Monday, March 23, 2009
Top 10 Eccentric Buildings
I just wanted to share this link to another site featuring the Top 10 Eccentric Buildings. Two of the buildings mentioned are in Ohio, go figure. I've actually never seen the one in Cincinnati, but now I might have to go find it and check it out. I've seen the Longaberger building, and it's so strange because it's pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and then there is this huge basket.
Basquiat
One of my favorite movies of all time is Julian Schnabel's "Basquiat" from 1996. I realize that movie critics, art critics, and pretty much anybody who has a bone to pick with Julian Schnabel may not think this movie is as great as I do, but that's their problem. Granted, I don't know a whole lot about the life and work to Jean Michel Basquiat, nor can I say much about the art scene in New York in the 1980s, so I don't know how accurate it is. One thing I can say is that it is a great story of the rise and fall of a young artist who made it for just doing his thing. I will also say that I particularly appreciate movies about artists, even if they aren't the best, because they might introduce the viewer to an artist or an art movement they previously didn't know anything about.
The soundtrack is amazing- from the Pogues to Public Image Ltd., to Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel to Tom Waits. The music is haunting when it's not exciting, and shows that the 1980s wasn't the musical wasteland that it's often dismissed as.
For the most part the acting is really great, too. I'm not too picky when it comes to acting, I can only tell when it's really bad and when it's really good. Jeffrey Wright as the title character is wonderful and captures the creative, yet still really innocent and not at all put together character of an artist who is only 19 years old when he makes it in the New York art world. Benicio Del Toro plays the best friend and I think he rocks it- we all know someone with priorities and ideas like Benny's. I think Claire Forlani is annoying in just about anything, so I'm not crazy about her in the girlfriend role, but I can overlook it with the rest of the cast that includes: Denis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken, Parker Posey, Willem Dafoe, and Courtney Love.
And, oh yeah, possibly my favorite casting decision in the history of cinema: David Bowie as Andy Warhol. For as much as I love David Bowie, which is a whole lot, I'll admit that he may not be the best actor out there. But I don't know if Andy Warhol himself could have played a more hilarious and lovable Andy Warhol.
If I haven't yet convinced you to go out and rent this movie (or watch it again), I'll leave you with this clip to either get you hooked or, at the very least, make you smile.
The soundtrack is amazing- from the Pogues to Public Image Ltd., to Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel to Tom Waits. The music is haunting when it's not exciting, and shows that the 1980s wasn't the musical wasteland that it's often dismissed as.
For the most part the acting is really great, too. I'm not too picky when it comes to acting, I can only tell when it's really bad and when it's really good. Jeffrey Wright as the title character is wonderful and captures the creative, yet still really innocent and not at all put together character of an artist who is only 19 years old when he makes it in the New York art world. Benicio Del Toro plays the best friend and I think he rocks it- we all know someone with priorities and ideas like Benny's. I think Claire Forlani is annoying in just about anything, so I'm not crazy about her in the girlfriend role, but I can overlook it with the rest of the cast that includes: Denis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken, Parker Posey, Willem Dafoe, and Courtney Love.
And, oh yeah, possibly my favorite casting decision in the history of cinema: David Bowie as Andy Warhol. For as much as I love David Bowie, which is a whole lot, I'll admit that he may not be the best actor out there. But I don't know if Andy Warhol himself could have played a more hilarious and lovable Andy Warhol.
If I haven't yet convinced you to go out and rent this movie (or watch it again), I'll leave you with this clip to either get you hooked or, at the very least, make you smile.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
The Lincoln Imp
I've mentioned before that one of my favorite things about art history is the little stories and legends that go along with the art. There are tons of quirky little stories that surround art from all eras that aren't necessarily important to the work itself, but (for me) help to remind that no matter how old a work of art or architecture might be, the artists and patrons were real people with personalities and, often, agendas.
