Saturday, April 06, 2013

Round Robin Challenge: Threads



"Experience is never limited, and it is never complete; it is an immense sensibility, a kind of huge spider-web of the finest silken threads suspended in the chamber of consciousness, and catching every air-borne particle in its issue."

~Henry James

RRC: Threads



THREADS Of Wire For Hair...

The name of this statue is Bliss Dance. This lovely lady sits behind the security gate at Treasure Island, where she has been since 2009. She is a stunning example of beauty and grace, and at just about 40 feet tall, you can't help but notice her, even with the amazing San Francisco skyline serving as a backdrop behind her!Of course if you didn't notice her right off, I would have to ask..

When was the last time you saw a 40ft dancing naked woman anyway?

Bliss Dance made her first appearance at Burning Man in 2010, and has now found a home, at least for now, on Treasure Island. She has fallen into a bit of disarry of late, but there is an ongoing effort to keep her looking her best, as she reminds us to dance.

She is part one in the artists vision of a three part sisterhood. The second in the series of three statues, Truth Is Beauty, will be finished later this year and the third, R-evolution will follow. I am really looking forward to seeing the three statues, and of course photographing them. I am already hooked!

You can read more about the project by visiting the artist's website look for the link at the bottom of this post.

THREADS Coming Together...



When I am walking around a fabric store, looking at all the possibilities, that's when I begin to fantasize that I would love to be a fashion designer, or interior decorator! I get excited by watching things come together in a visual way! That might also be a bad thing though. My first love is photography, and I would drive myself crazy stopping to photograph everything. There is only so far the human mind can be distracted... right? Well, my human mind anyway. LOL. Here's the thing though...

Never wind me up and turn me loose in a fabric store! LOL. My next example will tell you why!

THREADS Making Statements...



I LOVE this fabric! If I were Rachel Zoe I might say that it is BANANAS, because it is, but I don't know if she would actually agree with me, she is much to elegant in personal style methinks, but if we are just talking funky fun... it's fabulous! I would love to get a Simplicity pattern and make these THREADS into a nice pincil skirt and pair with with a crepe shell and a black leather cropped style or Bolero jacket perhaps! And lots and lots of silver chains and a silver chain belt, and don't forget the closed toe slingbacks! Hmmm...

Too bad I have NO talent for working a sewing machine device. None. Newfangled contraptions!

All These THREADS... All The THREADS Possibilities...



There you have it, my look at THREADS! Okay, now that you have visited here, please go see what the other Round Robin participants have come up with! You can find their links and all the information you need, should you want to join in the fun, at the official Round Robin blog. Simply click here.

Mood: Happy :)

~Me 



Friday, April 05, 2013

Inspired By: Edvard Munch ( A Tale Of Two Screams)



"More than any time in history mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness, the other to total extinction. Let us pray that we have the wisdom to choose correctly."

~Woody Allen

 

The other day, while in San Mateo, I spotted a face in a tree. At first I thought it would be a pretty good addition to my series "A Face In The Crowd." If you don't remember that series, it basically consists of faces I have seen in odd or unusual places. There are a few examples on my sidebar, under the My Photography section. Anyway, after I took the photo I had the strange feeling that I had seen this face before. It was definitely familiar beyond the general facial features. After studying it for a while I realized that, at least to me, the face in the tree bore somewhat of a resemblance to Edvard Munch's "The Scream."

Admittedly, The Scream has never really been one of my favorite paintings, however when I have come across it, it has always captured my imagination. Why was the man in the painting in so much turmoil? Had he just witnessed something dreadful? Where was he? What is directly behind him? Why is the sky orange? Is he transitioning between this life and the next? What could possibly bring about the kind of emotion being felt by the man in the painting? I have always wanted to know more!

And isn't that what art is all about?

YES! And it kind of tickled me when I realized the face I was seeing reminded me of  The Scream because it meant that I would probably spend a little while yesterday afternoon, doing some research into the Edvard Munch's masterpiece. And I did! I learned that there are actually 4 versions of The Scream, the original title for this series was Der Schrei der Natur. In his diary, Munch described his inspiration for the image...

"One evening I was walking along a path, the city was on one side and fjord below. I felt tired and ill. I stopped and looked out over the fjord... the sun was setting, and the clouds turning blood red. I sensed a scream passing through nature; it seemed to me that I heard the scream. I painted this picture, painted the clouds as actual blood. The color shrieked. This became The Scream."

