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Snatcher In The Wry, A Wrinkle in Time, and Ashes
This entry was posted on 4/27/2006 11:11 AM and is filed under General Musings.
Not too much time today, but stuff's rattling around up there:
1. In yet another case sullying the literary world, the
debut novel of 18 year-old Kaavya Viswanathan turns out to be
plagiarized. While I'm peeved with the writer, some of my ire is
directed at her publisher, Little, Brown & Co. (and similar big
houses), who decided to throw a $500,000 advance (holy crap!) at an
unproven, first-time, teenaged novelist in their greed to get in on the
hip youth market. But, of course, I also want to know who her agent is.
2. Could anti-wrinkle creams be giving us wrinkles,
thereby
driving us to buy more anti-wrinkle creams? It could be the most
brilliant and diabolical plot yet hatched. (This brewing hypothesis
based on nothing more than my niggling fear of turning into a Sharpei...)
3. I'm planning an L.A. trip which will fall just a week past the end
date of the Ashes and Snow
photography exhibit in Santa Monica, which I
would have liked to see, particularly as it stirs up some conflicting
feelings in me regarding "art", my intellect, and my susceptibility to
sentimentality. My first impulse, when I saw the website (with
the annoying music, which I could have done without, and did, once I
found the "off" button) was to feel
manipulated. But then I realized how ingrained this impulse is in my
cynical generation, which eschews a lot of traditional art without some
sort of (generally critical and negative) "message". I also recognized
a knee-jerk response in me to dismiss it as uncool and mainstream. So I
looked at the
photographs from a really basic standpoint, as an indulgance in teasing
out the beauty of the natural form (people, animals, nature). They make
you really hyper-aware (because of their hyper-stylized composition) of
how these forms we take for granted are truly spectacular
(cliche as that sounds), unadorned by manmade things. Spectacular being
the key word, because these are staged spectacles, make no mistake
about that. The
pictures are painterly in the extreme, but I have to admit, I like it
when I let go of my inner cynic. I think we have gotten so serious and cerebral; everything has to mean something or make a commentary on
society. When we see something meant to be viewed without any
deeper meaning beyond the enjoyment of (exaggerated, in this case) form, light, and contrast, we don't really know what to do. If that's
what they present it as, and not some shite about inter-species
harmony, which is a crock. I
would welcome a purely visceral art experience that didn't entail
thinking for once. For what it's worth. I retain the gripe, however, of
the exotic music and lame-ass quotes on the website, as if we needed
prodding. I hope the actual exhibit doesn't have that manipulative
packaging crap. Hopefully it will migrate to
the Bay Area next so I can see for myself. I may amend my
opinion. For now, it's percolating.
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