record(ed)

apparently awards season has started down in the land of indie. here's a delight from Craig Zobel's candid study of the recording industry: "Great World of Sound."

advertising+art

::Trend:: by Matt Siber, from the series “Compare to…,” 2006/2007. Digital C-print, 25 x 20 inches.

because I'm on a roll... the Photographic Resource Center has this awesome paradoxical show up right now, AD/AGENCY, featuring photographers who manipulate advertising images, or use and abuse commercial photography to comment on consumerism. The best part is that the curator, Leslie Brown is showing it now! During the holiday blitz! Art humor.

one more reason...

::Lucy In the Field With Flowers::
Oil on canvas by Unknown
24" x 30"
Acquired from trash in Boston

...to love Boston. MOBA — the Museum of Bad Art. This place is on my wish list of visitations here in the greater beantown area. And the whole idea of the museum reminds me of a documentary we saw a month ago — My Kid Could Paint That — about the debacle surrounding 4-year-old Marla Olmsted. The doc not only addressed whether or not Marla could actually paint the works displayed under her name, but if what she was said to have created was actually ART. love it. love it. Personally, I'm not here to judge Marla (she's got enough to worry about) or art (plenty of awesome books/magazines/critics to do that). But it is interesting to jump into the whole debate and throw some opinions around.

For example, I recently got into a heated debate about when someone can be defined as an 'artist.' We had to actually call up a third party to ask their thoughts. This third party put in her two cents on putting it at, 'when a person creates art, they are an artist.' This same third party just told me two weekends ago that (and I quote), "Painting is dead." Which leads me to believe getting your MFA in New York is potentially hazardous to your health. Proceed with caution.
(*disclaimer: I've also known several others to get their mfa's in new york who've turned out fairly normal... of course it took a moment or two for them to snap out of their pretentious fog... it happens, I guess).

bronx=up, battery=down

once when I was a baby (don't worry, I don't actually remember this... it's been retold to me so many times it's become family folklore), I was having a pissed off moment. You know the type of moment -- the kind where my parents tried everything. Fed me. Changed me. Walked me. Nothing worked. So my dad started singing a song from On the Town (the Broadway version as you'll obviously notice)... "New York New York It's a helluva town/ The Bronx is up and the Battery's down/The people ride in a hole in the ground/ New York New York! It's a helluva town!" and then Gene Kelley proceeds to do several amazing dance moves...

ANYway, he sang it approximately 56 times in a row. I can't be certain as to whether I kept crying because he was singing, or stopped because he'd hit that magical number of 56...

But anyway, I've been humming that song all day, because we're heading to la grande pomme tonight and I can't wait! So here's to you, dad. and gene kelly, of course.

i made myself go...

because it looked like it might not be my cup of tea. You know, when you see a poster of Kevin Bacon and Marcia Gay Harden looking all sad and distraught, and the title of the movie seems uninspired (Rails & Ties? really?), it just puts me in a 'do I hafta?' mode. But, it was a free screening, which trumps all the other excuses bar none.

And... it was good! The acting wasn't contrived, the plot was believable and the sad parts didn't bother me. The night turned out well — slices of pizza from Emma's, watching a great movie with marie — actually making me forget that I'd waited for a half an hour in the cold for the bus to take me to Kendall... *sigh*

bambino

and here he is, sent all the way from baltimore, evey's baby boy.
what a doll! can't wait to meet him.

sometimes you just can't help yourself...

...you get sucked into the weird recesses of flickr. this is an example of what happens when the Secret Science Club has a contest. and not just any contest, but the third annual Carnivorous Nights Taxidermy Contest. And there you have it. A squirrel with a sombrero.

p.s. would this be considered art? or humor? or art with humor? or... just too weird and sick for words? I think I may enjoy visiting the 'humor' camp too much.