Current Issues / Morning Update / News & Comment / Personal / pop culture / Social Commentary

Morning Update: 08/31/24

August 31, 2024

Taking A Bite Of Summer [2011 original with AI background]

Sure, we’re running a little late this morning and yes, it is intentional. I didn’t want to get up. I imagine that several other people feel the same. With the storms that went through last night and a forecast full of maybe-it-will, maybe-it-won’t scattered showers, staying in bed and cuddling with the pups seemed like the most expedient thing to do. Besides, there’s no big breaking news story this morning and nothing dramatic going on here at home. Taking the weekend a little more calmly is an intelligent move, in my opinion.

I’m missing my readers, though. They’ve disappeared. They were sitting on the desk earlier this morning when I fed the cats, and now they’re gone. They’re not behind the desk or on either side, which is the natural first place to look. I can’t imagine either of the twins grabbing them and running off with them. They’ve both stuck pretty close this morning. I’m completely mystified. Fortunately, I can get by without them for most things. As long as I’m not facing any small print, we’ll be okay. I’m pretty sure I have a spare pair around here somewhere.

One thing I have noticed more this week is how fragile my skin has become. It seems that the slightest brush against anything results in bruising, and a faint scratch is enough to draw blood. My most frequent injury comes from the dogs. As they try to get my attention to take them outside, they’ll put a paw on my arm. They’re not being aggressive in the least, but almost every time I get outside, and discover that I have blood running down my arm. I don’t feel the scratch, but it’s there and it will leave a scar. My arms are covered with them. I know this is largely a natural part of aging, with some inherited traits thrown in. Once it is cool enough to wear long sleeves, the problem with go away. The whole issue just highlights how fragile I’ve become.

Speaking of fragile, there’s an interesting story in today’s Times. It seems that the weight loss drug Wegovy reduces instances of death from COVID. Mind you, it doesn’t prevent anyone from getting the disease. However, patients who are on the drug are significantly less likely to die. The problem? No one currently understands why the drug is having this effect. Without understanding the why, it’s almost impossible for doctors to know when/if it is safe to prescribe the drug as a treatment. Studies are underway, of course, but it could be a while before any resolution is found.

Here’s something interesting. Are your kids, especially your daughters worried about getting wrinkles? Apparently, that’s a thing, and it’s causing problems. As young people, we’re talking 11- and 12-year-olds, start watching social media influencers for tips on keeping their skin looking younger, they’re inadvertently doing more harm than good. For starters, all those adult-dosed chemicals, “can actually cause premature aging, destroy the skin barrier and lead to permanent scarring.” Oh, but that’s not all. “Extensive data suggests a fixation on appearance can affect self-esteem and body image and fuel anxiety, depression and eating disorders.” As I look around and see entire generations suffering from those exact issues, I wonder if we’re accidentally dooming our kids to more problems by not teaching them to love themselves as they are.

In stranger news, an Arizona office worker was found dead in a cubicle 4 days after last scanning in. This happened at a Wells Fargo facility in Tempe. Apparently, the 60-year-old woman worked in a “less populated” area of the building. No one noticed when she didn’t scan out. No one noticed anything until, presumably, the fragrance of rotting flesh became dominant. Not even the housekeeping staff noticed. What does that say about the Wells Fargo work environment? How can someone be dead in their cubicle for four days before anyone notices? Did no manager stop to check on her? Did no one swing by to chat? This story, which is short on details, is both sad and frustrating. Corporate America sucks.

You may or may not remember hearing of a film named “The Apprentice” last May as it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. You’ve not seen in it theaters, though, because no one in the US wanted to distribute it. The biopic of a young Orange Felon has been threatened with lawsuits by the Felon himself, which caused most companies to stay away from it. Well, that has now changed. Briarcliff Entertainment will release “The Apprentice” on Oct. 11 in U.S. and Canadian theaters a mere two weeks before the November 5 election. We already know that the film is not flattering to the Felon. The question is whether it might sway any voters at the last minute. I certainly don’t think it will affect his base, but it definitely could influence those waiting until the last minute to make a decision.

Then, there’s the delightful fact that Brazil is now blocking access to the entire X (formerly Twitter) platform. A Brazillian judge has ruled that the platform is spreading unchecked misinformation. Elon Musk, surprising absolutely no one, has balked at the order to provide some oversight. In my slightly elevated opinion (I elevated it myself), this is a win for people in Brazil. No one needs X in its current chaotic form. There’s no way to rely on anything posted there. Scams, fakes, and stolen accounts are all over the platform and Musk, screaming about freedom of speech, refuses to do anything about it. Intelligent people are using @Threads instead.

