Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Lutheran Surrealism


I was surfing the web and stumbled on this blog, http://lutheransurrealism.blogspot.com
By this college professor who's into surrealist poetry and philosophy who became a Lutheran. His mind bending writing inspired me to PhotoShop a few of the great Surrealist paintings (that weren't totally lewd). Just in time for Reformation (October 31) Scary, huh?

If you like Art, or Lutherans, you'll love these:
http://tmal.multiply.com/photos/album/72
Yeah, I stayed at school and waited for Parent/Teacher conferences to start, so I was REALLY bored. I promise I'm not on drugs, and I won't be offended if you don't "get it." I have kind of a weired sense of humor.

If you think they're funny, feel free to pass them on. Maybe we can start a cult or something.
Happy Reformation Day.

Dia de los Muertes; Looney Tune style

No mood





Dada/Surrealism Today


Wheeler is the creator of the super hero, "Too Much Coffee Man." I love his sense of humor. Maybe that's why nobody gets my jokes.

Monday, October 29, 2007

Why getting too worked up about politics is like being angry at the sun-

"No nation however powerful, any more than an individual, can be unjust with impunity. Sooner or later, public opinion, an instrument merely moral in the beginning, will find occasion physically to inflict its sentences on the unjust… The lesson is useful to the weak as well as the strong."

Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to James Madison (1804)

The Law of Equilibrium; the principle that (at equilibrium) in a reversible reaction the ratio of the rate of the forward reaction to the rate of the reverse reaction is a constant for that reaction.


Even if our marvelous system of checks and balances were to fail, we the people are the fail-safe.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Harvest Maddness




There's nothing quite like autumn in Iowa, especially when the combines start to roll. See more 'Harvest Madness' pictures at http://tmal.multiply.com

Friday, October 26, 2007

Student Portrait Shoot


Megan missed picture day at our school. She needed to have her picture taken for the yearbook, but she was also thinking about gifts for her parents and boyfriend. This was pretty informal and improvised after school, but with the help of an overcast day and a skylight in the hall, I think we got some beautiful shots. You can see more at my Mallory's Milieu.

I can't eat anything that looks back at me

René Magritte. Portrait. 1935. NY:MoMA.

This was pretty creepy- just perfect for Halloween.

ANTI-ART (aka: Dada)

Max Ernst. The Virgin Chastising the Christ Child before Three Witnesses: Andre Breton, Paul Eluard, and the Painter. 1926. Cologne: Museum Ludwig.

Holy cats is this ever irreverent! Talk about hilarious. Please accept my apologies to any REALLY devout Catholics out there. But as a parent and a Lutheran (we don't venerate the saints, wishing to avoid risking idolatry, this was considered to be a very "iconoclastic" idea back during the reformation.) Guess what? STILL a touchy subject in 460 years later in the 1920's. Is this "Shock-Art?" Does it provoke the viewer to think? Who's being satirized? The long established conventions of religious art and artists? Catholics? Parents? All Christians? Moralists?

Whatever, I just manages to over-analyze it. It's enough that it's hilarious.

Dada LIVES!!!

This is called "Chance Encounter; ...or maybe it was a tuxedo, a sewing machine, a UPS truck and policemen." (web photo; no provenance available- I found it at some art professor's site from Kent State University).

"What's the point???" I hear you ask? There IS no point, that IS the point! Get it? That's Dada. That or some goofy kid getting ready for his prom told his buddy to take his picture holding a sewing machine in front of an accident because it would be SOOOOO cool!

California Dream'mi-'in

Everybody assumes that a mermaid has the top of a girl and the bottom of a fish. but who says it can't be the other way around? René Magritte painted a woman with a fish head. But who wants to kiss a fish-head?



Dream'mi is an anagram, literally and figuratively- it's a backwards mermaid. Legend goes back as far as the ancient Mesopotamian sea, where 6000 years ago a man-fish called Oannes came out and taught the Sumerians how to read and write.

This one is actually a Meer Image fine art rubber stamp designed and made by Steven Vander Meer in Arcata, California

Thursday, October 25, 2007

The Lazy Babysitter

Editorial Cartoon for the November 1, 200y Mapleton PRESS

Why even Republicans could be proud to be called 'Liberal'


Special thanks to "John L." of someplace our West for this week's cartoon idea- I'd be more specific, but the NSA and CIA are probably already listening to his phone calls.

If you see things from Dubbya's perspective, you'd also like 'New American Century,' and of course 'Mein Kampf.' Well, no actually you probably prefer burning books to reading them. In hind sight, I think I should've had 'W' say "heckuva game plan." He doesn't use words as big as "ingenious."

If on the other hand, you take the donkey's view, then may I also suggest 'It can't happen here,' by Sinclair Lewis and 'Fahrenheit 451' by Ray Bradbury (not to be confused with '
Fahrenheit 911' by Michael Moore).

