I’m Having an Allergic Reaction to the Whitney Biennial

I have allergies.  For some reason, the symptoms seem to be worse whenever I go into the city.  I went to see the Whitney Biennial this week in NYC with my friends and afterwards I was rubbing my eyes, coughing, and sniffling, and my friend asked me if I was okay.  I said it was just allergies… probably all the dogwoods (Dagwood, whatever that tree's name is) in the city.  She said it was probably because I was having allergic reactions to the Biennial.  I'm allergic to the Biennial! I think it's the truth.  The symptoms seem to have started when the show went up, and now it has been worse since I went to actually see the show. 

Let's just say, I was greatly disappointed.  And pretty much leave it at that.  

It was so not worth the $17 I paid on-line to go see this show.

Maybe I'm just some art snob, but seriously… it was bad.  I haven't really heard a good thing about it.  Well, at least from my peers.

The only entertaining thing I saw was this thing called "Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal's 'Caligula,' " While sitting there in movie theater like seats, I just watched it and thought… wow, this is pretty much soft porn and it's in an art museum.  Wow.  I'd be a little more descriptive, but I don't think you really want to hear about this from little ol' me.  Go look it up if you're really interested.  It has some big name actors in it too.  

So here are some articles that have been printed about the Whitney Biennial if you're at all interested, but after me saying that it wasn't worth your time, you probably won't read them, but that's okay by me.  There are some pictures of some of the objects in the show, and the things shown are really probably the best things that were in the show.  So go look at the articles if only for that.  Make your own judgement. 

Whitney Biennial 2006 :: Day for Night ~ The official site

The Biennial Question ~ "Have the Curators of This Year's Whitney Biennial Finally Figured Out How to Make the Show Matter?" (My answer is no…)

Odds and Ends ~ "The offbeat pieces in the Whitney's Biennial exhibit 'Day for Night' aren't a pretty sight" (too true!) 

Biennial? Who Needs It? ~ "The Whitney's national survey is dull and insignificant.  Maybe it's time to retire the concept" (yeah. I agree, and sadly this is the first one that I've been to)

Linky Links 4-19-06

As the day is slowly coming to an end, I wanted to post a couple of art related links. I went to Whitney Biennial today and I have several words to say about it… but for some reason some of the articles I wanted to pull up are not responding and I am just still fuming over it, so I'll wait until either tomorrow or the next day for my response on the Biennial. So here are my links.

Hot Art Market Strokes Prices for Artists Barely Out of Teens ~ The article of the day! This article was actually mentioned in my class on Monday by my art critic professor. It was also originally published in Friday's issue of the Wall Street Journal. Then, of course, in typical newspaper fashion, The New York Times published this article that I posted a couple of days ago the following day. As someone mentioned in class, MFAs are getting all this publicity, which means the bottom is going to fall out soon. Great. Just Great.

Trust Your Own Reactions, Don't Seek Enlightenment ~ I really truly enjoyed this article. That's honestly all I have to say about it. Well, okay, I also agree with it and can relate.

Art Institute to Start Charging ~ NOoooooooooooooo!!!! They can't take away free Tuesdays!!! That was my day to go see the few key pieces that I have to see every time I go home to Chicago! Then again, this was actually one museum that I did pay full price ($7) when I did have to pay. Whenever I go to the MET I pay a dollar, but now I get in for free with this Museum card thing I have… but anyway, rambling…

Pictures from my MFA Show!

I have pictures up on the web from my show. The three people who read this regularly probably already have an invite waiting for them in their e-mail to view it since I have their e-mail address. If you want to view it and know who I am and I don't have your e-mail address, send me an e-mail at (must describe it since you never know what weirdos are stalking me or something) gmail, which is the first letter of my name and then my last name. Very exciting stuff. I promise you won't be too disappointed. 🙂

Linky Links 4-18-06

Not much here to report so I only have one link today. It's a good one. It's not an article, so go ahead and click on it. It is, as my friend Heather who gave me the link said, my "new, FAVORITEST link." A little late since it's a couple of says past Easter, but that's okay. It's still worth looking at, especially if you like these (even if you don't, it's still amusing). Is it just me, or am I a weirdo, but for the bunny ones (which my friend Saraivy had yesterday and I was eating them) I like to eat them slowly… ear by ear… having them yelp… okay, yes, I'm a weirdo. Thank you. 😛

Question: Can anyone tell me what the eyes are made out of?

Peep Research

Have a good day y'all!

Linky Links 4-17-06

I hope you all had a nice relaxing weekend… and now time to get back to work!! Ugh. Anyway, here are the links for the day. Enjoy!

