Spontaneous Musings

Well, I finished another watercolor tonight. This one was of a girl reading on the train. Proof people still read books, not kindles, not cell phones, but books on trains.

Wales was surprised I stated this. She reads books all the time on the train and sees other people doing it too. So maybe it's a Manhattan thing?
Wales works in Manhattan. I work at the tail end of Queens.

Speaking of...Lee told me today that this is her last week at the Queens location, next week she moves back to the Manhattan one. I burst out laughing.
( Read more... )
**

I have somehow managed to get my AIC to 6.2. So my diet choices are working. (Basically no carbs or limited. Lots of greens, proteins, and limit on sugar.)

The Polish Super who doesn't actually know English but speaks Russian fluently, came by to check the fire safety in my apartment. I told him one of fire alarms wasn't working - he ignored it. And seemed to be okay with the fact that kitchen windowsill wasn't completely clear for escape (it was clear enough - I can get out). Personally, I'd rather have the fire escape out the bedroom - because if a fire enters my home - it's coming to the kitchen. At any rate - I don't see myself surviving a fire in this building. Without some serious injury.

Back hurt from Saturday's shenanigans. (I cleaned out the bottom of my hall closet). Everyone I've told was impressed - if they'd seen the closet, they would have been more so. Although - I still need to get rid of the extension chords, television cables, and humidifiers.

****

Talked to Wales on Sunday - she told me that she could set up a show for my work if I wanted. She thinks I should have an art show - and the watercolors are good. I, of course, see flaws. Some are better than others. I should probably go back to just doing one person portraits. With the two people portraits, one of the people doesn't quite work. She said they reminded her of another artist's work - who did subway passengers, but he did long rows of people from more of a distance. Mine were more initimate portraits.

I'm think of doing superheroes on subways next. Except drawn as real folks. Such as an out of shape Batman. Basically folks going to Comic Con.
( watercolor of girl on train )

It didn't quite come out like I wanted. The man's outfit should have been more of lighter yellow, than orange and red, but I was trying to cover up the harsh pencil lines. Also while his face is dark, I think I screwed up with his features.

The girl reading is perfect however. She actually looked like that. Even down to the outfit. I just wanted the light green to come out more. It does in person. Photographs tend to darken or brighten colors and flatten the painting a bit.

Here's the Work in Progress...
( girl in train painting in progress )

***

Killing John Wayne has about four hours left in it. It's a long-ass book. I've gotten through the filming of the Conqueror - dear lord, that was harrowing.

( more on the making of the film and the fallout )

I discussed this with mother, who informed me that she'd seen the film too - just didn't remember it, outside of seeing it and that it was awful.

Me: That bad eh?
Mother: Well can you envision John Wayne as Genghis Khan?

No. LOL!

Wayne went back to safe territory - Westerns with John Ford, and ended up doing one of the best films of his career, best roles of his career, and later determined to be among the best films of the genre - "The Searchers".

Ironically, the Searchers and The Conqueror (that's what the Genghis Khan film was called) were released at the same time. ( how well the Conqueror did at the box office - a heck of a lot better than you'd expect, seriously people are weird )

The reason it was released so late - was Howard Hughes, who was holding it as collateral in the sale of RKO. He refused to release it until he got paid fully for the sale of the film studio.

It took the buyer of RKO (Mike Lee (I think that was his name, might have been Tom Lee), about four years to pry the film from Howard Hughes.

The reason it did so well - was it had Hayward and Wayne as box office draws. And people were curious - due to the marketing blitz. They went nuts with the marketing, and premiers and the red carpet. People lined up for blocks to see their idol - John Wayne. (He was kind of the equivalent of Tom Cruise - now, except even more popular and much bigger?)

But it was really bad.

Oh, I found the original theatrical trailer!
( The Trailer for The Conqueror )

It's basically a toxic male historical romance or boddice ripper. And the dialogue and performances are astonishingly bad - as you can tell from the trailer. There were good films made in the 1950s, this just wasn't one of them.

The audiobook goes into detail. ( the details of why it was so bad )

I've not gotten to the bit about a quarter of the cast and crew contracting and dying of cancer. The Director, all four of the leads, and several of the supporting cast, and crew all died of cancer ten to fifteen years later. And their kids who were on the set - all had brushes with cancer.
I did read about it on Wiki though. A lot of people from that film ended up dying of cancer - the percentage was so high, people wondered, but not high enough to get money from the government. Agnes Moorehead's estate sued. Wayne said it was probably his six pack of cigarettes a day habit that did him in, and June Allison said the same of Dick Powell. Both died of lung cancer.