If you have time for a slightly longer read, Jennifer Szalai takes on the question of whether the Constitution is a danger to itself. While we necessarily worry about Project 2025 and what it could mean if Republicans get the presidency or a congressional majority, Szalai finds that some of the biggest issues that could end democracy as we know it lie within the Constitution itself. If you have a spare six or seven minutes, it’s well worth taking a look.

Of course, college football starts today. I’m going to try and watch as much of it as I can. What that actually means is that I’ll most likely catch 10-15 minutes here, a quarter or two there, and the rest will be game highlights after the fact. It takes an incredibly good football game to keep me awake for four quarters and this early in the season, few of the games are ever that good. I’ll give it the ol’ college try, but be aware I slept through a lot of college, too.

I’m trying to not let the gray skies dampen my mood this morning. The disappearance of my readers still has me mind-boggled, though.

Maybe more coffee will help.

Cancer Update / Morning Update / Personal / pop culture / Social Commentary

Morning Update: 05/04/24

May 4, 2024

May the Fourth Be With You [2013 original photo with AI background]

Try sleeping late on a Saturday morning when all the animals in the house are accustomed to the 6:00 AM weekday schedule. The dogs aren’t really that much of a problem. I took them outside late enough that they were comfortable waiting on me to move first. The cats, on the other hand, are less patient. They began invading the Recovery Room when I hadn’t fed them by 7:30. They climbed on top of me, nudged me, licked me, and mewed in my face to let me know that they were going to starve to death if I didn’t get up right now. Fortunately, Kat was already awake so the impact was minimal. Still, there are days when the cats’ alarms need to turn off.

The first message I saw this morning was from a college friend, one of the smoothest tenor voices I’ve ever heard, letting me know that he, too, has now been diagnosed with cancer. I guess we’re all at that age where our bodies turn against us. Whether it is a familial inclination that plagued the generations before us or the aggregate compound effect of life’s choices, we see more of our friends fighting health battles that keep them from engaging in the things they love. We work all our lives, practice, study, and perhaps even experiment with our craft, trying to become the best we are capable of being, wanting to be one of the wise elders who is respected as we pass information down to subsequent generations. Yet, when we’re at that point in life when we should be enjoying the fruits of our labor, we get hit with some disease that strips away all that glory and leaves us with a shell that struggles to survive. We may still live but not at the timbre we did before.

I made the mistake of watching Anne Hathaway’s new movie, “The Idea of You” last night. It was a mistake not because of the quality of the movie; as rom-coms go, it was rather decent. But it highlights the challenges of not only finding love as we get older (in this case, “older” being a whopping 40 years old) but also what happens when you find it in someone significantly younger. For the movie’s characters, the solution was simply to wait five years when the social effects were less severe. Whether it’s inadvertent or not, the movie also demonstrates the degree to which finances play a role in finding these exceptional forms of love. Had the younger male character not been swimming in cash, had the female not been independently financially stable, the romance would never have happened in the first place. Money put them where they were.

There are always people in our lives who will say, “I love you.” How they mean that changes over the years. Much of the time, the definition is along the lines of, “I appreciate your place in my life and value your presence.” That’s nice, and it keeps us from being able to complain that no one loves us. What we lose, though, are those people who would define their love as a soul-level experience, a desire to be an intimate and constant part of who we are, what we’re doing, and wanting to join their lives to ours for everyone’s pleasure. That love? Yeah, you can kiss that goodbye as you get older. Companions become tolerated because, if not them, who? Even then, for how long? The deep connections we have with people erode with time. We’re no longer exciting to be with. There’s nothing new in our relationships as we become set in our ways and, we like being set in our ways.

At the end of the movie, she’s 45 with a daughter happily in college. He’s 30 with a new solo album. As the movie ends, the producers would have you believe that their relationship picks right back up with the same level of passion as before. You and I both know that’s not the way it works, though. Things happened over those five years. Everyone changes. Five years, especially when you’re twenty-five, is a long time and our emotions change dramatically. We might remember former loves tenderly, even longingly, but the day-to-day is going to have less passion, less heat, and more illness and doctor’s visits and disparities between our desires. Maybe he wants a family. She already has one. He wants to keep that jet-set life. She’s anchored to the business she owns. As the movie fades to black, the relationship inevitably falls apart.

