At RESCUE’s 8th annual “Beauty to the RESCUE” fundraiser at the Mane Attraction on March 9, local artist Susan Barken spotted our dog Otto (a rescue dog himself) and thought he’d make a good subject for one of her paintings. Here are a couple of the photos she took of him on March 16. Susan donated a dog painting for RESCUE’s silent auction at the fundraiser. (UPDATE: here’s the painting.)
Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine will be performing at the Celebrity Theatre on June 7, for his first headlining show in Arizona. Tickets go on sale on March 15, 18 & over only, $100 for front row, $60 for VIP rows 2-7, and $35 for remaining rows. Those in the front and VIP rows get an after-show “meet and greet” with Richard Cheese for photos and autographs at the Celebrity Club. More details at www.richardcheese.com.
The picture is of a pair of breasts, composed of 32,000 Barbie dolls. 32,000 is the number of elective breast augmentation surgeries in the U.S. in 2006. This picture, along with a partial zoom and closeup and other similar works by Chris Jordan, may be found at his website. The photos depict such things as 2 million discarded plastic bottles (the number used in the United States every five minutes), a skull made from images of 200,000 packs of cigarettes (the number of Americans who die from cigarette smoking every six months), a version of Seurat’s “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” made from 106,000 images of aluminum cans (the number used in the U.S. every 30 seconds), and so forth. Hat tip to Barry Williams, who posted this on the SKEPTIC list. UPDATE (June 11, 2009): Jordan gave a TED Talk about his work last year:
From Scott Horton, “The Illustrated President," Harper’s, January 24, 2008: George W. Bush is famous for his attachment to a painting which he acquired after becoming a “born again Christian.” It’s by W.H.D. Koerner and is entitled “A Charge to Keep.” Bush was so taken by it, that he took the painting’s name for his own official autobiography. And here’s what he says about it: ...
The Parents Television Council, the organization that is responsible for generating over 99.8% of all indecency complaints to the FCC, has further demonstrated its own complete pointlessness by putting out a website that assembles a collection of the most indecent clips from broadcast television, with no parental controls of any kind on the page. Each clip is categorized with labels like “sex,” “violence,” and “foul language." What’s a kid more likely to come across? A five-second bit in one of thousands of television shows, or a huge collection of the worst of the worst all in one place on the Internet? It’s high time for broadcast television indecency rules to be dropped. (Via The Agitator.)
Altria Group’s moving its headquarters from New York City means that it will cease supporting the arts in New York, to the tune of $7 million a year. Altria funded over 200 groups in the city and was “the most reliable source of corporate funds for the city’s dance companies, art museums, and theaters for over 40 years, consistently ranking as the top giver each year,” according to Trent Stamp of Charity Navigator, in a blog post titled “Arts Groups Addicted to Smoking."
Daniel Rozin’s Weave Mirror uses 768 motorized C-shaped prints in what appears like a basket weave patterned screen, each of which can rotate independently to change its shade, producing a grayscale image of whatever is in front of it. Photos and video at Engadget. This reminds me of Julius Popp’s Bitfall, which draws images with falling water drops.
Last night we attended “Bat Boy: The Musical”(reviewed here by the Arizona Republic). The play is based on a recurring character in fake (but sourced) news stories in the Weekly World News. While it didn’t exactly describe the Bat Boy we were familiar with from the WWN (for instance, he didn’t fight with U.S. troops in Afghanistan), it was a humorous and entertaining performance at the Phoenix Theater by the Nearly Naked Theatre troupe. The “Bat Boy: The Musical” play was co-authored by Brian Flemming, the director of the atheist DVD “The God Who Wasn’t There” and the silly “Blasphemy Challenge” that has prompted many YouTube videos.
This is really cool, I hope the Quicktime videos come back soon. (Via BLDGBLOG.) UPDATE (September 18, 2007): Julius Popp’s website (the first link) appears to be undergoing renovations… the BLDGBLOG link still has Bitfall pictures and description. Historical Comments Einzige (2006-12-09): That has got to be the coolest thing I've seen in a long time.Mind-numbingly awesome.
I had the privilege of viewing this film, “One Got Fat,” two or three times in grade school in the early-to-mid seventies. It’s the story of Filbert, Nel, Stan, Mossby, Rooty, Floog, Orv and their friends–all creepy monkey-faced humans–who bicycle ride to a park nine blocks away, all but one coming to an unpleasant end. (Hat tip: Radley Balko at The Agitator.)