ultrasupergenius’ journal

Okay… of all the music you know exists, and also of all the music you think might exist - but you are note quite sure what it is (i.e. like I know there is a lot of Mozart out there, but the magic flute is all I can really come up with at the moment) - of all that great music that is out there…. Can you come up with ONE favorite? Not for all time… b/c that changes ‘all the time’. Not for all that. Just for right now, right at this moment. Do you have the absolute, 100%, this is the soundtrack to what my life is now - this is the song - song in your mind right now? Every once in a while, I get that song. Every once in a great while, I get that whole damn album. Few and far between on that… the whole album. But that is what I have right now. The whole album is the soundtrack for the moment… as a matter of fact - I think this album may be determining my future. “oh - whoa - oo…” Not sure what happens next. Anyway, the artist is Joanna Newsome. The album is “the milk eyed mender”, from 2004. It just plain hits the spot. Oh, did I mention she was a harpist? A singer and a harpist? I am telling you - you have to check this person out. If I had to pick one word - it would be: Endearing. But “darnrightunreal” would have been first if it wasn’t three words put together. Anyway. Good stuff. Mad props to Joanna. I have a favorite again.

Snowfall (click for larger version)

Originally uploaded by ultrasupergenius.

We finally got it. The big snow. (… and there was much rejoicing (YAY!)). I have been waiting for this since late summer, and am super glad that it finally came. For one thing, I think that we can all agree that this global warming / climate change thing is totally without merit - otherwise how could we have gotten so much snow? This snow is proof positive that our climate is hunky-dory.*
Making snow men is lots and lots of fun - which Sarah and I did out at the new gardens - but so is diving into the snow. I was dutifully impressed with Sarah’s enthusiasm at dropping herself straight back ‘Nestea” style into the freshly fallen snow. Well done there, Ms. Byrne. As for my ability to capture the moments on camera - well that left a lot to be desired. I will have to work on that in the future. Adding to my embarassment is the fact that she did a phenomenal job grabbing some action shots of me, such as this one here.
I also have to point out what an absolutely phenomenal job the Fairfax County Snow Removal teams did. I was driving from Arlington to Annandale really early on Sunday morning just as the snow was subsiding - and while the Arlington roads were driveable, the fairfax county roads were downright lovely. Like driving after a nice spring rain. Great job, FFC folks.
So what to do now that the snow is done falling and moved into the melting phase? I for one am going to hike in to DC tonight and try to get some monument shots… Long exposure night-time shots have some pretty neat looks to them, and I think that the ambient light reflecting off of the snow will be awesome… as well as getting some shots of snow covered statues. It will also give me a chance to get ready for the cold next week in Banff, Canada. Whoohoo! Less than a week till Banff.

*(the statement about global warming being without merit and our climate being hunky-dory was, of course, a joke. We are just as screwed climate-wise as we were before the snow… only now we get to watch our snowmen melt as the climate warms up.)

I have had a hard time coming to terms with why there is such outrage over the publication of offensive cartoon images of the muslim prophet Muhammad. I understand that this issue has become a posterchild for the many other percieved injustices that muslims feel that they are suffering - but why take to the streets in violent protest over a set of cartoons when other issues have gone relatively unprotested? What is it about this situation that has them so up in arms?
I think I figured it out… and the explanation of outrage involves what I have coined as the “ABBA Effect”. Imagine yourself tooling on down the road, minding your own business in your car, when you come to a stoplight. Someone pulls up next to you with the windows rolled down, they are bopping along to music that you can just barely make out - it seems hauntingly familiar as you lower the volume on your radio to make out what it is… and then it hits you. Dear God. It’s ABBA! You twist the volume knob on your radio to its loudest setting, and start punching buttons on your radio presets in a futile attempt to find something - anything - that will purge that horrendously catchy euro-bop music from infecting your brain. It is no use. You’ve heard it, and for the next two weeks every little bit of silence you encounter will be filled by ABBA pouring out of your mind. Riding the elevator at work your lips will begin to silently mouth the words, and you will be lathering yourself in the shower to the beat of “S.O.S.”. Once that horrible music gets lodged into your noggin, there is little if anything that can get it out aside from the passage of time - and the consistent application of the only known temporary relief from the ABBA brain infection: Listening to Good Music. You have to keep your iPod close at hand, choose CDs carefully for your time in the car, and in general keep yourself immersed in great music until you finally kick the ABBA affliction - which can sometimes take as long as two weeks.
So what does this have to do with the Muslim Cartoon Turmoil? Imagine yourself sitting down for evening prayers, and as you close your eyes and begin prayer, an image of the Prophet Muhammad enters into your mind - an evil image of him wearing a bomb as a turbin. Desperately you seek to wipe the image from your mind - but what will you use as a squeegee? Nothing. You have nothing. For many muslims, this image of the prophet muhamed is the only one that they have in their minds. Unlike the music lover with racks and racks of CDs and MP3s to dislodge the ABBA from the brain - the muslim has no recourse to replace the image. Islam forbids any illustrations or images of Muhammad. The only images available are those created by non-followers of their faith, and in this case those images have been created with the intent of insult. I would take to the streets if someone took away my ability to prevent and/or cure an ABBA infection. It only stands to reason that muslims would take to the streets regarding this assault on their personal perception of their Prophet Muhammad.