One of these fun little stories is the story of the Lincoln Imp. In the Angel Choir of Lincoln Cathedral, there is a grinning little figure that sits nestled on top of a pillar where two arches meet. He's about a foot tall, but in relation to the scale of Lincoln Cathedral, that's nothing. Let me break it down for you:
Here is Lincoln Cathedral- it's pretty huge.
Here is a shot of the interior, notice the size of the pillars, that hold up the arches.
The space where the arches meet is often used as a place to put decorative foliage or trefoils. But look at the bottom of that foliage, between the top archivolts. Need close-up?
The Imp, in all his mischievous glory.
Now, why is this here? It seems so small in such a large place, and it's not exactly located where people can walk right up to it and admire it, but someone took the time to hand carve this little, seemingly inconsequential figure, out of stone. Legend has it that Satan sent two imps to England to cause mischief. On a windy day they were blown into Lincoln Cathedral, so they went about breaking tables and chairs and tripping the Bishop. Finally an angel came and told them to stop. One of the imps hid under a broken table, but the other hopped up on top of a pillar and started throwing rocks at the angel, so the angel turned him into stone, giving the other imp a chance to escape. Supposedly, that imp went to St. James Church, in the nearby town of Grimsby, where the angel caught up with him and turned him into stone, too. Unfortunately I can't find a picture of that imp.
Yes, I realize that this legend is not likely to be true, but the fact remains that someone had a hand in carving the imps. Perhaps the person who carved the Lincoln Imp invented the legend to add another "good triumphing over evil" anecdote to the interior sculpture of the cathedral. Or maybe he did it on a dare, or just to amuse himself.
One of these fun little stories is the story of the Lincoln Imp. In the Angel Choir of Lincoln Cathedral, there is a grinning little figure that sits nestled on top of a pillar where two arches meet. He's about a foot tall, but in relation to the scale of Lincoln Cathedral, that's nothing. Let me break it down for you:
Here is Lincoln Cathedral- it's pretty huge.
Here is a shot of the interior, notice the size of the pillars, that hold up the arches.
The space where the arches meet is often used as a place to put decorative foliage or trefoils. But look at the bottom of that foliage, between the top archivolts. Need close-up?
The Imp, in all his mischievous glory.
Now, why is this here? It seems so small in such a large place, and it's not exactly located where people can walk right up to it and admire it, but someone took the time to hand carve this little, seemingly inconsequential figure, out of stone. Legend has it that Satan sent two imps to England to cause mischief. On a windy day they were blown into Lincoln Cathedral, so they went about breaking tables and chairs and tripping the Bishop. Finally an angel came and told them to stop. One of the imps hid under a broken table, but the other hopped up on top of a pillar and started throwing rocks at the angel, so the angel turned him into stone, giving the other imp a chance to escape. Supposedly, that imp went to St. James Church, in the nearby town of Grimsby, where the angel caught up with him and turned him into stone, too. Unfortunately I can't find a picture of that imp.
Yes, I realize that this legend is not likely to be true, but the fact remains that someone had a hand in carving the imps. Perhaps the person who carved the Lincoln Imp invented the legend to add another "good triumphing over evil" anecdote to the interior sculpture of the cathedral. Or maybe he did it on a dare, or just to amuse himself.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Happy St. Patrick's Day!!
Nick and I decided to beat the rush and go out last night. A pub nearby started serving green beer at 7:00 yesterday, when it turned midnight in Ireland, so we headed down to have a pint. I had never had green beer before, and was a little disappointed because it looked like Green River but tasted like PBR. We enjoyed our trip to Murphy's though, they had really good drink specials, friendly people at the bar, an HDTV showing Terminator 3 and all the free popcorn and hotdogs you can eat. I wouldn't be surprised if we head back there sometime soon, especially as the weather gets nicer because it's only about a 20 minute walk from our apartment (or a 5 minute bus ride, and the bus stops right in front of it) and we enjoyed ourselves.