E.M.
Nice 22 January 1892

"Whistler's Mother, Wood's American Gothic, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa and Edvard Munch's The Scream have all achieved something that most paintings... regardless of their historical importance, beauty, or monetary value... have not: they communicate a specific meaning almost immediately to almost every viewer. These few works have successfully made the transition from the elite realm of the museum visitor to the enormous venue of popular culture."

~Martha Tedeschi (Author)

I came across many different theories as to why the figure in the painting seems to be in such despair. One such theory was that Munch was depicting, of all things, the despair of love. Yikes! I have gotten my heart stomped on once, or twice, but I don't think love has ever left me so devastated that this is how I viewed it! LOL. Of course, is there anything more fun than a broken heart? Hell, I heard on a documentary a while back that it is true, a broken heart can indeed actually kill you! Perhaps Edvard Munch knew a little about that, or maybe he was inspired not so much by the pain of romantic love, but rather by the pain of losing anyone you love.

Shrug.

I know I have often felt that love can be a much more painful emotion than hatred.

Shrug again.

 

Anyway, there is a lot to discover about The Scream, so I will save some details back in case you would like to spend a Saturday or Sunday learning about it for yourself. Personally, I can't think of a nicer way to spend a weekend day! Be it this work of art, or a different one you have been wanting to know more about.

So tell me...

What comes to mind when you view Edvard Munch's, The Scream?
Do you have a favorite artwork or artist that you would like to know more about? If so, who?
What is the last artwork you spent time researching?

Tell me what or who inspires you!

Mood: Curious

~Me :)

Reminder: Don't forget to join us tomorrow (Saturday) for our next Round Robin Challenge! This time around we will be tackling... "Threads." You can find out all about it here.


Thursday, April 04, 2013

Pear Blossoms 2013 + A Round Robin Challenge Reminder!



"A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy?"

~Albert Einstein

Yum! The pear tree is in full, glorious bloom right now, and I can almost taste the Pear and Havarti sandwiches I enjoy every autumn. There is nothing like grabbing a piece of fruit off your very own tree, and making something amazingly delicious with it! I created a few new recipes using the pears from the yard, but it was the Pear and Havarti sandwiches I enjoyed the most. I will have a lot on my plate this year,pun intended, when it comes to experimenting with garden goodness, as we are planning to do a bigger variety of vegetables and container berries. Blackberries, Blueberries and White Strawberries are currently leading the list, but so are edible flowers. I love trying new things. Hopefully by early summer, I will have the recipe blog all dusted off, and ready to go with new original recipes for 2013!

Stay Tuned!

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

**A Quick Reminder: This coming Saturday we will be playing another round of the Round Robin Photo Challenges! Everyone is welcome, so please consider joining us! You can find all the information at the official Round Robin blog, but if you have any questions, please feel free to leave your questions in the comment thread for this post! :)

Round Robin Challenges

Wednesday, April 03, 2013

The 6th Defenestration Of Howard



"No violence, gentlemen... no violence, I beg of you! Consider the furniture!"

~Athur Conan Doyal, The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone

"Shin: Device for finding furniture in the dark."

~Unknown

It was a good day with the camera yesterday! We went to San Francisco yesterday,  in search of some public art, certain pieces in particular.  The first one I bring you here in this post, it is titled "Defenestration" by artist, Brian Goggin. Isn't it amazing?

The idea of the piece serves to remind us of the beauty in the forgotten and cast off. Installed on the side of a building at 6th and Howard, in a part of San Francisco that has been through a lot of struggles, socially and financially, it is a work of art the really speaks to me. As I have tried to demonstrate through my photography over the years, the simple and forgotten sometimes bring us the most profound enlightenment's.

I will be back to do more photos of this piece, as I am completely in love with it. Until next time here is my gallery from yesterday...

Defenestration: The act of throwing someone or something out of a window.

Gallery...



Now, please enjoy one of my favorite episode's of One Life To Live. It is titled, "The Defenestration of Blair Cramer." Truly, it's one of the best episodes that features Kassie DePaiva and Florencia Lozano's as frenemies Blair Cramer and Tea Delgado! LOL. Oh for the LOVE OF TODD! I am so glad One Life To Live has been resurrected and will be returning at the end of the month to the Online Network! Daytime dramas are a form of art as well, and no medium of art should be forced into an unwanted death or encouraged to just lay down and die.

OLTL Episode # 10, 541: The Defenestration of Blair Cramer
October 9th, 2009



Mood: Happy :)

~Me :)



Tuesday, April 02, 2013

Along The Coast



"In every out thrust headland, in every curving beach, in every grain of sand there is the story of the earth."

