"Let us 'art surf' then, you and I //When the evening is spread out against the sky // Like a patient etherised upon a table' - T.S. Eliot

miniQuiz: For this our animal issue, we have some questions about animals and art. Name the poet of these lines "Tiger, Tiger burning bright // In the forests of the night" and "The Best laid plans of Mice and men/ gang aft agley" (Answer's later)

Newberry and Caldecott: This year's winners for the kid's book awards are the Newberry Medal for literature to Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi, and the Caldecott Medal for illustration to My Friend Rabbit) illustrated by Eric Rohmann. We salute both winners.

For the Last Mime: French mime Marcel Marceau will perform his last show at the Acropolis in Athens on July 12. He turns 80 on March 22.

Paint by Number: Since 1965 painter Roman Opalka, a Polish artist living in France, has been painting numbers. He began with one and now is at 700 million. Each large painting shows numbers in order. He dips his brush and paints the numbers until he runs out of paint. He says he'll continue until he dies. Here's a sample of the text for one painting: 4185294-4207974. (Artnews, 2000).

Nuclear Powered Elevators: We live in a era where every country is racing to build the highest building in the world. Frank Lloyd Wright once proposed a one-mile high skyscraper for Chicago with cableless elevators that were to be nuclear powered. This in the late 40's! (The Guardian)

Hot Dog! I love my Architecture with Mustard: I love the buildings that are shaped like the things they sell. Its kitsch architecture at its best. Experts call it 'vernacular' or programmatic' architecture. I call it fun stuff. Perhaps the best known ex. of this is the famous Brown Derby restaurant in L.A. But others include buildings shaped like, chilli bowls, rabbits, giant ice cream cones, coffee pots, flower pots, oil cans, airplanes, the Sphinx, a tamale, a drive through donut hole, etc. Most don't survive modern building codes, but those tacky reminders from our past that do survive the wrecking ball, deserve preservation. (Also note Musea's 'Musead' - a design for a massive ship shape-d art center in Dallas that looks like a 30's ocean liner) (LA Times)

miniQuiz: Animals in music: who wrote each of these: Madame Butterfly, Peter and the Wolf, Prelude for a Faun, The Carnival of Animals?

Films I Never Saw: Author Chris Gore wrote the '99 book The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made. Some outstanding examples of films that would most likely have been great or at least fascinating were: Casablanca 2, A Marx Brothers/Billy Wilder collaboration, a senior citizen version of Animal House, and a Stanley Kubrick bio of Napoleon starring Jack Nicholson. (Creative Screenwriting) Also see the 70 film script summaries I did in last month's Musea! Unfortunately, I failed to list one that is a sure hit from the title alone. It's a sequel to Shakespeare's tragedy titled: Romeo & Juliet, the Revenge of the Zombie Lovers! Now tell me you wouldn't want to see that!

???: Kid's ask the tough questions for sure. Here's a true example sent in to Womans Day 10/8/02.
"What's magic made of?"

Test for Media Fairness: Here's a test for TV media fairness. IF ads don't in anyway slant the TV news, THEN there should be no change in the news during sweeps months (Feb, May, Nov) when ad rates are determined. Ah, but if you remember the TV news stories in Feb you'll know that yellow journalism was rampant. The coverage of Michael Jackson alone was proof enough. Musea says 'The media is a mess!

Opera top ten with a bullet: Opera America says that the top 10 operas in American opera houses over the last 10 seasons are: 1. La Boheme (Puccini), 2. Madame Butterfly (Puccini), 3. La Traviata (Verdi), 4. Carmen (Bizet), 5. The Barber of Seville (Rossini), 6. Tosca (Puccini), 7. The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart), 8. The Magic Flute (Mozart), 9. Don Giovanni (Mozart), and 10. Rigoletto (Verdi).

Hack: "It is being said of a certain poet, that though he tortures the English language, he has still never yet succeeded in forcing it to reveal its meaning" - Beachcomber.

FCC is C-ing Double: There are big talks ahead at the FCC to determine if mega media corporations can own yet MORE of the spectrum. A wide group of concerned citizens wants pro-biz FCC chairman Mikey Powell to curtail consolidation, not support it. Sen. B. Dorgan from North Dakota said, "If you (FCC Commissioners) get it wrong, we will have much less competition and much more concentration and the American consumer will suffer grievous injury." And he added, "When you talk about more voices, are you talking about more voices by one ventriloquist?:(NYT)

miniQUIZ: Art and animals: What German Expressionist was known for his Blue Horses? What French painter with the nickname "Le Douanier" painted exotic jungle scenes supposedly inspired by his time in Mexico?

Decor Don'ts: M. Kennedy collected a number of interior decorators don'ts in her article for House Beautiful, June 2000. A few ex. are: Don't give big men dainty chairs, don't overwhelm windows with fussy curtains, and never do a room all in one style unless you want a museum look.

Bath for David: Michelangelo's 16 ft. 5 inch statue of David is getting a cleaning/restoration even to Q-Tips for the grime in the ears. The curators are using a mobile lift, like the phone trucks use. The statue, made in 1504, was outside 'till 1873 and that caused most of the grime deposits. The cleaning takes place after hours and is being financed by the Dutch nonprofit organization, the Ars Longa Stichting, who donated $165,000. We salute everyone involved (Mike too)

Everything Old is New Again: The NEW Alexandria Library, modeled on the one founded by Ptolemy in 295 B.C is now open more than a millennium after it was sacked and burned. Official reopening was Oct 16, 2002. It's the completion of a 20 year $200 million project. We salute! (LA Times)

Art S. Rev. Says: Instead of art that is shallow, ironical, and trendy, we need art that is deep feeling, sincere, and ageless."

miniAnswers: Here are the answers to our animal minis: Tiger = William Blake, Mice & Men = Robert Burns: Mad

Butterfly = Giacomo Puccini, Pete & Wolf = Serge Prokofiev, Faun Prelude = Claude Debussy, Animal Carny = Camille Saint-Saens; Blue Horses = Franz Marc, Le Douanier = Henri Rousseau

Ender: Beatle Paul played She Loves You for his father with its 'Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" refrain. Papa said, "Son, enough of these Americanismns. Why can't you just say 'yes, yes, yes?"

News gathered by Musea and Alden Scott Crow.

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Musea: c Tom Hendricks 2003
4000 Hawthorne #5, Dallas, Tx 75219
e-mail tomhendricks474@cs.com
url http://Musea.digitalchainsaw.com
Comment always welcome, see ya next issue.

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