Maybe what’s disturbing is that ending: all our lives slowly fade to black. We still want that high, the fiery love that we knew when we were young and healthy but it’s no longer something we can maintain. Not only is the other person letting go, but we let go of ourselves because who we are now is not the person we thought we’d be.

Or maybe I’m just an old man babbling in a pool of loneliness. I really shouldn’t watch rom-coms.

Current Issues / News & Comment / Photography / pop culture / Social Commentary

Reasons The US Isn’t The Best

April 16, 2024

Lounging In The Tree [2008 with AI enhancement]

I think most of us, at least those over the age of 40, grew up being told, with great confidence, that the United States was the best country in the world, and there was little to refute that statement. All that has changed now. It doesn’t take a social scientist with a Harvard degree to realize that the US is far from being the best. We certainly have punted on being the best at democracy, as the multiple criminal indictments of a past president indicate. We’re far from being the best at healthcare. We’re not even close on human rights. Those are just some of the major points where the United States is failing badly.

As I was doom scrolling through one bad news story after the other, I came across a BuzzFeed headline that caught my curiosity. BuzzFeed isn’t exactly known for being any bastion of journalism. They don’t even try. But they claimed to have a list of 43 “cool” things that prove the US is lagging behind on the social front. 43? Really? That seems an odd number, don’t you think? Certainly, this mandated some level of inspection.

Mind you, these are strictly social elements, things that the US could do but hasn’t. None of these things would require an act of Congress. Well, maybe one or two when it comes to infrastructure funding. Most, however, are simply a matter of having entrepreneurs step and and give the concept a try. Are Americans ready for this kind of advances or are we too busy arguing with each other over who is American enough?

I don’t find all 43 items on the list that amusing, either. So, I narrowed it down to ten, starting with:

Bikes with airless tires you can rent, so you don’t have to worry about tires deflating.

The list refers to Singapore’s bike rental industry, which is kinda cool but something several US cities have. What we don’t have are airless tires. There’s nothing quite as lame as renting a bike and having a tire go flat. Whose responsibility is it to change the tire? How do you even report a flat tire to the rental company? Do you get your money back? The problem of flat tires is not an issue that needs to happen. Airless tires have been around for a long time. The technology isn’t even that difficult. It is well past time that we stepped up to the plate on this issue.

Traveling movie theaters so remote areas far away from movie theaters can still catch the latest releases.

Having been raised in rural Oklahoma, I feel this one to my core. Going to the movies was never easy, and if you were including a meal, it was even more difficult. Chances are you had to go to the late showing and wouldn’t be getting home until the wee hours of the morning, and that’s not including any time of hanky-panky. Traveling movie theatres in Scotland are essentially tractor-trailers whose sides expand out once parked. They can set up in a parking lot at a park or store, seat up to 100 people at a time, and give everyone the chance to see current movies not yet streaming. This could be especially important for the thousands of people in the US who don’t have reliable Internet service, either. Someone needs to take advantage of this quickly!

Solar-powered buses

With all the arguments (it’s not really a debate because it’s mostly yelling and short on facts) about the fuel impact of public transportation, Hong Kong seems to have found a reasonable solution. The fact that it’s working in a demonstrably dense urban area is all we need to know. Say goodbye to exhaust fumes and charging stations. The only place where I see this possibly not working is in the Seattle, WA area, where the sun has an obvious dislike for joining whatever party they’ve got going on up there. For everyone else, this solves not only the question of fuel but also the question of costs since, ta-da, sunshine is free! There’s a pretty decent chance that high-speed rail could be operated similarly.

Make the whole traffic light rod light up, so there’s no mistaking when the light changes.

Was that light red or not? Americans may not be the worst drivers in the world (have you been to India?), but we certainly qualify among the worst. We have this bad habit of insisting that we’re right 100% of the time. Any time there’s an accident at an intersection, someone is screaming, “But I swear that light was green!” Let’s put that to an end, or perhaps a reduction, by lighting up the whole lighting structure. Yes, this is an infrastructure cost and no one wants to spend money on things we need, like infrastructure. This is also a safety issue, though, and the number of pedestrians being hit in crosswalks hasn’t gone down anywhere. Light things up, maybe even make crosswalks more visible while we’re at it, and let’s see how many fewer dead bodies we have to scrape from the pavement.

