poem: Not Past Tense Yet

I can't get him out of my mind;
he's been out of his own for years.

He stares into the cracked mirror,
hoping that spontaneous combustion

will take him to that cold island
across the river.
---o0o---

jack brummet

Not This Future

click image to enlarge

foo

Pretty In Pink And Deranged: A Mark Ryden Show In Seattle

click image to enlarge

I went to see Mark Ryden's show this weekend at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle. I went twice. Wow. He is an amazing figurative and technical painter, and a master of juxtaposition, of color and light, and of evoking bygone images and concepts, alongside the modern. Ryden's work makes most of the famed surrealist painters look like chumps.

These thirty paintings are dense, whimsical, terrifying, and always surprising. Ryden's art seems to echo Freud, Surrealism, Classic painting, symbolism, dream theory, and French ultra-realist painters, as well as being influenced by realistic (and nostalgic) children's book art. Forget all this blather, 'though, and just go see the show. I haven't enjoyed a modern painter's work so much in many years.

The frames in this exhibition are some of the coolest I have ever seen. In some cases, he appears to have the frames entirely custom made--carved, finished, and aged. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the frames cost $10,000 to make. They alone are worth seeing.

If you live near Seattle, or Pasadena, where the show will move in February, don't miss this disturbing and exhilarating show...

His web site http://www.markryden.com is well worth visiting. The show catalog is wonderful, and is available at the Frye, and at Amazon.com.
---o0o---

Johnny Carson

Click photo to enlarge

Breaking news reports this morning say Johnny Carson has died. Johnny was a huge pop culture presence, and if you are "of a certain age," you remember when he was on television that there was little else on. By the time The Tonight Show came on at 11:30 PT, a lot of the other stations had signed off for the night (even major cities only had a few stations). I won't go on about how iconic he was, or about how he helped break so many major comedians, or how he was "cool" in the Hugh Hefner/Rat Pack sort of world. You'll be able to read about him later today.

The Beach Boys (when Brian Wilson was in his seriously wacked out phase) wrote a song entitled Johnny Carson. It was one of their very strangest songs ever (right up there with Take Good Care of Your Feet). The lyrics don't do the song justice...you have to hear it to appreciate how truly bizarre it is:

He sits behind his microphone
John-ny Car-son
He speaks in such a manly tone
John-ny Car-son
Ed McMahon comes on and says "Here's Johnny"
Every night at eleven thirty he's so funny

It's (nice) to (have) you (on) the (show) tonight
I've seen (your) act (in) Vegas out of sight
When guests are boring he fills up the slack
John-ny Car-son
The network makes him break his back
John-ny Car-son

Ed McMahon comes on and says "Here's Johnny"
Every night at eleven thirty he's so funny
Don't (you) think (he's) such (a) natural guy
The (way) he's (kept) it (up) could make you cry

Who's a man that we admire?
Johnny Carson is a real live wire.
[repeat chorus four times]
---o0o---

Random Numbers And Deviates

Click image to enlarge

A classic and strange book has been reissued. A Million Random Digits With 100,000 Normal Deviates [1] by our old friends, The Rand Corporation. It retails for $30 (paperback) and you can get it for $20 at amazon. The reviews, of course, are hilarious geek humor. Click on the title of this entry to read more about the book. Or buy it!

[1] The book routinely used by statisticians, physicists, polltakers, market analysts, lottery administrators, and quality control engineers. A 2001 article in the New York Times on the value of randomness featured the original edition of the book, published in 1955 by the Free Press. The rights have since reverted to RAND, and in this digital age, they wanted to reissue a new edition of the book in its original format.

One Of My Favorite Government Photographs

Click image to enlarge

Unfortunately, it's not a flying saucer, but the domed top of a 70 foot long vacuum tank in Cleveland, Ohio at the renamed John H. Glenn Research Center. The guys in protective clothing had just emerged from within the tank where they had been cleaning in the toxic mercury atmosphere. This NASA photo was taken on January 1, 1961. Ike had three weeks left in office. John Glenn hadn't even gone into outer space yet. Camelot was about to be in session. /jack
---o0o--

Painting: Sixteen Panels

Click Image To Enlarge

This Is Hump Day, When We Finally Have More Of President Bush Behind Us Than Ahead Of Us

January 21, 2005.

Oath of Office 1-20-05

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Dr. Condoleezza Rice - Nude Photos

Did you arrive at All This Is That looking for photos of Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice, nude or in flagrante with men, women, or both? Google shows large numbers of people searching for hot Conde photos. If bona fide photos do exist, I know you, the denizens of the WWW, will find them. Happy Hunting! You'd probably find more interesting pictures of people who pose nekkid professionally, but if you're just interested in sexing up The White House, you're on the right path-- at least it seems preferable to a passel of photos of, say, Paul Wolfowitz or VPOTUS Dick Cheney...
/jack
---o0o---

The President's Second Half: At Least Do No Harm

On the Reuters Wire today:

"PARIS (Reuters) - The rest of the world will be watching with anxiety when President Bush is inaugurated Thursday for a second time, fearing the most powerful man on the planet may do more harm than good."

Our Allies' anxiety focuses on our unilateral approach to foreign affairs and incursions. Our friends hope, but doubt, POTUS will, like the Hippocratic Oath, "help, or at least do no harm."

I'm not expecting a lot from this President but I hope he keeps the damage to a manageable level. Especially the collateral damage! Is that asking too much? Believe it or not, among my friends, I am probably the most hopeful and upbeat about this second term.

Click on the title for a link to the Reuters article.

painting: Faces No. 407

Click picture to enlarge

These are 20 digital manipulations of an acrylic I originally posted here: http://jackbrummet.blogspot.com/2005/01/chou-en-lai-transformed.html