My last post said that Osama bin Laden was taken out near the Pakistan border. Turns out that is not true. He was taken out at a compound near the capital, Islamabad, in a fairly affluent district. Can you imagine? A terrorist mastermind living in the suburbs!
That would play pretty poorly in say, Newton, MA. Can you imagine how that would go over with the residents on Martha's Vineyard?
Weird.
More Later
KCD
Monday, May 2, 2011
By Way Of Contrast
Last night, major news outlets confirmed that master terrorist Osama bin Laden had been taken out by US forces in a raid on his compound near the border of Pakistan (I think). President Barack Obama delivered the news to the nation late on Sunday night in a televised address (interrupting "Brothers and Sisters", I might add).
A family mourns the passing of a daughter, sister, wife, mother, and friend, who by all accounts never sought to harm anyone.
A nation celebrates the passing of a deranged terrorist and murderer of thousands of people all over the world, including 3000 in one day in September 2001 in NYC. No one is sad that he is finally gone. Nobody cares that bullets took him out, not some disease, and no one, I assure you, gives a tinker's damn if he suffered.
Just goes to prove that some people make the world a better place by leaving it.
Osama bin Laden, terrorist and mass murderer.
Died May 1st, 2011, he leaves the world a fair bit better off by assuring that more people won't die at his hand.
Rest In Pieces.
More later
KCD
A family mourns the passing of a daughter, sister, wife, mother, and friend, who by all accounts never sought to harm anyone.
A nation celebrates the passing of a deranged terrorist and murderer of thousands of people all over the world, including 3000 in one day in September 2001 in NYC. No one is sad that he is finally gone. Nobody cares that bullets took him out, not some disease, and no one, I assure you, gives a tinker's damn if he suffered.
Just goes to prove that some people make the world a better place by leaving it.
Osama bin Laden, terrorist and mass murderer.
Died May 1st, 2011, he leaves the world a fair bit better off by assuring that more people won't die at his hand.
Rest In Pieces.
More later
KCD
Death In the Family
My partner, my beloved Barbi lost her sister on Easter Sunday, the 24th of April. So as you might expect, there aint been no posting going on. Last week I flew down to MD for the funeral. Barbi had been down there a week before visiting with her sister in what turned out to be her final days on Earth. I brought her home with me on Thursday. We laid low this past weekend. She remembered her sister and grieved. She will for a good while to come. But no one wanted to see her sister suffer, and she did. She's in a better place now. I believe that, cliched as it sounds.
Jacki Randall
Born April 12, 1951
Died April 24, 2011
She leaves behind a beloved sister, three brothers, a husband who loved her and fought to take care of her, two sons, three grandchildren, one just arrived, and her parents, as well as many friends. She will be remembered often and missed always.
Rest in Peace
More Later
KCD
Jacki Randall
Born April 12, 1951
Died April 24, 2011
She leaves behind a beloved sister, three brothers, a husband who loved her and fought to take care of her, two sons, three grandchildren, one just arrived, and her parents, as well as many friends. She will be remembered often and missed always.
Rest in Peace
More Later
KCD
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Possibilities
So I have been approached about teaching art. This is interesting because I have been drawing and making art for, well, all of my life (except for that time when I was really, really small and couldn't hold a spoon to eat my cereal, let alone a pencil to draw with), and I have never EVER attempted or even entertained the thought of trying to teach ANYBODY how to do what I do. I mean...I'm not a teacher. That's what I always thought. Well, that may be about to change. I have been involved with a project called Expressive Capital for a couple of years now, and it has evolved to the point of inviting people to teach what they love doing as a way to begin creating a new economy that works for everyone.
Simply put, the notion of "expressive capital" asserts that what you are passionate about, what you love doing, what you are really good at, has value, somehow intersects with what the market is calling for and can meet a need in a way that is sustainable for you and the community you live in. It assumes that everyone has something to offer and by offering it, you become empowered to make change in the world you live in. This has particular value for people who have been displaced by the current trends in the economy.
This is both a psychological/spiritual premise and a call to action with what you already have inside you, and one way to start offering what you uniquely have is by teaching it. So here I am. Considering this heretofore wild notion of teaching people the basics of drawing. But if I had $10 for every person that's ever told me that they "can't draw stick figures", I'd be writing this from my permanent vacation spot in Ogunquit, ME. Or Burlington, VT. Or....Montreal. Besides, I have a feeling that, given the current trends in the economy, we're going to need more creative people a good deal sooner rather than later.
More later
KCD
Simply put, the notion of "expressive capital" asserts that what you are passionate about, what you love doing, what you are really good at, has value, somehow intersects with what the market is calling for and can meet a need in a way that is sustainable for you and the community you live in. It assumes that everyone has something to offer and by offering it, you become empowered to make change in the world you live in. This has particular value for people who have been displaced by the current trends in the economy.
