Tuesday, June 30, 2009


Secession Talk, Cont.
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- This guy writes that he can think of little that's more un-American than discussing secession. Meanwhile, Patri Friedman and conspirators are celebrating July 4 with a series of "Secession Week" postings. They seem to think that there's little that's more American than serious consideration of secession. Secession, eh? Was it an issue that you saw coming from long ago? I certainly didn't. The gang at the Volokh conspiracy treat themselves to a fun yakfest about the topic. The most interesting person I've read on the topic is the Emory University prof and Hume specialist Donald Livingston. His take on American history generally is really startling -- I found it downright eye-opening. Here's a small collection of Livingston's writings. Here's a collection of talks that he's given. Best, Michael... posted by Michael at June 30, 2009 | perma-link | (62) comments

Fitness, Health, Eating Linkage
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- * Agnostic has been much struck by the low-carb and Paleo critique of conventional nutrition advice, and has started a new blog to pass along his thoughts and discoveries. Good to see him linking to Tom Naughton, the director of the documentary "Fat Head." Tom's a fantastic blogger as well as a very gifted filmmaker. * A fun and sophisticated new blog on the theme of eating well while eating cheaply. * Have the French lost their food knack? If so: What a cultural tragedy! * Was the invention of farming the biggest mistake in the history of humanity? * Mark Sisson gets a shock when his blood pressure is checked. I'm midway through Sisson's new book, and I recommend it enthusiastically. * The top food trucks in America. * What -- if much of anything -- is really being measured when you get your choresterol levels checked? * Have food manufacturers captured our neuro-reward systems? The very interesting commentsfest is here. * Grape Nuts breakfast cereal has been around for 111 years, but it sounds like it isn't going to be around for much longer. * Has the fried food at chain restaurants been striking you as weirdly taste-free recently? Tom Naughton says that there's one particular guy to blame: Michael Jacobson, of the do-goodin' Center for Science in the Public Interest. * The world's oldest man shares the secrets of his longevity. (Link thanks to Charlton Griffin) Best, Michael... posted by Michael at June 30, 2009 | perma-link | (13) comments

Instructions for Drawing What Doesn't Exist
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- If you wanna draw or paint faeries -- what you read about in childrens' stories -- then here is a book for you. How about wizards, witches and warlocks? Check here. Or here if you need dragon-drawing help. On the other hand, if a commission for a portrayal of goblins, orcs and "other dark creatures" flies over the transom, then you might want to get a copy of this book. As nearly as I can tell (you might disagree), there are no such things as faeries, witches, warlocks, dragons, goblins and orcs. So painting them plein-air or posed in the studio might prove frustrating. Thank goodness those books exist and can come to the rescue. What I find interesting is that there is enough agreement about the appearance of non-existent creatures that such instruction books are possible. Later, Donald... posted by Donald at June 30, 2009 | perma-link | (4) comments

Mad Alice
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- Lit-fict vet Alice Hoffman shows how to respond classily to a negative review: here, here. Best, Michael... posted by Michael at June 30, 2009 | perma-link | (11) comments

Monday, June 29, 2009


Best Sellers: Why Read Them?
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- Confession time again. I can't remember the last time I bought for myself a non-fiction book on a best seller list. I know that I bought autobiographies of Lee Iacocca (the Ford and Chrysler honcho) and Chuck Yeager (the guy who broke the sound barrier), those books from 25 years or so ago. But after that.... As for fiction, I did buy every Harry Potter book. That's probably because I've always had a soft spot for science fiction where another world/civilization is made fascinating thanks to the imagination and skill of the writer. The Potter books aren't sci-fi, but they had the quality I just mentioned. In other words, I didn't buy them because they were ultra-hyper-mega best sellers: that factor was incidental. I've mentioned before that I read little fiction, this largely because I don't like getting hooked to the point my sleep suffers. So the Potter books aside, I can't even guess what the last best selling novel I read was. I did read Drury's "Advice and Consent," Michener's "Hawaii" (because I'd just visited there for the first time) and Heller's "Catch-22." Oh, and I did read "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" for a reason I no longer can begin to comprehend. These were read when the books reached paperback. I'm not counting classical fiction written many years before I got to it such as Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms" or Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" series. To summarize, as nearly as I can tell, I read my last non-Potter best selling novel before I turned 40. I do read a lot of non-fiction. But not best sellers. More precisely, I now never buy a book simply because it is on a best seller list. I might have read some books in recent years that might have shown up on one list or another, but that would have been happenstance. Why is that? It's because I buy books to get information in greater depth than can be provided in magazine articles, internet postings and outlines. Yet many non-fiction best sellers strike me as beefed-up versions of what I just mentioned or else deal with subjects I'm not deeply interested in. If I've already gotten the basic information in concise form elsewhere, it makes no sense to buy a book on the subject. If I'm not presently interested in a subject, taking time to read about it deprives me of the time I would spend learning about things I deem more important or interesting. We are far past the point where an individual can be conversant with everything, so I feel little guilt about ignoring Things I Should Learn About. This doesn't mean I'll never again buy a non-fiction best-seller, it's just that the odds against doing so are high. On reflection, what I've been discussing is really about life cycle stages and how they can affect one's behavior. Between my mid-teens and mid-thirties, I felt it was important to stay au courant. That might... posted by Donald at June 29, 2009 | perma-link | (9) comments

Sunday, June 28, 2009


Casey Baugh: A Really New Realist
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- Yes, I'm aware that I've been tending to write about artists active 50-150 years ago and largely ignoring artists who are alive and painting or who departed fairly recently. As a corrective, I'll do some postings about painters whose work I see in magazines such as American Artist, American Art Collector and Art of the West. The downside is that I've seen little or none of their work in person and mostly rely on reproductions in those magazines or on the Web. That's because their paintings are mostly in the artists' studios, private collections or art galleries rather than in major museums. (Note to self: compile a list of artists and their main galleries and take it along on future trips to California, Arizona and New Mexico. Galleries here in the Seattle area mostly skew modernist.) The subject of the present post is Casey Baugh, a guy still in his twenties who has impressive technical skills. His Web site is here. An article about him containing useful background material is here. Below are examples of his work. All show women, but he sometimes paints men; dig through his site to find examples. Gallery Ambiance Interesting use of cool light on the subject's hair and body planes. I find the treatment of the oriental rug impressive: compare to the rug in Sargent's The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit. Blue Earring Kate Red Scarf This is a demonstration painting. A report on the demonstration is here. Most demonstration paintings I'm familiar with tend to have an unfinished look that's understandable, given the circumstances of their creation. Baugh brought the subject's face to a considerable degree of finish. This also shows that he doesn't painstakingly copy photos -- or doesn't need to, anyway. This guy's skill seems to be for real. Nonchalant As well as any, this illustrates Baugh's practice of creating smooth faces while leaving backgrounds and clothing treatment looser, more "painterly." Shades of Yellow Erubescent I think it's safe to conclude that Baugh can create knockout babes. But he's young enough that it's hard to tell how his work might evolve. For instance, he might simply become another Pino, who I wrote about here, an artist of high ability who tends to crank out similar works year after year to make a good living. As I've stated more than once, artists need to make livings just like the rest of us, so I don't get very bothered when I see similarity across works: one often has little choice but to paint what sells. If an artist is fortunate enough to attain a good income stream, I think it might be nice if he'd once in a while, on his off-hours, try something different. Many artists probably do just that, except those "private" paintings usually don't get seen in public. So we have no way of telling whether Pino and Baugh are beavering away on new styles, themes or whatever they might potentially be up to.... posted by Donald at June 28, 2009 | perma-link | (11) comments

