YouTube Tuesday: Leave it to Beever

Every few months I get cc'd on an email that attaches the art of Julian Beever.

Beever's art is a well-known Internet meme. The chalk drawings he makes on city streets feature amazingly accurate perspective studies. When viewed from the proper angle, his subjects seem to be emerging from a swimming pool dug into the street, or mining gold from the sidewalk.

When viewed from the wrong angle, they appear distorted and misshapen, impressing upon the viewer the amount of foresight and non-linear thinking required to make the drawings.

I've always wondered how he does it. But now I don't have to, since he has placed a video of his process on YouTube:



tagged: movie, YouTube, video, art, chalk, culture, sidewalk, drawing, Julian Beever

By the Dead Seaside

I mentioned previously that my Supermodel Wife and I went to Union Station Wednesday to see the famous Dead Sea Scrolls.

We were both excited to see this exhibit. It has certainly been ballyhooed in KC since it opened a few weeks ago. The actual experience didn't necessarily live up to my expectations. Don't get me wrong, there were some very positive points. But there were a few things that left me thinking it could have been much better.

First, despite the millions of dollars spent to bring the exhibit to KC, despite all of the preparation and publicity, when we actually arrived at Union Station the admission process didn’t say "We're excited you’re here and we want you to see this exhibit."

There was a single person selling tickets at the ticket counter. I imagine they typically don't need more than one person on a Wednesday morning at Union Station. From what I've heard, foot traffic can get pretty non-existent there. But one would think that the heightened traffic drawn by the Dead Sea Scrolls would have been anticipated, and our 20-minute wait on line could have been avoided.

When it was finally our turn with the ticket agent, we were told that the 11 a.m. was the earliest time we would be able to view the exhibit. I’m not sure why the viewings were scheduled in blocks like this, perhaps to limit the size of the crowd inside the exhibit. If that’s the case, why not just keep track of how many people go in and come out, thus ensuring a constant number of visitors at anyone time.

But hey, what do I know.

Once we actually were admitted to see the exhibit, it was pretty darn good. There was a good amount of archaeological and historical background detailing how the scrolls were found, how they were preserved, who wrote them and hid them, etc.

And thanks to a device called an "audio wand" – essentially an mp3 player with a keypad to dial up each audio track – those of us who are really lazy didn't have to read the comments throughout the exhibit because they were being read to us.

The scroll fragments themselves were very different from what I expected. Maybe it's too much Fiddler on the Roof, or Indiana Jones, but I had this vision in my mind of a Tora-type document rolled around wooden handles a couple of feet long. Of course I expected them to be highly deteriorated and barely legible after 2000 years.

The actual scrolls are only a few inches high, about the dimension of a roll of toilet paper. Though deteriorated by time, the writing that is left is exquisite. It is very clear and highly legible (assuming, of course, that you're fluent in ancient Aramaic or Hebrew).

Despite the hassle of getting in to see the scrolls, it was pretty amazing and awe inspiring to stand inches away from ancient texts that were written before the time of Black Jesus.

Should you go see the scrolls? If you're really into history as I am, go see them. If you don’t mind a few hassles, go see them. If you can afford the price of admission without sacrificing your Friday night weed money, go see them. And if you don’t mind hanging out with a bunch of oxygen tank breathing, walker using, slow moving geezers, go see them.

tagged: Kansas City, Union Station, Dead Sea Scrolls, history, antiquity, Hebrew

Thank science* it’s Saturday.

It was a hellacious week at work, and I’m on the road today through Monday for business travel. But now, at 7 a.m. on a Saturday, sitting in the airport terminal waiting for my flight to board, I finally have time to post an update. (Oh great! They just announced an hour delay due to snow in Chicago. Science* dammit!).

I say it was a rough week at work, and it was (and still is). The one notable exception was Wednesday. In case you weren’t there, Wednesday was Valentine’s Day. My Supermodel Wife and I started a new tradition this year: We both took a day of vacation to make sure we spent some really good quality time together (more on what we did later).

We gave each other the gift of ourselves.

I know what you’re thinking (you cheeky monkey) and your right, there was some of that later in the evening. But this was one of the best day’s ever. I can totally see why people would want to win the lottery and retire early.

*In compliance with the new Kansas State Board of Education science standards, we will no longer refer to the deity in such usages on this blog.

tagged: Valentine's Day, gift, relationships

Another headline I couldn't resist

Blind snake rediscovered after 100 years

A rare blind snake has been rediscovered a century after its last sighting. The snake, which looks like a long, skinny pink worm, was only known from two other specimens, both discovered in 1905.

“They’re really rare because they’re subterranean,” said blind-snake expert Van Wallach of Harvard University who described the new specimen. “You can’t just go out anytime you want and collect these things. You can dig forever and never find them.”

It turns out that a UMKC biologist has discovered another specimen of this blind, pink snake which hasn't seen the light of day in 100 years in Larry Moore's pants.


tagged: news, blind, pink, snake, Larry Moore, science

YouTube Tuesday: Madame B.

Okay, with recent YouTube posts about weed smoking, geezer giggling, and Super Bowl shuffling, I really feel like it's time to class up the joint a little.

Luckily, I've come across this really cool animated rendition of Puccini's Madame Butterfly.