Twolip by ultrasupergenius

So here it is - my comeback print. It is a 1 color (black) silkscreen hand tinted with watercolors. A run of 7 prints, with 2 artist proofs. This is number 5 of 7… not yet signed. Simple. Fun. Bright. Happy. Hopefully going to be followed by many more prints, of increasing complexity (and hopefully increasing aesthetic appeal as well)…
You can click the image to see a larger version.

TENSION. Lots and lots of tension. Tension over cultural and societal values. Tension over global politics and international relations. Strife and strain. It is all getting just too thick. That is the only way to explain the headline that appeared on the top of my News list this morning:

Four killed in cartoon protests

It has since been updated to:

Five die in Afghan cartoon furore

This is very troubling. I understand in a sense how we got to this point on a micro-scale, and I have some basic concepts on a macro scale of what has led to this… What I don’t know - and what makes me very nervous is that I have no idea what follows if this trend towards tension strife and strain continues. This is people dying because of cartoons. This just does not jive. This is troubling.

Everyone needs to take a collective group of nice deep breaths, and perhaps to sit down with a neighbor and have a cup of tea. Or maybe everyone in the world could pledge to make some time in the next week to spend some time with some of their youngest relatives, and spend some time playing. Play cuts tension. Deep breathing cuts tension. I am going to make a pledge to do both of those things this week, if I am able to do so. I’ll have to coordinate with my brother and sister to get some time to hang out with Ben… but even easier will be making the time for some deep deep breaths. Actually, I am doing a few… right….. now……… heehee… Good stuff. wow… Mellooooow…. Heehee.

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Oh, that reminds me. I did some test silkscreen images this weekend. My mom got me a whole bunch of silk screen equipment for christmas (Thanks, Mom!) - and I was finally able to carve some time out to set up a screen and pull some prints. It is actually such an incredibly time consuming process, I can’t even begin to explain it. Naturally, that just adds to the extent to which I love it. Those who have gotten to know me well, know that I have a proclivity towards repetition in artwork… in the sense of repetitive actions, repeating steps… Really kind of hard to desribe in words. Perhaps the best way to describe it is that Silkscreen is the ultimate expression of it. You get the opportunity to repeat steps and get similiar and yet independent results. On a professional level, the silkscreen process is best articulated in its ability to perfectly symmetrical, perfect, and equal prints… and it is quite amazing to see a professional at work pulling prints. (I have had the pleasure of assisting Dion Dill for a few days while he was working at a professional screen printing shop in Belmar, New Jersey. Amazing stuff.) On an amatuer/artist level (studio screen printing) - silkscreen takes on a whole new perspective. There is expression within variances within prints. There is something unreal about pulling 20 prints and ending up with 20 unique expressions of the original vision. Variations can be unexpected or intentional - and often are a combination of the two. Slight modifications in the process or materials can have drastic effects on the final print - as can the state of the screen (ink can begin to dry within the screens and clog them)… it would be folly to attempt a comprehensive list. There are just too many things that can change the process up. I digg it. I digg it the most.

I have recently come to the conclusion that I cannot roto-till my garden because of the dense population of earthworms there. To roto-till it would be to kill thousands upon thousands of earthworms. I can’t cope with having their deaths on my conscience. Friends have tried to convince me that the roto-tilling process would merely cut the worms in half, and I would double the amount of worms in the soil. Unfortunately I am smart enough to realize that those blades spinning and cutting through the soil are not going to be content to a mere slice down the middle of each worm - but will instead chop them up into little pieces. I am hoing the entire garden by hand… an incredibly time consuming and laborious process which I could have completed long ago if I were to roto-till. I take pride in the work that I am doing, and yet I know that there are many who would look at it as a tremendous waste of time - and would likely view the end result of the process as being of a far lower quality as compared to similiar ground which has been roto-tilled. I disagree. I have already reaped, and will continue to reap the rewards of my efforts in the form of thousands upon thousands of little helpers running around happy and healthy improving the conditions in my garden - but perhaps more importantly - I have avoided the dark cloud which would have hung low over me every time I entered my garden had I proceeded to take the easy route. My garden will be a worm safe environment. That is a reason for us to celebrate (those worms and I), and it fills me up with joy. I have to admit that I am somewhat uneasy about the many difficult choices to come as the garden starts to grow… how to react when the little bugs start trying to eat my crops. Each decision will be made on a case by case basis, as best I am able to do so… but I will have to be sensitive to the rights of my neighbors who likely will not share my view of the right to live, as it applies to creepy crawlies and buggers that snack on crops. Simply transporting critters from my garden to the nearby woods would likely mean that I am sending the critters into those gardens who border the woods. That just wouldn’t be fair. I think a combination of looking for natural deterents (such as marigolds) planted in the garden and a holding container by which I can catch and hold all the unwelcome critters, and transport them en masse to some spot quite a bit farther away… while at the same time hospitable. Perhaps to the Greenhouse at Home Depot. Heehee. Just kidding.
In the end, we all reap what we sow - and there may be many advantages of roto-tilling that I will not be reaping come harvest time (perhaps less weeds, or less pests, or greater harvest - who knows). But at the end of the day, what I am hoping to get out of my garden has a lot less to do with the best tomatoes, or the most pounds per square foot of peppers, and a lot more about something wonderful growing inside of me.