Art Related

Warhols of Tomorrow Are Dealers' Quarry Today ~ Oh man. Being a MFA candidate… there are the good things and the bad things about it. Sigh.

Emerging Artists: No Room to Grow ~ Then I read this article. Sigh.

Netting the must-have art ~ Philadelphia Museum of Art, good stuff

Where did all the Munchs go? ~ He is constantly in the news! Some idiot stole his paintings, showing at the MoMA, the article above mentions how Philly's acquisition of a Munch is a positive thing (duh), now this. Too bad he's not around to pocket on this publicity.

The Call of the Jungle ~ Disney made the movie Tarzan into a music that is now on Broadway… hm… well, I guess I have to see it since I've seen the other three…

Other Stuff

Trade a paper clip for a house? ~ Submitted by Tom. Pretty cool if the guy can do it.

Animal Related

Cat saves baby's life ~ Whoohoo!!! The cat is a hero!!!

Pigs compete at their own Olympics ~ I can't decide if this is torture or amusing. There's even a video for you to watch.

Linky Links 4-14/15-06

I'm only posting two links tonight, especially since one kinda pertains to the title of this blog. (Serious case of boredom, messing around with the way this blog looks… not like anyone actually cares, but it's now all girly) It's actually 1 AM and that's why there is two dates. But anyway, I just got back from Philly where I went to pick up my mail (Thank you Thank you Thank you for the gifts!!! I loved them!!) and now I'm just sitting here typing random thoughts, like "I really hate driving in the fog" and "I can listen to the same CD over and over again and still like it." Anyway. Enough randomness and here are my two links for the day.

If I'm too lazy/busy this weekend to write again, which will probably be the case, I hope you all have a relaxing and Happy Easter – to all three of you who read this.

The first one:

The Evil Screen's Plot to Take Over the 2-and-Under World ~ Oh my goodness. Even if you don't care about reading the article, just take a look at the picture!!! How FREAKIN' CUTE! I would be tempted to buy merchandise that is related to this only because of how cute it is (I bet none of you are surprised).

The second and last one:

In Praise of Boredom ~ Heck yeah.

Happy Birthday to Me ~ Yip-pee

Wow. I'm a whole 25 years old today. Technically I turned 25 yesterday since it's 2 AM now.  Yeahyeahyeah, that's nothing. That's not old at all, I'm a youngin'! Since I can't sleep after a very peaceful day spent here in my dorm and then in NYC with my friend Colin, I'll write about some issues that I've been thinking about and also share what I did on my birthday… not like the three of you who read this don't already know.

I spent the morning recovering from feeling sick the night before… nothing terrible, just a fever and general yuckiness. I'm much better now. I also got to pick out a birthday present from a friend on-line (Thank you) this morning, that was fun. After I finally got my butt out of my dorm room and got on the train to NYC I walked to Chelsea and saw some art (that really didn't impress me), but then I saw someone I recognized – it was Mr. Jerry Saltz himself. I've probably mentioned him before, but he was talking to I assume, an artist, and he wouldn't have recognized me anyway, so I just speed up my walk and went on my merry way. I never could handle seeing people that I kinda know, or I know them, and I know that they don't know me (a lot of "knows"). Very unlike my brother who is recognized by everyone… hmph. (He knows I love him)

Anyway, after Chelsea I went to wait for Colin by his work. He gave me a drawing that he did and had hanging in his room when he lived in France… I love it! I have to get it framed. Anyway, we walked to Battery Park which is near the tip of the island. It has Tom Otterness sculptures everywhere. It is a very cool place and wanted to see it ever since Tom came to talk at Montclair. Colin told me that he stops by this park every morning before he goes to work and since it was such a beautiful day we walked to it. It was awesome. I always love just sitting in parks where there are kids playing and it just seems peaceful, even when there are kids yelling and screaming. After the park we went to eat at a diner and then saw Ice Age 2. It definitely was not as good as the first. It had its funny moments, but overall, not noteworthy. A little disappointing. But then again, all I heard about it was that it was funny for the kids, but not as amusing for the adults, and that's what it was. Then we went to Coldstone ice cream place and I had a "Birthday Cake Remix" which is cake batter ice cream, brownies, sprinkles, and fudge. Mmmmm… it was great!

So it was a good day. Tomorrow my friends from school and I are going to some Chinese buffet that the two guys in my year have gone to and keep talking about and my friend Saraivy and I really want to go… so, why not for my birthday? Since I'm not a big drinker and I love to eat, this seemed just right. Heck, I didn't even have a drink today (sorry John). Over the years it seems like I've gone out to eat more then anything else. Even my 21st birthday, my two closest friends at the time, well, one took me out to lunch at Philly's Hard Rock Cafe, and the other took me out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (mmmm). No heavy drinking, no bar hopping… sigh. Oh well. I get drunk after smelling some wine, I'm that much of a lightweight as anyone knows. I've always preferred a small, close group of people that I really care about around me rather then a bunch of drunk people that I barely know. Ah well.