Friday, June 26, 2009


Evo-Bio Linkage
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- * Razib wonders why the Andean highlands are still dominated by indigenous people. * Did modern humans eat Neanderthals? (Link thanks to ALD) * Richard Wrangham talks about cooking and evolution. (Link thanks to Razib) Best, Michael... posted by Michael at June 26, 2009 | perma-link | (1) comments

Bumper Sticker Set -- One Year Later
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- In this posting from about a year ago I included a photo of a bumper sticker clad Prius. Since then, a lot of political water has gone over the dam including a presidential election and the first five months of a new administration. I thought it might be fun to discover what effect these events had on that same Prius' sticker collection, so I swung by the street in northeast Seattle where it's usually parked and took an update photo. Last year's and this year's photos are shown below. 15 June, 2008 24 June, 2009 There seem to be three additions and no deletions from a year ago. To the immediate left of the license plate is a white square that probably once had a message but now appears to be faded away. Opposite the plate is a round "EU" (European Union) sticker with small member nation flags forming the outer edge of the circle. Below the yellow "War is Terrorism sticker on the bumper is a small, mostly red sticker for the Democrat candidate in the race for Washington's 8th Congressional District. The Prius' home is not in the 8th District -- that's mostly across Lake Washington in the Bellevue-Redmond area. But it was one race that was competitive for both sides; as it happened, the Republican won. My interpretation of all this? The Prius' owner is both satisfied with the state of the world and too lazy to strip off stickers that are politically obsolete. He's not alone. Nearly five years after the campaign, I still see "John Kerry" and "Kerry-Edwards" stickers a few times a week. I can understand leaving them on during Bush's second term as a form of protest. But why not remove them now that there's a Democrat in the White House. Later, Donald... posted by Donald at June 26, 2009 | perma-link | (14) comments

Wednesday, June 24, 2009


Discrimination in the Theater
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- Relatively few plays written by women are produced. Can we take this as definitive evidence of discrimination against women? Research has been done: More men than women write plays, and the men are also often more prolific. Taking these numbers into account, plays by men and women are in fact produced at the same rate. Plays by women do seem to need to be better (or at least more commercial) than plays by men in order to receive productions. But who enforces this state of affairs? As it turns out: women artistic directors and women literary managers. Ladies: Sometimes you do it to yourselves. Best, Michael... posted by Michael at June 24, 2009 | perma-link | (71) comments

Textures of French Buildings
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- A favorite sport hereabouts is bashing modernist architecture, which we do for reasons that make good sense to us, at least. Much of that glass 'n' reinforced concrete 'n' metal cladding strikes us as pretty sterile and not people-friendly. Aside from one brief jab, the focus of this posting is on an alternative: buildings and townscapes with lots of visual interest due in part to materials and ornamentation that creates a textured surface -- usually with a partly random pattern or effect. The following photos were taken on my recent visit to France. For starters, this is the ground floor lobby of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the museum devoted to art since 1900 or thereabouts. It's large, and the smooth, concrete floor sets the tone. Does it give anyone a warm, fuzzy, welcoming feeling? And this is part of the exterior. Perhaps having been inspired by a shirt emerging inside-out from a clothes dryer, we see here the architectural concept of placing much of the "mechanical" bits on the exterior. The result is textural in its way, so I give Renzo Piano credit for trying even though I loathe the thing. Since we're in Paris, let's check out the area above one of the entry door sets of the Notre Dame cathedral. Note the decoration on the indentation from the outer wall to the entry door plane as well as the relief sculpturing above the doors. It contrasts the plain wall, so that surfaces play off one another. This transition zone could have been simplified, but I'm not sure if that would have been better than what we see in the photo. This building on the rue de Rennes always intrigues me thanks to its odd, Art-Nouveau tower on one corner. The little balconies by the windows and other details provide surfaces that keep the eye interested, but not overwhelmed. Here's another big-city building, this in Lyon. It has a "flatiron" plan and is more ornate that the rue de Rennes structure. The bold, horizontal extrusions help clarify the structure and to some degree offset the ornamentation. I don't consider this great architecture, but it's interesting and doesn't bother me so I can't condemn it either. Elsewhere in Lyon is its opera house, shown here. It has been renovated and that shows. At least it contrasts modernist and traditional architecture in one convenient package. However, surface texturing is light in both cases. Dropping a notch in city size, this is Rouen and its famous Gros-Horloge or clock. Yes, it's interesting. But check out the surface materials of the buildings shown in the picture. The one on the left has half-timbering and the next one seems to have wooden shingles. At the right is cut stone with the seams emphasized. The clock tower itself has a smooth, stone surface that contrasts the ornamented clock and its setting. The clock tower in Aix-en-Provence's old town district. Aside from the very top, it lacks ornamentation. Yet... posted by Donald at June 24, 2009 | perma-link | (15) comments

Sex and Relationship Linkage
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- * Toby Young wonders why he's become such a grump since he turned 40. * Meet the real 40 year old virgins. (Link thanks to Randall Parker) * Where does empathy come from? * Lily Burana reviews two biographies of the legendary stripper (and popular-culture figure) Gypsy Rose Lee. * Tony Comstock remembers that, back in the 1970s, New York City "smelled like sex." * Curious to hear what the "Game" crowd makes of this study. I have a hunch that Game doesn't take into enough account that there might well be a difference between the gals a guy enjoys fantasizing about and the gals he actually enjoys spending time with. But what do I know? * Tantric sex is back in the news. Best, Michael... posted by Michael at June 24, 2009 | perma-link | (6) comments

