http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/iso-paper.htmlEverything you always wanted to know about standard paper sizes but were always too afraid to ask. Thanks to Matt for the link.
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/iso-paper.htmlEverything you always wanted to know about standard paper sizes but were always too afraid to ask. Thanks to Matt for the link.
Well, well. I’ve done the first performance of As American As Apple Pie and I’m really digging how it went.
It’s taught me a bunch about acting and about theater. Before the performance, I vowed to myself that I would never ever act in a production again. And then, it happened, and maybe I’ll take another stab at it in a few years. It’s been wild and good.
This theater project has been part of the reason I postponed my birthday. From Wednesday till today, all my thought has been dedicated to this, and the birthday thing didn’t really penetrate at all. People asked me on Thursday how old I was and I told them seventeen. Now it kind of is and that’s another thing that’s exciting.
There are defiantly some things that I’ll probably talk about at great length, but that’ll happen after this is all over.
Right now, I’m about to go pass out, but before I do, I would like to mention two neat things.
I got a real life comment about TealArt from a non-relative. It was awesome. From an artist nonetheless. This makes me even more self-conscious about the fact that the default design features a picture shamelessly stolen from the A&F Quarterly. Not to mention the fact that I don’t really proof read anything I post here, and thus feel the content is kind of shaky.
The second thing is that the one and only Brad Graham was there, saw me, said hello, shaked (shook, I know it’s shook) my hand. Its weird. I’ve been reading Brad’s site for years. I found the link on Amy’s site, only to discover that it was only coincidence that we didn’t already know each other.
And having said that, it’s still really weird. Now, when meet a fellow blogger-type, I make a point of communicating with them off the bat, so that I can become friends with them before I know all their life stories and then feel like a stalker. I guess that marks the first time I’ve ever met a real honest to god blogger-type in person. He was shorter than I thought he would be, but not that much shorter. I think that can be owed to the fact that I envision everyone as being my height and he’s about an inch shorter than me. Anyway. I’m babbling, now, so I’ll see you all around.
Peace out.
Cheers,
http://www.searchforlove.blogspot.com/Faustus, MD. A gay odyssey of neurosis. This is, I feel, one of the more brilliant blogs out there these days. Really. I swear!
This entry is a continuation of Too Touchy Feely Sometimes.
So there’s beauty everywhere, and maybe that’s what art is. Not technical skill or talent, but the ability to see the beauty everywhere and in everyone.
If that’s the case, then artists are a bunch of hacks; because I think anyone in the right mindset can see that beauty, and communicate it. Maybe it’s easier for some people than for others, but the truth is that everyone is capable of this.
But I don’t think that’s the case. Right now I want, and perhaps need to believe, that there’s something special and unique about art. Good art. That it’s something special, and not something that *everyone* can do. That sure makes me an elitist asshole. And at the same time, I realize how thatís not effective, because elitist artists do nothing for me, and the truth is, that in practice, I’m not exclusive about my own art. I’ve had this experience of being a visual artist, by virtue of a studio/portfolio class that I’ve been in, and I think I’ve been able to do some pretty cool stuff. But I don’t think my work is extordinary. So maybe that’s the comfortable work. Everyone can do art, and a lot of it can be really interesting and worthwhile without being the next Van Gogh.
Not to stray too much, but perhaps this is a problem with materialism. In a society where the product is valued so much, it feels sometimes that we’re working to make the next thing marketable, better than the last. Take the movie industry, where what would otherwise be an artistic venture, becomes a capitalist venture. This happens in any non-ephemeral art, where there is a hard product produced, and it’s another one of those “no solution but a definite problem” kind of situations.
The problem I guess with the normalization of art, is that, it becomes less special and less mystical, and while in general terms I like the idea of demystifying the world, there’s defiantly some romantic shred that needs to cling to that notion.