Mixing Drinks [2008 original with AI background]

“Confectionery-free checkouts” with no small candies or snacks, so you aren’t tempted to buy anything. These would also be a lifesaver for parents of kids with grabby hands.

This is apparently a popular idea in Australia. Apparently, folks down under actually care about giving their customers a pleasant shopping experience. I can’t imagine how grocery stores in the US would operate without indulging that last-minute “I deserve a candy bar” craving or giving in to the persistent screaming of the two-year-old sitting in a basket. Think of the revenue that would be lost! Why, this sounds absolutely un-American, and it is. We’re too fucking greedy to ever give this idea a decent shot, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a worthwhile concept.

Lights showing which bathroom stalls are occupied.

Imagine walking into a public restroom, especially in a crowded club or restaurant, and not having to peek through the cracks to see whether a stall is occupied! This is the reality in Taiwan and there’s absolutely no reason it shouldn’t exist everywhere. Not many people like being spied on while they’re in the bathroom, especially if that shrimp you had for dinner wasn’t the freshest. A light panel just inside the doorway saves all the questioning and allows one to go straight to the nearest empty stall which is what you wanted to do in the first place. Now, if they’d just add better ventilation to that…

Vending machines for things other than snacks or drinks.

The vending machine concept is far from new, so why is it that the US hasn’t started using them for things more than snacks or drinks? Looking around the world, there are vending machines for used books, wine, flowers, cakes, and many other things that one might want to grab on the go. The technology is easy and could be set up at places such as bus stops so that one could get what they need without having to wander all over town. This could be especially advantageous in places that are currently food/resource deserts. Think about entire individual meals, health products, and even resource guides at the ready! Bonus points if they’re paired with Foodstamp cards for those in need.

In-store signs that warn you about shrinkflation.

Again, I don’t see this happening in America because we’re too bent on allowing ourselves to be fooled so that we spend more than we should. France finds such signs a part of doing an honest business. American companies would find such signs an attack on their revenue. What that says about American business and shoppers alike isn’t flattering. But then, it’s been a long time since Americans gave a shit about honesty. We’re much too greedy for that.

Playing in the Dirt [2006 original with AI enhancement]

Braille notices on canned goods and drinks

How do blind people shop? For the most part, they need someone else to do it for them. Telling the difference between a bag of potatoes and a bag of oranges is almost impossible. But what about when they get home? They may know what was bought, but if you’re feeling around the refrigerator, how do you tell the difference between soda and beer? In Japan, there’s braille on the top of cans that tell you! This simple kind of stamping would be extremely easy to implement, but less than .01% of consumer-oriented goods make any kind of allowance for blind or vision-empaired customers. This is an idea that is long overdue and one we need to get behind.

Garden Music [2006 original with AI background]

Public points to get help for people with dementia or autism issues.

Anyone with autism issues knows what it’s like to be out in public and suddenly become overwhelmed by any number of sensory issues. Maybe it’s sound. Maybe it’s too many people, Maybe it’s too many lights. I have family members who experience such moments and their bodies simply shut down, right there, unable to do anything to help them get to safety. Now, take those same feelings and apply them to people with dementia. They might have been just fine for days and in a place they know well, but all of a sudden they’re lost. Americans talk about caring for these people, but we do a lousy job of actually doing anything about it. Multiple Asian countries, however, have established copious help points, quiet rooms, and emergency assistance staffed around the clock just for these situations. They provide paid professionals who can make a quick assessment of the problem and find the appropriate help so that no one gets hurt. These are countries that actually care about their citizens, including those with neurological disabilities. The US does little more than talk, and there’s a severe lack of sincerity in our conversation. We have yet to put any real effort into addressing the many issues.

These ten things are just the edge of all that is happening around the world to make people’s lives better. We are so behind these trends that I’m a little surprised anyone at BuzzFeed thought to take a look at them. I’m guessing it’s someone who travels a lot internationally and was starting to feel a little jealous. Americans have let our international dominance slip so far that we’re afraid to take the steps necessary to start moving back up the ladder. We don’t want to spend the money. We don’t want to be bothered with someone else’s problem. We don’t have the spine to stand up and do what’s right.

I hope you’re feeling ashamed. I do.

video

How To Handle A Proton Pack

March 16, 2024

Ghostbusters was a motion picture juggernaut when I was younger and now it’s back, again, with the original crew, and villain, minus the late Harold Ramis (Egon). Over the years, a lot had been made of the proton packs the crew carries. A lot of people have tried making them, especially for comic cons. The problem is, no one seems to know how to handle the damn things. So, here’s a lesson.