And now, 'Ted's Column' for the Thursday, October 25, 2007 Mapleton PRESS

Main Entry: lib·er·al·ism
Pronunciation: \ˈli-b(ə-)rə-ˌli-zəm\
Function: noun
Date: 1819
1: the quality or state of being liberal2 aoften capitalized : a movement in modern Protestantism emphasizing intellectual liberty and the spiritual and ethical content of Christianity b: a theory in economics emphasizing individual freedom from restraint and usually based on free competition, the self-regulating market, and the gold standard c: a political philosophy based on belief in progress, the essential goodness of the human race, and the autonomy of the individual and standing for the protection of political and civil liberties dcapitalized : the principles and policies of a Liberal party
lib·er·al·ist \-b(ə-)rə-list\ noun or adjective
lib·er·al·is·tic \ˌli-b(ə-)rə-ˈlis-tik\ adjective

We had this one History professor in college that everyone seemed to revere. He was tall, gray, had a deep, warm timbered voice with a mild Missouri just barely Southern but more Midwestern accent, and a bone dry sense of humor.

Professor Grothaus was the head of the History department at Concordia College and a dead ringer for William H. Seward, namesake of the Nebraska town where Concordia was located. Seward, of course was Lincoln’s Secretary of State.

Students found Doctor Grothaus to be an enigma. History is a discipline that is forced to address politics and parties, controversies and competing interests. Grothaus never betrayed his personal convictions.

Grothaus had a mystical aura that transcended petty, mortal things like opinions, ideologies or political issues. He seemed to be omniscient. God like in his knowledge of anything anyone ever asked him about history, society, or the government of the United States. He was constantly and relentlessly recommending books and journal articles by historians and scientists to his devout students.

Someone once asked him how he managed to read so much, truly believing it wasn’t humanly possible. The rest of us were aghast at the impudence of such a question, as if Dr. Grothaus were mere human.

The professor replied matter-of-factly, “One finds time.”

One day, someone worked up the nerve to peek through the aura. They asked him point blank, “are you a Liberal or a Conservative?”

In characteristic wry and typically oblique delivery he answered, “Liberal, in the eighteenth century sense of the word.” Which of course left the class of 18-20 year olds no more enlightened than before. The aura remained.

18-20 year olds aren’t as bright as they like to think they are.

All it would’ve take is a glance at an old fashioned Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary to read “associated with ideals of individual especially economic freedom, greater individual participation in government, and constitutional, political, and administrative reforms designed to secure these objectives.” Wow, that sounds like a pretty GOOD thing to be, especially in the United States.

I know many a Republican who believes in encouraging citizens to participate, especially by voting and plenty of them who seek to reform government. Heck, “economic freedom” is one of their favorite mantras. Who’s more Liberal? Republicans or Democrats? How did George H. W. Bush manage to turn it into “the L-word” and make it seem so dirty back in the 1988 Presidential campaign?

Since then, many have taken to calling themselves “Progressive,” so as not to be stigmatized. A progressive is “one believing in moderate political change and especially social improvement by governmental action.” Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower, famous Republican Presidents were both progressives.

Last week I had some Seniors in my Web Design class asking for help on a Government assignment. Many of the questions dealt with the two major parties and sought to help students differentiate the major philosophical tenets of each. I have to admit, even during such polarized times as now, it was a bit like trying to separate tar from molasses in a mud pit.

A “Conservative,” according to Daniel Webster’s dictionary is someone “tending or disposed to maintain existing views, conditions, or institutions… marked by moderation or caution.”

When you think about it, Ronald Reagan overturned a hundred years of sound economic theory, reversed a progressive tax structure that helped promote and maintain a robust middle class, and dismantled what had been an industrial and egalitarian society and replaced it with a consumer-based one that shamelessly benefited a new kind of aristocracy. Not very moderate, not very cautious.

Then we come to “Neo-Conservative.” What the heck does that mean anyway? Webster’s doesn’t help much.

First it says “a former liberal espousing political conservatism.” Lots of Democrats today hold up Barry “Mr. Conservative” Goldwater as a model of character, integrity, and public service. Guys like John Edwards and Barrack Obama have been talking an awful lot about God, family, rights and values. Are these guys “Neo-Conservatives?”

Another definition is “a conservative who advocates the assertive promotion of democracy.” I’m all for that. Let’s promote free elections in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Dubai, and China and Russia for that matter. The problem is the second half of the definition- “advocates the assertive promotion of democracy and United States national interest in international affairs including through military means.”

Ouch, see, “democracy” is a system where the citizens have choice and decision. You can’t coerce someone to be free (AKA; to have liberty and democracy) with military force. Asserting national interests through military means, is not conservative, moderate, or traditional at all. It’s aggressive, radical, un-democratic.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Online independent-study Cartooning class


Online independent-study cartooning class

I have a Senior Drawing student who asked me about offering a cartooning class. I'm not too sure about how good I'd be at teaching cartooning. I've offered it at Boyer Valley before, but I never seemed to put together what I think would be the ideal class. Certainly, I haven't exactly "hit it big" yet myself. But I agreed to give it a shot. If nothing else, between now and Christmas, I should amass a lot of good links and ideas for anyone interested in learning how to cartoon.

