Photoshop and Profanity Rulez!

Seriously.


From Positive Ape Index

Art A Go-Go: New Shows in Atl

Good intentions about writing this article days ago were ruined by a busy work schedule.

I try to be a cheerleader for the people who employ me, so let me tell you about some new gallery/museum shows that won't cost you a dime. They aren't that hard to get to, so think about these shows when wondering what to in town on the cheap.

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The Museum of Design Atlanta (located in the Lobby and Garden Levels of the Marquis II Office Tower) had openings Thursday, with "The Home House Project: The Future of Affordable Housing," "Affordable Housing: Designing an American Asset," and "A City of Neighborhoods: Visions of the Beltline."

Show one, "House/Home" is a collection of proposed projects where architects tackle the three problems of affordable housing, aesthetic design and environmental concerns.

The second MODA show, "Affordable Housing: Designing an American Asset," comes from the National Building museum and talks about the start of the affordable housing movement in the late 1900's until the present. A collection of completed housing solutions around the country are used to illustrate principles of affordability with an eye on integrating these new projects into existing communities.

The third MODA show is also the most locally relevant. The museums education department has been going to local schools and talking to kids about the new Beltline Project. The kids in turn have been crafting models of how they see the future Beltline sites, mainly transit stations.

These exhibits are located in all of the museums three galleries, on two separate floors.

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The Atlanta Contemporary Art Center (Google Map) opened three paper-related art shows Friday evening...

Mail Room - Mail art from the collections of Benjamin Jones, Ruth Laxson, and Kathy Yancey
Exquisite Corpse - Collaborative drawings by Melissa Herrington, Benjamin Jones, Alex Kvares, D.E. Johnson, Ruth Laxson, and Kathy Yancey
Paper Garden - an installation comprised of recycled junk mail by Marilee Keys

Also, in conjunction with the fine arts displays, The Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking at Georgia Tech is presenting "World of Watermarks" in the CAC's gallery. I posted about the paper museum on January 14, and the CAC show is an even better opportunity to see a collection of good shows including theirs. Finally, it was with Auburn, GA artist Marilee Keys that I got to work with, aiding in her installation.

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Bridge to Nowhere, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.

Deadend Bridge at the end of Bankhead Highway near the Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center.

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So, go see some art.

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Inside The Perimeter (Flickr) said about the bridge...

"This is one of my favorite things in Atlanta. Every time I try to get a good picture of it I get thrown off the property by the security guard."

I was determined not to get pissed, but I had the same thing happen to me. When asked why I was taking the picture, I just told her I worked at the arts center and she was a polite as can be. But it bugged me that I was made to feel like a criminal just for taking pictures.

Grammer Spelling Errors Strickly Typed!

Found on Signs of Life, where the following comment was made, "How do you tell when you're entering a county where the education budget might have been cut a little too deeply? Douglas County, Georgia."

Futurliner: The Future Looked Better Back Then

In my future, I hope to have a small home on wheels. Shiny and chrome, probably an old airstream trailer. There was a small hope that one day I could own a GM Futurliner. Resplendent in red and chrome, the Futurliner brought General Motors' vision of the future to towns around the country, by displaying the best products GM had to offer at that time.

Few remain, and this one just sold at auction.

$4.3 million.

I'll keep saving for the Airstream.






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Bob Valdez Futurliner - Bob Valdez's Mobilehome Futurliner, right idea, would have kept the orginal paint scheme.

Futurliner driver recalls Parade of Progress tour

The GM Futurliner Restoration Project Follows the restoration of #10

Futurliner Website Nice pix and info.

Barrett-Jackson Auctionhouse Press Release - Lot 1307 - GENERAL MOTORS FUTURLINER PARADE OF PROGRESS TOUR BUS

Downtown Atlanta in Black & White

Downtown Atlanta in Black & White 18, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.

Went downtown for a few hours. Had the camera in hand.

Random, Not Related: Beautiful Geeks and Pinball

The best things in life are often the most frivilous.

Example #1 Beauty & The Geek 2

Watched last year, watching it now, not ashamed at all. Local connection... contestant Wes is a Georgia Tech (BA in computer science) and tracks monkeys with lasers. The show is better than you think.

