·
The
15 Hippest Places to Live in N.A. (The Utne Reader’s list)
1.
New Orleans: Lower Garden District
2.
San Francisco: Inner Mission
3.
New York: Williamsburg
4.
Montreal: The Plateau
5.
Toronto: College & Clinton
6.
Chicago: Wicker Park
7.
Seattle: Belltown
8.
Philadelphia: Olde City
9.
Vancouver: Commercial Drive
10. Minneapolis: Whittier
11. Los
Angeles: Los Feliz
12. Detroit: Hamtramck
13. Washington,
D.C.: U District
14. Boston/Cambridge: Davis Square
15. Miami: Lincoln Road
·
Funny
Quote from movie Addicted To Love: Meg Ryan deadpans to Matthew Broderick
as they eavesdrop on his ex-girlfriend who’s screaming during lovemaking with her
new beau:
“That girl’s a carnival ride.”
·
On
Design, from Vasari On Technique
“Seeing
that Design, the parent of our three arts, Architecture, Sculpture, and
Painting, having its origin in the intellect, draws out from many single things
a general judgement, it is like a form or idea of all the objects in nature,
most marvelous in what it compasses, for not only in the bodies of men and of
animals but also in plants, in buildings, in sculpture and in painting, design
is cognizant of the proportion of the whole to the parts and of the parts to
each other and to the whole. Seeing too that
from this knowledge there arises a certain conception and judgement, so that
there is formed in the mind that something which afterwards, when expressed by
the hands, is called design, we may conclude that design is not other than a
visible expression and declaration of our inner conception and of that which
others have imagined and given form to in their idea. And from this, perhaps, arose the proverb
among ancients ‘ex ungue leonem’
when
a certain clever person, seeing carved in a stone block the claw only of a
lion, apprehended in his mind from its size and form all the parts of the
animal and then the whole together, just as if he had it present before his
eyes. Some believe that accident was the
father of design and of the arts, and that use and experience as foster-mother
and schoolmaster, nourished it with the help of knowledge and of reasoning, but
I think that, with more truth, accident may be said rather to have given the
occasion for design, than to be its father.
But let this be as it may, what
design needs, when it has derived from judgement the mental image of anything,
is that the hand, through the study and practice of many years, may be free and
apt to
draw
and to express correctly, with the pen, the silver-point, the charcoal, the
chalk, or other instrument, whatever nature has created. For when the intellect puts forth refined and
judicious conceptions, the hand which has practised design for many years, exhibits
perfection and excellence of the arts as well as the knowledge of the
artist. And seeing that there are
certain sculptors who have not much practice in strokes and outlines, and
consequently cannot draw on paper, these work instead in clay or wax,
fashioning men, animals, and other things in relief, with beautiful proportion
and balance. Thus they effect the same
thing as does he who draws well on paper or other flat surface.
The masters who practise these arts
have named or distinguished the various kinds of design according to the
description of the drawing which they make.
Those which are touched lightly and just indicated with the pen or other
instrument are called sketches, as shall be explained in another place. Those, again, that have the first lines
encircling an object are called profiles or outlines.”
·
Use
of Design (or Drawing) in the Various Arts (Vasari cont’d)
“All these, whether we call them
profiles or otherwise, are as useful to architecture and sculpture as to
painting. Their chief use indeed is in
Architecture, because its designs are composed only of lines, which so far as
the architect is concerned, are nothing else than the beginning and the end of
his art, for all the rest, which is carried out with the aid of models of wood
formed from said lines, is merely the work of carvers and masons.
In Sculpture, drawing is of service
in the case of all the profiles, because in going round from view to view the
sculptor uses it when he wishes to delineate the forms which please him best,
or which he intends to bring out in every dimension, whether in wax, or clay,
or marble, or wood, or other material.
In Painting, the lines are of
service in many ways, but especially in outlining every figure, because when
they are well drawn, and made correct and in proportion, the shadows and lights
that are then added give the strongest relief to the lines of the figure and
the result is all excellence and perfection.
