cultural commentary from the desk of Don Shewey
A pile-up of arcana this week — everything you ever wanted to know about…window-washers! I read most of that, and I read all of “Home Economics,” Tad Friend’s thorough, witty report on a plan hatched in California to reduce the principal on mortgages that are “underwater” by invoking eminent domain to void them and reassess the properties — adamantly opposed by the financial industry.
The best stuff in this issue are the cartoons:
Every Christmastime since 1992, I have created a commonplace book as a gift for friends and loved ones. A commonplace book is customarily a collection of literary quotations and musings organized alphabetically. My versions incorporate poems, cartoons, photographs I’ve taken, and dirty pictures from the internet. They’re fun to make and fun to read. Recipients of the limited edition hard copies tend to treasure them, but I also make them available online. I just posted the 2012 edition, called milk from other animals. You can view it page by page at that link, or you can download the PDF here — it may take a few minutes to download but viewing it on an iPad is probably the best possible way to read the book. Be forewarned: there are any number of, ahem, adult images on the pages so clicking on any of these things is acknowledgement that you are over 18 and have learned to dress yourself. Check it out and let me know what you think.
SERENDIPITY
On January 28, 1754 the word “serendipity” was first coined. It’s defined by Merriam-Webster as “the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.” It was recently listed by a U.K. translation company as one of the English language’s 10 most difficult words to translate. Other words to make their list include plenipotentiary, gobbledegook, poppycock, whimsy, spam, and kitsch.
“Serendipity” was first used by parliament member and writer Horace Walpole in a letter that he wrote to an English friend who was spending time in Italy. In the letter to his friend written on this day in 1754, Walpole wrote that he came up with the word after a fairy tale he once read, called “The Three Princes of Serendip,” explaining, “as their Highnesses travelled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of.” The three princes of Serendip hail from modern-day Sri Lanka. “Serendip” is the Persian word for the island nation off the southern tip of India, Sri Lanka.
The invention of many wonderful things have been attributed to “serendipity,” including Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, Charles Goodyear’s vulcanization of rubber, inkjet printers, Silly Putty, the Slinky, and chocolate chip cookies. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin after he left for vacation without disinfecting some of his petri dishes filled with bacteria cultures; when he got back to his lab, he found that the penicillium mold had killed the bacteria. Viagra had been developed to treat hypertension and angina pectoris; it didn’t do such a good job at these things, researchers found during the first phase of clinical trials, but it was good for something else. The principles of radioactivity, X-rays, and infrared radiation were all found when researchers were looking for something else. Julius Comroe said, “Serendipity is looking in a haystack for a needle and discovering a farmer’s daughter.”
— The Writer’s Almanac
I watched the DVD of Pedro Almodovar last film THE SKIN I LIVE IN — wow, creepy!
Friday afternoon in the snow, Andy and I made a long-anticipated pilgrimage to Spa Castle — we didn’t follow these hardy souls into the outdoor pools, though
Then Saturday night we did some gallery-hopping, beginning at Coates Wyllie on W. 29th Street, where the group show CHARACTER SATURATION included Rupert Nesbitt’s “Elusive Fox”
Then we taxied across town to Alexander and Bonin for Matthew Benedict’s show “Americana,” which included this beautiful collage construction titled “Silent”
Ben and Matt are old friends from school (Art Institute of Chicago)
I had never seen Matt’s work before — it’s often witty…
…and often macabre.
Andy’s favorite piece was the painting “Six of Spades”
Afterwards we had dinner at Trestle on Tenth with Jim Corbin, who stopped at Equinox to tweak the nipple of the Equinox spokesmodel
“Runnin’ Back for More,” Gabrielle Stravelli
“Oh Phoney,” Morrissey
“Chuch,” Shabazz Palaces
“Forget About it,” Lissy Trullie
“Half Life,” Imogen Heap
“Better Version of Me,” Fiona Apple
“Hung Up,” Madonna
“Fluorescent Half Dome,” Dirty Projectors
“Baghdad Café: Calling You,” Lorraine Hunt Lieberson
“Answers Come in Dreams,” Hercules & Love Affair
“Undamned,” Over the Rhine (featuring Lucinda Williams)
“Why Can’t I Grow a Beard?” the Gay Blades
“World War 24,” Ryan Adams
“If You Knew,” Jeff Buckley
“For the Roses,” Cassandra Wilson
“The First Preaching Match: Is It Like This For Her Here Always?” A Minister’s Wife OCR
“St. Exquisite’s Confessions,” Of Montreal
“Lilac Wine,” Anastasia Barzee
“Flagstaff,” Atlas Sound
“Step by Step,” Jesse Winchester
“Lay Myself Down,” Mazzy Star
another eye opens 