, I'm digressing, I always thought the book soundtrack was an under-explored idea and then [The Real] Tuesday Weld came out with his I, Lucifer album which was a soundtrack for the book of the same name that Glenn Duncan wrote. (It's both a great book and a great album that you should check out if you've never read/ heard them.) and I was excited to see someone else felt that way. OK, Poe's Haunted is also sort of related to her brother's book House of Leaves, but she also said that it was not a soundtrack it just followed similar themes because both works were influenced by their father's death. So obviously even though it's clearly related to the book (especially the song where her brother reads part of the book) she's just not that into the idea of writing an admitted soundtrack to a book.
At any rate I'm hosting a swap over on swap-bot for a soundtrack to a book. It should be both interesting and a nice challenge. Take a book and make a mix CD that relates to the book, either a true soundtrack, or where all the tracks are inspired by and related to the book's theme and/or characters. Then send a copy of the book and the mix to your partner.
You should sign up. It'll be fun.
13 February 2009
another day another dollar (or where I buy things and pretend that's "helping the economy"
I finally got Gus back last night, after almost 2 weeks, and I'm not convinced yet that i won't have to bring him back in, because today on the way into work it really didn't seem as though the engine was behaving properly. (he maintains speed, though doesn't sound like he likes to travel fast anymore and as soon as you take your foot off the accelerator the rpms drop like a rock, which did not used to happen before this debacle.) Only it's been such a pain not to have an auto, and I was very unhappy that the repair shop was so miserable about keeping in touch about delays, that I really don't want to have to bring him back in. Honestly I was more upset about constantly having to call them everyday twice, once to check in and be told it would be done that day and then once again at the end of the day because i hadn't been called to say the car was ready (which of course was not ready, was oh tomorrow for sure) than I really was about how long it took.
I went to Target to pick up my prescriptions and found some more of the Orla Kiely stuff. Of course the canisters that I'm really coveting were still not in, maybe on Sunday. This roll out has been frustrating and really annoying. I'm not sure whether it was just horrifically mis-managed or just some devious plot to get people to go to target multiple times where they would be suckered into buying a bunch more stuff. G-d only knows I can't venture into Target without buying something I don't really need. That said the irritation still wasn't enough to stop me from purchasing. =) I picked up the apron, tablecloth, floor mat (though I don't really have anywhere to put that yet since I like my owl kitchen rug too much to transplant it. Perhaps after the move.)pear tea towels and oven mitts. They didn't have any of the pear placemats left or the coasters, I might have to scope a different Target later when I go back to hunt for the canisters and cups. I've decided I probably won't buy much of the dishes because I don't really like melamine. I'll probably just get a small tumbler for the washroom and a couple of the mugs.
It snowed like a mofo today, they even closed our office early. I hope the roads are cleared up by tomorrow, I really need to make a trip to the market.
I went to Target to pick up my prescriptions and found some more of the Orla Kiely stuff. Of course the canisters that I'm really coveting were still not in, maybe on Sunday. This roll out has been frustrating and really annoying. I'm not sure whether it was just horrifically mis-managed or just some devious plot to get people to go to target multiple times where they would be suckered into buying a bunch more stuff. G-d only knows I can't venture into Target without buying something I don't really need. That said the irritation still wasn't enough to stop me from purchasing. =) I picked up the apron, tablecloth, floor mat (though I don't really have anywhere to put that yet since I like my owl kitchen rug too much to transplant it. Perhaps after the move.)pear tea towels and oven mitts. They didn't have any of the pear placemats left or the coasters, I might have to scope a different Target later when I go back to hunt for the canisters and cups. I've decided I probably won't buy much of the dishes because I don't really like melamine. I'll probably just get a small tumbler for the washroom and a couple of the mugs.
It snowed like a mofo today, they even closed our office early. I hope the roads are cleared up by tomorrow, I really need to make a trip to the market.
07 February 2009
The Year can only go up from here.
This has managed to be one of the worst weeks ever. My poor little car, Gus's transmission decided to eat itself and had to go into the shop for some very expensive repairs on Tuesday, so I have been without a car. Floof's car is inoperable right now as well, so because the public transportation here is so, well, horrible (It takes 2 hours to get to work on the bus and it's a 20 minutes drive straight up the main street, and there is absolutely no way to get to the Sarpy Campus to go to class on it at all) we've had to bribe his brother into being so kind as to give us lifts to work. The repair shop guy told me 2 or 3 days, but in reality it will be 6-7 days, which is awful.
Then our apartment building decided to change everyone's locks, they gave 2 days notice via a wee piece of paper crammed in the door. Floof forgot to tell me and at any rate, during the work week the office is in essence not open to me because their hours are after I leave for work until before I get off of work, so even if I'd known I had 2 days to swap out our keys it wouldn't have helped. So, as you can guess, we got home Wednesday to find that our keys wouldn't work in the door and we had to call the maintenance emergency number and wait an hour on the floor in the hallway for someone to show up and let us in. Don't you think they should know which apartments hadn't picked up keys yet at closing time Wed and could have put the keys in our mailboxes, so at least we had a shot?
Floof and i are looking for a house now, to rent not buy since I'm still hoping that in the next few years I'll be able to get my Masters from KU's IxD program, so we'd be moving down to Lawrence for that. There are a lot of nice 3 bedroom places that are about $400 less a month than our loft (if you count the parking fees we have to pay here) I'm dreaming of a nice pantry and beautiful kitchen with a stove that works better than the evil one here. I think that will be the deal breaker for me. We've seen one on craigslist that comes with a pool table and are sort of day dreaming about it, not because it has a pool table, though that would make for great entertaining capabilities, but because of other photos we've seen of it. I just wish that all these expensive auto repairs could have held off until April after we've moved.