Art / Natural Light / Photography / Portrait

A Window, From Any Direction

July 18, 2021

The view is always exciting

I don’t like horror movies, for the most part, but Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 movie “Rear Window” has always been a favorite, even before I was a photographer. As intriguing as Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly are in the film, though, it’s the power of Cornell Woolrich’s original short story, where the reader doesn’t find out the main character’s leg is broken until the last sentence, that provides such deep suspense. Hitchcock took that story, playing on basic fears, and made us all question which of our neighbors might be a murderer.

The movie is also a reminder to be careful of where one points their camera.

Windows create interesting subjects on both sides of the glass whether they’re at the front, rear, or side of a building. Even on a cloudy day, the way the light comes through the glass, filtered by dirt, rain, and changes in the material composition, influences what we see or what we think we see. A person’s height, state of dress, or a plant behind them are potentially illusions misguided by the angle from which one is viewing. What we think we see is not always accurate.

Yet, the camera doesn’t lie, does it? Sure, digital manipulation has brought photography a long way from the grainy photos of 1954 film, but manipulation takes extra effort I’m rarely willing to indulge on the first pass. Still, in the deep shadows that allow one’s mind to alter reality, what we think we know isn’t always true. Black and white images seem so clear but at the same time allow so much to be hidden.

Can you trust what your eyes see or am I just messing with your head, giving you a reason to examine the photos more carefully? I’m not telling. Consider what the camera sees from this side of the window. Pay attention to where the light falls. This is just another Sunday morning.

As always, click any of the thumbnails below to view the images full screen. A larger device enhances the view.

[tg_masonry_gallery gallery_id=”17931″ layout=”contain” columns=”3″]

Edit: We want to encourage seeing images as works of art, something that might be framed and put on a wall. So, we’ve added this video to aid in that concept.

https://vimeo.com/582997280

Just For Fun / Music / PotD

We Can Save The World By Dancing

November 22, 2016

Dancing our blues away makes as much sense as any projected political policies we’ve seen. Can’t hurt to try.

There is an automatic irony to me writing this article. I don’t dance. Not really. I can do the office chair boogie. I can do the dad shuffle. I can do the stand-and-sway if the music is slow. But actually dance? Nah, not going to happen. I don’t even bother watching Dancing With The Stars because it just makes me sad. I was raised Southern Baptist. We weren’t even allowed to watch American Bandstand because it was “a bad influence.” So, without those early dance skills being properly developed, any chance I ever had of being able to dance slipped right out under the front door into the Kansas wind.

I like dancing, though. I think it is artistic and beautiful and does wonderful things for people. I am especially taken by large groups of people dancing. Whether it’s choreographed steps that everyone knows, or a flash mob that’s been rehearsed, there’s something about a large group of people moving together at the same time to the same music that gives me hope.

Stop and think about it. Music provides a central ideal, something around which everyone can agree. Then, there’s cooperation. Some lead, some follow, but everyone’s working together for the greater good. There’s a plan, a choreography laid out in advance that everyone follows. Finally, when the time comes, everyone does their part in the performance and the result is something beautiful.

Now, if we can do that with music, and do it over and over and over again, why can’t we do that with other things such as politics? Same rules and methods apply. We just have to agree on the music.

Movies do a great job of illustrating my point. Dancing solves all the world’s problems. Let’s take a look at a few examples.

Shake A Tail Feather

From the original Blues Brothers in 1980, this particular scene proves that a blind man with the right song can bring together an entire community. If you can watch this and not feel better by the end, there’s just something wrong with your soul. Even the little kids get in on the act. If a blind man can generate this kind of cooperation, then maybe there’s hope for Congress. Maybe. If they were all blind.

You Make My Dreams

Okay, so there may not be a for-real flash mob dancing with you as you walk home, but there’s little question that we all feel more like dancing when we’re getting laid, which is exactly what happens in the 2009 movie Days of Summer. The problem is, that whole idea that dancing leads to sex is preposterous. Sex leads to dancing. Happiness leads to dancing. Maybe if we backed off the issues around who is having sex with whom or who is getting married to whom then maybe we’d all be a lot more happy and there’s be animated little birds flying around everywhere.