Here's the course outline:
1. We'll start off with the grandaddy of all tooning, editorial cartooning. This is my forte' anyway.
2. Then we'll move into "Gag" or single-panel cartoons, this is the stuff of magazines and greeting cards. It's not near as easy as it looks
3. Next, we'll kick it up a notch and move on to the comic strip, the greatest American art form
4. Ultimately we'll gear up for comics and graphic novels. The may just be the most important form of literature and art of the 21st century.

Online independent-study cartooning class


Online independent-study cartooning class

I have a Senior Drawing student who asked me about offering a cartooning class. I'm not too sure about how good I'd be at teaching cartooning. I've offered it at Boyer Valley before, but I never seemed to put together what I think would be the ideal class. Certainly, I haven't exactly "hit it big" yet myself. But I agreed to give it a shot. If nothing else, between now and Christmas, I should amass a lot of good links and ideas for anyone interested in learning how to cartoon.

Here's the course outline:
1. We'll start off with the grandaddy of all tooning, editorial cartooning. This is my forte' anyway.
2. Then we'll move into "Gag" or single-panel cartoons, this is the stuff of magazines and greeting cards. It's not near as easy as it looks
3. Next, we'll kick it up a notch and move on to the comic strip, the greatest American art form
4. Ultimately we'll gear up for comics and graphic novels. The may just be the most important form of literature and art of the 21st century.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Plamegate Finale: We Were Right; They Were Wrong

Plamegate Finale: We Were Right; They Were Wrong

From the start, neocons and conservative backers of the war dismissed the Plame leak and subsequent scandal as a big nothing. Some even claimed that somehow former Ambassador Joseph Wilson and I had cooked up the episode to ensnare the White House. (Oh, to be so devilishly clever--and to be so competent.) But these attempts to belittle the affair (and to belittle Valerie Wilson) were based on nothing but baseless spin. As was--no coincidence--the Iraq war. In fact, the Wilson imbroglio was something of a proxy war for the debate over the war itself. In the summer of 2003, when the Plame affair broke, those in and out of government who had misled the nation into the war saw the need to spin their way out of the Wilson controversy in order to protect the false sales pitch they had used to win public support for the invasion of Iraq.

Read the whole article in it's original context

Classic

I found this in an old copy of the New Yorker. I use that optical illusion almost every year in my Drawing class to make a point about perception.

Sorry right-wingers

If it walks like a duck...

I'm sorry. I've had someone call me a reactionary. I've offended dearly loved friends by being so frustrated with them for seeing the Bush administration in a favorable light. I'm sorry, sue me.
Right is right and wrong is wrong, or as they teach you when learning how to mount a horse, "left is right and right is wrong."

You'll know a tree by it's fruit. Jesus said that. So okay, look at Republican policies and this Administration, then look at all those "bleeding heart liberals" (including Jimmy Carter) that you think are such America-haters and unpatriotic, slimy socialist- Which group has the right kind of fruit? Check out Galatians chapter 5 (it's in the Bible).

Bad Apples;
  • sexual immorality (Senator Craig, Senator Foley, Pastor Ted Haggard...)
  • impurity and debauchery
  • idolatry (Ronald Reagan, god of all that is 'Right') and
  • witchcraft (Nancy Reagan's Astrologers)
  • hatred (nooses in trees, torture at Abu Ghraib, xenophobia, racial profiling, gay bashing, alarm about illegal immigration, etc. etc....)
  • discord (The religious right, the Big-business right, the internationalist right, the Neo-Con right, the gun-nut right, the nut-job in the woods in a militia and or white supremist group right....)
  • jealousy (First Bill Clinton, now Hillary Clinton)
  • fits of rage ( Vice President Cheney telling people to "F--- Off" all the time)
  • selfish ambition (MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY, MONEY... big oil, Enron, stock portfolios, the Carlyle Group, Haliburton, did I mention big oil?
  • dissensions
  • factions and
  • envy (did I mention the Clintons?)
  • drunkenness (Tom DeLay, Dennis Hastert, and oh yeah, is 'W' a "dry-drunk?" How come no one cares that he usded to have a cocaine problem, but they freaked out when they heard that Bill Clinton once tried pot?)
  • orgies, and the like (well, okay, who doesn't like a good orgy? Republican or Democrat)

Good Fruit:
  • love (see also compassion, empathy, caring...)
  • joy
  • peace (blessed are the peacemakers, who said that? Hmmmm)
  • patience (okay, not me)
  • kindness
  • goodness
  • faithfulness
  • gentleness and (you're right, not me again, or any other political humorist or cartoonist)
  • self-control (yeah, I know- obviously I need to work on this one otherwise I wouldn't go off on rants like this or let my blood pressure go up every time someone compares George W. Bush to Abe Lincoln or Jesus or whoever. Breath, breath, find your happy place...)