Then our apartment building decided to change everyone's locks, they gave 2 days notice via a wee piece of paper crammed in the door. Floof forgot to tell me and at any rate, during the work week the office is in essence not open to me because their hours are after I leave for work until before I get off of work, so even if I'd known I had 2 days to swap out our keys it wouldn't have helped. So, as you can guess, we got home Wednesday to find that our keys wouldn't work in the door and we had to call the maintenance emergency number and wait an hour on the floor in the hallway for someone to show up and let us in. Don't you think they should know which apartments hadn't picked up keys yet at closing time Wed and could have put the keys in our mailboxes, so at least we had a shot?
Floof and i are looking for a house now, to rent not buy since I'm still hoping that in the next few years I'll be able to get my Masters from KU's IxD program, so we'd be moving down to Lawrence for that. There are a lot of nice 3 bedroom places that are about $400 less a month than our loft (if you count the parking fees we have to pay here) I'm dreaming of a nice pantry and beautiful kitchen with a stove that works better than the evil one here. I think that will be the deal breaker for me. We've seen one on craigslist that comes with a pool table and are sort of day dreaming about it, not because it has a pool table, though that would make for great entertaining capabilities, but because of other photos we've seen of it. I just wish that all these expensive auto repairs could have held off until April after we've moved.
21 January 2009
Confessions of a Chili Anarchist
I'm making chili for dinner tomorrow. For me it's a two day process to make chili. I take it seriously, also I make really hot chili. We're talking the Guatamalan Insanity Pepper, need to drink a melted candle, go on a spirit quest hot. (Or at least a first test indicates that tomorrow's batch will fit this description.)
While I was wprking on the day one preparations, it occurred to me that I have never had an actual recipe for Chili, it's just pure chili anarchy. Not anarchy really, because I do actually have a method which doesn't really vary, but the ingredient percentages vary wildly. I've never had a bad batch though, just usually too many days worth of left-overs.
The BonjourMiette Chili Method:
approximate ingredients:
-Dark Red Kidney Beans (highest bean concentration)
-Black Beans (like 1 can)
-Great Northern Beans (like 1 can, these don't always make it in)
-Can of crushed tomatoes (the decently big size can)
-can of corn (sometimes it goes in, sometimes it doesn't)
-can of chopped green chilies
-peppers (couple of fresh jalepenos, fresnos, serranos, habeneros, and thai chilies if they're around and looking good, de-seeded and chopped up into wee bits)
-1 bottle of beer
-1 tube of gimme lean faux sausage
cayenne pepper
cumin
chili powder
cinnamon
cilantro
the method: This is a slow cooker method.
Day one:
mix crushed tomatoes, beans (rinsed), corn, chopped green chilies, and all the peppers in the slow cooker. Sprinkle in all the spices (except cinnamon) in a guesstimate of what will be good. Cook on low for a couple hours. Taste and adjust seasonings. Cool and put in fridge over-night to allow heat the develop and flavours to meld.
Day two:
Take inner part of slow cooker out of fridge, but back in base and turn on (low for 10 hours setting) tear the tube of faux sausage into chunks and put into chili. Pour bottle of beer in. add a wee bit of cinnamon. Let cook all day.
Serve with cheddar cheese shreds, crackers and sour cream.
Wax for tongue optional =)
19 January 2009
quick-date
So we're what 2 weeks deep in the new year and already I'm slipping on the resolutions front. I really miss the days before I get a "real" job and had the time to read and work on my art and go to the gym and all that.
The weather has been just awful the last week or so and I'm getting worried about how much longer Gus is going to last (Gus being my 12 year-old Ford Escort with about a zillion little problems that I don't want to pay to fix, because together they are worth more than the car.)
The weather has been just awful the last week or so and I'm getting worried about how much longer Gus is going to last (Gus being my 12 year-old Ford Escort with about a zillion little problems that I don't want to pay to fix, because together they are worth more than the car.)
06 January 2009
a post interrupted
So week 1 of 2009 and as usual I'm right on track with my resolutions, but how long will it last =)
A co-worker appears to be going through a too-young-to-be-midlife-midlife crisis in which she's gone out and pierced her tongue and dyed her hair red (now, don't think that I have anything against piercings and dying one's hair, as I think my hair has been every colour available in dye / koolaid at some point. I've never been much for piercings, I haven't even worn earrings since grade 10, but they can be cool looking) I think, for me, that it's more of an issue of seeming more contrived and not as if it's a part of personal style or character of the person making the changes, if that makes any sense.
At any rate, some of us were discussing it and another co-worker, who like me is rather indie-rock and quirky, said that the girl shouldn't bother, because she couldn't out weird her, and it reminded me of a conversation I had about a year ago with her, about how much it sucked that because our company is repressive (we can't wear necklines that fall below the collar bone, and they call that casual) we couldn't have pink hair anymore. It was a more inebraited than not discussion, but one thing that always stuck out to me about it was that she said she was known for having crazy hair-colours and she missed it because it took away her ability to be known for something (I'm paraphrasing here, but to me that was the gist of it.) I was drunk enough to over-think it and I thought it seemed sad to only be known, or want to be known for a hair style.
Okay, I had to pause in writing this because work popped up, and now I can't remember the long ramble I had in mind. I think I was thinking a lot about how I've always managed to not quite fit in look wise; too quirky for the "normal" people and too normal looking for the "quiry" people.
A co-worker appears to be going through a too-young-to-be-midlife-midlife crisis in which she's gone out and pierced her tongue and dyed her hair red (now, don't think that I have anything against piercings and dying one's hair, as I think my hair has been every colour available in dye / koolaid at some point. I've never been much for piercings, I haven't even worn earrings since grade 10, but they can be cool looking) I think, for me, that it's more of an issue of seeming more contrived and not as if it's a part of personal style or character of the person making the changes, if that makes any sense.
