Category: Art

A New York State of Mind

Ran out of juice, so I did not post it from my phone, but we went to the Empire State Building, and walked around the lobby taking pictures of the (now restored to original) Art Deco interior.

The line for the observation deck was too long, and the price for the elevator trip to the top deck was $42 (!) so we did not go up.

After we finished with our impromptu tour, we grabbed pretzels from a street vendor and walked down the East 33rd street, where we hit the Fashion Museum.

From there, we took the subway to the construction site for the new World trade center, and then the PATH back to where we had parked our car.

Fun time.

Interesting Idea

Green Eagle observes on the web, you can judge a book by its cover:

………

As a motion picture art director, I work a lot with graphic artists constructing imitation documents of one kind and another. Perhaps because that is part of my job, I like to look for stylistic cues that give away the nature of a document, without reference to its content. This is an area (at least as it relates to politics) that has not received much attention, although institutions like the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore have fine collections of this material, much of it produced by people who are mentally ill.

In particular, very little has been said about this phenomenon on the internet. This is probably understandable; websites are a relatively recent thing, and some of the relatively well known visual characteristics of the work of the mentally disturbed are eliminated by the template-driven layout of the vast majority of websites. For example, the chaotic writing of the Miz Thang example, or the handwritten political specimen shown below are not really possible on the internet. Well, enough preface, let me dive in with some examples:

He draws comparisons between whack job websites and works of art from the mentally ill.

I won’t post his examples. The picture that I am posting is the home page of the Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, which shows most of the characteristics he describes.

The tinfoil hat folks wear is reflected in their web designs.

Awwww!!! Rick Perry’ Feelings are Hurt!!!!


Texas’ Business Climate in a Nutshell

So, following the fertilizer plant explosion that killed 14 people, Sacramento Bee cartoonist Jack Ohman accurately depicted the political-industrial of Texas, and Governor Rick Perry demanded an apology, and his butt boy/Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst demanded that he be fired.

It really does amaze me just how much the “Real Men” of the Republican Party whine like little bitches when someone makes a reasoned critique of their policies.

It’s more than wimpy, it’s stupid.

No one but a few people in central California would have known about this cartoon if he hadn’t made an issue of it, but he just couldn’t let it slide.

I should thank him.  I never would have seen the cartoon but for his foot in his mouth.

What World do They Live In?

These people are very sad, because their taxes are going up so much:

In the nick of time, and amid much political drama, Congress passed the American Taxpayer Relief Act on New Year’s Day—averting massive tax increases for nearly all earners that were slated to take effect Jan. 1.

Even so, millions of people soon will feel something less than relief from the new law.
Tim Foley

The bill approved in Congress to avert the fiscal cliff would bring the first major tax increase on high earners in 20 years. Laura Saunders breaks down how new tax increases will impact across different tax brackets. Photo: AP.

While the top 1% of taxpayers will bear the biggest burden, many other families, affluent and poor, will pay more as well.

Yes, they all haz a sad, the single mom who makes 5x what the average household in the United States, the Family of 6 that makes 13x what the average household makes, and even the retirees, who pay no extra taxes, and make 3½x what the average household does, they haz a sad.

They all haz a sad.

Seriously, do the writers at the Wall Street Journal have even the vaguest idea of how most Americans actually live?

Live in Obedient Fear, Citizen

This is why privacy, and innocent until proved guilty are important.

If your entire life is available to the state security apparatus, they will find something, and so you had better not be inconvenient to said state security apparatus, because they already have the means to destroy you.

You do not want them to be inclined to actually do so.

It is depressing that the truth tellers in our society are cartoonists and comedians.


Link

I am adding cartoonist Zach Weiner to my list of, “People I Do Not Want to Piss Off.”

Wrap Party Tonight

Charlie and Sharon both acted in the Open Space Arts community theater’s 2012 Summer Playwright’s Festival, which had 5 (one was rained out) shows over the past two weeks.

Natalie also worked tech for the troupe, but was at a performing arts sleep-away camp,  Tizmoret Shoshana, for the performances.

Charlie had to take a role on 24 hours notice when another actor left the festival on short notice.

This afternoon was the last show, shop they had a wrap party, and since Sharon had a concert that she wanted to see,  Ayelet HaShachar, immediately after the play, I took Charlie to the party.

In any casee it’s been a fun, but hectic, Sunday.