Foggy Iowa morning, after a frost

Monday, October 22, 2007

Fire Prayer Request

As you might imagine, since we used to teach at Los Angeles Lutheran Jr/Sr High School, My wife and I are very concerned about our many friends, former students and former colleagues in Southern California. Can you imagine 250,000 people in 7 counties having to be evacuated? An area the size of Washington DC has been burned. From Malibu to Mexico is effected- basically an area the size of South Carolina!

The Buckweed and Stevensen Ranch/Magic Fires have us the me worried. Especially after that wild accident in the I-5 tunnel last week. Basically these fires are each on opposite sides of the Santa Clarita Valley. We used to go to Church at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Canyon Country.

Breathing, driving, and if it comes to it- evacuating are a major dangers that our friends are facing- let alone the possibility of losing life, home, and property.
I was disappointed by the coverage on CNN, so I turned to a local TV station there, KTLA, they had a terrific link to an interactive map of the fires from Google.

Please, it's not just a bunch of rich celebrities in Malibu Canyon, it's real people all over Southern California. If these fires aren't contained soon, this could become LA and San Diego's Katrina.

Please pray that the Lord would protect the residents in the fire's path and that He would guard, protect, and guide the many firefighters, both professional and volunteer and the National Guardsmen and women who help too. Pray that the 70-100 mph winds would die down and that moisture would come so that the fires could be contained and put out.

Thank you.

Iowa Autumn

No, it's not exactly Vermont, but if you're from Phoenix or LA, you may think this is pretty.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Tee shirt ideas




Here are the final ideas that I came up with for our cheerleading tee-shirts this year. It only took me 3 months to finally put them together. Now I have to actually get them ordered, fill out the purchase order forms, take sizes, blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda...

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Is this Heaven?


‘Field of Dreams’ was on AMC last night and I was ballin' again (like every time I see it) when John Kinsella turns to walk back into the corn and Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) stops him and says, "hey- uh Dad? Ya wanna have a catch?"

So my wife looks at me cross-eyed and says "it must be a guy thing!"
Obviously, Sheez woman- hello!!! God/the universe/a mysterious voice in his cornfield- whoever uses Ray's hero, 60’s protest writer Terence Mann (played by James Earl Jones) and his dad's hero, Shoeless Joe Jackson to help him learn to forgive himself for being a dumb kid and to forgive his dad for not being perfect. Ray’s 36 years old and still beating himself up for hurting his dad by calling Joe Jackson a “cheater” since his Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing the 1919 World Series.

‘Field of Dreams’ was based on the book ‘Shoeless Joe’ by Canadian author WP Kinsella, who got his Masters at the University of Iowa through the famous Iowa Writer’s Workshop.

Kinsella’s book and Kostner’s movie are about male friendships, it's about baseball, it's about redemption, it's about realizing that what you thought were your dreams when you were young aren't necessarily what you really wanted or even what you're called to do. Doctor “Moonlight” Graham, from Chisholm, Minnesota discovered that he made a infinitely more of a difference as a small town doctor than he ever could’ve as a major leaguer. Terence Mann (J.D. Salinger in the book) discovers sort of the opposite- that he can’t escape being a writer or a leader no matter how sick he is of people seeking him out.

And dog gone it, it's about a heavenly place called Iowa. Isn’t any movie that has all that be enough to make a grown man cry. Why can't women get that?

More than anything else, ‘Field of Dreams’ is about how guys relate to each other through talking about sports. I was a late bloomer where this goes. I barely follow baseball even though I love it. Our esteemed publisher Brad Swanson could probably tell you far more about any team, player or ballpark this season than I ever could. I still really only watch maybe two or three pro and college football games a year, yep Thanksgiving and New Year’s. But never the less, if you want to avoid sex, politics, and religion and you’ve exhausted weather and farm implement or car parts, there’s always sports. Guys just can’t bring themselves to talk about shoes or hairstyles.

As long as I’m talking baseball, I may as well mention that my hometown D’Backs are starting in the National League Championship Series against the Colorado Rockies as I write this. I can only hope that they’re headed for the World Series as you read this. If they are, my wife and two of my three girls will be very frustrated with me when I get home from work for a week or so. Our youngest, Annamarie, loves to sit on the couch and watch baseball with me. She’s only 2, maybe she doesn’t know that it’s not a girly thing to do yet.

I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize for my Diamondbacks beating the humility, shame, and healthy Midwestern self-effacing inferiority complex back into the Chicago Cubs that all Americans love and admire them for. No seriously, for Arizona's sake, I'm not guilty, but for history, mythology, baseball and Chicago's sake I am sorry. I was secretly rooting for them. Everybody was, but- just like there has been for the last 99 years, there's always NEXT year. Come on, who told them they could stop filling the proverbial role of Charlie Brown anyway? Am I right?

