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| It's been a fruitful three days. A certain clusterfuck in enrollment left me trapped in one afternoon section, vying for a coveted spot in a morning class. To avoid absences in either class, I was taking in two hours of French per day. Which helped out quite a lot as a beginner. Thank goodness for my strong background in Spanish. Latin-based cognates are plentiful and surprising treasures among an otherwise foreign tongue. Today I was able to squeeze into the morning spot with a lovely lady from Senegal.
I've also started piano! What a delightfully elementary class, a GREAT start for a non-musician like myself. They actually weeded out the showoffs and would-be Stravinskies, leaving plenty of room for the rest of us to practice basic C-chords and fumble around for black keys!
Other courses include Central African, European Art 1789-1848, and Ancient Roman. Huzzah!
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| ACK! I'm too jazzed about the move to sleep. I check into the new place
at 10am and then it'll be six straight hours of back strain and
swampass. 
I found out earlier this evening that there's a built-in microwave
above the range. We've got SUCH a sweet microwave/toaster combo now,
that I hate to give it up for a standard bun warmer.
I have this huge problem with Carlos Mencia, primarily because it seems
like he's hijacked Dave Chappelle's racially observant sketches. As
though we wouldn't notice. One of the more prominent numbers on
Broadway's Avenue Q score is entitled "Everyone's A Little Bit Racist".
It grapples with political correctness in an uproarious lyrical
fashion. In light of all of this racial humor, it made me question the
present (and future) of comedy material.
Perhaps I'm slow to the gun, but it would seem that these issues are
already being addressed. Tonight I watched The Aristocrats. One of my
new favorite comediennes, Lisa Lampanelli, had a pretty poignant
insight on the topic of racial boundaries, as she works primarily in
that vein. The question was posed: after the lewdest of sex taboos have
permeated the comic sphere, what's there left to laugh at? Oh yeah,
each other.
Is political correctness the next social wall to destroy? Or do these
jokes build walls? This is my question to you, dear readers. Does
racially charged humor fortify our stereotypes, or set us at ease and
allow us to approach these issues with a grin?
Ciao for Now, Mark | | |
| This musical is hilarious! I've been singing it for the past week and a half.
Amanda bought World of Warcraft early this week! She's been steadily leveling up for the past few days. 
Last night M&D came by to help take apart Thom's and my bed and then we went to Erica's house to pick up the new one. There's ELEVEN days until the move! Christ I need to pack. You heard me, Jesus... go find some boxes for me.
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| Things to Pack & the Redemption of Modern Art
After 4 consecutive weeks of 2.5 hour [almost] daily lectures on Art Since 1945, I've gotten a really solid basis on the art that's always seemed to escape my tastes. As with most things, understanding fosters a sense of appreciation. Until this summer, my studies have focused on art that has been created at least a century ago. Dr. Cateforis presented the material as a valid and crucial link between "then" to "now". Most importantly, he gave us devices necessary to contextually and formally connect the "now" to "RIGHT now", and any art we might encounter in the future. I think what I love most about modern art is that it demands more of its viewers than that which "academic" art does. Embedded narratives, heightened symbolism, obscure references, jokes and criticisms abound in leiu of lifelike representation and scholarly subject matter.
There are a little over twenty days until Thom and I move into our new place. In the mean time, we've lots to pack. Tonight I got through half of the DVDs, and most of the office decor. There's so much stashed away in the closets in our current place, that'll have to be disposed of, if not crammed away again later. If anything, there's tons of storage at the new place; the walk-in closets are so big, they have windows. ! In digging around through our DVDs and music, I found the original copy of the Disney Princess Lullaby album. I bought a replacement from Amazon about a month after I gave up on finding it. It's amazing what one can find [and lose] when moving. | | |
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In DCat's lecture today, we looked at feminist art of the early 70's.
Woman House pretty much scares the shit out of me.
 
Allow me to share my notes:
- Created in 1971-1972 by a group of students and teachers at CalArts, including Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro.
- Abandoned Hollywood mansion was renovated/redecorated by women, relating to women's concerns.
- Each room reflected on the roles/experiences of women, and each room's meaning was challenged and interrogated.
- Work was catalyzed by the writings of Betty Friedan in The Feminine Mystique.
- Included staged performance art, including Faith Wilding's "Waiting", in which she posed as a subsurvient, vigilant woman, and recited things for which women wait: prom dates, puberty, Mr. Right, bathroom lines, etc.
- Another performance involved a girl ceaselessly applying on makeup, it had commentary on the pain of aging, losing beauty, and the tiresome chore of making up for men, based on the writings of Colette.
- Nurturant Kitchen grappled with the idea that women are ceaselessly giving of themselves to nurture others, by means of cooking or nursing, etc. The ceiling is covered with fried eggs, and as one's eye follows downward, they turn into pendulous breasts on the wall. The entire room is painted pink.
- Sandra Orgal - Linen Closet features a female mannequin trapped and partitioned by shelves.
- Camille Grey - Lipstick Bathroom is painted a bold firetruck red, like lipstick. Also has menstrual associations.
- Finally, the piece d'resistance, Judy Chicago's Menstruation Bathroom is a silent and pristine room, painted white and otherwise spotless, save under the cabinet, where one will find a wastebasket filled with used tampons and other accoutrements of the unmentionable functions through which a woman must suffer. Judy Chicago commented on how women must cope with their "unmistakable marks of animality".
... tomorrow we continue with the work of Judy Chicago and the feminist art movement. | | |
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