At any rate, some of us were discussing it and another co-worker, who like me is rather indie-rock and quirky, said that the girl shouldn't bother, because she couldn't out weird her, and it reminded me of a conversation I had about a year ago with her, about how much it sucked that because our company is repressive (we can't wear necklines that fall below the collar bone, and they call that casual) we couldn't have pink hair anymore. It was a more inebraited than not discussion, but one thing that always stuck out to me about it was that she said she was known for having crazy hair-colours and she missed it because it took away her ability to be known for something (I'm paraphrasing here, but to me that was the gist of it.) I was drunk enough to over-think it and I thought it seemed sad to only be known, or want to be known for a hair style.
Okay, I had to pause in writing this because work popped up, and now I can't remember the long ramble I had in mind. I think I was thinking a lot about how I've always managed to not quite fit in look wise; too quirky for the "normal" people and too normal looking for the "quiry" people.
30 December 2008
I dreamt I was pigeon slipping through the heavens like a 747
I'm incredibly bad at writing new year's resolutions and worse about keeping them. I'm always trying to come up with a new way to phrase it: Focuses for the Year; This Will be the Year of...; Themes for 2007; etc etc. This year I think it's Five year Plans for 2009 (I'm as likely to meet my goals as Lenin was right?)
~Five Year Plans for 2009
-Make a final decision about whether I want to get a second bachelors before I apply to the Masters program at KU and make a plan of what I need either way.
-Join gym, actually go to gym on regular basis.
-Stop letting work-burnout suck energy outside of work too.
Actually I'm going to stop there because that's the really important one and sort of everything else I'd like to do is all tied up in that. I'm a self-admitted workaholic and I just happen to work somewhere that exploits that fact for all it's worth and has done its best to make me feel guilty about every effort I have made to prevent burnout due to putting work before everything else in my life, so now I'd say I was on the precipice of being burnt out, and I haven't done anything creative in ages, I only seem to read technical books and I really need to stop the cycle.
Here are the things I'm planning to push myself to do this year:
-Buy sewing machine, start sewing again.
-Read 25 fiction books at minimum
-Try at least one new recipe on each of my weeks to cook
-Join the PrintMaker's Guild and do a few prints if not an edition book
-Attend at least 5 gallery openings
-Post a new blog entry here at least once a week
-buy one album (either physical or on itunes) a week
-learn to make a quilt
-pick up embroidery again
-Take the GRE by this time next year.
-Lose at least 25 pounds.
~Five Year Plans for 2009
-Make a final decision about whether I want to get a second bachelors before I apply to the Masters program at KU and make a plan of what I need either way.
-Join gym, actually go to gym on regular basis.
-Stop letting work-burnout suck energy outside of work too.
Actually I'm going to stop there because that's the really important one and sort of everything else I'd like to do is all tied up in that. I'm a self-admitted workaholic and I just happen to work somewhere that exploits that fact for all it's worth and has done its best to make me feel guilty about every effort I have made to prevent burnout due to putting work before everything else in my life, so now I'd say I was on the precipice of being burnt out, and I haven't done anything creative in ages, I only seem to read technical books and I really need to stop the cycle.
Here are the things I'm planning to push myself to do this year:
-Buy sewing machine, start sewing again.
-Read 25 fiction books at minimum
-Try at least one new recipe on each of my weeks to cook
-Join the PrintMaker's Guild and do a few prints if not an edition book
-Attend at least 5 gallery openings
-Post a new blog entry here at least once a week
-buy one album (either physical or on itunes) a week
-learn to make a quilt
-pick up embroidery again
-Take the GRE by this time next year.
-Lose at least 25 pounds.
14 November 2008
Coming soon...
Early resolution for 2009, start posting regularly again, both here and on Post.Modern.Mouse. I know blogging is on the outs, but I've never been too concerned with being cool.
27 May 2008
dreams of restless clouds
I finally have in my mind exactly what I'd like to do for a solo show. It seems so daunting though, not just all I need to create to have the pieces (as I have noting but their forms in my brain) but all the expense, and most of all the pitch to get it exhibited once it's done. It's there in my head now though, so one day it will be. I'll incorporate some prints, but the heart of it is back to my first medium. Film. I may have to transfer it to a digital format in the end, but I want to buy a bolex and do it proper. I also have grand dreams of building kinetoscopes. Maybe I'll end up being as I should have been all along, the offbeat animator buried inside.
In other news, my wrist is getting worse. I fell outside my building about a month and a half ago. I skinned up my knee and my wrist has hurt when I bend it at a 90 degree angle (hand up) ever since. I don't think I even caught myself with my wrist so I'm not sure what I did, but it seems to be getting worse and now hurts when I bend it 90 degrees the other direction and it gets stiff when I'm driving. It's my right hand so it's rather a pain.
In other news, my wrist is getting worse. I fell outside my building about a month and a half ago. I skinned up my knee and my wrist has hurt when I bend it at a 90 degree angle (hand up) ever since. I don't think I even caught myself with my wrist so I'm not sure what I did, but it seems to be getting worse and now hurts when I bend it 90 degrees the other direction and it gets stiff when I'm driving. It's my right hand so it's rather a pain.