Big 'W' is listening to you!

Cartoon for the Thursday, October 25, 2007 Mapleton PRESS.
Special thanks to "John L." of someplace our West for the idea- I'd be more specific, but the NSA and CIA are probably already listening to his phone calls.
War is Peace, Right is Wrong!

I know that the donkey's eyes are kind of an homage to Picasso, but I like them that way. I think he's cute in a weird, surrealist/cubist sort of way. I also think that my Bush is about the best I've done since I started cartooning every week a couple of years ago.

Cheer Sweatshirts

We've been slow in getting a cheerleading tee-shirt done this year. The squad really wants those "hoodie" sweatshirts this year, even though they cost quite a bit more.Here's the design I worked up. Of course, teenage girls can be very picky, so I won't be surprised if they veto it.

Here is a 'comp' I threw together to show them how it would look in different combinations of our school colors.

And of course, here is the original photo I had taken, that I based the design on.

I had originally envisioned something like this. Then one of the girls' moms volunteered to design something because I've been swamped with school work. At first they wanted something like "Yell, Scream, Jump, Fly, Kick- yeah, that's our job" (or something along those lines, I'm sure I'm making it sound worse that they're idea, which was really good). The mom suggested that a job is something you get paid for, so we should say "that's what we do." But then the mom got swamped with work herself... and here we are. I really like it, I can see a red, white and blue version like Major League Baseball's logo that the NBA copied, and then God knows how many other sports and tee-shirt companies. If there's anything wrong with it, it's that her wrist isn't quite as straight as it should be in that mount (it's called a "Liberty").

I guess I'd like to have "Boyer Valley" and 2007-08 on there somewhere. Both that and the wrist are easy enough to fix in PhotoShop.

Anyway, I really like it and I hope they will too so that I can get some price estimates from a screen printer in the area and put in purchase orders and get moving on it. We only have 2 games left in Football season and then tryouts for Basketball the second week of November or so. But it's really for both Football and Basketball Cheer squads.

Now, if I could just get an idea for Junior High Cheer's shirts. And, oh yeah, grades are due this week too!

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

A message from the Bush Administration...

WAR IS PEACE

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH



Check out 'Wild Art'

I just overhauled my art blog. When you visit it you can see;
1.
My cartoons 2. My photographs & digital images 3. My paintings, drawings, and prints 4. Artworks or photos by some of my students 5. Some of my favorite paintings by famous artists and why I like them. And recently added... 6. Advice and links for elementary teachers who didn't major in Art, but want to teach it to their students. Please, click on the archives to look at more art.

http://malloryart.blogspot.com

Every week there's something new. This week, there's also a slick new look!

Happy October

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Re: questions

On 10/15/07, Wayne & Ina Mae wrote:
Hi this is Ina Mae and I was wondering why for all the papers there isn't a name combination of all areas Instead of Mapleton Press another name that will have all the communities involved Now you have a paper like the good ole days PICTURES and some local gossip Also some one told me a Mapleton resident (former) died recently but I have not see an Obit His name was Larry Reed Did I miss it? Just curious and Keep up the good work This site is awesome
Wayne and Ina Mae Bliesmann


Very good question. I don't know whether or not I can answer it as well as other people but I'll try. Remember, I'm not the President, the Publisher, the Editor or even a full time staffer, I'm just a contributor who sometimes is lucky enough to work for them during the summers too.

As I understand it, one of the biggest reasons for consolidating the three papers, besides printing costs was postal rate increases. Now to finally answer you question about the name- the way it was explained to us on staff was that there were even more considerable costs involved to drop the word "Mapleton," from the name, once again partly from paperwork with the Post Office, but if I remember correctly also because of incorporation papers or something like that on the state level as well.

You will notice that the word "Mapleton" is considerably smaller than it was on the old Mapleton PRESS. The thinking is to kind of minimize the 'Mapleton' part and emphasize the 'PRESS' part since it now serves a much broader area.

I hope that answers your question somewhat. Ann Collins, the Office Manager and Brad Swenson the Publisher, or even Mark Rhoades, the President of Enterprise Publishing could all answer any questions about the PRESS better than I ever could. But thank you for asking.

I did have some ideas for alternate names;
just 'The PRESS' was one.
just 'The Paper' was another, sort of an homage to the NEWSpaper
another fun one I suggested was Western Iowa's NEWS-LEADER, sort of an homage to both the CO-U NEWSpaper and the Schlswig Leader. But, that sounds kind of cheesy, like a slogan that a local TV news show or an AM talk radio station might have for themselves.
My favorite was 'Bob.' I figure if a radio station in Onawa can do it, why can't a newspaper? Or how about 'Ed?' Then we could've said, get your news straight from the horses' mouth!

But in the end they just decided to stick with 'The Mapleton PRESS.'

Thanks for your question. I will pass on to Ann the question about Larry Reed. That is one that I truly can not answer, except to say that it is usually up to the funeral home to send in information like that and that believe it or not, sometimes the family, or even the deceased may have chosen not to.