Tuesday, June 23, 2009


Movie and Video Linkage
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- * Reid Rosefelt confesses that he tried to persuade his boss not to produce "My Dinner With Andre." Great to see that Criterion is bringing out a classy new DVD of the movie on June 23. That'd be today. Hey, Andre Gregory is one of the people who have given The Wife and me a blurb for our raucous and satirical audiobook. * Cool demo. * A time-does-pass note: "Purple Rain" was released -- get this -- 25 years ago. And I still haven't made up my mind about Prince ... * Good lord! * British advertising vs. American advertising, a comparison. * Jeremy Richey notices that Cinema Libre will be issuing some slick new DVDs of movies by Jean-Jacques ("Diva") Beineix. Check out that trailer for the director's cut of "Betty Blue." Mad love, baby! * MBlowhard Rewind: I raved about the work of the filmmaker Robert Siodmak. Best, Michael... posted by Michael at June 23, 2009 | perma-link | (14) comments

Monday, June 22, 2009


Apatoff on Artists "Selling Out"
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- David Apatoff over at his Illustration Art blog posted some interesting thoughts on artists "selling out" to commerce. You should read the whole thing here. But I can't resist his discussion of Claude Monet, who refused to sell out during hard times early in his career. Instead, he begged and borrowed relentlessly. Eventually, as Apatoff notes: Because he couldn't afford medical care for his family, his wife Camille suffered through a long illness with tuberculosis before dying painfully at the age of 32. Some say she died of pelvic cancer, but others say she died of a botched abortion because she and Monet could not afford to have a third child. Don't think Monet's artistic dedication was compromised by Camille's tragic death; he told a friend that he was interested in the way Camille's face changed color after she died, so he recorded the change in a painting ... Now that's what I call principle. Later, Donald... posted by Donald at June 22, 2009 | perma-link | (21) comments

Sunday, June 21, 2009


The Consolations of Philosophy...and Detection
Friedrich von Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards, I’ve written before about the role light entertainment plays as a stimulus in my mental economy. Given that I’m naturally something of a depressive, I use regular doses of light entertainment to keep me at an even keel. Over the years, this has often translated into a taste for detective fiction. Perhaps surprisingly, in the past six months or so, this has translated into a taste for reading philosophy. And perhaps more surprisingly, I find that I get very much the same sort of pleasure out of philosophy that I did out of detective stories. The pleasure I’m talking about does not lie in proving that I’m smarter than the authors of detective stories, at least if that implies attempting to figure out the guilty party before the book’s denouement. On the few occasions I’ve been tempted to do this, I’ve learned two things: (1) few authors are so dense as to fail to scatter three or four red-herrings about their plot and (2) few authors actually provide enough clues to logically (or in philosophical language, necessarily) eliminate all but one of the potential suspects. Hence, the actual solution often ends up striking me as arbitrary, being at the whim of the author. Occasionally, when dealing with authors who are fairly relaxed about their standards of plotting, I strongly suspect that the decision as to whether this suspect or that suspect is the guilty party wasn’t made by the author until the final chapter of the book was being written. Under these circumstances, my native laziness (or perhaps a spirit of methodological economy) bids me to abstain from such pointless problem solving, and to wait patiently for the solution to be revealed while sipping a glass of red wine. After all, I’m paying the price of the book for the fictional detective to do the work, not me! No, the pleasure I get from detective stories usually boils down to appreciating the interaction of the characters, often with some witty dialogue tossed in, as they attempt to solve a problem. When I decide to buy additional books by the same author, I inevitably ask myself if I care to spend more time in the company of the characters of the last book. Now, the situation in philosophy strikes me, being a seasoned consumer of light entertainment, as closely parallel. I’ve read enough philosophy books and encyclopedia-of-philosophy articles at this point to notice that the same basic problems keep coming up over and over again. Even when one philosopher explicitly argues against the views of another, they often share more ground than they fight over. Just today I spent a leisurely morning examining a case of this occluded commonality when I read that Kant, in his Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysic, trash talks his Scots contemporary, Thomas Reid, for failing to “probe more deeply into the nature of reason,” and for "putting on a bold face without any proper insight into the question, by appealing... posted by Friedrich at June 21, 2009 | perma-link | (9) comments

Pontiac: A Qualified Lament
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- I recently wrote about General Motors' Saturn brand, which appeared to be on its way to oblivion. Since then, ex sports car racer turned billionaire Roger Penske has begun negotiations to take over the brand name as the keystone for the strategy of creating a "virtual" automobile company. From what I've read, the concept is to market cars built by actual -- not virtual -- manufacturers and badge and sell them in the USA under the Saturn banner. This is a step beyond the 1920s practice of creating "assembled" cars whereby a company would buy most of a car's bits from companies specializing in chassis, motors, bodies, etc., and then assemble them at a factory, selling the result with the company's brand name(s). Examples are Moon and Jordan. Another GM brand on the extinction list is Pontiac, and all evidence to date suggests that it will go the way of its departed sister Oldsmobile, presumably at the end of the 2010 model year. The Wikipedia history of Pontiac is here I confess to having a soft spot in my heart for the Pontiac brand. That's because my family has had three or four of them (depending how one counts -- see below). The first family car I remember was our 1941 Pontiac that I wrote about here. My father bought a 1951 Pontiac the day they were introduced and I bought a 1995 model. Truth is, that '95 wasn't my first choice. But I was getting a supplier discount on GM cars at the time because they were buying my data. As a result I could get more car for the money by buying GM -- which I did on three occasions (the other cars were a 1990 Chevrolet and a 1996 Oldsmobile). Here are photos of examples of Pontiacs from those model years, the '96 shown being nearly identical to the one I owned. 1941 1951 Catalina -- we had a sedan. 1995 Grand Am The first Pontiacs appeared in 1926, the make being a "companion" brand to GM's Oakland line. My grandfather bought a used Oakland of 1920 vintage, so I suppose that might count as the fourth "Pontiac" my family owned. Oakland was named after a county abutting Detroit's northern boundary and Pontiac is its county seat. Since the city of Pontiac was named after an Indian chief, the cars were given Indian symbology (a chief's head hood ornament, for instance, and one model was dubbed "Chieftain"). All this was dropped in the late 1950s (before political correctness took hold, though for what it's worth I remain puzzled why it is shameful to honor ethnic groups by naming cars and sports teams after them). In the case of Pontiac, the brand was given a big makeover during those years, and the Indian connection didn't fit the performance image management desired to create. The Great Depression saw the end of weak car makers and the tightening up of operations for the survivors.... posted by Donald at June 21, 2009 | perma-link | (6) comments

