There are many things I enjoy in life, but bizarre creations & monkey pictures always make my day.
I saw the masterpiece below on the Tumblr blog JUST_MONK3Y.
A pensive ape, wearing a fez hat with the the all-seeing eye, is holding a human skull.
Using the mind-boggling power of Google Images & Search ("ape+fez+skull"), I just took 30 seconds & tracked down the creator of this superb image, Jean Labourdette. The title of the work only adds to its awesomeness:
Last night, I watched the premier piece of political pageantry in American politics, The State of the Union address.
This version posted by the White House has additional infographics accompanying the speech:
Some people will inevitably complain about it being just another speech by Obama & his teleprompter that, according to his critics, no President has ever used before. Personally, I think The Long-Legged Mack Daddy has done as well as anyone can be expected to in his position.
The one credit I've always given our previous President, George W. Bush, is that he's the reason I got interested in politics & government affairs as a young adult.
His administration was like a car wreck that I had to watch, in horror. The GOP's policies were horrible overall, and Bush was himself was a continual disaster & embarrassment in the eyes of the world. The real President at the time, Dick Cheney, was widely regarded with the same affection as The Emperor in Star Wars.
NEVER FORGET!!!...
Therefore, it's nice to be able to sit through these State of the Union speeches & not feel like the leader of the country is an inarticulate ignoramus.
Obama's clearly not perfect, but he's a helluva alot better than Bush or any of the current Republican candidates. If anything, he hasn't been forcefully progressive enough. Actually, the points where Obama & his administration are at their worst is where they try to continue the policies of the Bush White House. However, he campaigned as a moderate Democrat (not a liberal) and realistically has to deal with the conservatives in Congress & "The System" in general.
Haters gonna hate, though, so there are people who get sucked into the Fox News & right-wing talk radio (((brain-warp))) who think Obama's a muslim socialist who was born in Kenya & deeply hates America. I read the comments for articles on Fox Nation & Red State with the same sense of morbid curiosity as someone visiting an insane asylum. ...but, hey, all views should be taken into equal consideration, right?
Fair & Balanced™!!!
Obama, like all Presidents, is faced with a tremendous job & there are plenty of decisions to criticize or praise. I generally agree with his articulated vision for the country. If he had a greater degree of cooperation from Congress, the country would be improving at a much faster rate. The alternative is the traditional, disastrous Republican ideology, which is basically the privatization of everything & welfare only for multi-national corporations & the top 1%, sucking up America's wealth.
I'm pretty cynical, but I still think voting is an important civil act. I'll almost certainly be voting for President Obama, regardless of what obscenely rich knucklehead the GOP finally nominates.
Recently I caught a bit of this documentary about the late, legendary landscape painter & TV personality, Bob Ross.
Bob Ross was on public television when I was a kid, and later became a hero for me & some of my friends in high school.
Part of the reason I admired him was due to my love of art, but his laid-back demeanor & hypnotic banter could make anyone feel like they were in a Zen-like state of mental relaxation.
His descriptive imagination & his seemingly magic technique could instill a sense of wonder not just for art, but for the natural world that he was recreating in his paintings.
One of my friends recently sent me a video of his young daughters transfixed while watching an old episode of The Joy of Painting. Though he's no longer with us, Bob's gentle spirit still has a calming effect on people of all ages.
After seeing some of the documentary, I decided to have some fun & imagined myself in his painting. I wish I could've been lucky enough to meet him...
Continuing on the topic of having some fun with conspiracy theories from my last post...
I saw a link to these totally crazy "Truther Toy" parodies that take some of the more nefarious conspiracy theories floating around, and made them into games & other not-so-fun products for kids.
Having years of experience designing products for the toy & game industry, I can confidently say that NONE of these concepts will ever make their way into the toy aisle, at any store!
My favorite, however, is probably the Bank$ters Monopoly Press, which is a goof on the illusory, abstract nature of our entire monetary system:
click to enlarge
Right now, perpetual Presidential candidate Ron Paul & his fanatically loyal supporters are probably the most visibly vocal opponents in this country of the Federal Reserve & the entire fiat system of debt-driven currency. Although I find some of Congressman Paul's policy positions to be questionable, the private control of the issuing of money is one aspect of economy that is untenable & definitely needs major reform.
Although auditing the Fed, while creating more transparency & accountability in the highest levels of the financial sector, would be a good thing- his obsession with gold-backed currency seems antiquated & impractical in the digital age.
Like all things, the global economy & our systems of exchange will continue to evolve- perhaps into processes that we may not be able to even imagine today.
The power of the giant multinational corporate conglomerates still disproportionately influences the media, the economy, & the government.
