so-called profundity

a new use for post-it notes

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 21:39:00 +0000

The great, ongoing countdown:

Going...

... going...

... almost gone.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:11:00 +0000

I have been successful in making Russ snort gin.

It's what I do.

... and it serves him right.

Incidentally, after my last post, I noticed a lot of traffic on my site report showing up from Charter's corporate domain. Uh, if you're reading this guys... yeah, I still don't have a DVR. But we did get the bill from you today, so thanks for that.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Tue, 27 May 2008 18:54:00 +0000

It's official: Charter Communications gets the "Eat My Shorts" award for the most inept customer experience in recent memory. Now, for the fourth time, we have scheduled an appointment to have a DVR box installed, only to learn from the technician on the day of the appointment that there is in fact no equipment for them to install in our home due to a backlog on DVR orders.

Color me pissed.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sun, 25 May 2008 14:01:00 +0000

profundity theater presents:

Scenes From Our Garage

A couple of nights ago Bean and I hopped in my car to go hang with some friends over drinks and TV. When I turned the key, sounds of mechanical anguish erupted from under the hood. After a few failed attempts at starting the car, coupled with a lot of cursing, we gave up and took Bean's car instead. I've yet to take the car in in for repair (like I need anything else to deal with), but in the meantime there has been housework to do which necessitated moving the car from the garage.

Yesterday, around noon, in our garage...

DAVE: (Yells up the stairs) Honey? Can you come help me for a second please?

BEAN: (Enters garage) Sure - what's up?

DAVE: I need you to steer the car while I push it out of the garage.

BEAN: (Somewhat surprised, partially annoyed) What?! You're gonna break your back trying to push this car by yourself!

DAVE: (Frustrated by her apparent lack of faith his abilities) No, I won't honey - it will be fine. Just get in, please.

(BEAN sits in the driver's seat while DAVE steps to the front of the car, hands on the hood and bumper, preparing to push. DAVE hears the gear shift click and gives the car a hefty shove - it moves nowhere. Not an inch.)

DAVE: (Confused) Do you have the car in neutral?

BEAN: No, I have it in reverse.

DAVE: Please put it in neutral.

(The gear shift clicks again. Pushing with all his might, DAVE cannot get the car to budge.)

DAVE: (Getting irritated) So - you have the car in neutral, right? With your foot off of the brake??

(...a mechanical thud is heard... and the car begins to roll backwards.)

DAVE: (Curses under his breath and looks up into the windshield.)

BEAN: (Flashes a beaming smile back to DAVE.)

(Hearty laughter ensues.)

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Tue, 20 May 2008 10:56:00 +0000

So, in brief, here is a rough list of home improvement skills now under my belt as of the last two months:

some basic carpentry & electrical
priming/painting/caulking
wallpaper removal
drywall repair and patching
wood prep/staining
cursing (already had this one down, but skills have been honed)
installing electrical outlets
demo of all sorts (really no skill involved here)
refrigerator water line installation
installing vinyl tile
replacing locks/deadbolts
building/running coax cable

And today - by no choice of my own - I will add to this list: toilet repair.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 00:23:00 +0000

Man... I need a nap.

There has been so much shit going on the past few weeks that I can barely see straight. Serena and I have been working way harder than those punks on the DIY network. We've painted, we've sanded, we've mudded drywall, we've scraped wallpaper, we've cleaned, we've scrubbed, we've pulled up old floors, we've taken down cabinets, we've spent way more money than I ever thought some of this stuff was worth. When not engaged in one of the above mentioned tasks, we've each been trying to find time to do our actual jobs - you know, the ones we get paid for. We haven't even packed a thing. And we're moving on Monday. Nice.

In all of this commotion, some unseen force of nature decided to provide us with some levity. Let me describe our backyard landscape situation: imagine a partially overgrown kudzu-fest with random weeds and brush, with various sizes of pine and oak trees scattered throughout - some living, some... well, past their prime. We know that we'll have to remove some of these trees (i.e., put them out of their misery) before they decide to make our lovely new home an unexpected duplex. There is one in particular - a scrawny looking, dead-ish pine, probably about 50-60 feet - that I've had my eye on for several weeks. I keep looking out the window, checking out its precarious degree of gangsta lean. It seemed like every time I looked it was leaning more and more - but I eventually chalked it up to my eyes playing tricks on me. Paint fumes, you know.

