Friends

"Why does an artist paint pictures, write symphonies, carve statues, tell stories? Is it because he finds joy and spiritual release in the mere doing of these things? Probably; but that is not the whole story. Is it because he makes a living after this fashion? No doubt; but there is still more to it than this.

Here is the third reason. It is a very significant reason, though it is generally disregarded. The artist persists in being an artist because he revels in the feeling that he may affect or influence people by his work. He does not demand approbation, but he does demand notice and response. The thought that he may through his work influence people and strike past their defenses to their secret emotions gives him a gratifying sense of power.

The Romantics conceived of the artist living in an ivory tower apart from men and affairs. It is barely possible that an artist could live and create in such sanitary isolation, but in order to get his human recompense for his labors, he must descend to the plane of the market place and note and rejoice in the effect of his works on other men. Nor is it enough for him to have his friends dutifully say "Ah!" He wants to have evidence of the effect of his works on the large, personally indifferent public. It is a matter of lesser importance to him whether the public is pleased, amused or angered at his works; but some sort of reaction he must have, and on this his ego nourishes itself."


"The truth is that there is a great deal of the showman in every artist who is worth his salt."


-- William Mortensen, from The Command To Look: A Formula for Picture Success, Chapter Three: The Pictorial Imperative. Camera Craft Publishing Company, 1937

Here's a little puzzle that will drive you crazy.

There is a field of light green dots, some dark green dots and a jumping cat.

By clicking on light green dots you can create dark green dots to trap the cat, but if you don't surround this wily feline, you've lost the game!

Give it a try -- but don't blame me if you don't get anything else done today!

( It's Like Catnip )

- from an April 2009 ( interview ) ...

Q: What do you think about President Barack Obama?

A: He is the man of this time. He's taken the burdens of the presidency in a remarkable manner. If he keeps on going the way he's going, he'll be a remarkable president. I voted for him.

- Televangelist, Oral Roberts, who died today at age 91

( Obituary )

I spent the last couple weeks going through my entire collection of shots looking for the 4 shots that I want to hang in the gallery show at Mulberry Arts Studio coming up on January 1st. This is one of the shots I decided not to run with for the show, so I'm posting it now.

It's a shot of William Rush (aka. Barcrawler) which I took this past June 6th during our proof-of-concept shoot for the World War II Combat Photography Project (WW2 CPP).

I thought the look on his face was too intense to not share it....

( I am sure everyone is sick of my updating... Video under cut )
I leave you with a finished drawing I made recently.

In his new book, Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value (and How to Take Advantage of It), author William Poundstone dissects the marketing tricks built into menus—for example, how something as simple as typography can drive you toward or away from that $39 steak.

( See How It Works )

Houston became the largest city in the United States to elect an openly gay mayor on Saturday night, as voters gave a solid victory to the city controller, Annise Parker.

Cheers and dancing erupted at Ms. Parker’s campaign party as her opponent, Gene Locke, a former city attorney, conceded defeat just after 10 p.m. when it became clear he could not overcome her lead.

Twenty minutes later, Ms. Parker appeared before ecstatic supporters at the city’s convention center and then joked that she was the first graduate of Rice University to be elected mayor. (She is, by the way.) Then she grew serious.

“Tonight the voters of Houston have opened the door to history,” she said, standing by her partner of 19 years, Kathy Hubbard, and their three adopted children. “I acknowledge that. I embrace that. I know what this win means to many of us who never thought we could achieve high office.”

With all precincts reporting, Ms. Parker, the city controller, had defeated Mr. Locke 53 percent to 47 percent.

Throughout the campaign, Ms. Parker tried to avoid making an issue of her sexual orientation and emphasized her experience in overseeing the city’s finances. But she began her career as an advocate for gay rights in the 1980s, and it was lost on no one in Houston, a city of 2.2 million people, that her election marked a milestone for gay men and lesbians around the country.

Several smaller cities in other regions have chosen openly gay mayors, among them Providence, R.I., Portland, Ore., and Cambridge, Mass. But Ms. Parker’s success came in a conservative state where voters have outlawed gay marriage and a city where a referendum on granting benefits to same-sex partners of city employees was soundly defeated.

Turnout was light across the city on a rainy, foggy day, with only about 16 percent of registered voters going to the polls.

Ms. Parker’s sexual orientation did not become an issue in the race until after the general election produced no winner and led to a run-off between her and Mr. Locke, who is black and enjoys strong support among African-American voters.