Saturday, June 20, 2009


Artist Post Link List (Donald) - 2
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- Here is a link-index of my posts about artists as of mid-June, 2009. It updates a list posted early this year. Please let me know of any errors or omissions. Anglada-Camarasa, Hermen Bama, James Bastien-Lepage, Jules Beaux, Cecilia Bischoff, Franz Boldini, Giovanni Casas, Ramon Chéret, Jules Curtis, David (England) Detaille, Édouard Dewing, Thomas Wilmer Edelfelt, Albert Frazetta, Frank Foujita Fuchs, Bernie Gajoum, Kal Gallén, Axel Goldbeck, Walter Dean Grün, Jules-Alexandre Herter, Albert Henry, George & Hornel. E.A. Hohlwein, Ludwig Kline, Franz Lambert, George de Laszlo, Philip Alexius Leffel, David Levitan, Isaak Leyendecker, J.C. Macchiaioli (Italian group) Malczewski, Jacek Mathews, Arthur de Neuville, Alphonse Pino Putz, Leo Schjerfbeck, Helene Serov, Valentin Situ, Mian Sloan, John Sloan, John (update) Solomon, Solomon J. Stuck, Fanz von Thayer, Abbot Handerson Thompson, Tom Tiepolo, Giavanni Battista Vettriano, Jack Vrubel, Mikhail Zorn, Anders This list will be updated from time to time. Later, Donald... posted by Donald at June 20, 2009 | perma-link | (0) comments

Thursday, June 18, 2009


Architecture and Urbanism Linkage
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- * New England architect Katie Hutchison conveys an awful lot in one simple sentence when she writes, "To me, residential architecture extends beyond the built structures of our homes to the spaces around, in between, and within sight of them." Now that's the kind of architecture theory I respect and resonate to. Her blogposting is a lovely, short appreciation of a very moving space. Fun to see that Katie is now selling prints and notecards of her photographs. She shows the same love of natural materials and processes, simple and direct experience, and the varieties and qualities of light and color in her photographs that she shows in her building-design work and her blogging. * Large office towers -- that's "skyscrapers" to you civilians -- are doing as poorly in the recession as McMansions are. * Nicola Linza explains beautifully why he's committed to architectural classicism. * What a mess. * Time's Richard Lacayo offers a well-done visual tour through Renzo Piano's new addition to the Art Institute of Chicago. Lacayo is impressed, and for all I know the place works well. But to me Piano's structure looks like a genteel version of a 1960s airplane terminal. Here's a talk with Piano. * Has the building frenzy in Dubai finally come to an end? (Link thanks to Charlton Griffin) * Nathan Origer takes a walk through his beloved hometown and wonders why so many of the newer buildings are so awful. Best, Michael... posted by Michael at June 18, 2009 | perma-link | (6) comments

Detaille was Detailed, de Neuville was Better
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- During my scamper around Paris last month I visited the Musée de l'Armée in the Invalides complex (the Wikipedia entry is here, but is skimpy and somewhat off-topic). The late-19th century display section included a number of works by noted military artist Jean-Batiste-Édouard Detaille (1848-1912) who had a hand in the establishment of the museum's collection; he'd collected a good deal of militaria as reference material for his genre. More information about him can be found here (extremely brief) and here (a little longer, but still sketchy). Among the paintings were impressive fragments from a panorama painted by Detaille and Alphonse de Neuville (1835-85). Notes (in French) about part of this work are here and, with an illustration intact in PDF format, here. Two snapshots I took are below. (The color is way too orange; I need to shop for a camera that does indoor non-flash photography better than my little three-year-old Nikon.) And here is a fragment of the same panorama that I found on the Web. The artists painted two panoramas during 1881-83: the 16 August 1870 battle at Rezonville and the 30 November 1870 battle at Champigny during the siege of Paris. The fragments shown above are from the Rezonville work. More on the panoramas can be found here and here. What impressed me was the "painterly" quality -- simplified, bold brushwork combined with color selection yielding a satisfying image when seen a ways away, important items for murals and panoramas. Some of this can be seen in my close-ups above, though the original art is much better. Detaille was the lead artist on the projects, so I assumed his style dominated the cooperative effort. But after doing a little research, I'm not so sure. Let's look at some evidence. Gallery: Detaille As the pun in the title of this piece and similar comments elsewhere indicate, Detaille is noted more for his precision and attention to detail than to other artistic qualities. Nevertheless, while much of his work is indeed "tight," some is more "free." This shows Napoleon in 1806. It's an example of Detaille's tighter painting style where details of uniforms and equipment predominate. La Salue aux Blessée (Saluting the Wounded) is less tight, probably because the figures are so relatively small that detail became much less important than atmosphere. "Charge at Mosbronn" is an action scene, one of many Detaille painted. Again, thanks to its subject matter, it too can serve as a basis for comparison with Neuville's work shown below. Gallery: de Neuville Titled "Attaque d'une maison barricadée à Vellersexel," we see a free, nearly sketch-like impression of a skirmish's aftermath. Compare the buildings here with those in the Detaille painting immediately above. "La cimetière de Saint-Privat" is an example of Neuville's work that seems more tightly done. But that might be due to its scale: the Musée d'Orsay's web site contains comments on it and his work here along with close-ups of fragments that indicate painterly rather... posted by Donald at June 18, 2009 | perma-link | (1) comments

Wednesday, June 17, 2009


In France, History is Everywhere
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- Since World War 2, differences between Europe and the United States have been evaporating at the practical, everyday life level. Time was, you could distinguish European men from Americans by haircut and clothing. Nowadays, one sees European kids wearing jeans, baseball caps and Dallas Cowboys tee shirts while eating at the town's McDonald's . Cars there average a little smaller and motorcycles and motor scooters are more prevalent, but these are differences in degree, not kind. There is one large difference, however, and that is in what architectural academics like to call the "built environment." You know, man-made structures of all kinds. What you see in Europe is a lot of really old stuff. This is especially obvious to tourists such as I was a few weeks ago. But it's there for the locals to see as well. In much of the continent apart from postwar suburbs and glitzy resort areas where development pushed aside low-rise dwellings, it's hard to escape seeing buildings erected 200 and more years earlier. Here in the States, aside from scattered places along the eastern seaboard, buildings older than 150 years are rare or non-existent. It's hard to sense history on a daily basis here, whereas in Europe history in the form of structures is almost inescapable. That might induce a subtle difference in mindset from Americans even for Europeans born after the war (everyone less than age 65) who have grown up in a relatively prosperous, technologically modern environment. Just for kicks, here are examples of older structures that are right in a Frenchman's face or, failing that, perched atop that hill or over there in the next valley. For starters, here's a Paris scene not far off the boul' Raspail. At street level are pedestrians, cars and modern shopfronts. Above are buildings built in the late 1800s or early 1900s (though the brick-covered one just might be more recent). Paris has some really old structures (Notre Dame, Pont Neuf, etc.), but they don't dominate the local scene. That's not the case in some other places. Carcassonne, for instance. To the left is the new city and brooding above it is the old, walled city whose conical tower tops are part of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc's creative resoration. Another brooder is the chateau in Amboise with some newer, but not new, buildings below. Leonardo da Vinci spent his last years in Amboise, but in another chateau as guest of François Premiere. Or you might be driving along the Rhone River in Avignon and to the right are the grounds of the Palais des Papes (Papal Palace). That palace can be hard to avoid when navigating nearby streets and passages. Many cites have an old town district. Here is a Rouen street leading to its Horloge and, beyond, the cathedral that Monet famously painted at different hours of the day. Small cities also often have old districts. This is the market place in the touristy Norman port town, Honfleur. An even... posted by Donald at June 17, 2009 | perma-link | (10) comments