Thank you so much for reading!

Monday, October 15, 2007

Exciting serendipity


I really likes how the glaze turned out on the interior of this pot. It looks like a heart. I think what happened is that the bottle's directions recommended either cone 06 or 07 and I went with 07, unfortunately that lead to crawling and pooling and to most of the glaze turning out black, except where it pooled. Fortunately, that looks really pretty, so what the heck!

It looks like a heart radiating fire. Sort of reminds me of the "Sacred Heart" icon, or maybe like the House of Blues logo. Think I'll keep it. Sometimes NOT knowing what you're doing leads to neat stuff.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

A Message by George Carlin:

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways , but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.

Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

If you don't send this to at least 8 people....Who cares?

George Carlin

Reverse Reaganism Now, Please!

Source: CNN.COM

The income gap between the wealthiest and poorest Americans grew to its widest level since the 1920s, according to a report published Friday.

Citing Internal Revenue Service data, the Wall Street Journal reported that the wealthiest 1 percent of all Americans earned 21.2 percent of all the nation's income in 2005, up from the previous high of 20.8 percent in 2000.

Conversely, the bottom half of working Americans earned just 12.8 percent of all the nation's income, down from 13.4 percent in 2004 and slightly lower than 13 percent in 2000.

Academic experts told the paper that the last time the rich had this large of a share of income was during the 1920s.

An encouraging letter



My high school Bible Study group at church is studying Philippians on Sundays. I LOVE what it's about. Some people have called it the "cheerleader's book of the Bible." It can really help you to be positive. I'd really like to share what I learn about it with each of you. Please visit this website once a week.

http://malloryprayer.blogspot.com/search/label/Philippians
Me ka pule,
Ted

Saturday, October 13, 2007

See "Wild Art" on your Google homepage

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Friday, October 12, 2007

Field of Dreams Movie Site - Tourism Info - Baseball

Field of Dreams Movie Site - Tourism Info - Baseball
FIELD OF DREAMS MOVIE SITE ©

Lansing Road • Dyersville, Iowa

Open April through November, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Free admission. Souvenirs are available.


Welcome

Is this Heaven? No, it's Iowa. A place of fertile soil, traditional values and simple pleasure. And in Dyersville, Iowa, at the 91-year-old Lansing family farm with its quaint, and oh so recognizable house, baseball still ranks as a favorite pastime for all ages. What better place to carve a baseball diamond from a corn field and to make a movie about pursuing one's dream, no matter how much effort it takes?
Field of Dreams, released in 1989, is a movie that has inspired millions and became an Academy Award nominee for "Best Picture of the Year." Welcome to this home, this farm, this baseball field, this little piece of heaven on earth. Welcome to this place where reality mixes with fantasy and dreams can come true.

Picasso's 'The Dream'


Picasso met Marie-Therese by chance, on the street. Entralled by her, he took her by the arm and introduced himself. He kept their affair secret for a long time, but in 1932 she started showing up in his paintings.

Picasso said, 'A painting comes too me from afar; who knows how far; I divined it, I saw it, I did it, but even so , the next day, I cannot see what I have done myself. How can anyone penetrate my dreams, my instincts, my desires, my thoughts, which have taken so long to develop and to see the light of day, and comprehend what I have put into it, perhaps even against my will.'

Marie Therese Walter eventually bore Picasso a daughter, Maia. This work is important because of the curves, pretty much every characteristic of her body is bordered by a curve.

The big new style in painting in the 1930's was Surrealism, a celebration of the illogical workings of the subconscious mind. Picasso became interested in surrealism. Dreams are a favorite Surrealist theme.

Surrealists were also fascinated in Freudian Psychology, which of course suggests that much of our conscious lives motivated by our unconscious sexuality. As an unrepentant philanderer, this no doubt aroused Picasso's interest (no pun intended).

This painting contains a hidden phallus in the upper part of Marie 's head and shows up again as a motif (pattern) in the face of the right hand figure and a number of other phallus motifs elsewhere in the painting. Needless to say, this is a very sensual artwork, charged with eroticism. There are even theories and rumors about how, and where Marie is holding her hands and why.

Sorry if this makes anyone uncomfortable or icky. I'm not writing this to turn you on or to get my own kicks. Frankly, the phallic on her face kinda grossed me out when I first read about it. It's just such an amazing, beautiful, restful, pretty painting that I wanted to learn more about it. Knowing makes it even more interesting. You can imagine how people in 1932 might have been absolutely outraged.

But recently, 'The Dream' became famous for completely different reasons; it's blind, clumbsy owner...

A US casino mogul has pulled out of a deal to sell his Picasso painting for a record $139m after accidentally elbowing a hole in the middle.

Las Vegas magnate Steve Wynn was showing Le Reve (The Dream) to guests at his office in Las Vegas last month.

Mr Wynn, who has retinitis pigmentosa, an eye disease affecting peripheral vision, tore a coin-sized hole.