22 April 2008
never going to be popular, but possibly the only art that's going to change us
Too many people, I think, think that the purpose of art is to look pretty, and that things that are ugly and inhumane or really at their depths show us the ugly and profane and inhumanness of humanity are not art. I saw that there's a facebook group to protest an artist whose art installation was a sick, starving and dying dog tied to a gallery wall. Many people apparently claim that the dog did starve to death, but other reports are that the dog was merely a very ill looking stray, was fed regularly while the exhibition wasn't open and escaped back to the streets after a few days. Either way a lot of people claim that this isn't art, just some sick inhumane man getting sport off an animals suffering. Really? Didn't this man's turning a spotlight on the miserable lives of stray animals? Didn't it pose intriguing questions about the nature of people who view the suffering and obviously pitiable condition of a living thing which was less fortunate, not of their own caste (situation) and whose condition that they could at any time have done something to improve (untied the rope and removed the dog to food and a vet) but chose not to because their interest was only served to look and pity and never to act? That methaphorically that dog was not only a dog, but the poor, the ill, the disenfranchised, the persecuted in any society whose lives we could all easily improve and show compassion for, but don't because to take action we would have to act differently than the rest of the group?
And what of the people who sign these petitions decrying the artist, so maybe some of them donate a couple of bucks to a charity for strays in Central America, do any of them really get what the artist was saying, would they really care about the dog or other dogs like him if it weren't for this man's exhibit? Would they even know about the plight of strays in Central America in the first place? Would they have taken time to look for a charity to give to if not for the way that this exhibit provoked them and challenged them to look outside their idea that somehow everyone on earth cared enough about stray dogs to save them from conditions that were deplorable?
The point of art is to challenge our notions, to give us sometimes surprising insights into things we over-looked or took for granted about things. It's to affect us in some way and say something. It is not merely to look pretty and show us the good and beautiful things. Personally I am absolutely convinced that this man's work is a piece of art. If it horrifying and ugly and repellent? Sure. Of course it is, but so is the fact that everyday millions of dogs and cats live that horrible existence and no one even looks at them let alone tries to save them. Here is a man who says, hey, don't ignore this dog, see how he is suffering. (though I do seriously hope that the reports that the dog was fed when the gallery was closed are true, sometimes you don't need the utmost of reality to get your point across.) Plus, Animal Planet makes a pretty penny in advertising $ with all their Animal Cops shows where viewers just sit and watch images of horrible animal cruelty so that they can get a jolt from saying how much they can't believe anyone could treat an animal like that and sometimes get a cathartic release seeing the person responsible arrested. It's not quite the same as standing there watching a dog suffer, but it's still a voyeuristic and somewhat sick form of entertainment.
In the end the ugly, nasty, and confrontation provoking art is probably the only art that has the power to change the world. We fight over its right to exist at all and yet we're never going to save ourselves and others from looking at a bowl of fruit and some flowers.
And what of the people who sign these petitions decrying the artist, so maybe some of them donate a couple of bucks to a charity for strays in Central America, do any of them really get what the artist was saying, would they really care about the dog or other dogs like him if it weren't for this man's exhibit? Would they even know about the plight of strays in Central America in the first place? Would they have taken time to look for a charity to give to if not for the way that this exhibit provoked them and challenged them to look outside their idea that somehow everyone on earth cared enough about stray dogs to save them from conditions that were deplorable?
The point of art is to challenge our notions, to give us sometimes surprising insights into things we over-looked or took for granted about things. It's to affect us in some way and say something. It is not merely to look pretty and show us the good and beautiful things. Personally I am absolutely convinced that this man's work is a piece of art. If it horrifying and ugly and repellent? Sure. Of course it is, but so is the fact that everyday millions of dogs and cats live that horrible existence and no one even looks at them let alone tries to save them. Here is a man who says, hey, don't ignore this dog, see how he is suffering. (though I do seriously hope that the reports that the dog was fed when the gallery was closed are true, sometimes you don't need the utmost of reality to get your point across.) Plus, Animal Planet makes a pretty penny in advertising $ with all their Animal Cops shows where viewers just sit and watch images of horrible animal cruelty so that they can get a jolt from saying how much they can't believe anyone could treat an animal like that and sometimes get a cathartic release seeing the person responsible arrested. It's not quite the same as standing there watching a dog suffer, but it's still a voyeuristic and somewhat sick form of entertainment.
In the end the ugly, nasty, and confrontation provoking art is probably the only art that has the power to change the world. We fight over its right to exist at all and yet we're never going to save ourselves and others from looking at a bowl of fruit and some flowers.
05 April 2008
Opera and opining
After a week of being easily angered over enviro-issues, I've decided I'm just not going to let myself be negative over self-congratulatory celebs (you missed, lucky you, me ranting about how un-filled with gushing praise for Leonardo DiCaprio actually practicing what he preached for a second and buying a multi-million dollar green condo I was) negative green-scenesters, or even how I think Method's new toilet bowl cleaner is slowly staining my bowl with blue streaks after just one use. Yes, if I wasn't so over-exposed to those "Keep Calm and Carry On" posters etc. I'd adopt it as m new motto.
Anyway I've started working on my new project, a jewelry rack for my necklace collection. I'm painting a bit of plywood (ok it's not a bit, it's like 2'x2', but Home Depot didn't have any smaller pieces of the right thickness)white with a grey and black design (I haven't decided what yet, but I saw a cross section of a petrol tree phloem the other day and I love the lines.) Then I'm going to screw cup hooks in to hold the necklaces and bracelets.
I went to the new staging of Aida that Opera Omaha just opened last night. They seem to be very into concept shows of late, which to be honest I think is pretty awesome. It's nice to see them taking artistic risks and pushing some boundaries (even though I wish that they didn't tend to show the same couple of well-trod operas in rotation. I swear I've seen at least 5 Carmens by now.) I really like the new staging, I was definitely interested to see that the dance during the celebration of the defeat of the Ethiopians was turned into more of a representation of the love triangle than the actual battle. All of the leads had perfect voices, but it's a shame that there seemed to be really poor sound design in general as especially during the first act there were huge dead spots where the mikes didn't pick up anything and the singers voices were swallowed into oblivion. This was especially disappointing during at least one scene where you couldn't hear Radames voice at all. The set design was hit or miss for me. I'd read an article in the paper about what the designer was trying to do with scale, and I think it's in the right direction and I loved that it was far more minimal than the set of the last production of Aida with it's giant gilt eagle, however I didn't really appreciate the black Egyptian lotus design on the columns, nor the massive white Lotus that formed another set and which looked like it was made out of cardboard frankly. I also felt that the altar monument looked far too Asian, and looked like it was built out of cheap plywood, which is hardly indicative of an altar to an Egyptian god. I did, however, love the use of the altar in the final scene as well as the giant archway that looked like abstracted tree branches at the Temple of Isis.