Hence it happens, that whoever understands and manages these lines well,
will, with the help of practice and judgement, excel in each one of these
arts. Therefore, he who would learn
thoroughly to express in drawing the conceptions of the mind and anything else
that pleases him, must after he has in some degree trained his hand to make it
more skillful in the arts, exercise it in copying figures in relief either in
marble or stone, or else plaster casts taken from the life, or from some
beautiful antique statue, or even from models in relief of clay, which may
either be nude or clad in rags covered with clay to serve for clothing and
drapery. All these objects being
motionless and without feeling, greatly facilitate the work of the artist,
because they stand still, which does not happen in the case of live things that
have movement. When he has trained his
hand by steady practice in drawing such objects, let him begin to copy from
nature and make a good and certain practice herein, with all possible labour
and diligence, for the things studied from nature are really those which do
honour to him who strives to master them, since they have in themselves,
besides a certain grace and liveliness, that simple and easy sweetness which is
nature’s own, and which can only be learned perfectly from her, and never to a
sufficient degree from the things of art.
Hold it moreover for certain, that the practice that is acquired by many
years of study in drawing, as has been said above, is the true light of design
and that which makes men really proficient.
Now, having discoursed long enough on this subject let us go on to see
what painting is.”
·
Of
the Nature of Painting (Vasari cont’d)
A
painting, then, is a plane covered with patches of colour on the surface of
wood, wall, or canvas filling up the outlines spoken of above, which, by virtue
of a good design of encompassing lines, surround the figure. If the painter treat his flat surface with
the right judgement, keeping the centre light and the edges and the background dark
and medium colour between the light and dark in the intermediate spaces, the
result of the combination of these three fields of colour will be that
everything between the one outline and the other stands out and appears round
and in relief. It is indeed true that
these three shades cannot suffice for every object treated in detail, therefore
it is necessary to divide every shade at least into two half shades, making of
the light two half tints, and of the dark two lighter, and of the medium two
other half tints which incline one to the lighter and the other to the darker
side. When these tints, being of one
colour only whatever it may be, are gradated, we see a transition beginning
with the light, and then the less light, and a little darker, so that little by
little we find the pure black. Having
then made the mixtures, that is, these colours mixed together, and wishing to
work with oil or tempera or in fresco, we proceed to fill in the outlines
putting in their proper place the lights and darks, the half tints and the
lowered tones of the half tints and the lights.
I mean those tints mixed from the three first, light, medium and dark,
which lights and medium tints and darks and lower tones are copied from the
cartoon or other design which is made for any work before we begin to put it
into execution. It is necessary that the
design be carried out with good arrangement, firm drawing, and judgement and
invention, seeing that the composition in a picture is not other than the
parceling out of places where the figures come, so that the spaces be not
unshapely but in accordance with the judgement of the eye, while the field is
in one place well covered and in another void.
All this is the result of drawing and of having copied figures from the
life, or from models of figures made to represent anything one wishes to
make. Design cannot have a good origin
if it have not come from continual practice in copying natural objects, and
from the study of pictures by excellent masters and of ancient statues in relief,
as has been said many times. But above
all, the best thing is to draw men and women from the nude and thus fix in the
memory by constant exercise the muscles of the torso, back, legs, arms, and
knees, with the bones underneath. Then
one may be sure that through much study attitudes in any position can be drawn
by help of imagination without one’s having the living forms in view. Again having seen human bodies dissected one
knows how the bones lie, and the muscles and sinews, and all the order and conditions
of the anatomy, so that it is possible with greater security and more
correctness to place the limbs and arrange the muscles of the body in the
figures we draw. And those who have this
knowledge will certainly draw the outlines of the figures perfectly, and these,
when drawn as they ought to be, show a pleasing grace and beautiful style.
He who studies good painting and
sculpture, and at the same time sees and understands the life, must necessarily
have acquired a good method in art.