As a side note about St. Patrick's Day: this is the most annoying time of the year to be named Colleen. In general, I like my name. It's not strange enough where no one has ever heard of it before, but I have also never had a situation with another Colleen where I've had to distinguish myself with my last initial or a descriptive adjective. Yet during the 5 or 6 days leading up to St. Patrick's day, everyone who learns my name feels the need to make a comment like "Oh! you must be Irish! Are you ready for St. Patrick's Day?" or "Oh! An Irish lass! You have a big day coming up!" Once and for all: yes, I am Irish. No, I do not celebrate March 17th any more or any differently than anyone else I know. In fact, I probably won't do anything Irish-y at all today.
Another reason we went out last night is that this is Restaurant Week. Tonight we have reservations at Jag's. I'm really excited- I love going out to eat and I'm expecting a really great meal. We also have plans on Friday to go to The Brown Dog Cafe. Assuming these meals are as wonderful as their reputation implies, I'll post some pictures and comments on here.
I know this is supposed to be an art blog and I haven't posted anything very art-y in a while, but I'm working on it. I have a few posts sloshing around up in the idea-maker that will work themselves out eventually. In the meantime, here's a statue of St. Patrick:
Nick and I decided to beat the rush and go out last night. A pub nearby started serving green beer at 7:00 yesterday, when it turned midnight in Ireland, so we headed down to have a pint. I had never had green beer before, and was a little disappointed because it looked like Green River but tasted like PBR. We enjoyed our trip to Murphy's though, they had really good drink specials, friendly people at the bar, an HDTV showing Terminator 3 and all the free popcorn and hotdogs you can eat. I wouldn't be surprised if we head back there sometime soon, especially as the weather gets nicer because it's only about a 20 minute walk from our apartment (or a 5 minute bus ride, and the bus stops right in front of it) and we enjoyed ourselves.
As a side note about St. Patrick's Day: this is the most annoying time of the year to be named Colleen. In general, I like my name. It's not strange enough where no one has ever heard of it before, but I have also never had a situation with another Colleen where I've had to distinguish myself with my last initial or a descriptive adjective. Yet during the 5 or 6 days leading up to St. Patrick's day, everyone who learns my name feels the need to make a comment like "Oh! you must be Irish! Are you ready for St. Patrick's Day?" or "Oh! An Irish lass! You have a big day coming up!" Once and for all: yes, I am Irish. No, I do not celebrate March 17th any more or any differently than anyone else I know. In fact, I probably won't do anything Irish-y at all today.
Another reason we went out last night is that this is Restaurant Week. Tonight we have reservations at Jag's. I'm really excited- I love going out to eat and I'm expecting a really great meal. We also have plans on Friday to go to The Brown Dog Cafe. Assuming these meals are as wonderful as their reputation implies, I'll post some pictures and comments on here.
I know this is supposed to be an art blog and I haven't posted anything very art-y in a while, but I'm working on it. I have a few posts sloshing around up in the idea-maker that will work themselves out eventually. In the meantime, here's a statue of St. Patrick:
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Crawfish Bake!!!
Tuesday night Nick and I decided to go down to the Knotty Pine on the Bayou, in Cold Springs, Kentucky for a crawfish bake. I'd never been to a crawfish bake before, but Nick had gone in past years. The Knotty Pine has a full cajun menu, complete with a selection of Abita beer to chose from. We ordered the shrimp and cream cheese stuffed jalapenos to start, which weren't exactly what they sound like, but were still delicious. Then I got a cup of gumbo which was WONDERFUL and Nick got a cup of red beans and rice, which, not liking beans very much, I didn't think sounded very good, but it was. Then we split an order of crawfish. One order of crawfish is 3 pounds and comes with two sides and a salad (which was also really delicious in the "yes it's salad, but in no way is this good for you" kind of way). The crawfish were soooooo good. They were seasoned really well, a little spicy, but not overly. Now, I make no claims to be any kind of restaurant reviewer, but I do love to go out to eat, and this was certainly and adventure and I'd definitely do it again, so I thought I'd make a little post about it. Now how about some images?