It's amazing that the mere puppets can be used, along with Puccini's music, to express such great human beauty and tragedy (although the puppet sex scene made me blush a little and may not be safe for work). I especially admire the artist going "off the canvas" for the suicide scene at the end. Very poetic.

Enjoy.



tagged: movie, YouTube, video, puppets, opera, culture, Puccini, Madame Butterfly

Politiblogs

I caught yesterday’s episode of KCUR’s Up To Date on the way in to work today (the podcast version of course. Radio? C’mon, who listens to the radio these days. This is the future people, get with the times!).

Anyway, I just wanted to say a sincere congratulations to local blog boss Cara (from …Just Cara) for being the smartest person in the room. The discussion focused around the role of blogs in political discussion

Also in on the conversation were some pointy-headed professor from KU and Tony B. of Tony’s Kansas City (what hack). But it was Cara who put the whole thing in perspective when she noted that the majority of bloggers are basically just putting their perspective out there because the traditional media doesn’t provide an open forum for discussion.

Her analogy of a personal blog to a bar room conversation is very apt (especially given the bar room vernacular most bloggers use, something you damn-sure wouldn’t find in your local newspaper).

My personal view is that so-called political blogs are pretty useless in the grand scheme of things. Don’t get me wrong, they server a purpose for the author to vent, and even to test their views. But the vast majority of people posting and consuming political thought are doing so for reinforcement. They want to see that other people think the same way they do.

It’s basically a big circle jerk (to employ the aforementioned bar room vernacular).

And don't even get me started on the idiot Joan McCarter, who stated on the air that she knows the truth and always tells the truth. This just proves my point that the biggest Liberal bloggers are not only arrogant and pretentious, but hypocritical as well.

tagged: politics, blog, blogger, culture

Taking it too far

I gasped when I saw this headline:

Portugal Drafts Liberal Abortion Law

I mean, I hate Liberals as much as the next guy, but aborting them all? Seems a little extreme to me. Dang!

tagged: Liberal, abortion, news

Friday Blogthing: You just never know with me

This quiz was amazingly accurate for me. Just so you know, it's really tough to get on my bad side. But don't fool yourself, you don't want to be on my enemies list. I will totally make you regret it with my patented atomic silent treatment.

You Sometimes Hold a Grudge

You aren't exactly vengeful, but you're not going to forget when someone wrongs you. And while you'll forgive the small things, you don't hand out too many second chances to people who really screw up.

Do You Hold a Grudge?

tagged: grudge, revenge, pop culture

Movie Mini Review: A History of Violence

Title: A History of Violence

Cast:
Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris, William Hurt

Plot summary:
Tom Stall (Mortensen), the quiet down-to-earth owner of a small town diner, is thrust into the limelight when he foils a robbery/murder attempt in his diner with some quick thinking and even quicker pistol play. But the attention draws some not-so-savory characters to the diner who think they know Stall from a previous life.

My thoughts:
This is another one of those movies I wanted to see in the theater but was unable to because I'm an old geezer with job and family ties that keep me from doing anything fun (not really).

But unlike with The Life Aquatic, after seeing finally A History of Violence I'm not disappointed that I missed the "opportunity" so shell out $30 bucks to see it in the theater.

The premise is the film is great: Why would a mild-mannered small-town family man be so good at killing people. Did he just have one of those "heroic" moments when you just react without thinking and save the day? Or is there something sinister in his past, something that mob captain Carl Fogerty (Ed Harris) knows about and is keen to repay Stall for.

For about half the movie, the director keeps you guessing about who's telling the truth. Is it Fogerty, and Stall is really a reformed hit-man trying to get out of "the life"? Or is Stall telling the truth and it's all a case of mistaken identity.

The acting is solid (the main characters are played by journeymen actors) and the photography is pretty darn good. The violence in most cases is real enough to be shocking, but not so gratuitous as to be distracting. But I think the director missed opportunities in the that could have added layers of interest to the story.

For one thing, there was a superficial look at what happens to the erstwhile wimpy son who suddenly nuts up to the school bullies when his dad becomes a hero. I think a deeper examination of this character could have been satisfying.

And there are some scenes that just plain don't make sense, like the love/rape scene on the wooden stairs of the family home. Or the final scene when Stall returns home to the family dinner table after going on a killing spree and sits down without saying a word.

But the movie falls apart for me midway through, when it is blatantly revealed that Stall is in fact a hit man, brother of a Philadelphia mob boss who has put a price on his head. From there, the movie becomes the predictable "I gotta kill all my enemies or never live in peace" action flick.

I can't help but think that it would have been smarter to never clarify whether Stall was actually the mob guy, but have him kill the mobsters anyway.

So, I rank this movie "Good to watch on TV, but glad I didn't pay to see it."

Favorite quote:
"Any last words before I blow your brains out you miserable prick?"



tagged: movie, History of Violence, film, culture, Viggo Mortensen, Ed Harris, Maria Bello, William Hurt

YouTube Tuesday: Everybody likes Night Court

It doesn't take much to figure out what these guys are smoking when they're producing Pothedz Couch.

This Muppet-Show-meets-Cheech-and-Chong home video series isn't something you'd want to show the kids, but for some reason it cracks me up. Especially this episode where the main character, Pothed, takes a peyote trip down memory lane to the first time he met his person (the guy controlling the puppet).



tagged: movie, YouTube, video, muppets, puppets, pop culture, pot, marijuana