"Hey Hop Sing come over here and hop on."
"Wat dat Mr. Hossaroni?"
"It's my new Little Rascal. They are selling them down at the mercantile. It's one of those dad gummed horseless carriages. I will be riding it instead of a horse from now on."
"Wat wrong with Horse Mr. Hossaroni?"
"Dag gummit Hop Sing but everytime one of us Cartwrights get interested in a girl they get run over by a horse or sumtim. This eliminates one of them there problems. Now climb on you can be my bitch."
"Okey Dokey Mr. Hossaroni let me tie up pig tail first. Lets ride."
“Like a flatworm, art possesses the astounding ability of regeneration. Split your work in any way--lengthwise, into irregular pieces, using just one idea or element from the whole--and it can grow into an entirely new organism. This is true down to the 1/279th of the organism. Every part of this new entity, in turn will have the ability to engender another new form--which may itself grow into a self-sufficient organism that retains the memories of the original. In this way, art remembers itself. Vivisect yourself. Any material, gesture, color, surface, idea can grow again into a new branch of your work. It will have the potential to develop in unforeseen ways, to accrete and conjoin into new structure that will almost inevitably mean more than you’ve intended. This work of severing, reconsidering, repositioning, is the origin of what Salvador Dali called “a delirium of interpretation.” It’s why art has likely been with us since the beginning. Art is like a burning bush: it puts out more energy than went into its making. This is what is meant by ars longa.” From: How to be an Artist, by Jerry Saltz, 2020, pg.45, Chapter 20, "Art is a Flatworm". This small but potent book of thoughts on art arrived via Amazon at the end of March to sit alone in the darkness of our garage for a day or two and decontaminate before being opened to reveal a collection of words and pictures set to support and encourage creativity and artistic expression. This exercise below followed the words above: “Exercise: Using projection, tracing paper, or any other appropriate technique, make a drawing of a found image or photograph. Make it as perfect and as true to the original as you possibly can. Then draw the same object in the exact same way-but this time invent 50 percent of it. Adlib, riff, change it slightly or greatly or entirely for that half. Finally, put the image away and render it from memory. When you recreate something from memory you’re necessarily putting yourself inside the work--between what you saw and what you think you saw, in dialogue with the image, the materials, your memory, yourself and more. Those last two drawings? They’re flatworms. (Although the illustration included with this chapter was a drawing of a man using parts from one sculpture to create another, the real life illustrations revealed here at Levity in recent weeks seem more apt--from a woman using callas as canvas, to a color challenged craftsman incorporating incorporated blocks of colored wood with naturally lined pieces to turn out bowls as vivid as the colored flowers, each recreating unique, one-of-a-kind visual experiences in the material that put out energy, even now as this is being read!) Vīta brevis, ars longa!Here's to vivisection and regeneration!! And flatworms!!! Here, there, among and within.
"Oh Batman....are you running for President or are you just happy too see me?"
"I am always happy to see you Mrs. Schlafly. Now let me smell your hair."
"Oh Batman you are the best."
Dr Fauci has directed the President to not open the economy because there is not enough tests or other reasons that will not crash the economy before the election. The science is settled.
You can not go to church. You can not go to the park. You can not shop for seeds or flowers or plant vegetables. You can not buy a car seat for your child. You can not visit your family. The science is settled.
Meet the bastard child that is Dr. Fauci's economy.
Sixty mentioned that he recently saw the "Search for One Eyed Jimmy." I have written about this before at Trooper York.
This was an independent film made in Red Hook in 1994. That was right before gentrification turned Red Hook into a hipsters paradise. Red Hook used to be a pretty tough place. The projects were a horror show in the 1980's because of crack. You might remember the story of the principal of the grammar school who was murdered trying to protect one of his students caught in a crossfire. The only safe streets were the ones controlled by the Mob where they had a social club. Or the street where my friend Greg had a sandwich shop. The shop and Greg are in the movie. He later opened a jewelry store on Court St. His son stole the store when he had a stroke and moved the operation to Staten Island where its a big deal with radio commercials all the time.
Anyway they used some of the neighborhood characters as the basis for the characters in the movie. Just more exaggerated if that is possible. For example Disco Bean is based on John who owns Sal's pizza and never got over his disco years. The General is based on a homeless guy we used to call Rockefeller who was an ex navy guy who would preach that all of our problems were because of the rich people like Rockefeller who were shooting rays into our head to control us. Head is based on a couple of mooks from the neighborhood who had that nickname.
When I was growing up in the 1960's Red Hook still had a big Italian presence. Most of the small houses and small business were owned by the wops. Then they started to move. Many of the old time joints closed as the moolies took over. Then this guy opened up a Fairway Supermarket and it started to turn. Hipsters started moving in. Soon enough Movie Stars got condos. That dipshit Michael Shannon for one. If any of the old characters were around they would have them arrested. Now there are million dollar condos where Disco Bean used to dance on cardboard.
The movie was really calling to mind an environment that existed twenty years before in the 1970/s. Still as a slice of life it is pretty funny.
"Hello Angie. I'm the King of Siam. Shall we dance."
"Fuggedabout Baldy. She's with me."
"Don't be mean Frank, He's harmless. I hear he's packing a Magnificent Seven. A lot better than your pal Jack."
"Don't be a slut Angie. Now come sit on my lap and I will show you the braciole."
"Oh I love me some Italian."
Dr Fauci said it is too soon to go back to normal. Too soon to go to restaurants. Too soon to go to the ballgame. Way too soon to go to church. Or buy baby car seats. Or flowers for your garden. Too soon to be Americans.
You see Dr. Fauci knows better. He knows how you should run your life. He knows better than President Tump. Better than your governor. Better than you.
He knows he can fuck you.
And there doesn't seem to be anything we can do about it.
When was the last time someone pitched you a curve like this one? Grade School? This one in blue is the latest from Michigan's Governor Gretchen Whitmer, bearing a message that sounds like something from the Michigan edition of Highlights for Children, bringing me back to the bulletin boards of my youth and my fourth grade teacher who'd issue random "F.F.O.F" orders (Feet Flat on Floor) throughout the day to snap us to attention and keep us off our toes. The bulletin boards were covered in colored construction paper with hand cut letters (punched out letters in later years) tacked on to spell out a meaningful, character building message. Each display would remain up for a month or two (most likely because they weren't easy to assemble), allowing more than enough time for a classroom of impressionable youths with big eyes to regard and take it to heart while the paper faded.
Prior to this declaration in blue, Whitmer's State of the State Dress served as a call for attention along with the two most recent bulletin board style T-shirts she's worn bearing messages short enough to fit on the front, with "Everyone VS. Covid 19" on one and "That Woman from Michigan" on another.
Last night Tucker Carlson took her and the arrogant foolishness she's been promoting as "science" to task during prime time (at the 12:22 mark) and Glenn R dropped a "dumb as a bag of hammers" reference which could work well on the back of a T-shirt if she decides to put the one size fits all stretching of truth regarding Michiganders on the front.
:strip_exif(true):strip_icc(true):no_upscale(true):quality(65)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-gmg.s3.amazonaws.com/public/QZZDH2AOMNARNJ6HRA52QPEGJI.png)