What I didn't think lived up to their job were the costumes. I didn't like them at all. They didn't seem harmonious with ancient Egypt, they seemed to fight for attention, looked awkward and ill-fitting, created ugly forms. The dancers looked like they just stepped off the set of an Ester Williams movie. Radames looked like he was wearing black Levis jeans under his tunic, Amneris's costume didn't fit in at all with any of the others and looked like it had been borrowed at the last second from a show set in Victorian times. Yuck all around. (and by the way I have it from members of the cast, at least some of them were created with fabrics that wrinkle so easily and badly that the cast was outlawed from sitting down in them or draping them over chairs as it would ruin them, which if you ask me is not a very practical design for a staging that they're trying to sell to other Opera companies)
So all in all, it was a good production, if you ignore the costumes, and the cast makes it worth seeing. I just don't know about it being a staging for the ages.
Anyway I've started working on my new project, a jewelry rack for my necklace collection. I'm painting a bit of plywood (ok it's not a bit, it's like 2'x2', but Home Depot didn't have any smaller pieces of the right thickness)white with a grey and black design (I haven't decided what yet, but I saw a cross section of a petrol tree phloem the other day and I love the lines.) Then I'm going to screw cup hooks in to hold the necklaces and bracelets.
I went to the new staging of Aida that Opera Omaha just opened last night. They seem to be very into concept shows of late, which to be honest I think is pretty awesome. It's nice to see them taking artistic risks and pushing some boundaries (even though I wish that they didn't tend to show the same couple of well-trod operas in rotation. I swear I've seen at least 5 Carmens by now.) I really like the new staging, I was definitely interested to see that the dance during the celebration of the defeat of the Ethiopians was turned into more of a representation of the love triangle than the actual battle. All of the leads had perfect voices, but it's a shame that there seemed to be really poor sound design in general as especially during the first act there were huge dead spots where the mikes didn't pick up anything and the singers voices were swallowed into oblivion. This was especially disappointing during at least one scene where you couldn't hear Radames voice at all. The set design was hit or miss for me. I'd read an article in the paper about what the designer was trying to do with scale, and I think it's in the right direction and I loved that it was far more minimal than the set of the last production of Aida with it's giant gilt eagle, however I didn't really appreciate the black Egyptian lotus design on the columns, nor the massive white Lotus that formed another set and which looked like it was made out of cardboard frankly. I also felt that the altar monument looked far too Asian, and looked like it was built out of cheap plywood, which is hardly indicative of an altar to an Egyptian god. I did, however, love the use of the altar in the final scene as well as the giant archway that looked like abstracted tree branches at the Temple of Isis.
What I didn't think lived up to their job were the costumes. I didn't like them at all. They didn't seem harmonious with ancient Egypt, they seemed to fight for attention, looked awkward and ill-fitting, created ugly forms. The dancers looked like they just stepped off the set of an Ester Williams movie. Radames looked like he was wearing black Levis jeans under his tunic, Amneris's costume didn't fit in at all with any of the others and looked like it had been borrowed at the last second from a show set in Victorian times. Yuck all around. (and by the way I have it from members of the cast, at least some of them were created with fabrics that wrinkle so easily and badly that the cast was outlawed from sitting down in them or draping them over chairs as it would ruin them, which if you ask me is not a very practical design for a staging that they're trying to sell to other Opera companies)
So all in all, it was a good production, if you ignore the costumes, and the cast makes it worth seeing. I just don't know about it being a staging for the ages.
02 April 2008
Is creating things really so bad?
So I read on Apartment Therapy today that a couple of big name designers, namely Phillip Stark, are running around bemoaning how they're single-handedly destroying the planet through their design careers and their enablement of mass consumerism; claiming they're going to quit and give up and a bunch of other green-frenzied hogwash. Give me a break, seriously. Not only do I find these headline-grabbing, born-again-green chest thumping to be pretty much entirely disingenuous and nauseating, but I'm getting tired of hearing about how anything that's not completely utilitarian and made from bamboo is the root of all evil. Perhaps it's that as an artist it kind of irritates me that somehow art, or things that are created sheerly for aesthetics are bad, and the cause of all the environmental ills in the world. There's nothing wrong with creating things for sheer aesthetics, there's nothing wrong with buying cool, or pretty or decorative things, it's not destroying everything. What the real problems are is people who view everything as disposable and buy everything put in front of them only to toss it when the trends change. The problem is cheap, low-quality crap, not good design. We all love product porn and have hundreds of covets every year in the consumer sphere, but we don't have to buy it all. I admit I quite unashamedly maintain a shopping blog, full of stuff I'd love to buy, but only occasionally will (or rarely can afford.) Perhaps then that jades my perception of consumer goods, but I'd like to think people throughout civilization have always owned consumer goods, the issue is just the way culture views these things as disposable. Maybe it's an issue of things being too affordable.
