Joss Whedon Does it Again with Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog

I’m absolutely in love with Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog (iTunes). And, according to NPR anyway, so is half the Web.

Whedon’s knack for producing astute social commentary through fantastical situations is on par with that of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. At base, Horrible got me thinking about the different ways that people react to the destruction and evil in the world . Some of us become bitter and disillusioned like Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris). Others stick with the status quo like his nemesis Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion). And then there are those sweet souls who devote their lives to helping the unfortunate like Penny (Felicia Day), the woman Horrible worships from afar.

The funny recurring theme in Whedon’s work is that good and evil are rarely clearly defined. And while I’d hate to reveal the conclusion of Horrible, that theme makes its arguably darkest appearance in Whedon’s work to date.

Bottom line: Well worth the $4.00 to download it from iTunes.

Fitna

Several Muslim countries are in an uproar right now. Geert Wilders, a Dutch member of Parliament, just released a ten-minute movie called “Fitna” (Arabic for ‘Ordeal’). The movie shows footage of several terrorist attacks spliced with verses from the Quran which encourage violence and Islamic superiority, as well as video of Imams spouting hate speech and violence. Jordanian lawmakers are considered breaking diplomatic ties to the Netherlands, and there have been protests in Pakistan, Iran, and Indonesia, all of whom have requested to speak with their respective ambassadors.

Mr. Wilders, who produced the film under heavy security, has received numerous death threats and requires a security escort at all times. Personally, while I don’t think the film is particularly good, I see nothing deceptive, dishonest, or hateful about it. Therefore, I see no reason why it should be censored, as the Dutch government has attempted to do. Freedom of speech is the bedrock of Western Civilization, and must be protected. However, you are welcome to the view the movie for yourself and make your own determination of whether this qualifies as hate speech, great art, something that looks like it was made by stoned undergrad at USC, or a triumph of free speech.

Bricks & 1410: A Photoset

During my errand running today, I noticed some very photo-worthy stuff. Thankfully, I brought my camera.Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Garden Chotchkies, Fire and Flowers

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Photowalking in the Market

A Sunday spent with a camera is a Sunday that makes me happy:

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

A Quiet Night with my Mom

You know you’re not a kid anymore when this seems like a great idea for a Friday night.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Thank God I’m not a kid anymore.

Clouds, Leaves and a Bowl of Soup

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Here’s a link to the set if you can’t see it here for some reason.

More Photowalking Today

I went out photowalking on Mercer Island today with my friend Rye. We got some great shots of the fall leaves:

If you can’t see the slideshow, check out the photoset.

Went Photowalking in Seattle Today

I took a page out of Scoble’s book and decided to go photowalking today. Here are the photos:

UPDATE: For those of you who can’t see the slideshow, here’s the link to the actual set on Flickr.

FOX “News” Confuses Gay Man with Osama bin Laden

After doing my imitation of Chris Crocker, I find myself utterly sucked into his world. I can see why people find him so compelling. His latest video takes on FOX News for their commentary on his original video about Britney Spears.

Here are the FOX Newscasters in all their glory:

What I found so objectionable about this commentary, beyond what Crocker already addresses in his video response is that they refer to him as “it,” and say that, “like Osama bin Laden, he has chosen to use a sheet as a neutral background.”

Crocker has been an internet phenomenon for some time. A quick glance at Wikipedia would have told these supposed “journalists” all they needed to know about his sex and sexual orientation. Instead, they chose to make insensitive jokes.

But the comparison to bin Laden is really what got me. It’s clear that these right-wing conservatives view a small-town gay teenager as dangerous. They see him as a terrorist in his own right because he threatens their neat, orderly, discriminatory view of the world.

HELP! My Ears Need You

You know when you hear something really good, and you go “Oh YEAH!” and turn up the radio. Then you go home and stream it off YouTube a few times, then download it and add it to your playlist. Well, it’s been a while for me. A LONG while.

6 months actually; the last song that got me up was “From Yesterday” by 30 Seconds to Mars. And that’s really the only song since I heard Fallout Boy’s “I Slept With Someone In Fallout Boy And All I Got Was This Lousy Song Written About Me” and Lil Wayne’s “Best Rapper Alive” last spring. So, aside from one quick fix, I really haven’t heard any new good music for about a year.

Please help me. My playlist’s are getting old and tired, and I’m starting to become sick of them. I’m also getting sick of my pre-set radio station’s (92.5, 93.3, 94.9, 96.5, 99.9, and 104.9 in Seattle). If you can recommend a good song, something that makes you turn up the radio station and jump around, or just turn it up, turn off the lights, lie back, and close your eyes, please let me know.

For reference, my best musical highs have come off of ACDC & Aerosmith (middle school), RATM, Metallica & Snoop Dogg (high school), Eminem, SOAD, AFI, and Thursday (college), and Fallout Boy & Lil’ Wayne (last year).

Two Canovas, Two Sets of Lovers: An Art Mystery Solved

I first fell in love with the work of Italian neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova when I visited Paris in 2000 and saw his take on one of my favorite Greek myths. The passionately entwined figures of Psyche and her husband Eros brought the story of love, death, jealousy and redemption to life with a poignancy that took my breath away. So when I saw a miniature of the sculpture in an antique shop near the center of town in Montpellier, I had to bring it back with me.

But recently, I noticed something about my sculpture that led me to believe it wasn’t an exact replica of the one in the Louvre. In the sculpture housed in the Louvre, the cloth covering Psyche’s loins is short - showing the length of her legs. The cloth in my sculpture covers her legs to the ankles. I wondered, what prompted the artist to take such liberty with Canova’s work. Were Psyche’s legs too much for him? Did he want to dress her a bit more modestly? Was he better at carving cloth from stone than he was at carving a woman’s legs? (I’m assuming that the person who carved my miniature was male, but I could absolutely be wrong.)

Tonight I got my answer. While browsing online through the sculpture collections at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, I saw a later copy of the same sculpture. Until that moment, I was unaware that Canova had executed a second rendition of the sculpture - this time with the more modest, classically executed loin covering.

Images from left to right: The 1787 original by Canova housed in the Louvre; The 1796 version housed in the Hermitage; My miniature by an unknown artist; detail of Psyche’s loin covering on my miniature

Of course, this isn’t news to you art buffs. Some of you are probably going, “duh!” right now. But I never took an art history class. I’m honestly not much of a visual art person. But occasionally I stumble across something that really strikes my fancy. This was one of those things. I didn’t really think to dig through its history until I came across the answer by happenstance.

Sometimes I think that’s the way art was meant to be enjoyed - with a sense of discovery that no textbook can give you.

Your Heroes Failed

Frank Warren’s PostSecret is an online compendium of people’s secrets. People create beautiful artwork based on their secrets and send their creations to Warren on postcards. Sometimes, a secret will hit so unbelievably close to home - like this one did.

It’s no secret that our heroes have failed because their leaders set them up to fail. We’ve wasted their heroism on this bullshit war, quite literally throwing their broken bodies and spirits in the dumpster.