Time to do more coastal photography! I am spending the day in San Francisco, working on  photographing some public art, but I am also planning on spending at least a small amount of time along the coast, and hopefully the light and the fog will present some strong opportunities to get in some practice with cameras! We'll see. It's a challenge sometimes, but even if I just do the small amount of bay side photography I have planned, it will be nice movement forward. Ahh... there is nothing like learning new things from a hobby you enjoy as much as I do photography! I am looking forward to it, there is a lot to see along the coast, so if you can't find some inspiration along the way, than you just aren't paying attention!

Mood: Happy :)

~Me :)

Monday, April 01, 2013

I Just Can't Cope Without My Soap! Happy 50th Anniversary General Hospital!



"Life is like Friday on a soap opera. It gives you the illusion that everything is going to wrap up, then the same old shit starts up on Monday."

~Stephen King, Duma Key

 
Luke And Laura's Wedding Day, November 17th, 1981

I Just Can't Cope Without My Soap
PT One

Oh boy, this is difficult to admit. I... ahem... am older than the daytime drama General Hospital. LOL. I was born on June 29th, 1962, while General Hospital debuted on ABC on April 1st, 1963. As I type this we are both fifty, but that will all change in just a couple months, much to my dismay. Something I am not particularly dreading, it is what it is, but when put into the context of being slightly older than daytime's longest running soap opera, my poor brittle bones and my wee arthritic joints begin to alternate between laughing at me for even letting it be a passing concern, and yelling at me with pain for not giving the situation the proper respect! LOL.

Life is, after all, a soap opera!

And I am so glad it is!

Say what you want about soap operas, you will not budge me from my opinion that the artists who work all the magic to bring those characters to us for an hour each Monday through Friday are some of the hardest working performers around! Plots that take us to romantic destinations, or the edge of our seat drama, or perhaps to the very edge of dark places everyone carries around, soap operas touch we fans on a much different level that movies or regular TV offerings. You can literally watch someone grow up, watch them go through their own real life personal dramas, and we can sometimes find something in the story telling that will make us feel a whole lot less along in our own struggles. It's might sound strange if you haven't been a fan of this entertainment genre, but if like me you have seen yourself in a character on a soap, even just a little bit, you know exactly what I mean!

I have found a great deal of comfort from "my stories" over the last fifty years! LOL. "My stores" makes me sound like a little old lady, but I guess there is no shame in that, at my age I kinda am, and I think of it as a badge! Hey, considering all the comfort soaps have brought me, I am only to happy to step up and say THANK YOU! I was happy that I could retreat to another room during my father's wake brunch, when the family decided to fight over the contents of his desk! Or be grateful that as I laid in bed, too sick to lift me head for 6 months, there was familiar voices on the TV to help me feel like I wasn't alone, friends where near by. Even a decade or so ago, when I was so sad that Anhedonia had me beaten down, I knew that at 2:00 PM, on ABC Channel 7 (KGO), General Hospital would be on to let me step out of the pain for an hour, and relax in someone else's world for a while.

It's therapeutic. It's comforting. It's a larger than life refreshing flight of fancy... for an hour. The perfect amount of time. On Monday, when the daytime TV week resumes again, I can just forget for a moment that there is yet another nut job in the world, think Kim Jung Une, who has a massive weapon pointed at the mainland of the United States, specifically the coast I live on! No, I get to find out who sent LuLu and Dante a cheap copy of the Ice Princess! I get to see if Patrick Drake will finally tell Sabrina he loves her, or at the very least would like to date her, LOL. And ooh... check it out... Laura is back, engaged to Scotty Baldwin, but on the run with Luke! That seems like old times to me! YAY! And while all this is happening, lovable Lucy Coe is planning the Nurse's Ball once again! Will she end up in her underwear again this year? Well I certainly hope so, it's been a Nurse's Ball tradition forever!

Beginning this week, General Hospital will be celebrating half a century of the lives of the citizens of Port Charles, New York, and I can admit I am having a great time watching all the returns of wonderful characters of the past. Frisco, Robert Scorpio, Nicholas Cassadine, Scott Baldwin, Audrey Hardy, Lucy Coe, Heather Webber, Anna Devane, basically all my favorites over the years are home for the anniversary, and the story telling has never been better, thanks to Producer Frank Valentini and Writer Ron Carlivarti, who came on-board at General Hospital after the sudden cancellation of ABC's One Life To Live in 2012. ABC also ordered the cancellation of All My Children, the networks other soap, on the same day, which led to a backlash from irate fans, such as myself, and the determination to keep General Hospital alive, not just on life support.