Any attempt to reign in the inevitable abuses committed by these impersonal, profit-driven monstrosities through regulation is usually met by screams of "Socialism!" or "government overreach!" by those with little sense of business ethics or social responsibility.
This particular segment was never used on the show, for obvious reasons.
Stephen Colbert transferring his "Colbert SuperPAC" money to Jon Stewart.
I've been a regular viewer of The Colbert Report since the first episode. He was one of the funniest 'correspondents' on The Daily Show, and (in my opinion) has far surpassed Jon Stewart has the greatest political satirist alive... maybe ever.
The NY Times magazine had this great article that gives a look behind the persona that he has meticulously crafted.
However, since then he has continued to bring an insane amount of wit & cutting insight to every show. His character is a consistently brilliant parody of the know-nothing plutocratic jerks who can usually be found on right-wing media like Fox News, as either guests or pundits.
Recently on his show, he has been masterfully utilizing all the great comedic material being provided by the buffoons running in the GOP primaries.
He has also been busy exposing the ludicrous process & laws behind elections in our country. At the forefront of his crusade to highlight the absurdities of our political system has been the 'Citizen's United' decision by the Supreme Court.
Basically, it ruled that current election law allows corporations to be considered "people" when it comes to political speech.
Therefore, through supposedly unconnected groups known as Super PACs, unlimited money can be raised by supporters of candidates. There is no requirement to disclose how much has been raised or where it came from.
Therefore, he started Colbert SuperPAC to show the process behind forming these legal entities which are having such a detrimental effect on the democratic system.
This week he made a surprise move to hand over the operation of his Colbert SuperPAC to Jon Stewart. By doing this, he has opened himself up to exploring a run as a candidate in the South Carolina primary election!
I'm totally entertained by absurd happenings such as this.
Madmen such as Vermin Supreme briefly lift the veil off the artifices of accepted social mores & our general perceptions of reality.
Despite my enjoyment of crazy crap like this, I can't imagine how anyone would actually let "Mr. Supreme" near public office. Most people prefer a state of order over mayhem- even if it's an order that's corrupt & dysfunctional.
Last night, Stephen Colbert was skewering GOP candidate Rick Santorum. They showed a clip of Santorum being confronted by.... a crazy man wearing a boot on his head!
I had a friend over who exclaimed, "Look at that crazy boot-head!" I couldn't remember the name at the time, but I knew it was ridiculous & ended up looking it up online.
When the primaries move on from New Hampshire, who knows if the Vermin Supreme phenomenon will continue...
In the long line of 'out-there' politicians, Vermin Supreme is on a different level.
The four steps outlined in the article definitely reflect how I usually approach design projects or problems in general: 1. Saturation - expose yourself to as many different possibilities & solutions as you can 2. Incubation - take time to reflect & simply think about the project or problem 3. Ilumination - the often sudden mental lightning strike of an idea 4. Verification - re-evaluate the approach you are taking and weigh the pros vs. cons.
I never stop being amazed at the ability of the human mind to physically realize what it can imagine. My Dad always comments about how visionary Star Trek was back in the 60's, but he doesn't even know just how much of that sci-fi tech is now really being developed.
When I see things like 'Brain-like CPUs', 'Cloud Computing', 'Auto-Repairing Circuits', & 'Nanorobotics', it's clear that an 'Apple iThink' computer is closer than ever.
Among the many wonders that the Internet has provided humanity is the endless supply of useless yet entertaining memes, which is the closest thing to a "fad" in the Digital Age.
I've found some excellent lists of the top Internet memes of 2011.
Scumbag Steve, of course, is likely to show up (uninvited) at the top of any list... because he's a scumbag.
Due to a storm, the power has been out at my house for a couple days.
Until I can get back on my computer at home, I'm posting my contribution to the 'White Elephant' game my family plays on Xmas Eve.
Basically, everyone brings a wrapped present to add to the game. Then everyone picks a number & takes turn picking a random present from the pile. My family all have a twisted sense of humor, so some of the presents end up being bizarre or crazy.
This year I was having trouble deciding on what to do for a gift.
Then, in a flash of inspiration, I decided to Photoshop the group pics from Thanksgiving to make insane mixed-up family portraits.
The one with all the guys is really funny because of all the baby heads.
I like to set the bar really high when it comes to creative gifts...
(My face is in the middle, & I'm all the way to the left in the original photo.)
With the utterly incompetent & reactionary GOP caucus in the House of Representatives, it's now near impossible to get anything legislatively productive done. Their hatred for Obama & anything that progressives remotely support overrides their ability to approach problems from a reasonable perspective.