Praised / Damned
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- That ambitious audiobook The Wife and I have written and produced? We were thrilled to receive news the other day that the script for one of the episodes in it has been chosen by Maxim Jakubowski to be included in his next "Best Erotica" anthology. That's quite an honor -- Jakubowski is a supersmart and sophisticated guy, as well as a great figure in the genre-writing world. We couldn't be more pleased that he was tickled by our work. In its usual way, though, reality is ensuring that our egos don't balloon up too hugely. Word also just arrived that a reviewer at a prominent audiobook-reviewing outlet didn't enjoy our work, not one little bit. S/he found the characters horrifying, the acting uneven, and the sex scenes "unarousing." Panned -- ouch! Oh, well: Can't please -- let alone turn on -- all of the people all of the time. Two other wound-licking reactions: 1) The reviewer gives no indication of recognizing that our audiobook is intended to be funny. It's a satire! Jakubowski certainly understood that. How could the reviewer have missed it? 2) Still, it's very cool that some mainstream outlets are starting to take note of the kind of thing our production represents: independently created and produced, and more than a little wild and experimental. If you'd like to give our audiobook a listen, or even if you're just curious to explore the nifty website we've created for it, drop me an email at michaelblowhard at that gmail place. I'll send you a link pronto. Best, Michael... posted by Michael at June 17, 2009 | perma-link | (1) comments

Tuesday, June 16, 2009


Courbet, Seen Darkly
Donald PIttenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- Maybe I was just seeing things. Or maybe not. No doubt many of you have seen reproductions such as the one below of Gustave Courbet's The Artist's Studio. When I visited Paris' Musée d'Orsay a few weeks ago I didn't see all that much of it. That's because it was so darkened -- seemingly darker than the reproductions I'm familiar with including the one above -- that it surprised me. According to this blog (scroll down), the painting was refurbished and reinstalled last fall; their photo of the reinstallation is below. Yes, this recent photo suggests that the painting isn't as dark as it seemed when I saw it eight months later. But for what it's worth, other nearby Courbets struck me as being pretty dark, too. Ditto a Rousseau. So am I wrong? Was the lighting for the painting bad? Is my eyesight failing? Or was the painting always a rather dark affair? Perhaps it originally was brighter and, as often happens, its varnish yellowed it. If so, then why didn't the museum strip off the varnish to restore the original colors? Or were there technical reasons they couldn't? I'm clueless, so I hope a few mavens and recent Orsay visitors will hop into Comments and help me out on the facts and assuage the disappointment I felt that day even if the conclusion is that I have lousy vision. Later, Donald... posted by Donald at June 16, 2009 | perma-link | (4) comments

Guy
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- That Cirque du Soleil crowd really knows how to party: here, here, here. Why wasn't I invited? Best, Michael... posted by Michael at June 16, 2009 | perma-link | (20) comments

From the WSJ
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- A couple of good pieces from the Wall Street Journal: * Paul Starobin takes stock of secessionist rumblings, and wonders what a devolved U.S. might look like. * Paul Berkowitz argues that, if poli-sci departments can spare resources to teach feminist and postmodern political theory, they ought to do a better job of teaching the history of conservativism. * MBlowhard Rewind: I confessed that I've gotten a lot out of wrestling with rightie thought. * Bonus links: Don't miss our interview with the brilliant traditionalist conservative Jim Kalb: Part One, Part Two, Part Three. Buy Jim's fab book here. Best, Michael UPDATE: Rick Darby volunteers some smart reactions to Paul Starobin's secession piece.... posted by Michael at June 16, 2009 | perma-link | (7) comments

Monday, June 15, 2009


People Pix -- France, 2009
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- Some of you thought I was simply going to France for a vacation. Well, HA!! I had my camera set to low pixel density specifically to capture images for our beloved blog. It was a working vacation. Got that? I insist. Honest ... Having cleared that matter up, I thought my first photo essay will be about people-related stuff I encountered. No theme other than that. And the photos are in nearly the same order they were taken. As usual, no cropping or other Photoshop alterations. Here are people who are either striking about hunger or are on a hunger strike -- the banner is obscured, so I'm not sure. The French, including immigrants, seem to love strikes. This was taken along the Quai d'Orsay near the Pont Alexandre III. We're on Paris' Montmartre, half a block from the Place du Tertre where tourist crowds head after visiting the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur. Shown are street artists plying their trade. This business of sketching off a clipboard is something new to me, as is the large number of artists doing so -- and only near the Sacre-Coeur. I hadn't been to Paris in five years, and never noticed this before. Typically, a sketch artist or caricaturist will have a setup where both he and the subject are seated and he works off an easel. At any rate, I saw a dozen or more clipboard guys in action that morning; something to do with the economy? I was a few minutes late deciding to shoot this ironworker in action (he's the one with suspenders). Just before, he was shaping a cold iron bar on a portable anvil using only a hammer, eyeballs and skill. At this point, the iron has been shaped and he's making final adjustments before installing it as part of a handrail next to a few steps. The location? At a door to Claude Monet's large studio in Giverny where he painted his famous water lily murals for Paris' Orangerie. Market days are still popular in France. A large one takes place in Sarlat in the Dordogne; I show only a fragment of it here. Weather permitting, restaurants and cafes feature outdoor dining. This is in the picturesque hill town of St-Cirq-Lapopie above the Lot River a short ways southeast of the Dordogne. The diners are almost surely tourists. Cannes, near the beach. France's cities attract street vendors from the "former" colonies. I'm guessing the policeman is trying to determine if the vendor is licensed; from the look of things, he isn't. More al fresco dining, this time in the Place Rossetti in the old, Italian part of Nice. It's not yet seven, so the tables have yet to fill. Nancy liked this restaurant so much we ate dinner there three times. In the right background is a gelato shop with a large assortment of flavors, so we had dessert there. This is in Monaco near the entrance to the Monte Carlo casino's... posted by Donald at June 15, 2009 | perma-link | (6) comments