Example #2 The Pinball Hall of Fame

My wife was reading from the Vegas Goths mailing list (which despite our move to Atlanta, she is still getting) that the Sin City's Pinball Hall of Fame has finally opened its doors. This museum has been the longtime dream of Tim Arnold who has amassed a huge collection of privately owned pinball machines.

"Arnold owns one of the largest pinball collections in the world more than 1,000 by his estimation. Of course, that's counting large, single pieces of machines older than he is.

But 400 of his games are ready to play, after Arnold painstakingly rebuilt them from existing parts by cannibalizing other machines and from junk heaps he has combed through for the last decade."

From the Las Vegas SUN: Bumper Crop: Arnold flips for vintage pinball machines

Usually his warehouse was so packed that you couldn't walk between the machines. But once a year he would have public fun-nights where he would clear out enough to have people over and play the games. All the machines were working and free to play.

A Night @ The Pinball Museum 09, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.

A Night @ The Pinball Museum 10, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.

A Night @ The Pinball Museum 14, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.

Now, his current place on the strip may be nothing more than a small storefront with no air conditioning. But, the man's keeping his dream alive. And if that doesn't work, check the last paragraph of this page He knows where the real money is.

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Vegas Goths Posting with Museum's Location

"Greetings, if you get the chance please stop by the new `Pinball Museum' located right next to the Tropicana Theater at Pecos and Tropicana. Two buddies of mine, Tim and Hippy, are finally realizing their dream and got the place up and running. They have a good selection of very old and newer machines. All priced at a quarter or two. These are really good guys that for years have put on the famous `Pinball Night' for charity and they really could use your help. The place doesn't have a sign and money is tight so advertising is right out for now, so please give them a hand and send this to all your friends and enemies alike!"

Sparky of Las Vegas- Tim Arnold Pinball Hall of Fame Museum

Pictures from the Tropicana Ave. Pinball of Fame - Las Vegas

Never, Never and Never: The Anniversablog

Before last night I never...

Went to Trader Vic's
Went to the Earl,
Had an Irish Carbomb.

Well, I went to both bars, and by the end of the evening had more then one carbomb. Last night's final score,

Trader Vic's - 1 Southern Comfort Manhatten
The Earl - 1 Red Strip, and wait for it... 3 Irish Car Bombs.

Not bad. It was all in celebration of the One-Year Anniversary of the first "Atlanta People With Blogs Who Get Together To Drink" meetup. Much fun was had because I spent most of the night with Messages from the Ether, Scott, Lisa, Lady Crumpet. Who was also generous enough to give us a ride to both the Earl and me back to my place. Many thanks for that.

Also seen at this celebration of booze...

Bobafred
Daily Dose of Dave
Duanemoody.com
Twelfth Planet, Planetary Politics & Other Yakketyboo
Mingaling (waiting for her report on the night's debauchery)

plus many more.

Best of all, went to work with no hangover.

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Anniversablog - a photoset on Flickr
duanemoody.com: let's go... nananana... OUT TONIGHT!
bobafred � Happy Anniversary!

Back in the Day: Junior High DJ

From the time I was 13 until I was 18, I was a summer DJ at WSUC, at SUNY Cortland. Having a broadcast license in 8th grade was cool, and my very loving parents let me DJ from midnight to 2am. I guess it just meant they were happy I wasn't partying like most of the kids.

I was a terrible DJ, but the station's bad luck was my good fortune. Their huge record library saved me from Def Leppard and Iron Maiden (popular in my high school.) Instead, I found Ministry, Pete Shelley from The Buzzcocks and one song from Suicidal Tendencies that I played over and over.



Now, I just found the Punk Rock Orchestra, a 50 piece group that orchestrates punk tunes. They don't have full songs available, but samples are there to be found. Which comes back to Suicidal Tendencies...

...enjoy this little snippet of Institutionalized (MP3) from their sounds page.

My musical tastes have changed and evolved (my Last.fm page) but everytime I hear one of the girl DJ's on WRAS 88.5FM I wish I could be playing tunes on their station. She's so bad on-air that it takes me back to the good old days.

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Also...

NPR Piece on the P.R.O (MP3)

Buying Apple in Atlanta

Besides the Apple stores, are there any Apple users that have suggestions on places to get stuff here in Atlanta? Specifically, an Airport Card and adapter for a iMac G3. I'm looking online as well, but I'm trying to get an idea of what's available in town.