Fake I.D

The 2011 remake of Footloose bears very little resemblance to the original with Kevin Bacon, but one of the things it gives us is an incredibly wonderful line dancing scene. I’ve never actually tried line dancing. I’m always the one taking pictures of everyone else giving it a whirl. If I could dance, though, it would probably be with something like this. Line dancing is exactly how society should be: everyone on the same page, doing their own thing while working together with everyone else. And it’s fun. We need life to be fun.

https://youtu.be/uwNIMM4qnrI

Twist And Shout

I look at Ferris Bueller’s Day Off now and the first thing that comes to mind is how young everyone was back then. We all were young, once. That doesn’t mean we’ve lost the ability to Twist and Shout, though. We might even sway through a chorus of Danke Schoen. What this portion of the movie tells us, though, is that a) it’s easy to convince the people of Chicago to dance in the middle of the street, and b) dancing is a good distraction when you’re on the verge of really blowing it in life. Dancing puts all the problems on the shelf for a minute, gives us a chance to re-examine things before we proceed. The dancing is critical to the outcome of the movie. Perhaps it’s just as critical to the outcome of life.

Closing Time

This scene from Friends With Benefits shows the power of love as expressed through a flash mob. Stop and think a moment about all the trouble, planning, and coordination that Justin Timberlake’s character had to go through to make a flash mob like this happen in Grand Central Station. If we put that same level of effort into our government, our politics, our social lives, and especially our relationships, then perhaps we’d end up with everyone being best friends. Maybe. I can’t make any promises, but what we’ve been doing the past 50 years certainly hasn’t worked, has it? I’m willing to try something new and a dancing flash mob seems like the perfect way to go.

Now, if you’re still reading this far down the page, thank you. With the non-stop political coverage we’ve had the past several months and the bleakness I’m seeing for the future, it seems to me we need to take an extremely different tact in how we approach things. Am I in denial? Yes, most certainly. Denial is safe for the moment. Denial helps ignore the fact that there’s not a damn thing I can do to stop the impending catastrophe coming on January 20. So, let’s all get together and dance. I think we’ll feel better, even if we’re all in denial.

Status / video

Casual Friday

April 8, 2016

A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything. —Friedrich Nietzsche

When Fridays turn foul we do best to just wait the day out and hope for a better tomorrow

There are days when there is absolutely nothing you can do to boost productivity. Some days are just bad and this is feeling very much like it is going to be one of them. Here it is the start of Spring, still early in April, and while we might expect the rain we’ve been having, waking up to a 30-degree temperature this morning isn’t exactly a good way to start the weekend. The cold snap we’re experiencing is thwarting plans left and right and making the children difficult which in turns makes me irritable.

Since productivity is out the window, for the fifth time this week, my plan for today is to simply survive. There’s really no other choice. The kids are feeling the cabin fever just as much as I am and if I want to keep the noise level down to a point where I’m not committing violent crimes against all of humanity then we’re going to have to make this Friday a most casual one and do something I would normally not recommend doing: watching movies.

Of course, for this casual Friday to actually work, I have to select just the right movies, a blend that will keep the little one’s from further destroying the house while simultaneously not drive me to the point of wanting to nuke the entire Disney operation. This isn’t easy. Fortunately, Netflix has a large number of options and recommendations. So, here’s what we’re going to try (hint, click on the titles to go directly to the movies):

The Mummy

I consider it part of my duty to both instill a sense of fear in children everywhere and I can think of no better way to do that than through really cheesy action and adventure flicks. Let’s face it: anything with Brandon Frazer is automatically covered in a pretty heavy dose of cheese. It’s casual Friday, though, so maybe we’ll just use that cheese and make nachos.

Spy Hard

The late Leslie Nielson brought a level of humor and satire to movies that I know is going to sail right over the kids’ heads. That’s okay. There’s enough slapstick to make them laugh. Leave the more subtle aspects for me. Maybe one day the kids will look back and think, “Why did anyone let me watch this?”

Barbarella

Just kidding. Tossed that one in to give Kat a startle. Happy casual Friday, dear!

Bewitched

Proof that Will Ferrel can make a really lousy movie that flops at the box office. I loved the original series, but this just stinks from one end to the other. Perfect for kids who don’t know the meaning of the word “quiet.”

Big Trouble In Little China

Okay, this one’s actually pretty good and by this point in the day I’m going to need something with the right blend of comedy and action and racial stereotypes. Well, okay, I could do without the racial stereotypes. Still, my hope is this is the one that puts them down for a willing nap. Every casual Friday needs a nap, doesn’t it?