Saturday, June 13, 2009


Cherettes -- Postered, Painted and Pasteled
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- For the past century or thereabouts, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec has been the Parisian poster artist most remembered by the public at large and most art followers as well. Poster art fans won't deny Lautrec's place in that field any more than they would that of Art Nouveau master Alphonse Mucha. But they'll likely make the point that they guy who really invented the modern poster was Jules Chéret (1836-1932). He's the tall fellow in the doctored photo above (the original was monochrome, of course, but someone tipped in a color rendition of the Chéret poster in the original, and that's what seems to be at the top of Google image searches). The little man is you-know-who. The Wikipedia biography of Chéret is here. Another site you might want to visit is here. As the linked biographical material indicates, Chéret's posters featured lively girls who became popularly known as "Cherettes". If you happen to view a large number of Cherette posters (and Chéret turned out hundreds of them), they become somewhat monotonous. But that's often the case of you see a collection of any artist's work in a gallery, museum or book. Artists have this strange tendency to create lots of what sells, after all. Besides, posters and paintings are usually intended to be seen in isolation and not as part of a collection. Another consideration about Chéret is that, while advances in lithographic technology made his posters possible in the first place, the results seem crude by today's standards. So just how good might his poster art have been absent technological limitations? Really good. I discovered that while visiting the Musée des Beaux Arts in Nice (its title sometimes includes the words "Jules Chéret" following the main name). Its web site is here; only the French sub-link seems to work, and no works are shown. It seems that Chéret did a lot of pastel work that included studies for posters, and these can be found amongst the displays in a room the museum devotes to him. Also included are some oils and pastel portraits. Not a lot of this can be found on the Web, but I snitched a few to illustrate what I just mentioned. Gallery Let's start with a poster to set the stage and get you in the proper mood. It's for the Folies Bergère featuring one of its stars and not an anonymous Cherette. This is a poster version of a work titled "La Musique" ... ... and this is a pastel version, probably a study for the former. In person it has depth and a vibrancy the poster lacks -- though this distinction isn't so easy to make when viewing digital images as you are now. Yes, it features a Cherette. Here is another pastel. It doesn't seem to be a poster study, but I might be wrong about that. Here is a pastel portrait of Arlette Dorgère (1904). My museum book on Chéret indicates that she "inspira pleusiers... posted by Donald at June 13, 2009 | perma-link | (3) comments

Friday, June 12, 2009


Pauline Turns 90
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- I just noticed that, if she were still alive (she died in 2001), the movie critic Pauline Kael would be turning 90 in a week. She was quite a cultural figure once. Here's an interview with her from the late 1980s; here's one of her best essays, a long profile of Cary Grant. Charlton Griffin points out that Wikipedia's entry on Pauline (everybody thought of her as "Pauline") is awfully good. I hear that Brian Kellow -- a biographer and an editor at Opera News -- is preparing a biography. Best, Michael... posted by Michael at June 12, 2009 | perma-link | (34) comments

Thursday, June 11, 2009


A Searle Semi-Sighting
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- Readers "of a certain age" might well recall the art of British cartoonist/illustrator/writer Ronald Searle (1920-). He was especially prolific during the 1950s and 60s. Influential, too: cartoonists active today have borrowed his way of exaggerating facial and body features. He is perhaps best known as the creator of the St. Trinian's School books that became the subject of comedy films. The girls in that school were nasty, but not nearly as bad as the Japanese guards Searle had to deal with after Singapore surrendered and he and fellow soldiers were shipped north to work on River Kwai type projects. I was a big fan of his and was both startled and pleased to notice the framed, autographed print in the lobby of our Paris hotel (the Fleury, wonderfully situated about halfway between the boul' Miche and the rue Bonaparte on the Left Bank). Searle has lived in the South of France since 1961 and apparently likes the Fleury when he's in Paris. Later, Donald... posted by Donald at June 11, 2009 | perma-link | (3) comments

Wednesday, June 10, 2009


Visual Arts Linkage
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- * Anarchist and novelist Stewart Home -- I liked his crazy book "Blow Job" -- wonders how long London's Tate Museum (CORRECTION: thanks to dearieme for pointing out that I should have written "London's Tate Modern Museum") is going to last. Funny line: "The art world is part and parcel of the financial world. When high finance catches a cold, local art scenes react as if they’ve got the plague." * "Della Robbia blue" is one of those terms you'll hear in and around the visual arts. Learn a lot about the Renaissance-era, terra-cotta-sculpture-making Della Robbia dynasty in this good article by Roderick Conway Morris. (Link thanks to Charlton Griffin) * Jonathan Glancey praises the Starship Enterprise as a piece of visual design. * Hard not to love a collection of amazing photos of animals. * All in a day's work for a mountain goat. (Link thanks to Charlton Griffin) * David Pogue takes part in one of those Improv Everywhere events. * 78 photography mistakes you should try to avoid making. A very droll -- and useful -- visual posting. * MBlowhard Rewind: I mused briefly about symmetry and beauty. Best, Michael UPDATE: Roissy reacts to a D.C. art show.... posted by Michael at June 10, 2009 | perma-link | (3) comments

Stained Glass Windows, Old and New
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- I'm afraid I seldom pay much attention to stained glass windows in cathedrals and churches. But I did when we stepped into the Église Saint-Séverin located in Paris' Latin Quarter. As this Wikipedia entry indicates, the church has traditional windows along with some new ones created by Jean René Bazaine (1904-2001) who, according to the link, did a good deal of work of that kind. One of his Saint-Séverin windows (in an image I grabbed off the Web) is shown below. Since I don't feel qualified to evaluate Bazaine's windows on their own terms, I'll simply mention that they struck me as bland and washed-out looking compared to the traditional windows in the same setting. Later, Donald... posted by Donald at June 10, 2009 | perma-link | (6) comments

Tuesday, June 9, 2009


What's Up With the Left?
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- * Why has the Euro left been doing so badly with the Euro working class lately? Not to give too much away, but ... Some of it's down to i-m-m-i-g-r-a-t-i-o-n. * Dean Baker thinks that the U.S. needs a healthy manufacturing sector. * Michael Hastings wonders why the left isn't more upset about Obama's war plans. * Is it time for anarchists to cut themselves off from the left? Jason McQuinn thinks so. Nice passage: If we want to avoid being taken down with the wreckage of leftism as it crumbles, we need to fully, consciously and explicitly dissociate ourselves from its manifold failures—and especially from the invalid presuppositions of leftism which led to these failures. Best, Michael UPDATE: The Kvetcher wonders why more people aren't asking why the BNP did as well as it did.... posted by Michael at June 9, 2009 | perma-link | (18) comments