This is both a psychological/spiritual premise and a call to action with what you already have inside you, and one way to start offering what you uniquely have is by teaching it. So here I am. Considering this heretofore wild notion of teaching people the basics of drawing. But if I had $10 for every person that's ever told me that they "can't draw stick figures", I'd be writing this from my permanent vacation spot in Ogunquit, ME. Or Burlington, VT. Or....Montreal. Besides, I have a feeling that, given the current trends in the economy, we're going to need more creative people a good deal sooner rather than later.
More later
KCD
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Delays! Delays!
For those of you who are attempting (like me) to make a go of blogging, this will serve as an example of how tough it can be to stick with. Life can (and does!) intrude on the best laid plans. In my case, the intrusion came in the form of an unexpected trip to the hospital. After a diagnosis of "third nerve palsy", I was admitted to the ER and then to the hospital for tests which turned out to be (thankfully!) negative for things like a stroke, an aneurysm or anything related to it that might be causing pressure on the third cranial nerve which controls eye movement. The causes could be anything like what I just mentioned, to hypertension, or diabetes. A nurse suggested to me that it could be caused by a virus or an infection. In any case, it has the effect of causing the eye to close, swelling, and double vision.
The condition, from everything I've read, and from conversations with doctors, does usually reverse itself. It takes about 6-8 weeks. As of Sunday, March 20th, I'll have been out of the hospital a month. My left eye has resumed its cosmetic shape and appearance, and I have almost normal vision with a little double vision, but that gets better with time. I'm 2-4 weeks ahead of schedule.
Now for those of you who always laughed at the line that if you make faces, one day your face could freeze like that, well...they weren't entirely wrong. You could say mine did. And I wasn't even making faces.
Hence, the delay in posting. This is a work in progress.
More later
KCD
The condition, from everything I've read, and from conversations with doctors, does usually reverse itself. It takes about 6-8 weeks. As of Sunday, March 20th, I'll have been out of the hospital a month. My left eye has resumed its cosmetic shape and appearance, and I have almost normal vision with a little double vision, but that gets better with time. I'm 2-4 weeks ahead of schedule.
Now for those of you who always laughed at the line that if you make faces, one day your face could freeze like that, well...they weren't entirely wrong. You could say mine did. And I wasn't even making faces.
Hence, the delay in posting. This is a work in progress.
More later
KCD
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Hearing More From Me
Last post I said I would talk about what Lady Gaga and the Jersey Shore cast have to do with art, since this is an art blog after all. Here we shall attempt to answer the question. In the case of the "Jersey Shore" cast (I use the word advisedly), what you're dealing with here is, in the most charitable terms, a watered down kind of direct film making. Don't let's call it cinema verite' as that would require real actors who are essentially making it up as they go. It's called improvisation. In this case, it's more of a documentary style set-up where real people (yes, these are real people) are just being themselves. We may find this objectionable, but what we're objecting to, may I suggest, is the people themselves, not necessarily the technique. Although one could object to that as well, since there's no real sophistication of technique here. One could also argue that there's no sophistication of technique at C-SPAN either, but C-SPAN doesn't typically make you want to scream "My eyes! My eyes!" as you run from the room. And there is an important difference here: C-SPAN is journalism perhaps at its purest. "Jersey Shore" is not, nor does it attempt to be. It's art of a low brow sort, and I'm perhaps being generous here and perhaps it's that because of its so-called "cast".
I could say I don't get the appeal, but then I don't get the appeal of what is called "reality TV".
Having said that, I don't really get Lady Gaga. But she is clearly seeking to be the art, not just the artist. She is memorable as much for her outsized fashion sense and her persona as she is for her music. In fact, the music is to me somewhat forgettable. Throwaway pop. What sticks is...well, her. You won't forget the meat dress. You won't forget the shoes that looked like they'd only fit a giant praying mantis. You won't forget the stands she takes. She's worth watching because as an artist, she's bound to evolve, and whether you like it or not, her transformations will be fascinating, won't they? Now I won't be watching her like her fans will (her Little Monsters), but she'll be pretty hard to miss. We will keep hearing from her for a while I suspect.
Now...since this is my art blog, you must be wondering, where's MY art, right? Well, fear not. At last I have something worth sharing and you'll see it next post.
More Later
KCD
I could say I don't get the appeal, but then I don't get the appeal of what is called "reality TV".
Having said that, I don't really get Lady Gaga. But she is clearly seeking to be the art, not just the artist. She is memorable as much for her outsized fashion sense and her persona as she is for her music. In fact, the music is to me somewhat forgettable. Throwaway pop. What sticks is...well, her. You won't forget the meat dress. You won't forget the shoes that looked like they'd only fit a giant praying mantis. You won't forget the stands she takes. She's worth watching because as an artist, she's bound to evolve, and whether you like it or not, her transformations will be fascinating, won't they? Now I won't be watching her like her fans will (her Little Monsters), but she'll be pretty hard to miss. We will keep hearing from her for a while I suspect.
Now...since this is my art blog, you must be wondering, where's MY art, right? Well, fear not. At last I have something worth sharing and you'll see it next post.
More Later
KCD
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)