1. Interesting Art vs. The Artist - and read the comments, they are more interesting than the post. I know, it's an odd thing to actually tell people to read the comments - usually you want to avoid them at all costs, but in this case - READ THEM. Scalzi does an excellent job of monitoring comments. The post is by his daughter.

And so comes the age-old question; how much can you separate an artist from their art? Are you a bad person if you enjoy the creations of a flawed creator? Can I still watch Baby Driver even though Kevin Spacey is in it? Can someone enjoy a Woody Allen movie or does that make them complicit in his awfulness? Can I still love a book series even if the author turns out to be really problematic?

If you consume the creation and enjoy it and don’t know about the bad deeds of the creator, does that make it okay because you simply didn’t know? And then if you find out and continue to enjoy that thing, does that make you a bad person? What if it’s been years and years since said celebrity got “cancelled”? After a certain time period, is it okay to enjoy your problematic faves again? If you acknowledge that the creator is flawed and keep that in mind while consuming their media, does that make it acceptable, or worse?

Sample comment:

I think most of the comments have hit it on the head with “it’s up to the person consuming the artist’s work”. My personnel opinion boils down to a saying I was recently given by a co-worker “There are people I can work with, but never drink beer with; and there are people I can drink beer with, but never work with”. I believe people and artists are multi-faceted and it is ok to only like or deal with certain parts of that person/artist and acknowledge that there are parts of that person that you don’t or won’t deal with.

I agree with that comment. I decided not to post one - since it had already been covered. My view has always been that people are not all one thing.

I knew a sociopath in a Federal Penitentiary who created beautiful art. His art was in no way diminished by his actions.

2. Quick Poll on What Meme To Do Next

Personal Milestone.

Eighty days.

Eighty days since I was on a subway or any other mode of transportation. Eighty days since I walked further than Greenwood Cemetery or Prospect Park.

Eighty days.

And yes, the number of hospitalizations, cases, deaths, etc are down - they are at the numbers they were on March 6. According to the Governor, we not only flattened the curve - we frigging bent it - something he claims no one else has done. (Keep in mind he's a born and bred New Yorker from Queens, with Brooklyn roots.) More on that later.

But first...

1.) To celebrate? My desk chair arrived.

Good news? It was fully assembled.

Bad news? They left it in a enormous box in the lobby of my apartment building. Apparently, it was too much trouble to lug it upstairs and place it outside my apartment like they did with the paper towels.

I went downstairs and stared at the enormous 75 pound box and it stared back at me. ( getting a fully assembled 75 pound desk chair in a huge box up to a third story apartment is not as easy as it looks )

See - a fuzzy picture of the partially dismantled box containing the chair in the hallway in front of my apartment. It's fuzzy because I hadn't eaten yet, my hands were shaking.

( fuzzy picture of box with chair inside it )

Took a while to pull it out - it was not easy pulling that chair out of the box. There are downsides to living alone. Such as pulling heavy desk chairs out of boxes.

Why did I get it? Because current desk chair has been threatening to collapse on me since April. I live in fear it will - when I least expect it.
Also, my boss informed us all at the last staff meeting that we would most likely be working remotely from home for the foreseeable feature - my work does not require me to be in the office. I can do it from home with little difficulty. It's actually cheaper and easier for the organization if I continue to do it from home. Saves them a hell of lot of problems.

Anyhow pictures of new desk chair and old one...aren't you happy that I figured out the picture downloading thing? Also shows you my work space, computer table, wireless mouse, and lap-top lift top. Along with the window that I get to look out of each day.
( pictures of old and new desk chairs side by side )

Shitty desk chair is on the left, I think. You can sort of tell. The new one has adjustable lumbar support, headrest support, back inclination, arm rests, and seat height. Also it's very sturdy. It's not going to collapse on me.

( picture of work station with desk chair - only laptop is missing )

I can deduct the cost from my taxes next year as a business expense, along with wifi, and other related computer expenses. Also I got it on sale via Amazon (I did buy the warranty - in case the damn thing came damaged or broke), I didn't go for the premium leather - and it was the version rec'd by wirecutter magazine and New York Times for best ergonomic chair on the market at the moment. It's the Steelcase Leap Erogonomic Chair - I got black. It goes better with my apartment design scheme. (I do care about these things on some level.)