Political Linkage
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- * Does it now make more sense to rent rather than buy? * Her car needs work, so Awake in Rochester has been taking the bus lately. She isn't very happy about it. * Why has train travel in the U.S. gotten slower? * Ramesh gives the local-currency thing some thought. * This colorful guy thinks it's only getting worse. (Link thanks to Charlton Griffin) * There's a lot to chew on in this brief Lew Rockwell posting about the Fed. * A great line from Jack Hunter: "American secession is no more crazy than American socialism." * Dennis Mangan takes stock of how our shadow government -- namely Goldman Sachs -- is faring under Obama. * MBlowhard Rewind: Should Turkey be welcomed into the European Union? I bounced off that question to wonder about a Gaspar Noe film and a Bertrand Blier film. Best, Michael... posted by Michael at June 9, 2009 | perma-link | (7) comments

Blogging Note
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- I'm back from a three-week trip to France. My recent articles were written before I left and Michael was kind enough to post them while I was away. Now I have to work my way out of the memory-wipeout phenomenon associated with longer trips along with some jet lag while collecting whatever wits I had before I left. Be warned that I'll be downloading travel pix from my trusty little Nikon. The nature of blogging dictates maintaining content flow, and that flow is usually generated by what the poor, content-obsessed blogger happens to encounter in real life, the news, or other material on the Web. So you'll be seeing a fair amount of France-related stuff from me for the next few weeks. Later, Donald... posted by Donald at June 9, 2009 | perma-link | (3) comments

Monday, June 8, 2009


Eroticism Linkage
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- * Tony and Peggy Comstock (of the very interesting alt-porn company Comstock Films) have started a new blog/community on the theme of: What to do when you take your digital camera into the bedroom. * Broken penises, yikes. * Escort Missy writes about her clients' "other women" -- ie., their wives. * Lacey Steven's real-estate business was tanking, so she changed fields. * Kimberly lists 10 things she wishes she'd done during her years as a stripper. * New England-bred Polly-Vous Francais finds herself immersed in France's culture of flirtation -- and liking it. * MBlowhard Rewind: I offered a tribute to that great archetype, the Frenchwoman. Best, Michael... posted by Michael at June 8, 2009 | perma-link | (15) comments

Sunday, June 7, 2009


Ukelele Ramones
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- Scottish jokester-musicians Gus and Fin deliver some rousing, even kickass, Ramones covers: Vaguely related: I raved about another great punk band, Gang of Four. Best, Michael... posted by Michael at June 7, 2009 | perma-link | (1) comments

What We've Come To ...
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- I wonder if we're entering into a great era for political satire. Link thanks to Charlton Griffin. Best, Michael... posted by Michael at June 7, 2009 | perma-link | (9) comments

Impolite Drivers and the Cars They Drive
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- There are drivers who think they own the whole road. You've seen 'em, I've seen 'em. I'm wondering if there are any patterns related to that selfish, impolite behavior. There might be associations to geography, age, sex, condition of the automobile -- those sorts of things. But the one I'm interesting in right now is the make of car those people are driving. My politically liberal sister, ostensibly inclined to be a Volvo customer, won't go near the things. That's because she thinks many Volvo drivers are, well, selfish and impolite. Back in the 1950s and early 60s I had that the same impression regarding Cadillac drivers. No, not all Caddie drivers were piggish, but the piggish drivers I noticed tended to be behind the wheel of a Cadillac. Today? I don't notice a strong pattern. [Thinks] Well, just maybe Mercedes and BMW drivers under age 65 might fill the bill. Obviously it's trash-time here at 2Blowhards, so let's hear of your candidates. Later, Donald... posted by Donald at June 7, 2009 | perma-link | (25) comments

Saturday, June 6, 2009


Guest Posting: Jake Thomas on "Tango & Cash"
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- One of the smartest -- and certainly one of the funniest -- pieces of filmyak that I've read in a long time is something I found not in the pages of Slate or The New Yorker but on Facebook, posted there by an actor-friend named Jake Thomas. After smiling my way through it, I asked Jake if it'd be OK with him if I Guest Posted it here on 2Blowhards. He was happy with the idea, so here it is. *** WHY "TANGO & CASH IS MY NOMINEE FOR MOST 1980s ACTION MOVIE by Jake Thomas First of all, let's define our terms here. When I say "most" definitive film in regards to a decade/era, I'm not talking about quality, or "best," nor am I talking about most indicative of the zeitgeist. What I'm thinking of is how movies were made and why they were made. I want a movie that WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN MADE in another decade. For instance, if we were talking about just regular old movies and I asked what movie would be "most 80s" a frequent contender is "The Breakfast Club." Now, "The Breakfast Club" is definitely a very 80s movie, however, if it had never been made and someone pitched that movie at a studio (updating a few cultural references, of course), people would make that movie. However, "Adventures in Babysitting" is another story. There's nothing you could do to update the trends or cultural references that would make that movie any less 80s, it is 80s in its bones, and they wouldn't have made it the 70s or the 90s or any other era. Only in the 80s. This means that most of these movies aren't "brilliant." A lot of them are, or at least feel like they are, written by committee. And as we all know, when people do something by committee it usually aims to the lowest common denominator, plays it safe, thinks in terms of marketing as opposed to art and they frequently attempt to be "hip" while actually being as edgy as a guidance counselor. However, fortunately for us, and fortunately for "Tango & Cash," sometimes committees also go absolutely INSANE. How did they go insane in this particular instance? Let's break it down, 80s style. COCAINE Tons and tons of cocaine. I'm frankly amazed "Cocaine" does not receive a writing credit on this movie. This is a staple of the 80s. Everything feels rushed and excited and AWESOME and extreme, because everyone had cocaine pouring out of their eyeballs. This also causes movies to feel a little erratic. Or, in the case of "Tango & Cash," all the hell over the place. HOW THIS MOVIE IS MORE COCAINE THAN OTHER 80s ACTION MOVIES Have you watched it? You can practically hear the coked up pitch while you do. "There's a tanker truck, and a sports car and a helicopter! And then Sly... SHOOTS THE TANKER! And there's COCAAAAAAAINE!!!! And then Kurt Russel... posted by Michael at June 6, 2009 | perma-link | (26) comments

Friday, June 5, 2009


Economics Today
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- Finally, a little economic justice. Best, Michael... posted by Michael at June 5, 2009 | perma-link | (5) comments