There Was A Drinking Dawg: Throw-down At Duane's

Duane does good party. His shindig was cool, the dog very entertaining... and the house a work of art.

Good Stuff.

It Sounded Good on... A Visit to The Robert C. Williams Paper Museum

A couple of days ago, my workday at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center ended a little early. I had been asking the folks I was working with if there were any small/quirky museums to hit in town that I didn't know about. They mentioned The Robert C. Williams Paper Museum at Georgia Tech. Now I know what you're thinking, "Holy crap, a whole museum dedicated to paper!!! I wish I was there right now!"

The above image is one of the many watermarks that the museum has. These hidden images were incorperated into blank paper, and had been initially used to show that skilled workers were used in paper production.

The exhibition spaces aren't huge, but the displays are a lot more interesting than they should be and the collection of artifacts cover more centuries and countries then I ever imagined.

And it's free. So... um... paper museum, cool.

Wordlyiness: Being Like A Dictionary

So the word "truthiness" has been nominated as the word of the year by the American Dialect Society.

If you are a fan of the Colbert Report, you already knew that, because host Stephen Colbert made up that word in the first place.

Amber posted about Hetemeel.com's Dynamic image Maker which was used to make the above dictionary entry. Definition #1 is mine and #2 from the American Dialect Society.

Truthiness, use it daily.

Searching for Deeper Meaning: Art and A Conspiritorial Family Tree

“Whenever we have spoken openly we have [actually] said nothing. But where we have written something in code and in pictures we have concealed the truth.” Rosarium philosophorum 1550 (Weinheim edition, 1990)

Between experience and language, some believe that something is lost. That using words, spoken or written, is inadiquite to convey the real experience, the true meaning of what was realized. The closest thing that tells the tale is imagery: drawings, paintings. Filled with symbolism, artists often try to convey a deeper truth, something otherwise unseen. This is the start of Gnostic belief and much art was created to document these ideals.

Secret societies often have symbols that have meaning beyond their actual purpose. Often at their start, these often were just non-church related groups coming together. The cryptic nature of the teachings of these groups often lead to suspicion about their agendas. But with the French Revolution, such influence of the Masons was easy to see. Note the All-Seeing-Eye at the top of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, approved by the National Assembly of France, August 26, 1789

The Masons also visually use tools of stonecraft to illustrate how Freemasonry helps a member change their unformed shape and use the tools to refine themselves into something new.

Clarence Larkin (1850–1924) used imagery as a teaching aid, to document where we are within the timeline of the god's design, the shape of heaven, hell and earth; and what needs to happen before the end times.



He even gave a guide on how to color-code and notate the bible. "Use markers, which make a transparent line, to draw over the lines of a verse of scripture. Use scarlet for the "promises", green for "condemnation", brown for death and resurrection", etc. Draw a red ellipse around the word BLOOD all through. the Bible and fill it with red."

Visionary artist often talk of having a direct pipeline to god or a spiritual realm. They see the unseen hand, the hidden mechinisms at work that others can't see. Artist like Paul Lauffely use diagramic thinking to illustate higher states of being, hidden meanings and the way the world truly works. His pieces bring back text, to explain and add to his visual imagery.



All of this comes to the artist who got me thinking about all these things. My love of art and conspiracy therories merged when hearing yesterday about artist Mark Lombardi.



NPR did a story on him, The 'Conspiracy' Art of Mark Lombardi, which talks of his his need to document the scandals and conspiracies he saw.



"bill clinton, lippo group and china ocean shipping co. aka COSCO
little rock-jakarta-hong kong c.1990s (5th version), 1999"

His works, based on years of research, chart lines of influence in business and politics, link individuals with corperations and groups, and show relationships to various centers of power. It his documentation of a broad world-view that relates his pieces to the people mentioned above.

His works are part of the traveling show global networks., which will not be anywhere near Atlanta. But I may be getting the show catalog.

And adding fuel to the conspiratorial fire, Mark was found hung in 2000, which was ruled a suicide.

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Ask E.T.: Mark Lombardi influenced by Envisioning Information
(Mark Lombardi) arts / w b u r g
The Structure of Consciousness - Liminocentricity,
Enantiodromia, and Personality

Thinking of Poetry While My Wife is Away (Smutty)

Absence is making me fond of smutty poetry. I'm looking forward to my wife's return in a few days.

