Vandals at the Museum

Some drunkards broke into a museum and punched a hole into a Monet painting. CNN reports: "A surveillance camera caught a group of four to five people entering the museum, which houses a major collection of Impressionist art on the Left Bank of the French capital along the Seine River. An alarm sounded and the group left, but not before damaging an invaluable painting, "Le Pont d'Argenteuil," Culture Minister Christine Albanel said."
What is it that people get of destroying other's property? Do they feel so little that the only way they can gain a sense of self worth is by hurting others? What do they have to prove?

DIY fun

Here are some fun things I've seen to do yourself.


The highlight for me of going to a Thai resturant is the Chai Iced Tea. Well what could be better than Chai Ice Cream. It loks super rich and creamy. I need to buy a machine to try this. Back in gainesville I had some friends that would through homemade ice cream parties. They were super cool and fun.


Second, here are instructions on how to develope your own style of defacing public property or maybe just your own property, we can't all be Banksy. How to Draw Graffiti Names gives step by step directions to get you going.

Be a Good American.

I found the American propaganda posters. FirstWorldWar.com as many pages of posters, including the one featured here with books, because I love books. Then, The National Archives has an online exhibit entitled Power of Persuasion featuring posters of the patriotic efforts at home and fear of the menace abroad during World War II. I like that The National Archives highlights the use of propaganda in by the government, it's one of the many exhibits that they have but it's good to acknowledge the effort to sway the public's opinion and emotions.

Leading the People.

A Soviet Poster a Day, found via AdFreak, is exactly what it says. The blog features a different propaganda poster everyday, often accompanied with the back story. The picture featured here reads "Long live everlasting, indestructible friendship and cooperation between Soviet and Cuban nations!" Well, one of them kept that promise. Poor Cuba an island a drift in a sea of "democracy". The posters show a past that has now been replaces with PSAs and Fox News here in the US. I'll look for the American version of proaganda posters.

Art Resurrected

I have decided to continue/restart my art blog. There is work that I did at the end o last year and I'll add what I have done through out the year til now. It'll keep me producing if I have somewhere for it all to go. I have linked in the distractions section under the archives.

Nureyev

The other night, while watching my good PBS station, I saw two documentaries on ballet. The first one had me rapt to the TV, I'll come back to that one, the second one had some interesting tidbits but really lost me when it came to the actual ballet performances. Traditional ballet does nothing for me, no matter how well the New York City Ballet is preforming. But the first one, entitled NUREYEV: THE RUSSIAN YEARS, was spellbinding for me. It chronicles the life of Rudolf Nureyev prior to and right after his defection from Russia. Through interviews with friends and fellow dancers from the period, it opens up his life and shows how driven and special he was. I was amazed at his dedication and determination. Ballet was his life. Then, his defection was quite dramatic. He hadn't planned it and he stood in a place where if he went back to Russia he knew he would never leave again but if he didn't he would never go back. It's such a huge choice.

Now, I'm debating whether or not to add ballet to my life list, because they were in some serious good shape.

Portrait Party

I did a portrait swap with my friend Jeannette, where each one of us drew the other. Once we were finished she submitted them to a blog that focuses on swapping, The Portrait Party. If anyone else is interested in swapping let me know, it was fun.