Our plate of crawfish. We only had one (which was more than enough for us, especially with the sides), but the waitress said that they had blown through 150 pounds of crawfish in three hours.
I took this on accident because my camera was on the wrong setting, but you can see some of the sides. The brown stuff in front of me is the gumbo, then you can see Nick sample is red beans and rice and the collared greens. There are also some smashed red potatoes on the table. I'm glad I took this video for two reasons: you can see everything, and you get to see Nick eat, which I think is one of the more amusing things I get to experience in my day-to-day life.
Unfortunately we waited until the end to take a video of how you actually eat a crawfish (pull off the tail and suck out the meat), so this is really dark, but hopefully you can make out the good parts.
Our plate of crawfish. We only had one (which was more than enough for us, especially with the sides), but the waitress said that they had blown through 150 pounds of crawfish in three hours.
I took this on accident because my camera was on the wrong setting, but you can see some of the sides. The brown stuff in front of me is the gumbo, then you can see Nick sample is red beans and rice and the collared greens. There are also some smashed red potatoes on the table. I'm glad I took this video for two reasons: you can see everything, and you get to see Nick eat, which I think is one of the more amusing things I get to experience in my day-to-day life.
Unfortunately we waited until the end to take a video of how you actually eat a crawfish (pull off the tail and suck out the meat), so this is really dark, but hopefully you can make out the good parts.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Obzest 2-28-09
I like making mix CDs. Partly because it's nice to have a continuous 80 minutes of good music, and partly because they are like little time capsules. When I was in college I made one just about every week to use for my radio show, so I have tons floating around. They would be new songs I liked, old classics, bizarre songs I thought were funny, or just random things I would pull off Kenster or the demos that record companies would send us. After my show I would give them away or just let them pile up. Now, when I know I'm going to be driving to any distance I grab a few to see what I was listening to at any given weekend (almost all of them are dated). I hadn't made one in a few months, so I figured it was time, especially considering there are a handful of songs out that I really like. I've fallen out of the habit of keeping up with music and tracking down really good bands that nobody has heard of yet. I mostly listen to the radio, and I keep up with a number of bands who have long been favorites. So this weekend I sat down with my digital music library and an iTunes gift card (I really miss Kenster, by the way) and downloaded a handful of songs that have recently been in my head and mixed them with older songs that I already had and am eternally in love with. The end result is 80 minutes of music bliss. I am going to share a few of the highlights with you here, in video form. I think music can be really powerful, and paired with video, even more so. Linking music and images, especially if it is well done, can make me like a song a lot more.
Here are a few great songs with decent to great videos:
Here are a few great songs with decent to great videos:
MGMT- Kids
This isn't the official video, but it's really well done and a really great song. It's eerie, and you can sing along, and they lyrics are cryptic. Wonderful.
This isn't the official video, but it's really well done and a really great song. It's eerie, and you can sing along, and they lyrics are cryptic. Wonderful.
All American Rejects- Give You Hell
Even 15-year-old Colleen would be embarrassed to admit that she likes this band. 23-year-old Colleen is still embarrassed, but over it- she can play it off as ironic if need be. But this song is awesome. It's catchy, it's snarky, and I love a song that stops and lets a huge chorus of people sing the refrain. And the video is great. It's colorful, fun, and hilarious (I'm sorry, a guy playing guitar at night while standing on top of a moving riding lawnmower is really funny to me).
Even 15-year-old Colleen would be embarrassed to admit that she likes this band. 23-year-old Colleen is still embarrassed, but over it- she can play it off as ironic if need be. But this song is awesome. It's catchy, it's snarky, and I love a song that stops and lets a huge chorus of people sing the refrain. And the video is great. It's colorful, fun, and hilarious (I'm sorry, a guy playing guitar at night while standing on top of a moving riding lawnmower is really funny to me).