I’ve said before, that in light of analysis of these “problems” faith, hope, and acceptance are the only reasonable solutions. Frankly, I think that’s a really shitty solution. (To my grandmother: the book is on my bedside table, and I promise to take it up next.) So here’s what I’m going to replace than answer:
There is something within all of us that claims to our own “side,” the belief that art is something special and unique, and so forth. So much that, this is what makes us unique. If we didn’t cling to these conceptions, we wouldn’t be special.
I know science fiction writers who have had the idea that there is some conceptual limit, an area, when a species figures out the big questions, and gets the answers. After this point, the race becomes reclusive, or “goes beyond,” or blinks out of existence, etc. Itís a nice idea and I think on some level it makes peace with this very question in a tidy sort of way.
Hell, I’m only seven—eighteen—and I don’t need to have this sorted out now. I donít have to have it sorted out in fifty years; I don’t need to ever answer this question. Perhaps this is a situation where its’ only really important to ask the questions and think about the questions. Answering might be counter productive. That’s the truth, as much of a source of frustration as that often is, it’s still the truth.
In all things, balance is admirable, even desirable.
That’s a hard thing to accept, because so often we’re so wed to our own causes, our own positions, and our own prospective, to realize that the middle ground is probably the best place. If two people are arguing, then, the best resolution is the solution that falls squarely between them.
This isn’t to say that when arguing people shouldn’t stick to their guns. Peoples perspective and positions, causes and desires make them individuals, and allow the discourse to function at the peak of its (admittedly) limited ability. But, there’s no avoiding the discourse.
But people shouldn’t give up their sides of the argument, or dive to the center (a political point in reference to the “two” party system), that creates a completely and largely irrelevant kind of discourse.
Hey, arguing isn’t necessarily bad; having differences of opinion is healthy. And the last time I checked, that was still legal in this country. Although lately, I’ve been wondering. — (That’ll make sense to people who see As American As Apple Pie.)
Having beaten that to death several times, allow me to offer the actually interesting part of this post.
I’ve been hearing about the 9/11 commissions, for months. She’ll testify. She won’t testify. She’ll just ‘talk’ to them. They testified together. He testified and then He testified and they both said the same thing.
Which of course lead me to ask: I wonder what this means? I wonder how this will affect the election? Does it even matter? What are we learning from this discourse? And on, and on, and on. While I’m not fond of participating in the discourse of American Politics, or even fond of commenting on it, I do take some pleasure in listening to NPR regularly, and just listening to what’s said, and how it’s said. I have no desire of being a pundit, but within the confines of my car, it’s a fun mental exercise.
For the past two days I’ve been hearing ‘live’ testimony to the 9/11 commission. It’s really dry stuff. Even for NPR. And I could have been analyzing what was being said, how they were saying it, their ulterior motives, and all of that. And I might have been able to confirm something I already knew, or even gotten something new.
But I didn’t do that. I just listened to what they said. And there was a kind of beauty to it. Not in the normal, Monet flowers, or Michelangelo’s David sort of way, but in a tragic thunder and windstorm blowing over the barn sort of beauty.
And then I realized that I was just kind of tired, and that I was really listening to a guy describing the complexities and differences between Staircase A, in the North Tower, and Staircase B in the South Tower for a good ten minuets.
So I realized that if I could find a kind of touching beauty in the description of a staircase, that perhaps, I could find beauty in other things too. If the last two years have taught me anything, it’s that my artistic goal, if I have one, is to communicate that simple beauty.
Must enjoy fruitful arguments, and life’s simpler pleasures. — Another Apple Pie thing.
Having realized this directive, I have to say that it’s hard to find those essential moments that have beauty, because I know that they’re everywhere, but if you go overboard and take pleasure in the rhythm and organization of a touch-typist’s skill, or knitter’s craft. I mean it’s there, but its easy to go overboard and get too touchy feely.
On the other hand…
To be Continued…
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&group=rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderatedThe only newsgroup I read with any regularity, which isn’t to say that I read it that often, just that I do with some frequency. JMS postings, and all the like. It’s great. I also think that it’s fair I mention that there is serious seeming talk of an upcoming Babylon 5 feature film, which leads Chris and I to wonder what the next good, TV space opera will be. Ideas?
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