01 April 2008
if you don't have a solution just complain about everyone else
Back when I was a senior in high school and freshman in college I was really into ska. I remember moving to Boston for my first year at Emerson and just being really excited about the scene and discovering new music from other people who were into what I liked, instead of the usual situation where I was the one who took all the chances on buying random cassettes and recommending the good ones to friends. It was one of the very first music sub-cultures that I was in, mainly because where I lived before there wasn't a big variety of sub-cultures to get into and where there were people were overly obsessed with whether you fit the image of what they thought their rebellious group should look like (still a problem in that particular small city, where I'm once again living.) About a year later disaster struck; ska got trendy in the mainstream. All of a sudden there were tons of bands on the radio with that ska sound, some good, some pretty shite. Usenet got cluttered with newbies, and worst of all, people in the scene turned into raging, elitist assholes. Every post, every discussion turned into an obnoxious debate about whether or not a bands members had been appropriately introduced to ska through earphones being placed against their mother's womb, everyone who had a song on th radio was a sellout, everyone who was newly introduced to ska was a poser. The scene imploded. After that experience I refused to ever get involved with a scene, which in retrospect probably made it a lot harder for me to make friends because I stayed out of discussions and kept to myself at concerts.
The reason I bring this up is earlier today I was killing time reading a blog. It was a home and design blog dedicated to green concerns (which have certainly become trendy in the mainstream, almost to the point of overkill at least for me) and I was actually inspired to, well rant, about the same BS holier than thou negative attitude that ruined the ska culture in the mid 90s that I found in some of the comments. People bitching because the blog posted about consumer products that the commenters belittled as "plastic crap"; completely unhelpful condescending suggestions; and I'm clearly greener than you why don't you make the same effort I do sorts of crap. It really pissed me off for some reason. Well,actually, I know the reason. It irritated me because I think this particular blog is a place that people who are first starting to get interested in living more sustainably and trying to find products that have less environmental impact that the ones they're currently using and I think that nasty and negative attitude is only going to be off-putting to not only those people, but a lot of people who read blogs for a positive community and good ideas. It pisses me off because, well what's the point in it? If you feel like a new washroom air freshner from a company with green points is an un-necessary energy wasting piece of plastic consumer crap, then what good have you really done anyone by calling it that and admonishing people for not opening their bathroom windows? Did anyone learn what they can do instead that would be effective, but not involve energy waste or plastic or buying new stuff? (especially if they happen to be like me or most of the people I know who rent apartments and do not, in fact, have a bathroom window.) I think it's so lazy to post nothing but complaining and negativity without offering solutions for how the thing you have such a problem with can be made better. I bring up the ska scene, because I've noticed that most of this negativity I've only seen since green became the new big consumer trend and there are suddenly a lot more communities focusing on it and a lot more quasi-green consumer products popping up, leading me to think that it's a related syndrome. The help-the-thing-I-care-about-is-over-run-with-posers-who-think-it's-just-about-the-fashion syndrome.
The reason I bring this up is earlier today I was killing time reading a blog. It was a home and design blog dedicated to green concerns (which have certainly become trendy in the mainstream, almost to the point of overkill at least for me) and I was actually inspired to, well rant, about the same BS holier than thou negative attitude that ruined the ska culture in the mid 90s that I found in some of the comments. People bitching because the blog posted about consumer products that the commenters belittled as "plastic crap"; completely unhelpful condescending suggestions; and I'm clearly greener than you why don't you make the same effort I do sorts of crap. It really pissed me off for some reason. Well,actually, I know the reason. It irritated me because I think this particular blog is a place that people who are first starting to get interested in living more sustainably and trying to find products that have less environmental impact that the ones they're currently using and I think that nasty and negative attitude is only going to be off-putting to not only those people, but a lot of people who read blogs for a positive community and good ideas. It pisses me off because, well what's the point in it? If you feel like a new washroom air freshner from a company with green points is an un-necessary energy wasting piece of plastic consumer crap, then what good have you really done anyone by calling it that and admonishing people for not opening their bathroom windows? Did anyone learn what they can do instead that would be effective, but not involve energy waste or plastic or buying new stuff? (especially if they happen to be like me or most of the people I know who rent apartments and do not, in fact, have a bathroom window.) I think it's so lazy to post nothing but complaining and negativity without offering solutions for how the thing you have such a problem with can be made better. I bring up the ska scene, because I've noticed that most of this negativity I've only seen since green became the new big consumer trend and there are suddenly a lot more communities focusing on it and a lot more quasi-green consumer products popping up, leading me to think that it's a related syndrome. The help-the-thing-I-care-about-is-over-run-with-posers-who-think-it's-just-about-the-fashion syndrome.
27 March 2008
why is everyoe I know getting married?
So my ex is now engaged, and it makes me feel just inexplicably hollow a wee bit. I don't get it at all, I'm ecstatic for him because he seemed so blue about girls when last we spoke, which was just around the time he met his now fiancee, and more than that shortly after we split I met my current boyfriend who I love and am very happy with. And, yet, inside there's that just awful sinking inside, actually I think I felt more of a blow when I heard about the engagement than I did when he told me he'd met someone else when we split. I don't get emotions sometimes. Also why is everyone I know getting married? Seriously starting in June I'm going to be sitting through a lot of weddings. Some I'm excited about, others, not so much.
23 March 2008
Things I don't get about Ebay Sellers
I've been re-discovering my ebay addiction lately. I hadn't made a bid in over a year and then suddenly I've been on a tear buying vintage tupperware, and 70s pyrex, and fisher price toys, and Kid Robot vinyl collector's toys and of course vintage jewelry. I totally don't get how people expect to sell things like jewelry if they just have one dark camera-phone quality photo where you can't see any detail.
More than than though I have become intolerant of the word "rare" which seems to be attached to every damn listing on Ebay. "L@@K Rare Must See Vintage" If your item is so rare why are you selling it for $0.99? (not to mention if it's so rare why are there 40 other listings of the same thing?)
More than than though I have become intolerant of the word "rare" which seems to be attached to every damn listing on Ebay. "L@@K Rare Must See Vintage" If your item is so rare why are you selling it for $0.99? (not to mention if it's so rare why are there 40 other listings of the same thing?)
