Reworked Modi

Picasso once said that bad artists copy and good artists steal. So in my drive to become a good artist, I stopped copying other people's works. This was the last painting I ever attempted to copy.


This photo was taken in the Pasadena house while the windows were being replaced.  The contractor did all 16 some odd windows and a door in a day.  The stash of books is Maura's desk and obviously, remodeling left things somewhat chaotic.

Vertices

"Vertices" (2011) - Gel pen ink on fifteen 3"x5" index cards

Decomposition

"This Is Not A Notebook" (2010) - Pen and ink on 11"x14" board.

Found Photograph

It was a pretty beat up copy, 1977 printing. Scotch tape on the binding and brownish paper from years of oxidation. The lady wanted $3 for it. Sure, for a classic, that's a bargain. Two things of note about my copy of the Sontag classic. It had Art Center College of Design library markings on it ("that" famous Pasadena art school) so it was obviously a way overdue book. The other thing was the bookmark that was inside the book - a black-and-white proof containing two images of a nude holding an apple. (I ended up using the tiny picture as a model for larger canvas painting.) Inspiration comes from unexpected places.

An Inferiority Complex

I've noticed this lately about American car commercials on the radio and on television.  Some guy on the radio ad talks about an American car he just bought that has this and that latest features and so on.  Ok, the ad would have worked for me, giving me the rationale to go check out this car at the dealership.  Until the guy talking mentions that he's owned BMWs and Mercedes Benzs in the past.  Hold it right there!


By including this part about having owned imports and expensive cars in the past, isn't the ad basically claiming that this American car maker is inferior?  Another TV commercial effectively says a certain American car brand outperformed Lexus and Audi on so and so survey.  Again, isn't it important enough to say you're number one?  Instead, the ad say's we're number 1 and that list includes Lexus and Audi.  Again, there seems to be this search for legitimacy as an American car manufacturer.  I guess the Japanese and Germans had been kicking your butt so long, you don't even know how to act when you finally get better.

Reject Obfuscation In 2011

I don't claim to even remotely be an expert on global warming but I do believe in the scientific process without question.  Recently, I heard an interview on a podcast of a young woman (could have been a teenager) who claimed that there is not enough evidence to suggest that global warming is real.  While I do agree with others that the warming trend we are observing could potentially be cyclical in nature, I will argue that there is enough data to suggest that at the moment it is real.  I do not think there is enough historical data nor do we have sufficiently accurate models to definitively suggest that current global warming is permanent.  It would be very arrogant for scientists to think that nature is not robust enough to potentially adapt to man's impact on this planet.  There could be a point of reversibility in the weather pattern such that the trend could be potentially rolled back.  I'm open to the transient nature of the current crisis.  However, I'm also open to its permanence if the data, consisting of near-term past, current and long-term future, shows otherwise.  This is how theories are proven or disproven in the sciences.


What bothers me about the young woman interviewed in the podcast is when the reporter asked if there is anything that can change her position on the issue, the answer is a simple "no".  At that moment , I just realized that there is a high likelihood, that she also does not believe in evolution as a process and most likely, a practicing evangelical Christian.  Nothing, absolutely nothing can change her mind on global warming -- and yet, she uses words like "data", "evidence", "conclusions", etc in her language.  If fact, she even suggested that the opposing viewpoint be presented to 5th graders studying this in the schools.  Opposing viewpoint based on what data?  I say, she's trying to obfuscate her real agenda.  I'm beginning to see that there is a coalition in this country that not only intends to oppose real trends like global warming but also have a more strategic agenda of making sure the scientific process is minimized in discussions that affect human interests.  The church, in particular, had been going after scientists and the scientific process ever since it was proven that the earth is not the center of the universe.


I don't think education of any kind can change people who refuse to accept factual data.  In fact, I think it's an absolute waste of time to even discuss any issue with them. However I do think that educating my kids on the process of hypothesis-data-conclusion is of utmost importance in ensuring that they don't end up joining this modern day version of the flat-earth society.

Ode To Avis And Hertz

Never seen a rental car that's not an off-road vehicle

Never seen a rental car that can't do donuts or skids

Never seen a rental car that can't go over potholes at high speeds

Never seen a rental car that has an engine redline

Never seen a rental car that can't go 80 mph in second gear

And for these very reasons...

Never seen a rental car I would buy for my own.