Now, I told you that story to tell you this story. We were at the house just the other morning waiting on the floor guy to arrive, and my curiosity got the best of me. I walked through the yard, tromped out into the brush, and inspected the lean of the tree in question. Sure enough, it was all up in the business of a nearby perfectly good tree. I surmised that the only thing holding up the deadd (two d's used for effect) tree was the resistance provided by one or two branches of its living neighbor. I said to Serena, "We should get that removed soon - it's only a matter of time before that tree falls." Have I mentioned yet that the tree is leaning towards the house?

The floor guy arrives, we leave, and return later that afternoon to check out his handiwork. We're walking through the house wide-eyed at our brand new floors and carpets, giddy with their shiny new look. My eyes pass by a window and I notice something funny. I take another look... I shift my angle... I move to another window to double check... and yep - the leaning tree is definitely no longer there. I wondered for a fleeting moment if Tony's tree fairy had paid us a surprise visit and removed the offending tree out of the goodness of his heart. Then I - oh... nope - there's the busted tree lying on the ground.

I wish I could have seen it fall - it must have been something. The tree evidently splintered on the way down, cracking into multiple pieces before landing in the yard and thankfully NOT on the house. It crushed a fence that was in the yard, but said fence is destined for the trash heap anyway so no love lost there.

In the "things-that-could-have-gone-terribly-wrong" department, here is a final shot looking up the fallen trunk towards the direction of the house.

1) Wipe brow; 2) curse a bit; 3) thank lucky stars.

Check, check, and check.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:17:00 +0000

I realize that I don't usually write about things that would be topically relevant to my career, since most people probably won't really care to read it. But screw that, 'cause it's on my mind and I feel like writing, so this is what you get. Besides, if I'm worried about the art form being relevant, but am hesitant to discuss it in public, then what does that say about me?

Most people have heard of the "Mozart effect" - roughly, the idea that listening to a dead Austrian guy's music makes you smarter. You may recall that as a result of studies about this phenomenon, the former Gubna of Georgia once proposed a plan to buy every child in the state a CD of classical music. I'm not sure if that plan ever got off the ground, or if any tiny Georgians were ever presented with a CD or not.

What really would have been hilarious, however, is if the execution of that plan ended up being dumped in the hands of some state house intern who, in a moment of ignorance - or a college transcript lacking a music appreciation course - instead of Mozart, actually supplied the children of Georgia with CDs of "Charles Ives' Greatest Hits" or "The Complete Works of Milton Babbitt". Okay - not hilarious. But funny. To me.

In all fairness, Mozart is far more than some dead Austrian guy. He was an extremely important and prolific composer - and in simpler terms, a fucking musical genius. That may be a tough pill to swallow for some people - without historical perspective it's hard to really comprehend his music as being "innovative". Most people would probably assume that in the last 50 years we have seen more musical innovation than in any other time in history - and that may very well be true. But that doesn't mean that past innovations, to those experiencing them, were any less revolutionary. (Clarinets in the orchestra? Gasp!)

I don't know where I read this, but recently I read an article describing the journey that music has taken in the last 100 years or so... that in the relatively recent past, "classical music" did not exist as a genre per se - it was just music. That's all there was. Then Les Paul invented the electric guitar, and since then it's been on like Donkey Kong. Whereas "classical" music was once the music of the people, it has taken a back seat to rock, pop, and hip-hop, and has now become viewed as the music of only "some people."

I heard on NPR a story relating to a different kind of Mozart effect. This is old news (2006), but interesting nonetheless, and really the inspiration for this post. It was a letter from a listener in response to a story about shop owners using high-frequency sounds, audible to kids but not to adults, to keep kids from loitering at their stores. The response goes:

"Well, our story reminded listener Doug Wisecoff(ph) from Cincinnati of an incident a few years back while he was filling up his car with gas. 'As I stood there holding the gas nozzle,' he writes, I suddenly realized they were playing a very enjoyable Mozart symphony.

'When I went inside the mini-mart to pay for my gas, I complimented the man behind the counter and his choice of music. He laughed and informed me that it was because the students from the high school across the street used to hang out in front of his store being obnoxious, being loud and constantly littering. He tried playing classical music to see if it would influence them to behave better and he found that it actually drove them off instantly.'" (National Public Radio, All Things Considered, June 1, 2006)

Perfect! Glad I chose this great career I have.

For a while, classical music was the only musical art that felt compelled to try and reinvent itself. It is a mantra that can be found in almost all arts media that exists, and permeates trade publications and arts blogs. There are folks on both sides of the coin - those championing the great strides being made in new art forms, and those taking their seats to witness the final snorts of the dying corpse in the throes of its demise. I prefer to be an optimist on that point, though I've not always been.