He will now keep the painting, which he bought in 1997 for $48.4m, and repair it, his spokeswoman said.


Draft Gore

Draft Gore

Al Gore Wins the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize

Former Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Friday for their efforts to spread awareness of man-made climate change and lay the foundations for counteracting it.

''His strong commitment, reflected in political activity, lectures, films and books, has strengthened the struggle against climate change,'' the citation said. ''He is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted.''

Sign the Draft Gore Petition

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TedJames would like you to visit the following online campaign, by iPetitions: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/algore2008

Message:
Thought you might want to sign this in the light of this morning\'s Nobel Prize announcement.

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Thursday, October 11, 2007

Mallory's Milieu

Interested in more than just the weekly column and occasional political rants?
You can see all of my cartoons (just MY cartoons) as well as all kinds of my artwork and photography. Not to mention book reviews, recommended links, and even some music and videos. All of it is at http://tmal.multiply.com

Fat Food Nation; A tasty column with exclusive web-only extras!



The last time I was in Omaha I had to run some errands at a discount store with a big red target painted on the side. I had my daughter Grace with me and it was getting late, so I called my wife to let her know we'd just grab a bite there before making the hour and a half trek home.

I asked Grace where she'd like to eat and to my relief she was excited to try someplace new and someplace Mexican. A big yellow "Taco Bueno" was right there in the big discount store's parking lot. This sounded good to me. I think she liked it because the name sounds just like "Bueno Nacho," the fictional taco joint on the popular Disney Cartoon "Kim Possible," which Grace and I both enjoy watching every now and then.

It wasn't half bad. Huge portions, made while you wait as opposed to waiting there under a heat lamp for when you order. They even had tamales which you usually have to go to a big fancy Mexican restaurant or a very authentic hole-in-the-wall taco joint, not a nice clean suburban fast food drive thru.

It got me thinking about all the other suburban and/or shopping mall taco places I've enjoyed or endured over the years.

For me it all started with a Taco Bell, back when all Taco Bells were designed to look like old Spanish Missions. In junior high they had a really messy thing that all us eighth graders who were allowed off campus for lunch on Fridays loved, and "enchorritto." It was kind of a cross between a burrito and an enchilada, complete with black olives, sour cream and extra grease.
Not something I could fathom looking at in it's little aluminum pan anymore, let alone scarfing down.

Then in high school Taco Bell introduced an American culinary phenomenon; the SOFT taco. It was easier to eat than a real taco; you could even eat it while you and your pals cruised up and down Central Avenue all night long. Other fast food placed closed earlier than Taco Bell, so you could keep cruising all night, and you could get like three or four soft tacos for less than two bucks back then.

A lot of people think I have some form of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCB) because I'll only get certain soft drinks at certain fast food places. From Taco Bell I can only order Diet Pepsi. At McDonalds the only thing I can drink is Diet Coke. At Burger King it's Dr. Pepper. I don't know why, I've tried to deviate once in a while and try Sprite or Root Beer, but I just couldn't do it. McDonalds has pretty decent coffee, but I can only order that alone or with breakfast, never with lunch or dinner.

Which brings me to another compulsion. There is no salad at McDonalds, no chicken sandwich. Why in the name of all that is American would anyone order anything but a Big Mac at McDonalds? It's the only thing there that goes with their fries and a Diet Coke. Heck, it's the only thing that they're about.

Why on Earth would Lincoln or Cadillac make a stupid looking pickup or an SUV? Trucks are Ford, Chevy or Dodge- and McDonalds has no business making fancy schmancy "wraps" with alfalfa sprouts and soy things. McDonalds makes Big Macs.

Why bother going to Burger King if you're not there to get a Whopper? What's the point? If I want something "western" I'll go to Carls' Jr. If I want cheesecake, I'll go to some cheesecake place, but Burger King became king, because it's the home of the Whopper.
But I digress; I was talking about taco places.

When I went to college in Nebraska, kids went to study at a place called "Amigos." It sounded friendly, so I gave it a chance. The nachos weren't much better than you could get at a high school football game, but they added hamburger. They were known for their taco salad. This was ironic, because people eat salads to be healthy, but it was served in a deep fat fried flour tortilla shell and topped with hamburger and canned cheese sauce. Probably way worse for you than a Whopper.

Of course the only way to have an Amigo's taco salad is with Dorothy Lynch salad dressing, which of course is indigenous to Nebraska and Iowa and couldn't be less Mexican.
Then, when I met my wife, she introduced me to "Taco John's." As an Arizona native, I immediately made fun of this place. They're famous for their "potato olays," basically tator tots with a side of canned cheese sauce. But come to find out they were founded in Wyoming. That's pretty far from Mexico, but at least it's further west. We loved their churros- big long sticks made from funnel cake and covered in cinnamon and sugar. Come to find out when we moved to Los Angeles, that this was an actual authentic Mexican treat.