Wednesday, June 3, 2009


Evo-Bio-ish Linkage
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- * Roissy lays out the vision behind Game, and gets in some nice mentions of a couple of 2Blowhards favorites, Gregory Cochran and Randall Parker. * Read our recent interview with Gregory Cochran here. * Randall Parker explains why a slower rate of growth means bigger trouble than you think. Scary fact: "In the last 7 years Medicare's expected insolvency date has moved up 13 years sooner." * FeministX asks what it would take for HBD to catch on with a wider public. * What's it like when women are in charge? Upsides for da dudez: Men live better where women are in charge: you are responsible for almost nothing, you work much less and you spend the whole day with your friends. You're with a different woman every night. Best, Michael... posted by Michael at June 3, 2009 | perma-link | (57) comments

Tyler, Steve, Razib
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- Tyler Cowen ventures some thoughts about Steve Sailer. Though the Steve-o-sphere is largely up in arms about the posting, I think that Tyler deserves a lot of credit for admitting that he has read Steve. How many mainstream people have the guts to do that? GNXP's David Kane responds. Best, Michael... posted by Michael at June 3, 2009 | perma-link | (19) comments

Random Linkage
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- * T. aka Ricky Raw has some appreciative things to say about Vice magazine, and some not-so-admiring things to say about the new binge-drinking young gals. * Bhetti shares some thoughts about binge drinking in the U.K. * Alias Clio thinks that the helplessness of the victims helps explain the Catholic abuse scandals. The comments-thread on Clio's posting is an informative gem. * John Hill gives the thumb's up to a new book that occasional Blowhard Francis Morrone has co-written. * Martin Regnan offers some tips about how to be an asshole. My favorite: "Take every opportunity to say inappropriate things for little reason." * Medical doctor MD thinks that "Scrubs" is the most accurate portrayal of the medical profession on TV. * Alex Birch sees some virtues in a radical ecologist's book. * After decades of being demonized, lard -- rendered pig fat -- is now not only considered healthy, it's downright chic. * MBlowhard Rewind: I dissed "Angels in America." Best, Michael... posted by Michael at June 3, 2009 | perma-link | (18) comments

Tuesday, June 2, 2009


A Shrewdly Managed Painting Competition
Donald Pittenger writes: Dear Blowhards -- Back in April, James Gurney posted about the French Prix de Rome competition, the winner of which gained a good deal of prestige along with a scholarship to study art in Rome. You should read the whole thing if the subject interests you (it's well-illustrated). Here are some excerpts to provide the gist: To enter the Prix de Rome competition, you had to qualify by winning the concours d’esquisse, where students composed a painted sketch based on a theme provided by the professors. If you made it this far, you had already been sifted out of a large bunch of aspirants. Then you went on to a captive sketch competition called the the concours de dessin, or ‘en loges,’ (the loge was an area of cubicles, illustrated above.) The finalists were ranked and then sequestered into the little stalls. They were all assigned the same surprise theme, usually from Greek or Roman history, mythology, or the Bible. They were given twelve hours to complete an outline drawing. They could not leave their cubicles, nor could they talk to anyone. (I assume they were given some bread, water, and a chamber pot.) ... When they finished the session, the professor signed and stamped their entry. ... Then the students each were given 72 days to complete their paintings, using the full benefit of models, costumes, and props. But they could not deviate in any significant way from their sketches. ... Success in this competition required the ability to draw figures and compositions from memory and imagination. It also required a familiarity with hundreds of possible stories from the standard myths and biblical texts. What I find interesting is the psychology underlying the competition, assuming that it was a conscious part of the way it was set up. Lots and lots of us are prone to dither and dally when having to commit to something important. We'll keep coming up with ideas -- some bad, some good, some excellent -- but none of them perfect. Thus the process could go on endlessly, barring deadlines. The competition described above had seriously short deadlines and related rules that forced even the most indecisive young artists to come up with one idea and then work out its execution rather than churning and stewing and yielding no result at all. Later, Donald... posted by Donald at June 2, 2009 | perma-link | (2) comments

Why Financial Instruments of Mass Destruction Still Walk the Earth
Friedrich von Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards, I don’t know about you, but the Great Recession is forcing me to use most of my limited mental firepower to run my small business under, shall we say, challenging conditions. Nonetheless, out of some perverse habit, I keep reading and stashing items on my hard drive about the continuing closeness between Washington and Wall Street. Or, as Satyajit Das, the risk management consultant who presciently warned against the impending problems associated with unregulated financial derivatives in a 2006 book, calls it, The Finance-Government Complex. Despite the ubiquity of calls for greater regulatory oversight of this wondrous public-private nexus in which the profits are all private while the losses are passed on to the taxpayer, the American government in its majesty has chosen, at least so far, to implement no changes whatever to its regulation of Wall Street. Derivatives, to take one egregious example, remain almost completely unregulated, despite their central role in the $180 billion taxpayer bailout of AIG (sums that have, in turn, been passed through to its counterparties on Wall Street and around the world.) Now I suppose asking Congress to both think and act diligently on any topic, whatever the seriousness, is wildly optimistic, but I would note that we’re closing in on the second anniversary of this latest little externality the Street has inflicted on the rest of the world while lining its own pockets. You’ve got to wonder how even Congress could be so impossible derelict in its duty, right? I mean, the AIG bailout alone is equivalent to the cost of a year or two for the Iraq War, which Congress at least feels required to take an annual vote to prolong. Well, I think the answer can be found, among many other places, in the June 1 edition of the NY Times. Here we learn that “Even in Crisis, Banks Dig in for Fight Against Rules”: The nine biggest participants in the derivatives market -- including JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Bank of America -- created a lobbying organization, the CDS Dealers Consortium, on Nov. 13, a month after five of its members accepted federal bailout money. To oversee the consortium’s push, lobbying records show, the banks hired a longtime Washington power broker who previously helped fend off derivatives regulation: Edward J. Rosen, a partner at the law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. A confidential memo Mr. Rosen drafted and shared with the Treasury Department and leaders on Capitol Hill has, politicians and market participants say, played a pivotal role in shaping the debate over derivatives regulation. Today, just as the bankers anticipated, a battle over derivatives has been joined, in what promises to be a replay of a confrontation in Washington that Wall Street won a decade ago. Since then, derivatives trading has become one of the most profitable businesses for the nation’s big banks. Golly, you wouldn’t think that the recipients of such public largesse would still have much clout after the... posted by Friedrich at June 2, 2009 | perma-link | (42) comments

Monday, June 1, 2009


Matt and Derb
Michael Blowhard writes: Dear Blowhards -- Back here, Big Hollywood's Matt Patterson talked to me about conservatives and the arts. Today Matt explores the same topic with John Derbyshire. Best, Michael UPDATE: TownHall's Ned Rice profiles Big Hollywood's Andrew Breitbart.... posted by Michael at June 1, 2009 | perma-link | (11) comments