The two candidates differed very little on the issues. Mr. Locke, who is 61, promised to crack down on crime and expand the police department. Ms. Parker, 53, said her experience as controller made her a better candidate to steer the city through the tough financial times it now faces.

The candidates also started slinging stones at one another in final weeks as it became clear neither had a huge advantage in the few polls conducted here. Mr. Locke bashed Ms. Parker as “soft on crime” and suggested she favors tax increases. She portrayed him as nothing more than a lobbyist for developers.

But the ugliest attacks came from a group of black pastors who spoke out against Ms. Parker for what they called her gay agenda and two separate anti-gay advocates who sent out fliers in the mail calling attention to her support from gay groups and to her relationship with her partner. Mr. Locke denied having anything to do with the attacks, but two members of his finance committee gave $40,000 to help finance one of the mailings.

Some national gay-rights groups, meanwhile, came to the aid of Ms. Parker’s campaign with money and volunteers to man telephone banks in a get-out-the-vote effort and to urge her likely supporters to vote.

Political strategists said that to win, Mr. Locke needed to carry a large majority of the black vote, which is usually around a third of the turnout, and to attract significant support from conservative whites, many of them Republicans, who are also about a third of the voting mix here.

The crowd at Ms. Parker’s speech included dozens of young gay men and lesbians who had volunteered on her campaign. Many were elated with the sense of history being made.

“It’s a huge step forward for Houston,” said one of the volunteers, Lindsey Dionne, who is lesbian. “It shows hate will not prevail in this city.”

Robert Shipman, who is gay and worked long hours for Ms. Parker, said: “The diversity in this room, it’s not just gay people, it’s gay, straight, black, white, Jew, Christian, Muslim, every kind of person. It took all of us to get to this point.”

For his part, Mr. Locke was gracious in defeat, calling for unity after what had sometimes been a heated campaign. “We have to all work together to bring our city closer and closer together,” he said.

Ms. Parker appeared to have cobbled together a winning coalition of white liberals and gay people, who were expected to turn out in large numbers.

( Link to Story )

Harold Bell, who along with two forest rangers and another colleague created Woodsy Owl, the plump anthropomorphic bird in a red-feathered cap who for nearly four decades has exhorted youngsters to “Give a hoot, don’t pollute,” died Dec. 4 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 90.

His son Richard confirmed the death.

It was on the set of the long-running television show “Lassie” that Mr. Bell, along with the United States Forest Service rangers Chuck Williams and Glenn Kovar and their co-worker Betty Hite, came up with the concept of Woodsy as a new mascot for the Forest Service in time for the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970.

Mr. Bell, a marketing agent for the show, had produced public service announcements for the best known of the Forest Service’s creatures, Smokey Bear (popularly, but unofficially, known as Smokey the Bear). The rangers and Ms. Hite were technical advisers to “Lassie,” much of which was filmed in Western wilderness.

Unlike Smokey, whose purpose was summed up by his signature slogan, “Only you can prevent forest fires,” Woodsy had a broader mission: to engage children in the fight against pollution and promote programs advocating appropriate use of the environment.

Forest Service officials in Washington had asked the team to develop a symbol and a message. The four considered a raccoon, a bull elk, a rainbow trout and a ladybug. They chose an owl because owls are supposed to be wise, live in the forest and near cities, and can see pollution from treetops. Mr. Bell, a self-taught cartoonist, drew the original sketches.

“Woodsy is recognized by more than 80 percent of American households and has become the leading symbol for environmental protection and improvement,” Gerald W. Williams wrote in “The Forest Service: Fighting for Public Lands.” “His messages are carried to millions of children each year through a focused educational program sponsored by the Forest Service.”

Through the years the campaign has used several theme songs, including “Help Woodsy Spread the Word,” set to the near-hypnotic ticking tune of Leroy Anderson’s “Syncopated Clock.”

Born in Union City, N.J., on Oct. 5, 1919, Mr. Bell was one of three sons of David and Hilda Rosenthal Belsky. His father was an embroiderer.

Besides his son Richard, Mr. Bell is survived by his wife, the former Edith Blonder; two other sons, Donald and Gary; seven grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

After serving in the Navy in World War II, Mr. Bell moved to Los Angeles. There he found work as a marketer for Disney. In 1957 he started his own company, marketing well-known cartoon and film characters like Dick Tracy, the Lone Ranger, Mr. Magoo and Lassie.

He never expected that he would inspire federal legislation.