01 March 2008
Land of the Living
It's been an awfully long time since I kept up this blog and an awfully busy year to attempt to justify the absence, but I've decided I miss doing the blog thing and so I return. I'm moving to a new loft downtown with my boyfriend in 2 weeks, which is 2 blocks from the Bemis Centre, so there's definitely no good excuse for me to be too lazy to drive all the way down for openings anymore as well.
At any rate, I wanted to put on my former film student hat for a second and rant on the state of American film. So the other day I had a doctor's appointment and was reading the newspaper in the waiting room. There was an article about how dismal the ratings for the Oscars were this year and the article was really sort of complaining that it was in a way the Academy's fault for not nominating high-grossing films that scads of people had seen. This, well really cheesed me off for one, the Academy Awards are supposed to be about the best film-making, not which film can sucker the most people into going with the promise of the most explosions and tits, but beyond that I think it misses the mark about who to blame for the year's best films not being the year's most-seen films.
There have always been films and movies, films were serious about their art and movies were serious about pure viewer enjoyment and this is still true and will always be true, the problem is that there aren't enough hybrids anymore. That's the real reason that more high-grossing movies aren't making it to the Oscar list, they don't have enough craft to be there on their own merit. I mean, okay, I thought Forrest Gump was over-rated twaddle and I was livid that it won anything over Shawshank Redemption that year, especially Tom Hanks winning that second Oscar over Morgan Freeman which was an utter abomination, but despite the fact that Gump was mass market friendly and genuinely a movie (even without explosions) it was also a film. Jaws was a film and a movie, so was Jurassic Park, even the Matrix was an even balance of art and mass appeal at least until the second installment turned into an example of how Hollywood is derivitive and lazy most of the time, but it seems like there's a real dearth of old school directors who put out quality films that also happen to be giant spectacle blockbusters. Cinema is really the lesser for the lack of Hollywood buckling down and trying to put out well-written, well-acted, well-directed big-budget spectaculars instead of a spate of crap remakes and un=imaginative sequels. Steven Spielberg in the 80s was both an autuer and a man who understood the appeal of a good action flick and even he seems to have forgotten what it's about. I'm sure I'm no longer making sense, but the gist is I think the fact that Hollywood churns out crap and expects us to swallow it and directors with vision and talent seem mostly afraid to tackle making something as mainstream appealing as it is deep enough for the film theory fanatistes and that's a real shame.
Speaking of films, I just got back from seeing Be Kind Rewind, which despite being a comedy I cried during, which is I guess unsurprising in that I have cried at every Michel Gondry film ever. I can see why critical reaction is so mixed, honestly the film is a little slow, occasionally a little boring and while it's quite funny at times, Gondry's trailer of him recreating his own trailer alà the film's protagonists is far funnier than the film is. I couldn't not like it though because, well, the film is one big film theory essay on the very nature of film and really why it's important to us all. I don't know if it really succeeds for a viewer who can't read that, but it deserves a place in the not disappointing category for me because it reminded me of something I forgot and that's what made me cry.
I seem to have missed Persepolis, that sucks I was really looking forward to it. Though I guess I could make the drive to the Riepma Ross tomorrow, but I don't know if it's worth putting that many miles on my sick little car as nothing seems to take very long to come out on DVD anymore, and I'm woefully behind on good movies that are showing here still.
Son of Rambow looks half amazing and half schmaltzy feel-good-crap, I'll probably see it anyway. I am horrified by the Speed Racer trailer, one that there is a speed racer movie on the way and two because it looks like some kind of frightening concept film actually, I hate to say it, but it looks like the love child of Sirk and Bay, oh g-d, maybe I'm actually dying to see it. Maybe I was wrong maybe it's not Roland Emmerich who's the new Douglas Sirk, maybe it's the Wachowskis! Also Harold and Kumar escape from Guantanamo Bay? Are you serious Hollywood? Really?
At any rate, I wanted to put on my former film student hat for a second and rant on the state of American film. So the other day I had a doctor's appointment and was reading the newspaper in the waiting room. There was an article about how dismal the ratings for the Oscars were this year and the article was really sort of complaining that it was in a way the Academy's fault for not nominating high-grossing films that scads of people had seen. This, well really cheesed me off for one, the Academy Awards are supposed to be about the best film-making, not which film can sucker the most people into going with the promise of the most explosions and tits, but beyond that I think it misses the mark about who to blame for the year's best films not being the year's most-seen films.
There have always been films and movies, films were serious about their art and movies were serious about pure viewer enjoyment and this is still true and will always be true, the problem is that there aren't enough hybrids anymore. That's the real reason that more high-grossing movies aren't making it to the Oscar list, they don't have enough craft to be there on their own merit. I mean, okay, I thought Forrest Gump was over-rated twaddle and I was livid that it won anything over Shawshank Redemption that year, especially Tom Hanks winning that second Oscar over Morgan Freeman which was an utter abomination, but despite the fact that Gump was mass market friendly and genuinely a movie (even without explosions) it was also a film. Jaws was a film and a movie, so was Jurassic Park, even the Matrix was an even balance of art and mass appeal at least until the second installment turned into an example of how Hollywood is derivitive and lazy most of the time, but it seems like there's a real dearth of old school directors who put out quality films that also happen to be giant spectacle blockbusters. Cinema is really the lesser for the lack of Hollywood buckling down and trying to put out well-written, well-acted, well-directed big-budget spectaculars instead of a spate of crap remakes and un=imaginative sequels. Steven Spielberg in the 80s was both an autuer and a man who understood the appeal of a good action flick and even he seems to have forgotten what it's about. I'm sure I'm no longer making sense, but the gist is I think the fact that Hollywood churns out crap and expects us to swallow it and directors with vision and talent seem mostly afraid to tackle making something as mainstream appealing as it is deep enough for the film theory fanatistes and that's a real shame.