2. It looks like it is going to storm - the clouds are dark and ominous and it's in the upper 80s with 100% humidity. ( Read more... )

Mother talked to brother this morning, and apparently my brother is doing well with his vegetable farm in upstate New York. He's even built his own outdoor kitchen next to a fire pit for canning, and making maple syrup. Meanwhile..his wife, besides designing her own jumpsuit, has been harassing museum curators.

( sisinlaw vs. museum curators, also New York Counter Culture Fashion design )

3. New York vs. the Corona Virus

New York has managed to do what was seemingly impossible a mere month ago - it has defeated the Corona Virus. It's reached almost 0% infection rate. We went from 57% infection rate on testing to almost 0% in a little over 96 days.

We've bent the curve. We also lost over 30,000 lives (confirmed) to the virus - possibly more if you add the probable. And over 379,000 have been infected in the State of New York. We were the hardest hit. But we've rallied - apparently, and the infection rate is at an all time low - which means NYC is scheduled to enter Phase #1 next week and other counties will enter Phase #2.

In other news, this is what the Entertainment Community has sent the Governor's of New York and LA regarding how they plan on handling COVID-19 in their filming and workplaces.

( excerpt )

Rumor has it that they will be back to filming or back to work at any rate by June 12. New York has kind of laid the ground work for how they can continue to move forward in the age of COVID-19.

*Contact Tracing
* Test, Test, Test
* Temperature Taking
* Social Distancing
* Masks
* Washing hands
* Disinfectant

Apparently Mass Transit - subways and Long Island Railroad Trains are disinfected trains now - according to the Governor - they are cleaner than his house and bathroom or anyone's. Like I said at the beginning of this whole trip down the rabbit hole - New York is certainly going to be really clean.

4. The Black Lives Matter Movement vs. the Police & the US Government & All Lives Matter

Right now, the Black Lives Matter Movement has encompassed us all. Also the police infractions and brutality has ...become widespread. It kind of always was. I remember being robbed back in 2005, and the police coming to my apartment and laughing at me. I did have a decent conversation with two black female cops about Buffy. I went to the station to see if they'd recovered my goods and they laughed at me again. The white male cops did.
Then, in 2009, when I left my wallet at work - a black cop, kindly gave me enough money to get home and talked me out of cancelling all my credit cards - stating it was probably at work. (It was.)

[Speaking of work - my old MP3 player is still there - although I no longer use it - preferring the phone. But still.]

There are some good articles out there on it:

* How to Actually Fix Americas Police

( excerpt )

* Interesting take on the Black Lives Matter vs. All Lives Matter Controversy
( Read more... )

Buffalo Police Officers Suspended and Charges Filed After Allegedly Shoving 75 Year Old Protestor

This is the video that enraged and sickened the Governor of New York and everyone else. One woman from my church, who is an attorney, went so far as to call the Erie County Mayor's Office and asked why the other policemen weren't charged for walking by the man, and even kicking him to one side.
The Mayor's office explained - they were investigating it, and that actions were being taken, and they had a lovely discussion.

I also saw the Governor and Lt. Governor address it at the latest news briefing this morning. (I try to watch them every day because I don't quite trust the media - as much as I once did. They are bored and like to exaggerate things. I watched them do it.)

Apparently the policemen who resigned - didn't really resign, so much as have their unit resigned and sent home with pay. They are removed from emergency duty and collecting a paycheck for the time being. The reason for this is that they are covered under a "union" contract. If you are under a "contract" or collective bargaining agreement - then you are protected from certain things like being fired. Only "at-will" employees can be fired outright or with cause. A Union employee under a contract - requires a bit more information and investigation. You can't just fire them. There's good reasons for this - it is in part to protect the police, firemen, teachers, nurses, transit workers, etc from being arbitrarily fired without cause or for doing something right. Unfortunately, it also protects the assholes.
(Kind of like the First Amendment.)

There is an investigation underway. And this week - New York plans to pass into law legislation that will aid in the investigation and firing of police who commit these violations of power. I don't think it is enough - but it is a start.

A Letter Not From a Birmingham Jail

( excerpt )

What have I done?

( Read more... )

I leave you with...a picture of the earth taken from a plane window ages ago...showing how tiny we all are and how we are truly a part of each other and this world we live in, whether we can see it or not from down on the ground.

Well, that art walking tour I did in Chelsea - turned out much better than I expected. I met new people and, was told at the end of it, by at least four people, that my presence made the walk worthwhile for them and interesting. My comments added something to it.