And we did it! We petitioned. We tuned in. We sent letters. We asked major corporations to join us in our passion to keep our soaps alive, and to our delight we got strong support from Hoover! They listened. I wish there had been more support, but I am not dwelling on things. General Hospital made it! And while I am not sure how much longer we will have this beloved soap around, I am not going to think about it's eventual end. There is no time for it. I would rather just take that one hour gift, Monday through Friday and escape into the intrigue. The romance. The humor... OMG... the humor is so good! And be grateful for the familiar voices, and faces, that help me feel less alone.

I love my stories, and I am not ashamed to admit it!

Here, for a little fun, is the General Hospital rap song from 1981. Go have a listen... go ahead... you know you want to! It's so much FUN!

General Hospi-TALE ~ The Afternoon Delights...


Lyrics (Should You Feel The Need To Burst Into Song)
 Rock it hard, rock it steady
Pick yourself up and
Get yourself ready

Wave your arms
Let me hear you yell
Were gonna rap about
General Hospital

It started out
In Port Charles town
Where Frank Smith's mob
Used to hang around

No one could prove
That he was a crook
Till Luke stole his
Little black book

It had names and
Numbers all in code
So Luke and Laura
Had to hit the road

They had to find
The left-handed boy
Watch their step
They had to be coy

The gold involved
Was worth so much
Others wanted it
Like Sally and Hutch

But there's one thing
I must confess
Sally was a man
Who wore a dress

Luke kept his cool
He ain't no fool
He set them both up cold
Well Sally died
Hutch survived
And no one got the gold

Paging Dr. Noah Drake
To ICU to treat a
Case of heartbreak

They keep me waiting
I don't mind waiting
Don't call me crazy
No, I'm not lazy

My day won't go right
I can't sleep all night
My hands start shaking
My knees start aching
I just can't cope
Without my soap

General Hospital
General Hospital
Mmm, number one
General Hospital
You're my worst affliction
General Hospital
You're my favorite addiction

Monica likes
To have her fun
That is why
She had a son

She told Rick
He was the dad
Soon found out
That he'd been had

There's one thing
That you can give me
That Leslie can't
And that's passion

Alan was the
Father, of course
And he won't give
Monica a divorce

Rick wants to
Get Leslie back
Heather's having
An insane attack
I'll get Diana Taylor

She's not crazy
Uh uh, no never
She just wants to
Get Dr. Jeff Webber

Jeff wants Annie
For his wife
But he might have to
Wait all of his life

Cause good girls don't
And Annie won't
And you all know
What I mean

Amy Vining likes to blab
Richard Simmons
Helps fight flab
Susan's having Alan's baby
Noah wants Bobbi
For his lady

Well, Luke got another job
The Quartermaines are
The brand new mob
Laura's the receptionist
What's missing now
Is the Ice Princess

Yes, Luke Spencer, please

Diamonds, not gold
Are in it this time
Scorpio, the house
Of Cassadine

On and on
And on it goes
How it ends up
Nobody knows cause

They keep me waiting
I don't mind waiting
Don't call me crazy
No, I'm not lazy

My day won't go right
I can't sleep all night
If I don't find out
It blows my mind out
I just can't cope
Without my soap

General Hospital
General Hospital
Mmm, number one
General Hospital
You're my worst affliction
General Hospital
You're my favorite addiction

General Hospital
Addiction, addiction
General Hospital
Addiction, addiction

General Hospital
You're my inspiration
General Hospital
Gonna stay tuned
To this station

General Hospital
Addiction, addiction
General Hospital
Tell me what's going on
Did you see it today
General Hospi-Tale
Tell me what's going on
General Hospital
Addiction, addiction
I love my General Hospital

General Hospital...
It's my addiction...

I will be posting about my love of soaps all through the month of April, as we get closer and closer to the reboots of One Life To Live and All My Children on April 29th!

Stay Tuned!

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Happy Easter 2013



"On Easter day, the veil between time and eternity thins to gossamer."

~Douglas Horton

Happy Easter! :) Look what magically appeared on my desk...



A basket of tasty yellow bunnies... YUM! Oh, and jelly beans also, as it wouldn't be Easter without jellybeans!

Mood: Happy

~Me ;)