Speaking of films, I just got back from seeing Be Kind Rewind, which despite being a comedy I cried during, which is I guess unsurprising in that I have cried at every Michel Gondry film ever. I can see why critical reaction is so mixed, honestly the film is a little slow, occasionally a little boring and while it's quite funny at times, Gondry's trailer of him recreating his own trailer alà the film's protagonists is far funnier than the film is. I couldn't not like it though because, well, the film is one big film theory essay on the very nature of film and really why it's important to us all. I don't know if it really succeeds for a viewer who can't read that, but it deserves a place in the not disappointing category for me because it reminded me of something I forgot and that's what made me cry.
I seem to have missed Persepolis, that sucks I was really looking forward to it. Though I guess I could make the drive to the Riepma Ross tomorrow, but I don't know if it's worth putting that many miles on my sick little car as nothing seems to take very long to come out on DVD anymore, and I'm woefully behind on good movies that are showing here still.
Son of Rambow looks half amazing and half schmaltzy feel-good-crap, I'll probably see it anyway. I am horrified by the Speed Racer trailer, one that there is a speed racer movie on the way and two because it looks like some kind of frightening concept film actually, I hate to say it, but it looks like the love child of Sirk and Bay, oh g-d, maybe I'm actually dying to see it. Maybe I was wrong maybe it's not Roland Emmerich who's the new Douglas Sirk, maybe it's the Wachowskis! Also Harold and Kumar escape from Guantanamo Bay? Are you serious Hollywood? Really?
05 November 2006
twiddling thumbs in purgatory
I think I might be the worst bloody blogger ever. I always have such good intentions, then I'll drop off for a whole month or so. Seriously I even went to an openng and took notes and have the photo post for the review saved in a draft, but I just couldn't be arsed to write the damn thing up, and now it almost feels pointelss because the show is about to end if it hasn't already.
I think a part of that whole attitude of slack that's been permeating me lately comes from the fact that I'm still here. I mean I'd wanted to be all moved and starting my struggle for some sort reasonable life in the adult world by now, but that hasn't happened yet because actually making a transatlantic move costs so bloody much especially when you're on the awful end of the currency exchange. I'm trying to not be entirely seat of my pants about it because even though I've family up north , I have to be able to survive on my own. And whilst I wait to be solvent enough to leave I feel trapped in limbo.
I think a part of that whole attitude of slack that's been permeating me lately comes from the fact that I'm still here. I mean I'd wanted to be all moved and starting my struggle for some sort reasonable life in the adult world by now, but that hasn't happened yet because actually making a transatlantic move costs so bloody much especially when you're on the awful end of the currency exchange. I'm trying to not be entirely seat of my pants about it because even though I've family up north , I have to be able to survive on my own. And whilst I wait to be solvent enough to leave I feel trapped in limbo.
29 September 2006
my working process on a tilia stem print
I'm glad blogger finally got posting tags so I can group things easily. I went to a new opening at the Bemis Underground tonight so there will be a new review up soon. I really need to keep up on this blog for more than just the infrequent show critique (especially since lately it seems that every show I go to is a friend's and therefore against my unwriteen rule for review. It would be different if I was getting paid to write critiques, but I'm not I'm just writing them because I want to and also it's a better way to get writing samples than trying to whip something out at the drop of a hat. So generally I won't review the work of friends or personal acquaintances like professors, though one of my former professors does have work in the show I went to tonight and I'm going to review it, but I happen to really like her work and it's a grou show with a lot of artists so it wouldn't be prudent to review everyone but her.
Anyway I thought I would do a process series of posts on a piece I'm just starting work on. I'm still in my cellular material phase, but this one is going to be a print rather than a painting, so I thought that would be a good candidate for a process piece.
step 1: so I have a giant collection of microscopy photos of different types of cells. Whenever I'm thinking about starting another piece I scan through them looking for the general shapes or textures that I think will go well for whatever media I'm planning to work in. (oil paint, watercolour or linoleum carving prints. Though I've been thinking about screen prints lately as well) For this piece I decided on this tilia stem
step 2: once I've decided what image I want to work from, I take my chunk of linoleum and a pencil and sketch out first the basic arcs of what goes where and then fell in the detail. This is the first point where I ask myself why the hell I'm so into drawing such tedious intricate things :) (there will be many, many points during the carving process where I ask myself this. or in fact the painting process. I've started actually sketching out the images on my canvases now before I paint because it turns out nicer in the end than when I just did everything on the spur of the moment. I've just finished step 2 on this piece as you see below I've got my image and I'm all ready to start carving my lino.
To be continued as I get farther along.
Anyway I thought I would do a process series of posts on a piece I'm just starting work on. I'm still in my cellular material phase, but this one is going to be a print rather than a painting, so I thought that would be a good candidate for a process piece.
step 1: so I have a giant collection of microscopy photos of different types of cells. Whenever I'm thinking about starting another piece I scan through them looking for the general shapes or textures that I think will go well for whatever media I'm planning to work in. (oil paint, watercolour or linoleum carving prints. Though I've been thinking about screen prints lately as well) For this piece I decided on this tilia stem
step 2: once I've decided what image I want to work from, I take my chunk of linoleum and a pencil and sketch out first the basic arcs of what goes where and then fell in the detail. This is the first point where I ask myself why the hell I'm so into drawing such tedious intricate things :) (there will be many, many points during the carving process where I ask myself this. or in fact the painting process. I've started actually sketching out the images on my canvases now before I paint because it turns out nicer in the end than when I just did everything on the spur of the moment. I've just finished step 2 on this piece as you see below I've got my image and I'm all ready to start carving my lino.
To be continued as I get farther along.
17 September 2006
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