Talking Heads- Burning Down the House
This song has been in rotation on the radio station that I listen to, and every time it comes on I turn it up and sing along. I think the live version from Stop Making Sense is waaaaaaay better than the studio version (which is odd for me, because I usually don't like live recordings as much, but Stop Making Sense is one very important, across the board exception. It's probably one of my top 10- maybe top 5- albums of all time. But now we're getting off topic). It's a classic that I'm sure all of you have heard, and for good reason. If you don't feel like dancing when you hear it, you might not have a soul. Just watch this video: there are probably over 10 people on that stage and they all look like they are having a blast. I would recommend you buy this album, learn all the words to at least this song, and start having a blast yourself.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtUI5MC9tVM
MGMT- Electric Feel
I couldn't embed this video, but please, go you youtube and watch it. I've been really into MGMT lately. I bought the CD, which is the first CD I've bought since November (I am a recovering CD-buying adict). This song should also make you want to dance. I think the vocals are great, and the lyrics are smart and entertaining. As good as the song is (and that little description does NOT do it justice), the video is even better. It's trippy and colorful and fun. If you look close you can see the two kids from the Kids video that I posted above. That video got so popular that they were invited out to the set of this video to be in it. This song just makes me happy. As far as I'm concerned this song secured MGMT's right to be called the second coming of the Scissor Sisters, and that's a good thing. And by the way, if the animatronic looks familiar, its because it is from the Rock-afire Explosion, a.k.a. the animatronic band that played at Showbiz Pizza (now called Chuck-E-Cheese's), where I had my 5th birthday party. Ask my parents about this party and how my sister Katie lost her shoes in the ball pit.
I couldn't embed this video, but please, go you youtube and watch it. I've been really into MGMT lately. I bought the CD, which is the first CD I've bought since November (I am a recovering CD-buying adict). This song should also make you want to dance. I think the vocals are great, and the lyrics are smart and entertaining. As good as the song is (and that little description does NOT do it justice), the video is even better. It's trippy and colorful and fun. If you look close you can see the two kids from the Kids video that I posted above. That video got so popular that they were invited out to the set of this video to be in it. This song just makes me happy. As far as I'm concerned this song secured MGMT's right to be called the second coming of the Scissor Sisters, and that's a good thing. And by the way, if the animatronic looks familiar, its because it is from the Rock-afire Explosion, a.k.a. the animatronic band that played at Showbiz Pizza (now called Chuck-E-Cheese's), where I had my 5th birthday party. Ask my parents about this party and how my sister Katie lost her shoes in the ball pit.
Silversun Pickups- Lazy Eye
To be honest, I can't really put my finger on why I like this song. It's not typically my taste in music, but I really like the vocals. They are sweet and gender ambiguous. This song makes me want to run. Not like, put on sweats and go for a run, but break out into a run- preferably through a field or down the middle of an empty street.
To be honest, I can't really put my finger on why I like this song. It's not typically my taste in music, but I really like the vocals. They are sweet and gender ambiguous. This song makes me want to run. Not like, put on sweats and go for a run, but break out into a run- preferably through a field or down the middle of an empty street.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUWXcIJC7Q0
Nirvana- Man Who Sold the World
Sorry, I can't embed this one either. It's no secret that I'm a huge David Bowie fan (that's an understatement). When he did this song it was eerie and beautiful, but 25 years later when Nirvana covered it, they took it to a place even more eerie and even more beautiful than Bowie could, and that's really saying something. I really think this song can speak for itself.
So there you go, a small spattering of what is in my CD player right now.
Sorry, I can't embed this one either. It's no secret that I'm a huge David Bowie fan (that's an understatement). When he did this song it was eerie and beautiful, but 25 years later when Nirvana covered it, they took it to a place even more eerie and even more beautiful than Bowie could, and that's really saying something. I really think this song can speak for itself.
So there you go, a small spattering of what is in my CD player right now.
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