They are currently paying a political price for their inability to do anything than obstruct what even their Republican colleagues in the Senate are trying to accomplish:
It's just a shame that these battles aren't spent on
issues that actually impact the fundamental problems facing the economy
& government. Congress can't seem to do any more than put band-aids
on an amputee.
In honor of this most recent political fiasco cause by the knuckleheads in the House, I dug out the graphic below of Paul Ryan's Republican-backed plan to privatize Medicare & throw America's senior citizens to the mercy of Wall St. & private insurers.
The right-wingers are an endless source of horrible, absurd ideas that benefit nobody except the wealthiest citizens and corporations.
Anyway... for all it's faults, one thing I can appreciate about the Obama administration is their appreciation of thoughtful design & its general outreach to the design community.
Recently, the White House had a poster contest for the proposed jobs bill, which was predictably opposed by Republicans. I spent a few hours to put together this design in the hopes I could win & get a copy signed by the President. Unfortunately, I wasn't a finalist. Oh well.
Using the iconic logo of the Obama campaign, I tried (in my best 'minimalist propaganda' style) to illustrate what the government should be doing - Working *FOR* America... trying to unite Red & Blue and everyone else for common goals...
I have a large 6 ft. print of "Guernica" by Pablo Picasso hanging over my TV.
The painting is a general condemnation of the violence & atrocities of war. However, it is a specific reaction to the bombing of the Spanish town of Guernica in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War.
I've spent alot of time studying it & it's possibly the piece of art I've looked at the most.
Below is a really cool animation that splits the painting into the extra dimensions that Picasso envisioned. It highlights the many details of the design that tell the story of death & destruction wrought on innocent civilians.
It brilliantly ends with the focus on the tiny symbol of hope in the chaotic hellscape, the lone flower at the bottom center of the composition, emerging from a broken sword.
The first one was actually put out by The White House, comparing the proposals in Pres. Obama's Jobs Act to the consequences of the GOP's plan.
I'm no mindless Obama drone, but I think he's clearly a helluva lot better than Dubya was. If you watch speeches by the 2 presidents & you still think Obama's the worse one, then you've got problems. Obama's not nearly progressive enough for me, but I would much rather have him stay office than ANY one of the Republican candidates... even that half-genius/half-idiot Ron Paul.
Some critics would argue that this chart's just another piece of Obama Marxist propoganda, but it seems to correlate w/ the news I've been seeing coming out of Congress.
People could use more graphics like this that outline policy differences in a clear way, as long as they are accurate.
I also saw this well-made infographic on iab.com, outlining the percepual and factual differences of the Occupy Wall Street protests & the Tea Party political movement:
"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only
the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first
existed.
Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the
higher consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of
protection as any other rights."
I would take issued with the last line of the quote in the text, though. I don't think that an conceptual tool like 'capital' should be considered to have rights at all, as individuals or groups of people do.
...that's like saying that computer software has rights.
It could also be argued that capital can be created from sources not normally considered "labor".
The creation of intellectual property can be considered a form of labor, if it leads to further production of goods & services.
What is definitely NOT productive labor? Financial schemes that do nothing but extract value from the economy, for the benefit of manipulative firms & their executives.
There was an excerpt played of this speech at Madison Sq. Garden by Roosevelt a little more than 75 years ago.
President Obama's political instinct is to continually attempt compromise with the Republican party & corporate America.
FDR, however, openly declared war on these right wing factions, who he asserted were preying on the American worker:
"We had
to struggle with the old enemies of peace--business and financial monopoly,
speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war
profiteering.
They had
begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage
to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is
just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.
Never
before in all our history have these forces been so united against one
candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me--and
I welcome their hatred.
I should
like to have it said of my first Administration that in it the forces of
selfishness and of lust for power met their match. I should like to have it
said of my second Administration that in it these forces met their master."
People love to complain about the government, Wall St. & how "The System" as a whole is corrupt.
When people actually get out, organize, & try to do something about it, there are inevitably critics who feel like the status quo is better than actually trying to make major changes.
I think the Occupy protests are, overall, an effective force to initiate social and political change. I'm old enough to fondly remember the massive Iraq War protests during the Bush Dark Ages. The broad, sustained nature of the current Occupy protests are now having a large impact on the nation & the world.
Although the movement is fueled by future debt slaves, aka. "college students", there's also alot of labor unions & public workers involved, too. It's more than just a bunch of kids sleeping out in tents in parks. Like any large movement, there are bound to be wackos along with the people who are trying to do the right thing...