I should probably note that were there no children in the equation my list would look dramatically different. I’d much rather watch a good documentary such as Ken Burn’s piece on the Roosevelts, which I’ve still not finished. That would have the little ones bouncing off the walls, though, and this casual Friday would become chaotic Friday and we really, really don’t want that. Not again.

Yes, this is a perfect example of really horrible parenting. You shouldn’t do this. Do not follow my example. If you need to have a casual Friday of your own, I’m sure there are much more wholesome and educational activities with which you could pass the time with your children. I’m sure your children are wonderful, beautiful, and always incredibly well behaved and listen to every instruction you give them. These two don’t, though, and since nothing else this week has worked I’m throwing in the towel and turning on the television. I’m sorry. If you think something different should happen, you are more than welcome to come take over. The backdoor is unlocked (I think).

Oh, and despite the pictures above, this casual Friday does not involve nudity. Again, kids. If they weren’t here, however … (ahem).

Enjoy your casual Friday. If there are no new articles tomorrow you’ll know I didn’t survive.

Art / Fashion / Music / pop culture / PotD

Popped Culture Implosion

February 29, 2016

Creativity is putting your imagination to work, and it’s produced the most extraordinary results in human culture. —Ken Robinson

There is a lack of truly defining moments in contemporary culture that dooms us to boredom

No, I did not watch the Oscars last night, and no, it wasn’t because of any boycott, though the issue of racism in Hollywood needs a lot more than just platitudes thrown at it. I didn’t watch the Oscars last night because there was absolutely nothing about the show worthy of holding my interests for three-plus hours after a long day that started at 3:00 AM EST. To have stayed up that late would have required feeling passionate about some element of the show and there was nothing deserving of my passion. I had a much better time putting my head on my pillow and going to sleep.

2015’s Oscars views were off by 18% from the previous year, hitting a six-year low. Last night’s numbers aren’t in yet (7:00 AM EST), but I will be tremendously surprised if they’re all that much higher, if any at all. And while it might be tempting to blame things such as #OscarsSoWhite, the reality is that popular culture has popped, imploded into a pile of monotony that is about as exciting as the underside of a dog house. There was no reason to stay up and see what won the Best Picture award because I hadn’t bothered to see any of the nominated films. Spotlight, the film that won, hadn’t even managed to cross my radar before last night. What is it about? Apparently journalists at the Boston Globe, from what I’m reading, and I’m sure there are plenty of people who think it is a very good film, but am I going to drop $20 and an afternoon to see it? Probably not.

This period of cultural boredom isn’t just limited to film, unfortunately. I have spent the past three weeks totally consumed in covering ready-to-wear fashion for Pattern magazine. Earlier today, we finished up the shows in Milan, which should have been one of the most exciting weeks of the year. It wasn’t. If anything, it was anti-climactic at a level that I don’t remember having seen before. Worse yet, this has been a five-year trend that isn’t showing any sign of improving. An article in Business Insider this morning addresses the problem that such complete and total boredom with fashion is a leading cause of declining sales at department stores. Why shop when what we see on the rack is not substantially different from we already have in our closet?

Is music any different? Regrettably no, and music is the one place that our culture should be constantly reinventing itself. This year’s Grammy awards, which should be the biggest night in music, lost a half-million viewers from last year, which wasn’t exactly the most stellar statistic in the first place. With autotuning and digitally precise engineering, all new music has begun to sound too similar for anyone to care all that much about buying new albums. Scream all you want about how streaming services are cheating artists, what really matters is the fact that no one is buying the latest album because it sounds exactly like the one before it and the one before that and the one before … you get the idea.

What has happened to American culture? Where are the distinguishing artists that once shone out like beacons, names like Elvis, Hank Williams, Three Dog Night, or Ray Charles? Where are the icons of culture such as the Dorsey Brothers, Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball, and Norman Rockwell? Who is replacing Edward R. Murrow, Huntley & Brinkley, Bob Woodward, and Norman Mailer? Where are the underpinnings of our culture that give definition to this second decade of the 21st century? So far, all we have are hipster beards and oversized eyeglass frames and, quite honestly, both of those have lost their panache. We need more. We need something new to help define the next four years.