In 1974, Congress passed Public Law 93-318. The so-called Woodsy Owl Act protects the image, declaring: “The term Woodsy Owl means the name and representation of a fanciful owl, who wears slacks (forest green when colored), a belt (brown when colored) and a Robin Hood-style hat (forest green when colored) with a feather (red when colored), and who furthers the slogan ‘Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute.’ ”

( Link to Story )

The People Speak - Sunday, 8pm (eastern) 7pm (central) -
The dramatic readings on the History Channel show make the case that democracy is a political activity.

The history of the United States is, essentially, one of dissent. Certain elected officials may have managed to establish legacies of transformation, but real change in this country has inevitably begun not with politicians but the peanut gallery.

Workers and writers, activists and artists, intellectuals, immigrants and everyday people who found one situation or another intolerable and decided to do something about it. No serious social or political change in this country -- not independence, not abolition, not women's suffrage or the minimum wage or civil rights or the New Deal -- came about without anger and protest and, often as not, violence.

Democracy is not a political theory, it's a political activity.

That is the leitmotif of “The People Speak,” a series of dramatic readings from inspiring historical documents that airs on the History Channel on Sunday night. Based on Howard Zinn's revisionist "A People's History of the United States," "The People Speak" employs the talents of Hollywood heavy hitters, including Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon, Marisa Tomei, Don Cheadle, Josh Brolin, Sandra Oh, Viggo Mortensen, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, and provides a striking, exhilarating and at times horrifying reminder of not just our indomitable ability to change but also this country's collective history of oppression.

According to Zinn, who narrates, the revolutionary spirit that produced the Declaration of Independence had already been compromised by the time the Constitution replaced "pursuit of happiness" with "property," assuming a ruling class of white, male property owners. Over the next 250 years, individuals would fight to restore the proper definition of the word "equality."

Class division is a drumbeat throughout "The People Speak," which is a primer of liberal ideology with a decided bent toward socialism; no one's reading a few rousing passages of Ayn Rand's, for instance. The letters and journals and speeches selected cover the American timeline, from the abolitionists through AIDS activists, but the theme of personal and political enfranchisement, tolerance, peace and American humility is the consistent theme. Equal rights, protection of workers, protection of children, even rent control are celebrated while concepts such as patriotism -- the last refuge of scoundrels, according to pacifist and anarchist Emma Goldman -- and national security are portrayed as the whip and cattle prod used by the power elite. Even World War II is cast as a false model for American military domination.

The producers of "The People Speak," who include Brolin and Damon, clearly intend "The People Speak" as a wake-up call to Americans who feel that their duty as citizens begins and ends at the ballot box, but that call does not seem to include those of a more conservative nature.

Still, the reminder that no president, no Congress, no government ever solved a problem or righted an injustice until prodded into action by protest seems particularly resonant in the wake of President Obama's election, a feat many seemed to believe guaranteed instant, sweeping reformation.

"Power concedes nothing without a demand," said Frederick Douglass. "It never did and it never will."

Without exception, the performances are thrilling, but it is the authors, not the actors, who are the stars here. For a nation grown accustomed to weepy personal confession, to the cynical invective of political commentators on both the right and the left, and the carefully worded rhetoric of politicians, the eloquence, force and bluntness of people such as Susan B. Anthony, Douglass, César Chávez and Malcolm X are a shock to the system and a welcome reminder that when real change comes, it is neither gentle nor deferential.

Like the voices it showcases, "The People Speak" is clear in its politics: Everyone is entitled not only to equality under the law but also to share equally in the fruits of his or her collective labor. "Maybe a fella ain't got a soul of his own, but a piece of a big one," wrote John Steinbeck. "Two fighting back to back can fight through a mob . . . a dozen can make a demonstration . . . ten million their own country," wrote poet and novelist Marge Piercy.

Or in the simple words of Woody Guthrie, covered here, of course, by Springsteen: "This land is your land, this land is my land." Words we too often forget were, and are, revolutionary.

( Link to Story )


Renowned historian Howard Zinn has chronicled centuries of people's struggles against oppression.

( He joins Bill Moyers to discuss ) the voices of today's people — facing big interests' outsized influence — and his new film THE PEOPLE SPEAK.

- link to today's "Pot-Shot" ...
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- and, for the crafty among you, there's "Pot-Shots" Needlepoint kits ...
http://www.ashleighbrilliant.com/needlepoint.htm

A woman brought a very limp duck into a veterinary surgeon.

As she laid her pet on the table, the vet pulled out his stethoscope and listened to the bird’s chest. After a moment or two, the vet shook his head sadly and said, “I’m sorry, your duck, Cuddles, has passed away.”