We toured four-five galleries and instead of just looking at the art, we discussed the art in depth, and in one gallery with the artists themselves. Haven't done that since undergrad. I know quite a bit about art - due to the fact that my brother and sister in law are professional artists, sis-in-law's parents are professional artists, and one of my best buds worked in numerous art galleries and museums and got her degree in art. And...well, I've also studied art at different points in my life. So I was able to talk about it quite a bit, and with others who equally knew things about it.

The work that stayed with me or resonated was a photography exhibit in the Bruce Silverstein Gallery. The Silverstein exhibits photography picked by top museum curators from around the world, which has not been seen in New York. The artist that blew me away was Raphael Dallaporta. Whose exhibit is here:

http://silversteinphotography.com/galleries.php?gid=358&i=37&page=next


Guess what these are pictures of:

1.

2.


( answer )
Appearances can be deceiving was the motto of the day. Each peice of art work changed after we spoke about it. What at first glance appeared to be one thing, became something completely different later. Most of the artists we visited were playing with perception. The first gallery featured hyper-realism or photo-realism. The paintings looked like three dimensional photographs - it was not until we looked closer that we noticed they were in fact paintings. Another gallery took violent acts or sports and changed them, making us see something else - also playing with photo-realism, so that the paintings appeared upon first glance to be photographs. There was a particularly arresting picture of two boxers that looked like two lovers - or a sexual interaction, the artist had blurred the image in such a way to suggest a sexual connotation to the subject matter.

One gallery - displayed a picture of four teenage Africans, standing in front of what appeared to be a landfill, holding twenty dollar bills and grinning. I passed it by a couple of times barely glancing at it, but then stopped and looked at it more closely when I noticed four people staring at it and chatting about it. It was a photograph. Not a painting. The kids were in what appeared to be Western attire, even if the location did not appear to be Western. They were dirty. There was someone working in the background. And one of the bills had blood on it. We wondered if they found the money or had been given it. By their grins, it appeared they'd found it.

This same gallery had two sculptures - one that was a scale, with a bucket of lightbulbs dressed up as women's breasts, and on the other side a stack of books, the scale was heavily weighted towards the breasts. We determined that the message was Sex was more important or heavier than knowledge. OR, as I said, the male view of women - was to appreciate her sexually or how she appeared sexually, over her intellect. Another person said it was representative of the (heterosexual) male - that he focused more attention and importance on sex over knowledge. This was reinforced by a sculpture that was more stereotypically femine - it had a laundry wheel, brushes, combs, and other household utensiles with a grinder and weighted down by a log. Women chained by their housework and maintenance of themselves. Somewhat disturbing exhibit, which resonated but was not likable.

Cecily Brown (I thought it was Addams, could have sworn it was, but it is Brown) was the third artist that stood out - her paintings were abstract expressionism. Apparently she'd made her mark in pornographic art and somewhere along the line changed to abstract expressionism. One appeared to be a humorous take on the traditional still life, which incorporated a bit of critique of Francis Bacon - which none of us really saw. As one of the guys stated - Bacon is more violent and passionate, and the painting was rather cold and calm in comparison. I'm admittedly not a fan of abstract expressionism - find it rather frustrating and bit busy. It does make the viewer work - at first glance it looks like nothing, but a bunch of pant splattered against canvas. You look deeper, you see faces, deeper still you see a form of a woman lying in the forest with trees and leaves around her. One painting looked like an Angel with wings or so we thought, until the tour guide derailed us with her rather bland description of the woman just lying relaxed on the forest floor. Go here:

http://www.studio-international.co.uk/studio-images/cecily_brown/roody_hooster_b.asp

The tour guide goes by the theory of "Artistic Intent" - in which the artist does the work with the desire to communicate a specific point of view and if you do not see it, it is not successful. My view - which I got from my brother, a conceptual artist, was that the artist is interested in interaction and realizes that you may or may not see what he or she is communicating, that to a degree we all project what we want to see on the art. And it's success is not limited to our ability to only perceive what the artist intended. I've had similar arguements regarding authorial intent online. I think once the art is out there - you no longer have much control over how others perceive it and to a degree their perceptions can enrich your work or denigrate it beyond recognition depending on how clear your message is. So yes, to a degree, how well you've communicated your original intent as an artist - does show how sucessful and good the work is, but if someone cannot interact with it, cannot find something personal to themselves that resonates for them - is your work universal or merely self-indulgent? Does it expand past yourself?

Interesting afternoon, not at all what I expected.