What should be the focus, are the stated goals of the movement-at-large:
The basic ideals that the people want to address are: democracy, justice, & freedom from oppression in it's many forms.
Most people don't expect a free ride in life, but we should all expect to have some protection against being exploited or preyed upon.
So, it's very disturbing to see the bizarro world we live in- where the forces that are supposed to protect the people are violently used against peaceful citizens & students who are trying to assert their rights as citizens and human beings.
Why are the victims (The protesting, debt-saddled American people) being criminalized instead of the perpetrators- (the financial & corporate players who have defrauded the country)?
To have any credibility with people interested in the nation-wide movement, President Obama needs to emphatically condemn violence against peaceful protesters. He's publicly sympathized with the sentiments of the protesters, even if he is a partial Wall St. beneficiary. Regardless, he should take action, or at least speak out, to prevent this kind of extreme assholery. It should not be tolerated from any law enforcement in this country, especially against unarmed students & innocent civilians.
Life & biology are sources of endless amazement. Being a visual artist, the form and function of the eye, in particular, is something I find fascinating.
I saw this link on Neatorama to a cool set of close-up photos of eyes from the animal kingdom.
This cartoon I saw on Neatorama is a funny look at the nagging sense of "sooo much to do!" that most people experience on a daily basis, but especially professionals or creative people.
My last post was about the inevitability of Death, too... but I'm not trying to be macabre. Being constantly aware of one's own mortality is simply the most effective way to appreciate Life.
I truly enjoy life & have been fortunate to have a very productive career as a graphic artist. However, there are always projects or visual art that I'm thinking of continually but just don't have time to even start. Although I sometimes sketch or write down ideas, most of them are archived in my head until I get to it.
Despite the constant urge to create, I try to remember there's no way to do everything I'd like. Therefore we sometimes have to stop, try to calm the whirlwind inside our head, put things in perspective, & take time to breath while we can.
I've posted before about the Civilian Conservation Corps, a government program in the 1930's-40's that created work for Americans in meaningful public projects.
Sen. Lautenberg from my home state of NJ has proposed a modern Works Progress Administration or WPA, which was another New Deal initiative by Franklin Roosevelt.
This is the kind of government intervention that should have been implemented awhile ago, instead of shoveling taxpayer money into The Great Casino on Wall St.
I also think there needs to be more of this kind of attempt by Rep. DeFazio to put a reign on some of the shenanigans going on in the financial "industry":
Much of our memories, especially of the distant past, are facilitated by old photographs. I've got alot of photos from the days of film, but since the era of digital cameras the ability to take pics is relatively unlimited.
Here is a calculation of the total number of photos that have been taken. The total estimated number, 3.5 trillion photos, is probably going to be dwarfed in no time.
Of course, there is also the digital wonder of Youtube, which is also increasing its archive of videos at an exponential rate. The total library is constantly growing which makes it tough to precisely calculate at any one time.
We are creating an ethereal repository of human experience. As long as the digital network (or its futuristic offshoot) is functioning, mankind's memories will remain intact.
Ultimately, all this information is nothing but light. However, as long as all our data needs to be stored in physical drives or servers, it's always susceptible to cataclysms in the physical world.
Eventually, when we are each inevitably implanted with an Apple iThink, our lives will be continually recorded from one or multiple perspectives, perhaps in true 3-D using holographic data.
I've talked before about the Occupy Wall St. protests. Personally, as long as it remains generally non-violent I think the overall goals are eminently reasonable & are helping to guide the national discussion toward relevant issues.
Of course, nothing is sacred when it comes to the satirical genius of Stephen Colbert. This segment was really unfair to the motivations of the movement, but it's hysterical.
He demonstrated the power of absurdity & cynicism to these young idealists- by expertly playing the part of the self-absorbed, plutocratic a-hole.
This weekend I had a couple Halloween activities planned, so my costume was Zombie Steve Jobs:
Steve Jobs has been one of my personal idols, so it's not really meant to be mean-spirited.
I just thought it was a little crazy & very easy to put together.
Friday night I was out with friends & entered the costume contest for the hell of it. The guys who were judging thought it was funny, so I ended up getting 2nd place... much to my bewilderment. I was up against girls wearing things like sexy police & FBI costumes, so I thought they clearly should've won instead.
Although the $100 prize for 1st place would've been cool, I happily took the runner-up prize- a large Eagles mirror. Although it's a cool prize, I have nowhere to hang it, so my brother's getting it for Xmas, since he said he wanted it.
This reminds me I've been meaning to compile a post w/ my unofficial history of the word "Dude."
The entire world owes my Dad, Big Paul, credit with resurgence of this totally excellent word.
