art?

sometimes i struggle with what art is and is not.

i find it interesting that you seldom contemplate artistic creation until it is framed and hanging on a wall. and, personally, i have seen some fantastic sketches in friends' drawing pads that far surpass those which i have seen in some galleries.

is it a matter of personal taste? is it understanding the artist's vision? is it seeing a glimpse of yourself and your life in the work? or is it hype--societal convention tells us that artist _x_ is the bomb and therefore we can't form our own opinion about it.

i also find fascinating the dichotomous aspect of society generally valuing art as a high form of expression, but paradoxically snubbing artists (generally) as lazy half-wits. again, until society states that "ah-ha, this is art! and what a remarkable artist!" it makes me sad.

beyond human artists, i have been captivated a time or two with certain ape artists. part of the appeal to me is the concept of our cousin finger painting, and the other part of intrigue is the question of the definition of art as i noted above.

the agrifolk art movement brings in further questions of what is art and what is poppycock. i first dismissed this tree art as crap, but have backed off to again consider if there is expression within it.

corporate food chain

i pay a good deal of attention to ecologically-sound and alternative businesses. mergers are not always a bad thing, in my opinion, but this particular circumstance was most fascinating to me. living in portland, oregon a few years back, a small chain of locally-owned and operated natural food stores called "nature's" was bought out by boulder-based wild oats. now the behemoth whole foods chain is gobbling up wild oats. the story of little fish eaten by bigger fish swallowed by laboring whale with pacemaker. good luck whole foods.

glitchy

the past week has gone thus:

sicky for a good portion of it.
mucus and the like, spotty muffled hearing, general aches. good times.

papers and presentations at school. went to brooklyn for the long weekend. had a flat tire in the car twice. once replaced a sidewall puncture on friday afternoon, then it went flat in nyc again. same tire, but this time a leaky valve stem.

now on the mend and reentering the old habits: running and such. just cut my finger on a bottle cap of smutty nose ale and reset the ipod, as it was frozen in the on position. glitchy technology.

also sprach zarathusa

phish...

i was inspired to search for this vid after reading about the hammer of the chimps.

victorian parlor games, anyone?

this morning i was researching the dried form of our good friend, ms. grape. specifically, i was curious about the production methods in making raisins, the ability of raisins to maintain the health properties of its former self, and the seemingly noxious use of sulfur dioxide on many dried fruits. the verdict, stay away from sultanas and 95% of raisins are derived from thompson grapes, which are green grapes and do not harbor the resveratrol compound that is famed for its phytochemical properties. stick with sipping on the red, red wine (obligatory ub40 reference).

resveratrol:

amongst the periphery of this research i stumbled upon a olde tyme drinking game, snap dragon. where you take a bowl of brandy or cognac, toss some raisins in, set the liquor aflame, and then proceed to quickly fish out the raisins with your fingers while trying to escape without scalding burns. evolution...why ever did you mute this riveting game of risk and amusement?

radio in your head

stream of consciousness has long fascinated me. how thoughts flow in and out of your consciousness, seemingly uncontrollably, without asking for them, and their permanence and omnipresence are quite imminent.

in many ways, it feels like you are the ceo of your "company" and you are sitting at a large board room table. in come the drones pitching you the ideas. some you hardly glance at as they float by with your dismissal, some you ponder on for a brief moment and allow to pass, and others that seem timely and the project to focus on now. quite humorous how it all pans out, really.

what intrigues me further, is there always seems to be a radio playing in the background up there, too. seriously. take listen to your board room for a second. close your eyes. what is playing? as with the other thoughts, songs always seem to be floating around up there. sometimes they are good tunes that you catch yourself singing and bobbing around to, and sometimes you get enamored with row-row-row-your boat and after the 23rd refrain you are pretty fed up with the damn rowing. "stuck in my head" basically equates to the cd skip in radio-head land.

its fun being ceo. keep the ideas churning, take your eyes out to the streets to "hire" some new drones (gain new stimuli/ideas), and turn up the volume on the funky tunes. i've got the flaming lips on up there now. good times.

jury duty

i received a letter from the local jury commission yesterday informing me that i have been randomly selected for jury duty. always wondered when my number would come up in the lottery. it would be nice if they gave out some sort of citizenry door prize that you would be randomly selected to receive, no? a. informs me that i should be excited about partaking in one of the few citizen responsibilities asked of us. i see her point and have now converted my thinking of "how is this going to work out" to "i'm gonna sit on a jury with henry fonda and ensure justice is had" (12 angry men reference for you young whipper snappers).

in other news, i have been drinking a reishi mushroom tea for the past month or so at work, and hadn't noticed that besides its effects on bolstering my immune system, in loud green letters it has been making a phonetic claim of, well...

nag champa and the like

occasionally, i stop at the ok natural food store for a grab and go dinner before class. there is usually an intriguing style of jazz dancing through the tight basement store. a fresh and heavy fog of incense and a welcoming jingle from the bell tied tight to the door. a friendly, neighborhood place. a place where hippies and hipsters can get their block of tofu. is it not the patchouli that binds us all? perhaps essential oils and aromatherapy can cure the world's disagreements. let's ship some musky herbs to iraq and call it good. teehee.