The Art Assignment

You may not have heard of Sarah Urist Green before, but she recently stepped down as the curator of contemporary art at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Her new endeavor is to produce and host a web series for PBS Digital called, "The Art Assignment."

As the website describes the show, "We take you around the U.S. to meet artists and solicit assignments from them that we can all complete." The videos are about 8-10 minutes long. Each week they talk to an artist, the artist gives an assignment, Green then explains the background and history of that theme/type of art and then you see one or more examples of people doing their assignment. It is designed to be easily done no matter where you live or what kind of art you do. Later, after people have submitted their assignments on various social media platforms (Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube, etc), they put together a highlights video showing off people's work to their audience.

(Photo: Matt Kryger / The Star)

The show is hosted by Sarah Urist Green and her husband, John Green, whom you may know as a best selling author and prolific YouTuber. If you don't know him, you should go look him up now: HERE. They are super cute together and work well as a team. Sarah is referenced in John's videos as "The Yeti" because she was often talked about, but rarely seen. My introduction to her was in one of his videos where he was talking about Twilight. He was saying, "You almost get the feeling from reading the books, that, like a woman can't be whole until she has a strong independent man to take care of her. When of course, the fact is a woman needs a strong man to take care of her like a fish needs a bicycle. I mean, just ask the Yeti. (yells off screen) Hey Sarah! Do you need a man to bench press your body weight in order to feel whole?" To which she responds instantly, "Obviously, not."


There is a great interview with both of them HERE that you should read. In it Sarah says, "The Art Assignment's concern is generating ideas, the creative process, and the act of making. This is not a high pressure situation for those responding to the assignment. Judging and winning will not be part of it. I will put together episodes that show what I think are some of the best viewer responses to the assignments, but I really only see that as a way of aggregating content and making it easier to find the good stuff. The "reward" will be making something cool and showing it to other people on the internet."

There have been several assignments so far and I plan on doing some of them and posting them here. I figured I would explain what the show is and why you should watch.

Meanwhile Back at the Internet...

In case you missed any links I posted on either Facebook or Twitter, here they are:

9 Famous Movie Villains Who Were Right All Along

How Mad Men and Firefly are the SAME

Harry Potter Insults

FPS Bulletin - Homeland Security Directions about Photography


This is sooo disturbing...


A Little Girl Reacts to the Bears Not Going to the Superbowl


A Weird Mash-Up


A Cover of a Popular Song

Meanwhile Back at the Internet...

In case you missed any links I posted on either Facebook or Twitter, here they are:


Interesting article on learning: Why You Learn More Effectively Writing Than Typing

Infuriating article about cursive: Cursive Disappearing from Student's Writing Skills

This is both wrong and funny cartoon about naming the new soccer team the Chicago Fire
(click on it to make it bigger to read)

Adorable Doctor Who Themed Stuffed Alien: Adipose Stress Doll

Flow chart to help you decide to have a cookie: Shelton Comic

The "Alien" description is my favorite: An Experiment in Accurate, but Misleading Movie Descriptions

For the Twelve O'clock Flashers out there: Teach Parents Tech




For those of you who laugh at people afraid of spiders


Comedy sketch from BBC: My Blackberry is Not Working


Colbert discusses "Palin Fatigue"

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Mika Brzezinski Experiences Palin Fatigue
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

Chicago Sings Bear Down

Pack Mentality

When new technology comes out, there are people who embrace it quickly and willingly. Most commonly know as "Early Adopters." The opposite of this are people who resist change and don't know nor care about technology. These people are known as "Twelve O'clock Flashers." Meaning that most of the appliances in their house are flashing 12:00.

I like to think that I'm in the middle. I'm not overly thrilled about running into an open field where there could be landmines or cow pies. I consider myself an "adopter." I have friends and family on both ends of the spectrum.

My resistance to iPads is fading. I'm not getting one just yet because the announcements for iPad2 and all the other competitors are being announced. I'm thinking by the end of summer, I'll end up getting one.

I'm still resisting on the smart phones. I know. Why, right? I just don't like the idea of being dependent on one device to do everything. It feels wrong, but I'm slowly getting over it. It's like (and I'm about to make an extremely geek filled comparison and I apologize in advance for geeking all over you) when I played Dungeons & Dragons. The character I played was a fighter, who absolutely detested magic of any kind, and made fun of all the characters that used it. However, the moment she was wounded, grabbed one of them by the throat and insist that they use magic to heal her. (end of geeking)

There is a Tripod song that sums up my thoughts called "Always Getting Into Stuff." The line is "I'm not ahead of the pack. I'm just with the pack. Toward the back." The whole song is below if you want to listen.

Meanwhile Back at the Internet....

I share a lot of videos and links throughout the week on Facebook and Twitter. I thought I might just have a weekly recap here of things I've found in case you missed them. If this works, it might be a regular Friday thing.


Awesome Protest: Library emptied in bid to fight closure

A Good Airline Delay: Southwest Airlines pilot holds plane for murder victim’s family

Funny Chart: HERE

Zodiac Chart Changes: Your Zodiac Sign May Have Changed

Visualizing Websites as Countries: Sharenator.com

Brilliant: If Ad Agencies Planned Kids Birthday Parties



BBC America Commercial for UK Law & Order


Awesome Allstate Commercial


Funny European Commercial with Adam & Eve. The look on Eve's face is priceless.


Battle: Los Angeles Trailer


Colin Firth on Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart's Reaction to the Arizona Shootings over last weekend

My Wacky Brain

Sometimes, my brain likes to do random things.

Wait, before I get to that, I should explain how I imagine my brain works. A long time ago, in a magical kingdom in Florida, I went to the Wonders of Life Pavillion.There I saw something called, "Cranium Command." I posted the videos below so you know what I'm talking about. However, they are long and um...dated.