Some of the best soft tacos ever made come from a California chain called "Del Taco." I had an Uncle Del, and that place always reminded me of him.

My favorite fast food chain in California was a place called "El Pollo Loco," (the Crazy Chicken.) They skinned their chickens and flame broiled them in front of you while you waited. No fries, nothing fried (well, I guess maybe the tortilla chips) but they had all fresh lettuce and tomatoes and salsa and served it all with soft tortillas and rice. Yummy and yet healthy.

But it took me a while to warm up to El Pollo Loco, because they had sued an Arizona chain over copyright infringement. It was called "El Pollo Flojo," which means the loose chicken. They were forced to change their name to "El Pollo Asado," (the roasted chicken) I used to think I was pretty funny in Spanish class in high school when I'd call people "Mariposa Asado" (roasted butterflies.) Fortunately someone explained to me that this phrase could also mean "flaming homosexual" before I got beaten up.

Fortunately or unfortunately for me, there are only two Taco Buenos and they're both an hour and a half away in Omaha, otherwise I'd be having tamales several times a week. Since I can't, maybe I'll finally start losing some weight.

Don't get me started on Runzas in Nebraska or White Castles back in Michigan, or out in LA, the In-N-Out Burgers or best yet, "Fatburger." Mmmmmm

Studies in Fred


Some politicians are harder to draw than others. Top left; Tried upside down, Top right; Starting with the ear and working from the outside of the head to the inside, Bottom left; Tried doing the old draw an oval with an eye axis and a prime-meridian first... And finally Bottom right; started with an eye and worked from the inside-to the out.

I think I still need to work on a caricature though, and exaggerate either his sleepy eyes or forehead instead of his ears or nose. Truly, he'd make a really good hound dog, maybe a basset hound.

So when I got my drawing into PhotoShop, I did go ahead and "warp" his head a little bit. Over all, I'm pleased with how it turned out.

This cartoon was created for the October 18, 2007 Mapleton PRESS.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Mallory's Milieu

Interested in more than just the weekly column and occasional political rants?
You can see all of my cartoons (just MY cartoons) as well as all kinds of my artwork and photography. Not to mention book reviews, recommended links, and even some music and videos. All of it is at http://tmal.multiply.com

Book Review; Slaughterhouse 5



Category:Books
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Author:Kurt Vonnegut
One of America's most prolific 20th century authors, Kurt Vonnegut was also a WWII POW. He and about a hundred other American soldiers were being used as forced labor in a German meat processing plant when the city they were in was bombed by the allies. For some reason, the shelter they were in under the hog confinement was spared. They were the only people to survive the Bombing of Dresden in 1945. 135,000 people were killed as a result of this air attack using conventional weapons. The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan only killed 71,379.

Slaughterhouse 5 was published in 1969 at the height of American involvement in Vietnam and is often considered a powerful antiwar book, along the likes of Josef Heller's "Catch 22" and Richard Hooker's "M*A*S*H."

Slaughterhouse 5 follows a character Vonnegut invented, who was one of the hundred Americans who survived Dresden along with him. "Billy Pilgrim" is a Forrest Gump sort of character. Billy is an under trained, unarmed chaplain's assistant sent over during the Battle of the Bulge, caught behind German lines, first sent to a concentration camp in a prisoner train, then to the meat processing plant in Dresden. That would be enough to give anyone Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), but twenty years later he is the only person to survive a plane crash on his way to an optometry convention. Billy sustains a major head injury in the crash. Somewhere between WWII and the sixties suburbs Billy believes he is abducted by aliens and "un-stuck" from time.

As a result, the book follows Billy Pilgrim as he jumps from memory to memory in the war, the prison camp, and various other misadventures back home. You can imagine homeless Vietnam vets suffering from PTSD and having LSD flashbacks, but Billy is a clean-cut, conventional, soft spoken, upstanding member of the Rotary club.

If you're a science fiction fan, you'll probably love this. If you're opposed to the war, you'll probably find plenty of reason to like it. If you're just interested in a classic and influential work of American literature, Vonnegut makes you care about Billy and the people around him to stick with the abrupt changes in settings and time. He also makes you relate to the other characters around Billy- even the Germans, even the alien abductors, so you can relate to everything that's going on even when it's either tragic or surreal. We've all met people like Billy's wife, the soldier who saves his life, the English officers, and General "Wild" Bob.

TV Journalist Linda Elerbee has had a tag-line that she uses at the end of her reports for at least the last thirty years, turns out she may have copied it from Vonnegut. I never know what it meant until I read this book, it's actually a pretty sad and somber sentiment, "and so it goes."

This is a fast, funny, easy read that really makes you think. It is black humor, but it is a lot lighter than say "Night" by Elie Wiesel, but it certainly makes you think and even if it doesn't turn you into a pacifist, it will probably make you at least a little more empathetic to people around you. I hope.

And if you're ever in Cody Wyoming, just ask for Wild Bob!"

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