Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving!!!  A (basically) All-American Holiday!
U - S - A !!  U - S - A !!  U - S - A !!

As an architecture professional, I submit this card I made:

Happy ArchiTurkey Day!

Berlusconi Slapped Across Face By Catholic Church

While that was not a headline, it may well have been one!

No, the Pope didn't take his staff to the backside of of the divorced, theiving, womanizing leader of one of the most overtly Catholic countries in the world (wow, those are good reasons).

Instead, some nutty Italian took a page out of an Iraqi journalist's play book:


Apparently, Berlusconi was walking through the crowd (shaking hands, kissing babies, all that politician schmuk) to his vehicle after giving a speech at some political rally in Milan and one of his countrymen decided to hurl a small replica of the Milan Cathedral at the Prime Minister's face!!!  That's right, a replica of a cathedral was smashed into his face!!!  Now, I'm not sure what you know about this guy, but he's a little bit of a jerk so I think this was a long time coming.  The only thing I'm actually surprised about is that his (current for now) estranged wife wasn't the first to knock out his teeth.  Poor guy, he looked so bewildered as to why anyone would ever want to harm him.


Classic!  I love it!  He should have taken a dodging lesson from ol' George W, though.  That guy dodged twice!


And as a bit of a throw back, I think we might have a celebrity reader in our midst (or maybe just a celebrity's costume designer - though probably, neither).  Remember my post about white dinner jackets?  Well check out this performance from this year's AMAs that happened last month (less than a month after my post).


Now, I said:  "For men, DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT wear a formal white dinner jacket.  I don't care what its called, its just not practical ... besides, its out of place unless you're ... attending a dinner party in the 1950s"

Now, I'm not saying that the incredible Mr -Z was literally at a dinner party from the 50s, but the set of his performance was a formal dinner club/lounge from that era (ish), so his choice to wear the jacket was appropriate and well-advised.  And wasn't that performance out of this world?  I mean, how dapper did he look up there with the incomparably talented and beautiful Ms Keys?

(pic from here)

 (pic from here)

 
So whoever made that call, you're welcome for the warning and the idea.  And make sure you stay tuned, more fashion advice might happen here in the future (it will,but might not be as immediately important).

And later this week:  My (now) annual Christmas/Holiday Card.  I'll post previous years' ones as the week goes by to whet your palette.

Until then, ciao!  (That was for you 'Silver Tongued,' but really just 'Sleazy' Silvio B.)

About Government, Sans Politics

For all we receive from society (not necessarily the federal, but specifically the immediate and local governments) - roads and related infrastructure, usually clean water, museums, certain grants and scholarships, and a portion of public television and radio - we are compelled in a mandatory manner to give back few times. Once a year on April 15th when our taxes are due (admittedly, we might be compelled to relinquish a larger percentage of what we’ve earned for our talents and labours than we might like) and the dreaded but socially important jury duty. Can anyone guess which social compulsion I fulfilled today (Nov 5 2009, that should give it away)?

Now, I relish the privilege of paying back for my voice as a citizen, you used to have to be male, of the majority class, and landed; but now you just have to pay taxes and show up for jury duty. Its sweet! I hadn't served before today, but now I understand why many people don't like it. There's alot of nothing going on there. But the worst thing is that they shove you and an ugly ass building. Really, I think a prison hallway might be nicer than the courthouse hallway. And the courtroom - beige acoustic panels and honey stained wood slat paneling with some sort of hovering, halo like lighting system and white noise coming through the speakers. Man, it was bad, but it was my civic duty.

Ans speaking of civic duty, Tuesday was Election Day. I hope that if you are a registered voter you did vote. You know what they say: thumbs separate us from the other animals, our minds separate us from the apes, and the ability to democratically vote separates us from the Canadians. Or something like that. I'm pretty sure that's how it goes.

I met a fella on Tuesday and he said he was from Virginia and I didn't even wish him a Happy Election Day! What's wrong with me? My mother would be so ashamed. I was out of the area for a week visiting home and I turned back into a Texan, not caring about the tiny slice of the rest of the world that isn't in that state. It was so negligent and rude of me, but I'll take this moment to share Election Day wishes from a show that I've grown to like more, especially recently.




Once again, I can't speak either way about the ad at the front end of this video.

If you didn't vote or aren't registered, you have plenty of time before next November where there will be tons more things and people to vote on.  Its midterms!  Hell yeah!  What, you're NOT excited about that?  Odd.

And remember how we elected that new guy into the White House last year? (No matter how you voted, you voted for a new guy.)  Anyway he's been hosting alot of really sweet events at the White House.  It makes sense, I mean, think about it.  When you get your first big, sweet ass house, what're you gonna do?  Thats right, throw a bunch of big, sweet ass house parties.  And you'll keep throwing bigger and badasser parties until the neighbors finally complain and the cops show up and people scatter and hide in the closets and showers.  Now I'm not saying the White House parties are gonna get that big, but look at it this way, a few weeks ago they had an outdoor rock concert of Latin music!  Thats a helluva White House Party!  I guess its been a gradual progression to get to that point.  Check out this clip from a poetry slam they hosted a while back:



Now that's a sweet party!  I love that Miranda guy!  He's awesome.

That's all for now my friends!  Until next time!

Sand Art? You’re Damned Right.

In this year’s Ukraine’s Got Talent reality TV competition, a young woman by the name of Kseniya Simonova killed the competition. Her act brought wonder and awe through a hybrid of performance art and an unconventional visual arts technique using her hands, a light box, and sand.

The Guardian, a UK news source, did a write-up about it. But that write-up used a reporting method which is becoming more the norm, but which really gets my goat. Now, how do you know that news sources are relying too heavily on the so-called ‘new social media’ for their content and less on respectable and proven journalistic techniques? When one of them puts out a piece about an artist and her work, and along with a barely passable regular review publishes comments saying that “sand is her bitch” from noted authority Jgoo24, and “I just jizzed in my pants” from art-world luminary deaddevil6. Nice.

But, before we criticize both the sources and content of these critiques, let's at least determine what the subject was of the art they were commenting on (maybe it was Warhol-esque, pop art styling, music and movie diva lips – which might make the comments more appropriate and acceptable). Here’s an excerpt from that Guardian piece:
”Here, she recounts Germany conquering Ukraine in the Second World War … a weeping widow …an obelisk for an unknown soldier ... with deft strokes … she moves the judges to tears as she subtitles the final scene ‘you are always near.’”
 
Oh, ok, there you go. Well done, The Guardian.

Here’s the full write-up.

And in case their embedded video didn’t load up (which happened with me the first time I went to that page), its right here:




As you can see, that Kseniya Simonova lady really does got talent. I wonder, could something so artsy get so far in the American version of that show? Or do we just appreciate dirty joke telling grandmothers a little but more?