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John Peale Bishop
The Collected Poems of John Peale Bishop, edited by Allen Tate (New York & London, 1948).
Written circa 1928

Boys, by girls held in their thighs,
Shudder, and turn back their eyes.
It is as well they never see
The brute approach of ecstasy.

First read here.

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If you took freshman english and were forced to buy "The Norton Anthology of English Literature", chances are that this poem was in it. Short Biography.

Robert Herrick (1591-1674)
Episcopal minister. Died and was buried a bachelor in 1674 at the age of eighty-three.

The Vine

I dreamed this mortal part of mine
Was metamorphosed to a vine,
Which crawling one and every way
Enthralled my dainty Lucia.
Methought her long small legs and thighs
I with my tendrils did surprise;
Her belly, buttocks, and her waist
By my soft nervelets were embraced.
About her head I writhing hung,
And with rich clusters (hid among
The leaves) her temples I behung,
So that my Lucia seemed to me
Young Bacchus ravished by his tree.
My curls about her neck did crawl,
And arms and hands they did enthrall,
So that she could not freely stir
(all parts there made one prisoner).
But when I crept with leaves to hide
Those parts which maids keep unespied,
Such fleeting pleasures there I took
That with the fancy I awoke;
And found (ah me!) this flesh is mine
More like a stock than like a vine.

Work Too Much?: Maybe Not Such A Good Idea

It's at this late date that I think I may have been a little ambitious. Let me use a food analogy, being an on-call worker is feast or famine and I just scheduled myself a month-long buffet.

You see, I said yes to everyone who asked me to work and that means I may not have a day off until Feb. 5th. The month is filled straight up. Today was my first day back since Christmas, my back hurts and I pulled a muscle sneezing a minute ago.

This doesn't bode well.

Holiday Wrap-Up Part 2: Washington D.C.

After returning from the Land of Big Cars (Florida), we left a day later to Washington D.C. It was all business for my wife and all pleasure for myself.

Day 1

The first full day started slow, with a late begining. First thing, catch the subway to get to the International Spy Museum. I love Metrorail's stations with their cast-concrete retro-futurism.



Compared to NYC or London some might think them charmless but I love the flowing lines of the walkways and the modular caverns that the trains roll into.

Get to the museum to find that day's tickets were sold out. Bought one for the next day and got directions to Chinatown for much needed cheap eats. Wandered around and followed a pack of students into one of the numerous chinese restaurants. The food was fine and not too expensive. Took metrorail back towards the hotel, exited one station early and walked the rest up Connecticut.

Day 2

Trips to London, Minneapolis and Dublin had all resulted in finding little treasures, be it The Sir John Soane's Museum, The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices which is now located at The Science Museum of Minnesota, and the Grand Masonic Lodge in Dublin. I worried that D.C. wouldn't have something like those other cities, but a visit to this website got me pointed in the right direction.

The George Washington Masonic National Memorial is dedicated to reminding people that our founding father wore an apron. I was worried that I wouldn't know where to go once I got off the train, but at the station it was pretty clear what direction to go.



While large from the outside, the building has even more rooms inside then I expected. The grand hall has a huge bronze George greeting all, with murals on each side of him. Further wandering around finds exhibits about George Washington, the building of the memorial, the Shriners, etc.



One of the highlights, the Animatronic George Washington. He stands, he gestures, he talks. But he doesn't seem to look like G.W.

I wish I had stayed for the guided tour, but my timed-ticket for the Spy Museum had me leave before I could join the tour. Had the spy museum been less packed I could have judged it on its merits, but the crush of people made it all but impossible to enjoy. Their website warned of fast ticket sales and the post-christmas crowds filled the place. The museum has no grand hall, mainly a collection of collected rooms with no flow or reason. The architecture is in the style of "Alias" mostly modern materials and flashy lighting. There were loads of cool spy artifacts, but the crowd killed my desire to linger.

I think all future travel have to include a bit of Masonic tourism. They do their places up right.

Day 3

Return flight to Atlanta. Seen in Dulles International Airport



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More Washington D.C. Pictures - Flickr

George Washington Masonic National Memorial - Google Map

Good food:

Petits Plats - French, slightly pricey, great chocolate mousse.

Furin's of Georgetown - fresh made soups, salads. Super tastey, good price.