Hence springs the invention which groups figures in fours, sixes, tens
and twenties, in such a manner as to represent battles and other great subjects
of art. This invention demands an innate
propriety springing out of harmony and obedience; thus if a figure move to
greet another, the figure saluted having to respond should not turn away. As with this example, so it is with all the
rest. The subject may offer many varied
motives different from one another, but the motives chosen must always bear
relation to the work in hand, and to what the artist is in the process of
representing. He ought to distinguish
between different movements and characteristics, making the women with a sweet
and beautiful air and also the youths, but the old always grave of aspect, and
especially the priests and persons in authority. He must always take care however, that
everything is in
relation
to the work as a whole; so that when the picture is looked at, one can
recognize in it a harmonious unity, wherein the passions strike terror, and the
pleasing effects shed sweetness, representing directly the intention of the
painter, and not the things he had no thought of. It is requisite therefore, for this purpose,
that he form the figures which have to be spirited with movement and vigour,
and that he make those which are distant to retire from the principle figures
by means of shade and colour that gradually and softly become lower in
tone. Thus the art will always be
associated with the grace of naturalness and of delicate charm of colour, and
the work be brought to perfection not with the stress of cruel suffering, so
that men who look at it have to endure pain on account of the suffering which
they see has been borne by the artist in his work, but rather with rejoicing at
his good fortune in that his hand has received from heaven the lightness of
movement which shows his painting to be worked out with study and toil
certainly, but not with drudgery; so will it be that the figures,every one in
its place, will not appear dead to him who observes them, but alive and
true. Let painters avoid cruelties, let
it be their endeavour that the things they are always producing shall not seem
painted, but show themselves alive and starting out of the canvas. This is the secret of sound design and the
true method recognized by him who has painted as belonging to the pictures that
are known and judged to be good.
·
Quote
from Renoir on the beauty and romance of his art
“There’s enough ugliness in the
world that I feel no need to add to it.”
·
General Douglas MacArthur on Inchon and
the decision to pull back from the 38th parallel; recalling what his father
told him:
“Councils of war breed timidity and
defeatism.”
·
Quote
from Landor Design Founder:
“Great products are invented in the factory. Great brands are invented in the mind.”
·
In
Support of Management Consultants:
“Sometimes you can see more from the
sidelines than from the center of the field.”
·
Mark
Antony on a man’s legacy:
“The evil that men do lives after them --
and the good is oft interred with their bones.”
·
Tabloid
Magazine Idea
Create a tabloid devoted to exposing the more private and
previously unknown sides of past personalities. The idea is to “dig up the past” for the
purpose of revealing that history before TV and expose journalism failed to bring to light some of the more important
and possibly unflattering aspects of public personalities. Related to the oft-spoken truth that no
politician after the Kennedy era could withstand the daily scrutiny of video cameras,
recorders and public surveillance. Not
exactly the magazine that we need on the newsstands -- it’s only good is to
help level the playing field and reveal the conflicted nature of all men. (p.s. – pre-dates advent of entertainment
news and biography channels)
Titles: Post Mortem
or Sunlight (as in Justice Brandeis’
quote, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant”)
·
On
Accepting Personal Tragedy (from 60 Minutes. 7:45p 1/4/98; quote of interviewee who had been
diagnosed with terminal illness). Asked
if he ever asked the inevitable question: “Why me?”
“I’ve been blessed to have a wonderful family, friends, been
endowed with some talents, wrote a book I’m very proud of -- how could I expect
the universe to offer some rationale for my bad fortune when I never asked it
to explain all the good that’s happened to me?”
·
Cat
Fact: Lions are the kings of relaxed living -- they rarely stay
on their feet more than 4 hours in 24.
· Does
the American Economy Serve Democratic Values? (C-Span coverage of Capital University panel
discussion; 1/5/98 3am) Summary
thoughts/various panelists:
·
Cornel West of Harvard distinguishes
between the Right and the Left this way:
·
Those
on the Right place a premium on order, privilege and hierarchy
·
Those
on the Left put a premium on the people who are beneath the privileged;
as well as social change in favor of these people
·
Democratic ideals that have no market
value, aren’t supported in advertising or other marketing programs by the
present economy nor by the corporate managers who are in control -- they’re
against dignity, integrity and solidarity
·
Corporate profits rule in this
winner-take-all economy -- fostering and rewarding corporate greed and
management greed tends to shape the whole market culture in it’s view
that
individualism, greed and self-interest are more valued and important than
anything else
·
One panelist defined the issue as Independent Initiative vs. The State
·
Independent Initiative without
citizenship indeed does not support democracy
·
A civilized market economy that takes
into account citizenship is what the Right sees as the good in the present
system -- in contrast to the laissez-faire market economy depicted by the
Leftists
·
How is it we as a nation attract
willing people/workers worldwide to our market economy? Because it is open and democratic.
·
A current problem is that our
government no longer represents its people but bends to the interests of
markets and corporations
· Cornel West: Markets
have become idols and fetishes in our government and citizenry
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