Why Art Matters: Art Parodies in Bojack Horseman

Bojack likes Franz Marc too. 

Pia encouraged me to watch the darker-than-the-dark twisted fantasy that is Bojack Horseman. Sorry, a little late to the party, the show ended in 2020, and here I am indulging 4 years later. 

Season one starts really slow, then wait - is that a Franz Marc by the front door? Indeed, the illustrators parodied Marc's Blue Horse. 

Feeding a Rothko addiction.

Then came persuading an actor with an art addiction to take a role for the paycheck by telling him "a Rothko is up for auction next week."

I was addicted, not only to the storytelling but to seeing how many artworks I could spot hiding in the storyboards. 

Rivera. 

Monet. 

O'Keefe.

Haring. 

Kahlo. 

Somehow, it just makes it all funnier.  And darker, especially when you link the artist's themes and meaning with the show's narrative. 

For more, read here. 

Secret Life of Objects: The Obnoxiously Awesome Minidress

Swing out.

This feature was retired less than a month, since I have to rave about this find. It’s the story of a day, as I have owned this for less than 24 hours. 

Pia needed dry shampoo and I needed to get out of the house. Instead of beelining right to health and beauty, she wandered women’s clothing, “Oooooing” and “Ahhing” every pink and shiny thing. Tucked on the clearance rack, I found a collection of pink and brown sequin dresses. I was amused by the sequins but found it immediately appealing. 

With those monster sequins, it’s loud.

It’s an unusually rich, brown color and the perfect foil for my Ember Tieks.

Being short, it’s a minidress of a manageable length.

And it was only $10.

The challenge is going to be how to style it. A cardigan frumps it, so it needs the right jacket or wrap. Pia wants me to wear it to her 17th birthday. Goals. 

Typing Out Loud: What's More Precious?

What would Picasso say about this?

There was a fire at a Seattle art gallery, and many pieces of art may have been destroyed: story here.

The fire was started in an alley behind the gallery as someone built a fire to warm themselves. There are many homeless people apparently unhoused in that neighborhood. The quote that bugs me is: “I feel saddest for the contemporary artists who have trusted us with their works,” Davidson said.

This has created a dialogue online that is ugly, to say the least. Disparaging comments about the homeless and how their lives are worth less than the artworks contained therein. 

I love art. I love priceless art. But I hesitate to say it is more valuable than a cold, homeless human being. 

But I am also a hypocrite as I stood for hours admiring Miro, Marc, Duchamp, and Monet artworks while walking briskly past the homeless asking for a dollar in the streets of Chicago. 

I am heartbroken for all. I don't have answers, but vilifying a homeless person looking for warmth isn't one of them. 

Rethinking Yellow

In desperate need of sunshine this cold and dreary January

Another new feature for the blog, attempting to mix it up!

One of my favorite scenes from the movie The Mask is Rocky Dennis describing the color red to a girl who is blind. He succeeds by carefully offering her a hot potato. He adds that when the potato cools it becomes pink. 

I'm coupling that thought with the conversation I had with my nephew and his girlfriend about the entrance essays they each had to write for the University of Chicago. UoC likes their "weirdos" as they proudly identify themselves; all the questions are geared towards challenging their prospective students to think differently. 

So, I'm trying to think differently in a Rocky Dennis way, and each month this year attempt to describe a color not by what I see, but by the other senses in a way that is both creative, appealing, and logical. 

Yellow is...

Taste: a rich, crumbly shortbread cookie that is slightly browned around the edges 

Touch: soft, creamy, and oily, like far too expensive hand cream

Smell: freshly squeezed lemons

Hear: the clear tones of a trumpet

That's It, Just One Line - Deacon Blues

 "They've got a name for the winners in the world, and I want a name when I lose."

How about that Rose Bowl, Alabama?

Congratulations to the University of Michigan for winning the national championship in D1. Grand Valley and Ferris State have been there a couple of times since 1997, glad you could finally join the party. 

Harvard, The Easy Way

Education for education's sake.

Somehow I ended up getting an offer from Verizon to take free continuing education classes through EdX. Perusing the offerings, I found a couple of leadership and communications classes from Harvard and quickly earned a leadership principles certificate in October. I'm about 80% done with the leading in a remote environment class now too.

I hated, absolutely hated the rhetoric course, where I bantered on yesterday about the cake smashing. It's not that my argument was weak, I just didn't care. I dropped that today.

Regardless of my feelings about buttercream to the face, I have legitimately earned, albeit on the flimsiest of credentials, that Harvard sweatshirt purchased last year at the Black Friday tent sale from Perrin. It was also the flimsiest of motivators to finish what I started, but mission accomplished.

I have access to other courses until October so I think once I'm done with this, I will move on to some other opportunities. Marketing at Babson? Project management at Maryland?

My "alumni" sweatshirt closet will have to grow - go Babson Beavers. 

Typing Out Loud: Do Not Smash

Are we having fun yet?

So I'm working on completing a certificate in leadership and communication at Harvard Online - say it with me: Haaaaaaavarddddd - and I have to come up with a position on a topic. I'm drawing a blank. Since I don't want to do a deep dive into politics, I want to present a position on something I find important and I discovered my topic.

The wedding cake smash. 

How many times have you gone to a wedding, the bride and groom looking impeccable, and when the time comes to delicately and lovingly feed each other cake at the ceremonial cutting, they instead are reduced to a middle-school food fight, and the bride ends up with frosting in her hair and crying.

Neither Dave nor I can stand it.

And it appears this is quite the topic of discussion on Reddit, Newsweek, Martha Stewart Living, and various etiquette blogs.

Simply: don't do it.

Why? From Martha Stewart: "It's been said that the more cake gets smeared into faces, the higher the likelihood of eventual divorce. When a couple is "nice" and gently feeds their significant other cake, it symbolizes their willingness to be partners, and share a household, as well as their commitment to take care of each other throughout their lives. However, when the cake is smashed, all bets are off. Whether both bride and groom embrace the idea or it's only one of them causing trouble, most agree that cake smashing shows a distinct lack of respect, and those marriages have a higher likelihood of failure. Others, however, see the tradition as great fun. Will they or won't they? Guests love the anticipation, and whatever stunt the bride and groom choose to pull is always met with laughter and lots of pictures; isn't that the goal of a reception, anyway?"

Newsweek discourages it from an etiquette point of view (who's cleaning up your mess?), a financial point of view (cake can cost up to $12 a slice), as well as respecting your partner, as one bride confessed she broke her husband's nose in the process: "10/10 do not recommend," she stated remorsefully.

I like to think this practicality was passed down to Will. He was encouraged to smash his first birthday cake, to which he grabbed a corner and just ate it. 

Best Meal I Ever Ate: Ice Cream

Oh, the glory!

Another new feature of the blog is inspired by the show on Food Network. 

One of the reasons I mourn six.one.six. becoming a French bistro is the loss of their dessert chef because she gifted me with the best ice cream experience.

At the end of our meal, we were presented with a dessert menu, which included generous bowls of gelato. I had made the decision not to order because I couldn’t decide. With a shrug, she offered to prepare a flight for me. 

Heaven.

The blood orange and chocolate has to be the best ice cream I have ever had. Creamy, rich, and citrusy? The chocolate and orange were in harmony, and my palette just sang. 

The white peach and lime closely followed suit, as did the mint chocolate chip, and ginger. Pumpkin pie was ok, but oh… the chocolate and blood orange!