Why is our current culture not more significant? I have an interesting example. Tonight begins a new season of The Voice. Approximately 40 outstanding vocalists will be given a chance to work with experienced professionals, presumably to help get their music career jumpstarted. This is the tenth season of the show, which is a ratings hit for parent network NBC, but when we look at its actual impact on our culture, what have been the results: Nothing. Zero. Why? Because by the time the contest works its way down to the final four artists, the unique voices that started the show are gone. In their place are packaged, over-produced, tightly managed singers who are fed into a corporate music machine and promptly spit out on the other side having had little to no affect on our culture at all. Everyone sounds the same.

American Idol closed under exactly the same fate. While finalists from the first two seasons have done well, no one from this decade has managed to even get a glimpse of the Billboard charts. Nada. Zip.

Why was the literary world so wildly excited about what was ultimately a disappointing new book from Harper Lee, one which she had, presumptively, never wanted to be published? Because even contemporary literature is in the doldrums. We were wildly hopeful that a writer who had set culture on fire back in the 1960s might possibly be able to thrill us where more contemporary authors have failed.

Our culture has become far too boring. We, as creatives, have become too risk adverse, too unwilling to rock the boat, and the corporate entities that now control most everything we consume have choked the life from our movies, our music, our literature, and our life. We don’t need more Jackson Pollock, thank you. We need the next iteration of Pei Wei. We need people who can turn Banksy on its ear. We need people who give Giorgio Armani a reason to retire.

As I sit here ranting, of course, I have to ask myself what I’m willing to do to become part of the solution. I have some ideas. Who’s willing to help? Our culture is deficient of creativity. You and I can make a difference. Start now.

Art / pop culture / PotD

Varying Success

July 18, 2015

Aliens Among Us

The only thing that scares me more than space aliens is the idea that there aren’t any space aliens. We can’t be the best that creation has to offer. I pray we’re not all there is. If so, we’re in big trouble. ― Ellen DeGeneres

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]One of the most potentially disturbing questions for humanity is whether we are alone in the universe. Many are sure we are not. Many are equally certain we must be. No matter where one stands on the issue, though, the question remains fascinating, one that dominated movies and literature in the 20th century, and is almost considered matter-of-fact in entertainment today. Through the safety of special effects, we’ve explored, with varying success, just how other species of beings might look, how they might behave, and how they might interact with humans.

Almost everyone we meet has a pre-existing concept of how aliens might look, to the point that should we ever actually meet one we might be disappointed; rather like meeting a movie star without the glamorous makeup. What amuses me is how much we want them to look like us. We want them to be bipedal oxygen breathers with, at the very least, two eyes and a mouth on their heads. We prefer them to have arms and legs and walk upright as we do. Movies that present aliens in any other form are rare, with Jabba the Hut from Star Wars being one of the more notable exceptions.

Every day, there are thousands of people attempting to search for and attempt to make contact with alien life. On the opposite side there are hundreds of people whose job it is to debunk any theory of extraterrestrial communication. Both meet with varying success and no small amount of skepticism from the general public. Some think that to make contact with another race of beings could be exciting and propel humanity into a great new leap of evolution. Others fear the chaos that would ensue should alien life actually make its presence known. Some notably intelligent people, such as Stephen Hawking, warn that, should we make alien contact, they may consider us too inferior to be anything more than food, much the way we look at cattle.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Creating alternate worlds and transforming humans into alien beings is something at which Photoshop™ and similar programs excel, if one has the patience and understanding of the tools. Even with a detailed concept of what I wanted to create, there were still plenty of challenges that consumed a great deal of time. Eventually, one has to say, “Okay, we’re done with this project” and move on. I could sit and tweak the image for weeks and chances are I would be the only one who would notice the difference. Almost immediately after declaring the image done, I thought of things I would do differently.

I’m one of those people willing to entertain the possibility that not only does alien life exist, but that they’ve likely made communication with us before. I’m even willing to consider the possibility that we ourselves are some mutant strain whose evolution was hijacked by visitors from another planet conducting a giant science experiment. Given how we approach other planets and our exploration of things, we cannot consider such tampering to be impossible. We may, in the grand scheme of things, be the equivalent of algae growing in some cosmic petri dish.

Experiments such as these, whether in real life or digital imagination, come with varying success and as we’ve seen in our look at variations in photo processing and manipulation, some things work better than others. Processes that may work well on one photograph might totally ruin another. Batch processing photos is hazardous and sometimes careless and irresponsible if one has not carefully curated the images beforehand. What we want is not always what we get. One thing for certain, though, is that as long as we have people with active imaginations there will constantly be the desire to manipulate photographs and see exactly how far we can push reality.[/one_half_last]

Standing Nude (2010)

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