“Are you sure?” she protested. “I mean you haven’t done any testing on him or anything. He might just be in a coma or something.”

The vet rolled his eyes and left the room but returned a few minutes later with a black Labrador.

As the duck’s owner looked on in amazement, the dog stood on his hind legs, put his front paws on the examination table, sniffed the duck from top to bottom and then looked up at the vet with sad eyes and shook his head. The vet patted the dog on the head and took it out of the room.

A few minutes later he returned with a cat that jumped on the table and also delicately sniffed the bird from head to foot, sat back on its haunches, shook its head, meowed softly, and strolled out of the room.

The doctor looked at the woman and announced, “I’m sorry, but as I said, this is most definitely, 100% certifiably, a dead duck,” and he then produced a bill which he handed to the owner.

“$150? You must be kidding! $150 just to tell me my duck is dead?”

The vet shrugged, “I’m sorry,” he explained, “If you had just taken my word for it, the bill would have been $20 -- but with the Lab Report and the Cat Scan…”

- link to today's "Pot-Shot" ...
http://www.ashleighbrilliant.com/2-scanned%203400+/4134.gif

- more goodies from the mind & pen of Ashleigh Brilliant ...
http://www.ashleighbrilliant.com

Murray Burns, in the play and film A Thousand Clowns.

Hello! My husband is taking me to Chicago this weekend to see Final Fantasy Distant Worlds. If you haven't noticed, I'm extremely excited! I'm looking forward to the museum and the aquarium too. Anyways i'm going to be away for a bit. I will try to catch up on my phone which I'm currently posting from in bed. There's a lot of juicy posts that I missed out on!

I will try to record some stuff there, they will be playing a new song for FF 14! Also Nobuo will be there. My brother gave me a few pointers of saying simple thank yous in Japanese that he learned in college. I will prob be too nervous to really go that far though ha ha. But just in case I do meet him.

It will be a 5 hr drive. We are leaving Friday so I will be a bit busy Thursday since I work. Yaaaaay! *dances* we'll be back Sunday night. My bro will be here to watch over the place and take care of the rats.

Society focuses too much on outward appearances and expectations of how people should behave.

The pressure to be in a relationship or to have kids is part of this "herd mentality" - and it's all bullshit.

The first rule about having an edgy English teacher is don't talk about your edgy English teacher.

A beloved city schoolteacher has been suspended by the Department of Education after giving his 11th-grade students a copy of a graphic short story about masturbation written by "Fight Club" author Chuck Palahniuk.

Greg Van Voorhis, 30, handed out copies of Palahniuk's "Guts" late last month to about 100 students studying for the English Regents exam at The Bronx School of Law and Finance in Marble Hill.

The story -- written for Playboy magazine -- discusses a teenage boy's use of a carrot in a sex act on himself and autoerotic asphyxiation.

While Van Voorhis took the copies back at the end of class, students blabbed about the ribald tale, and school officials soon caught wind of the lesson in self-love.

"We found out about it kind of through the grapevine," said the school's principal, Evan Schwartz. "It's a small school. It's hard to keep a secret."

Van Voorhis, who has taught at the school for seven years and has a reputation for pushing the envelope, was immediately reassigned out of the classroom while the Department of Education investigates.

The suspension has the student body up in arms, leading to a letter-writing campaign to Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and the creation of a "Save Mr. V" page on Facebook.

Students last week said they were appalled that school officials had acted so prudishly.

"We're not little kids. We are in high school," said 15-year-old junior Omar Caminero. "It's not like we've never read anything like that -- we have."

"He didn't mean it to be anything other than something we could learn from," said junior Frankchesca Jimenez, 16.

A spokeswoman for the DOE declined to comment.

Schwartz stopped short of calling the story inappropriate but said he was required to act.

"I deemed for someone else to decide whether it was inappropriate," he said. "I had to report it."

Although the school did not send a letter out to parents, Schwartz said they had "been made aware of it."

Van Voorhis did not respond to messages for comment. Palahniuk's agent said the author was unavailable for comment.

( Link to Story )

Since I grew up there, the Washington DC area is a place I think visitors should see.

The Smithsonian has on display just about any artifact you can think of, if you're into history.

The city boasts several outstanding galleries, with vintage and modern art.

For the more esoteric folks, in the Georgetown section of town, you can climb (or descend) the spooky "Exorcist stairs" and over in Alexandria Virginia, George Washington's false teeth are on display.

These aren't the only things to see when you visit, but you won't find any of the above (and lots more besides) anywhere else in the known universe.

So, go see DC!