Overall, today was good with all my birthday wishes and tomorrow will be good. All I need now is to get some art work done in time for my final critique May 8th!!! AHHH!!!

Chicken Little

I finally get to sit here and write about the Disney move, Chicken Little. This is the first (unless you count Dinosaur, which I don't really) 3-D animation movie that Disney has put out not under Pixar. It is also the first movie after they decided to stop doing hand drawn animation (as you see me frown). Of all the negative issues that I had before I saw this movie, well, I actually saw it in the theater on it's opening day. My friend Colin and I were going to get tickets for the 3-D version of this movie, where you get a pair of cool 3-D glasses that look like Chicken Little's glasses but when we were eating dinner, I was thinking that the time that we bought our tickets for was not one of the 3-D versions. And by the time we realized it and went back to the movie theater (we bought our tickets from a machine by the way) the 3-D version was sold out. Booooo…. so we had to see it in it's regular format of just plain ol' 3-D animation without the 3-D glasses. And then I went out and rented it recently and watched it again. I think I liked it better the second time… but I still can't decide if it's buy worthy.

Anyway, the initial reaction to the movie was that the father figure was overkill. After him and Chicken Little had their "talk" he could not shut up about how much he supported his son, no matter how crazy it seemed. The other thing that I tried to do was figure out how many different references to other Disney movies they made. I only came up with 3. Obviously Lion King in the beginning, Mulan when he climbed to hit the walk button, and then Alice in Wonderland (which admittedly, I did not figure out on my own and only realized it after watching the special features) when he gets dumped with the drink after he wins the game.

Then came this thought. Aren't chickens GIRLS? Chicken Little is definitely a boy in this movie. It bothered me. Then after watching deleted or different versions of scenes in the special features of the DVD that it was originally a girl. That made me happy. Sort of. Then after watching the features about the movie, I found out that it was Michael Eisner who wanted it to be a boy. I believe the reason was because it's not unusual for girls to be small, but for a boy to be small (in the story, everyone in his class grew except him, he's supposed to be 12 or 13 years old) could be a bigger issue. As I sit here and role my eyes, yeah, it makes sense, but then why not in total Disney nature rename everybody? Change the story completely (yeah, they did do that here too, but they kept the title, typical) and not call it "Chicken" but maybe "Boy Little" or something… then that might refer to "Little Boy Blue"….hmm… okay, I guess they did stick to their usual Disney tactics, but still! Anyway, judge for yourself, go rent it if you like watching kids movies. Oh! Not a total spoiler, but there's also no true villain. Then again, Lilo and Stitch didn't have a true villain either and it was super cute and good. Eh. It was actually the father figure that truly bothered me (also, single parent, typical Disney).

Chicken Little – The Official DVD Website

Chicken Little
Fish Out of Water
Kirby

Linky Links 4-5-06

I know it's been awhile, sorry about that – busy with school, life, avoiding things, stuff like that, you understand. Since I woke up at 6 A.M. today for some unknown reason, I thought I'd continue my links posts.

Art Related

Secret of Mona Lisa's Smile Revealed? ~ I was thinking about this for a bit. You need patience and time to be able to paint like this, and I think this is why there are no true great painters today. We have way too many distractions, too many forms of entertainment, and just overall too lazy to paint like this. We want results now, not millions of little invisible dots later. Does this idea work with other art forms? Why aren't their any Michelangelo marble sculptures being done now? Or is it that we can claim that it's been done, so why go back? I bet if there was an artist who could paint like this and does paint like this now, they would be looked over in the New York art world for someone who paints something that's more controversial. For the other aspects of art, I do have to admit that computer animation has been improving to look more and more life like, that there is an art form that is improving. I was amazed between the difference between Toy Story and Bug's Life and even after that Toy Story 2…. and that was years ago where I stared at the movie screen in awe, just amazed at the huge difference. Yes, I notice these things. 😛

Portrait of a Cultural Battle ~ Who owns a painting? The original country or the country that steals it during a war?

TV, Movie, Music Related

Sesame Street creators spark controversy with new line of videos for infants ~ Do we want our children to become addicted to TV before the age of two? I mean, really? I'm torn between that it might help develop their brain, and being born into a TV watching generation (even though throughout high school I didn't have a TV in the house, but I still managed to know just enough about what was going on in Pop culture to stay afloat) I can't help but this this is naturally something that you would want to do.