"Cranium Command" was kind of like Herman's Head meets Innerspace. All the major body parts were played by actors/characters. The stomach was George Wendt (Norm from "Cheers"), the heart muscles were Hanz & Franz (Dana Carvey and Keven Nelon, respectively, playing characters from Saturday night live), the adrenal gland was Bobcat Goldthwait, etc. The left brain was played by Charles Grodin and the right brain by Jon Lovitz. This is how I view my brain.

I picture Charles Grodin in a suit behind a desk whenever I do left brain things like bills, math, organizing, etc. I picture Jon Loviz in his flannel PJS in an art room whenever I do creative stuff. If I do anything too left brain, my right brain will amuse itself my torturing my left brain. I am convinced the reason I am bad at math is because when my left brain is crunching the numbers, my right brain is just yelling out random numbers. It also likes doing things like singing random songs on a loop. This is why I listen to music or watch movies when I'm trying to get stuff done.

Now, that you have a visual of the inside of my brain. I can tell you the following story.

Even though I have a queen size bed, I always sleep on the same side. On the other side, I have a full length pillow I either sleep on or next to. I sleep with a sheet, then a blanket and a comforter on top. Tuesday night, I randomly decided to switch sides. I moved the pillow to the other side and went to sleep. In the morning, I woke up and noticed that not only is the pillow back to where it normally is and I on my side of the bed, but my covers are flipped with the sheet on top.

Here is what I think happened. Once I drifted off to sleep (which my left brain undoubtly handled), it suddenly realized that everything was backwards. It immediately draws the conclusion that this was a right brain idea. My right brain was busy filling my head with dreams to defend itself. My left brain managed to coordinated all my limbs and flipped everything so that the status quo would be preserved. Since it has no imagination, it just flips everything not realizing the covers didn't need to be flipped. I completely visualize Charles Grodin freaking out doing all of this.

Yes, I realize I am strange, but if you had Charles Grodin and Jon Lovitz arguing all the time in your brain, you'd be strange too.

Here are the "Cranium Command" videos if you want a better visual on what I was describing:




And the Midnight Run trailer because it is filled with Charles Grodin goodness:

Movie Marketing

A few different people who have too much time on their hands have re-cut movie trailers to make them seem like different movies. Here are my three favorites:

Shining:


Mary Poppins:

Ghostbusters:

Mashups

Sometimes people like to take the audio from one movie trailer and match it up visuals from another movie. Here are three of my favorites:

The audio from "Quantum of Solace" with the visuals from "The Incredibles":


The audio from "Watchman" with the visuals from "Wall-E":


The audio from "Hot Fuzz" and the visuals from "Toy Story 1&2":

Farmville on Facebook

I am addicted to this application game on Facebook.

Here is a video that quickly explains:

If the Internet Were People

This is a few years old, but still cracks me up.

Superstar In the Making

My cousin, Mitch, has a daughter named Sammie. At her pre-school graduation, she got to sing a solo of "God Bless America." Here is the adorable video:



The look of "amateurs" while the guy fiddles with the microphone is classic.

I Was Interviewed

Here is the LINK to the actual website where itthe interview occurs. It also has links to my photos. For convenience sake, here is the interview:



As I say in the interview, I had been awake almost 24 hours at that point. I plead temporary insanity. Enjoy!

Doctor Who Clip

"Doctor Who" held a contest where a fan would get to be an alien and be in a special scene with John Barrowman who plays Captain Jack on both "Doctor Who" and "Torchwood." Even if you are not a fan or familiar with the series, I think you'll find this very cute and perfect for any fan.

(500) Days of Summer

Description from Netflix: When his girlfriend, Summer (Zooey Deschanel), unceremoniously dumps him, greeting-card copywriter and hopeless romantic Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) begins sifting through the year-plus worth of days they spent together, looking for clues to what went awry. As he recalls the good and bad times he spent with the commitment-phobic girl, his heart reawakens to what it cherishes most. Marc Webb directs this uncommon love story.

I saw this and got a chance to photograph the director at SIFF. As I told the director, "You have dethroned 'High Fidelity.'" To which he replied slightly taken aback, "That is awfully high praise." "Completely deserved."

I *LOVED* this movie. I have not laughed out loud this much since "Shaun of the Dead." The tag line is perfect. "This is not a love story. It's a story about love." So true. So wonderful and so funny.

I will be seeing it again when it comes out in July. I think upon a second viewing there is a very real possibility that this will be in my top 10 favorite films of all time.

Everyone needs to see this movie. I'm adding the international trailer below for you to watch. I think it is a better representation of the film than the theatrical version.



Seriously. Go see it.

Amazing Music Video

"Creep" by Radiohead

This is a few years old, but still awesome.

Is it Christmas yet?

But I wanna see this now!

The word you are searching for is "awesomesauce."

Couch Before and After Photos

From blankets in a couch-like shape to an actual couch in seven months!

It is very comfy. Actually, it is the most comfortable couch I have owned and the boldest in color. I bought it off one of the managers at Amazon who has had it in storage for over 2 years.

My friend Linda's husband, James, and I moved it. The couch is massive and honestly, it should not have fit in my apartment. There were a few moments where I didn't think it was going to fit at all, but it all worked out. It didn't fit in the elevator and the stairwell is partially enclosed. There is only so much of this that you could do:

Feeling Nostalgic...

Happy President's Day!

Friday Fun: Bob Newhart

He did a series of commercials for stamps.com back in 1999. They are all :30 to 1:00 so you can get through them quickly. I thought you might enjoy:

















Bob Newhart is just pure comedic genius.