Hilton Considered for Mother Theresa Role ~ Oh please, say it isn't so…

"Simpsons" Teases Moviegoers ~ Hmmm… this brings up the question how does a successful TV show turn into a successful movie… I know it's possible and all, but just like when Sex and the City was thinking about a movie, I'm a little skeptical… but then again, the voice of Albert Brooks with "guest star" in the movie… maybe it will be Jacques from one of my favorite Simpsons episodes… I highly doubt that thought… especially since that was from Season 1.

The Simpsons.com ~ just thought I'd put it up since this is the first time that I went to the site… and happened to just talk about it… amusing…

Blockbuster Accused of Patent Infringement ~ Oh I hope they don't get rid of Blockbuster.com… which is what I use to rent my TV shows on DVD instead of Netflix. They give me two free games in store a month! And since they raised the price of renting games to $8 or something like that, heck, I need those free games!!!

The Official John Corbett Band Website ~ I'm not a fan of country music as you know, but when I saw this actually on TV yesterday I had to go check it out because I'm an Adian fan. "Let me strip your floors." And am I the only one remembering the oboe playing musician that he played in the movie Serendipity?

Random

The Time Is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 ~ I missed it!!! I was actually asleep by 12:30 last night for once. Oh well.

Paperweight Severs Calif. Teacher's Hand ~ you better watch out what kind of things you have on your desks there you teachers and future teachers…

And lastly…

Spider-hunting nudist ends with ring of fire ~ I can't help but laugh… sorry…

Happiness

So I wrote this much earlier yesterday while waiting around to meet my friends in Chelsea.

There are so many things to be thankful for in this world. On days like today I walk around, take a deep breath, step back, and think about all the good things in life. There are so many reasons to get out of bed in the morning. There are also reasons to stay in bed, but on days like today, I can’t help but smile when I step outside no matter how much I’d rather stay in my room and watch bad TV. Besides being thankful for my family and friends who love me, it’s the little things in life. For instance, it’s 1:30 P.M. on a Thursday and I’m sitting here writing in this pizzeria in Chelsea NYC. Up to this point I can list all the wonderful things that I take for granted that I’d like to take note of here. Now I know this is going to be a huge run-on sentence, but bear with me.

Waking up in my own room (yeah, something that shouldn’t really be an issue), technology – a computer that works, being on-line 24/7, AIM so I can talk to those friends of mine that live faraway, or actually go to school with me so I can find out what I’m missing by not being there, an e-mail that checks itself automatically like every minutes or so (Gmail rocks), a shower that isn’t clogged (thanks to me, I put the Draino in last night, as you could imagine this is a constant problem with three long haired girls using one shower – get your mind out of the gutter), the color pink (the color of the polo I’m wearing), corduroy (my jacket), checking the weather on-line realizing that it will be nice enough not to wear 15 layers and just put on a short sleeve shirt and a light jacket, looking at the time when I thought I was running late and realized that I can make a quick Ego waffle before I leave the place, not having to run tot he train, living across the street from the train station, my disc man that is also an MP3 player, being able to sit on the train peacefully, listening to music and writing (I’ve sat near some people that are really annoying and loud, even through headphones), cute guys with curly hair (nice to look at), leaving the train station and know exactly where I am in NY without having to walk a block and realize that I was going the wrong way, being able to look forward at the world while walking realizing my confidence in myself is growing, getting to my destination where I walked to rather then take the train an hour and a half earlier then I was supposed to leaving enough time to grab some food near by at a pizzeria, Mountain Dew (oh mighty Mt. Dew, how I love thee), and the man giving me an extra garlic knot which brings me to right now 1:45.

It took me 15 minutes to write about all the good things that are in my life just in the few hours I’ve been awake. Some other things I’d like to note that I’ve been thinking about lately that I’d glad I have in life: good friends, add in good drinks equals a heck of a great time, friends that aren’t afraid to tell each other that they love each other (if you feel it, say it right? Not all the time, just every once in awhile it’s nice to hear that you’re loved). Speaking of love, falling in and out of love. If I never experienced the bad (the ugly and the worst) I’d never be able to fully appreciate what is to come or what I have when it comes to love. Unexpected phone calls and notes, especially from people who you thought forgot all about you, animated movies, they sure do make me happy (I can’t wait to see Ice Age 2 this week). I got really lucky with my class at Montclair. I really truly enjoy every person’s company in the first years crop. If they weren’t who they are, I would of dropped out back in early October like I was seriously considering. Speaking of good friends, it’s time to go meet them…

So yeah, There you go… a post, that I hand wrote and wrote here. Yippee!!! I hope I didn’t bore you too much. Until later…