Regardless, it is interesting now to see the major record labels being forced to reinvent themselves. Imagine it - multi-gozillion dollar global corporations facing the same types of issues as the poor little non-profit arts world. Not nearly the same scope, mind you - not even close - but the same concepts nonetheless: how to make themselves relevant to an increasingly changing market/population.

They've seemingly started to pull out of the nose-dive of suing 17-year-olds for downloading illegal music, and began to focus their efforts on real solutions their very real problem - the fact that they no longer have control. Brett turned me on to Bob Lefsetz recently, and I've really enjoyed reading his perspective on issues facing "popular" music - a term I actually kind of despise, since it presumes that any other type of music is "unpopular".

At any rate, the pop world is not really in danger of dying, as some believe classical music to be - the economics behind it won't allow that to happen. However, pro rata, there are just as many (if not more) pop musicians trying to squeeze out a living as there are classical musicians. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Read about Mozart's life, and tell me if it doesn't read like a 1700's version of "Behind the Music". The parallels between these worlds are there, despite all of their differences.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:13:00 +0000

More indications that your industry has a bizarre business model:

Violin Breaks Record for Purchase Price
By Dalya Alberge
quoted from The Times
February 14, 2008

"Pinchas Zukerman will be the first contemporary professional to play the Giuseppe del Gesù violin purchased yesterday at a Sotheby’s auction for between three and four million dollars by a 35-year-old Russian lawyer and musician.

“Viktorov has a world-class collection of violins at his home in Moscow and regularly lends them to performers,” reports the Times of London. “They include a Bergonzi made in Cremona in the 1720s that he bought at Sotheby’s in 2005 for $1.05 million.”

Viktorov set a record when he paid “well in excess” of $3.54 million for the instrument, whose past owners have included composer/violinist Henri Vieuxtemps.

Zukerman performs March 22 in the Grand Hall of Moscow State Conservatory."

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 02:17:00 +0000

My watch battery has been dead for several weeks, and I've been putting off getting it replaced for no reasons other than forgetfulness and laziness. However, I'm doing a lot of traveling over the next month, and when doing so I really prefer to have my watch and not have to dig my cell phone out of my pocket whenever I want to check the time. Deciding that this might be the catalyst I've been waiting for, while packing for my current trip to New York I stuck my watch in my luggage with the hopes of finding a jeweler who could replace the battery.

Upon leaving the hotel this morning I walked around the corner and quickly found a watch and jewelry shop. I walked inside the crowded and cramped shop, and left my watch at the counter with an employee. As I waited for him to fill out the repair order, I saw a framed photo of who I assume is the shop owner, posed smiling next to a younger Sly Stallone - who, according to the caption, is a long-time customer of the shop. The caption continued (paraphrased), "Mr. Stallone is an example of our ideal customer profile, someone with great net worth and a large amount of disposable income." Clearly I was in the wrong store.

When I returned in the afternoon to pick up my watch, I stood at the counter and waited for an employee to run my credit card for the repair cost. While I waited, two men standing next to me were haggling over what looked like gold and platinum coins or medals, the seller complaining that $18,000 being offered by the buyer was not a fair price for this loot. I decided to quickly take my watch, complete with a new $15 battery, and get the hell out before they tried to charge me rent.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 14:36:00 +0000

I am an avid Firefox user. I am also a big fan of the Weather Channel. For some reason, however, the Weather Channel home page does not display correctly in my Firefox browser. It does this funky thing where it displays the graphic header at the top, but the rest of the page is stuck in some frame thing that is only partially visible when you click in the search field in the header. Thus, I must turn to IE7 to view the weather reports on their website. Extremely annoying.

Things I've done lately:
shopped for a house with Bean
gone skiing
drank beer with friends
celebrated New Year's Eve on stage with Funkles
some other stuff

I had my one of my first big "over-30" moments a few weeks ago. Bean and I had planned to visit some friends in Denver on the last day of our ski trip - the plan, roughly, was to grab dinner and drinks and then crash at their place overnight. We talked with them mid-week over the phone, and learned that there were several of their other friends who intended to stay with them that evening as well.

They said, "It's cool, though - we've got a couple of couches and plenty of floorspace... it'll be fun! Like a big party." We busted out the credit card and sprang for a rental car and a nearby hotel room. My floor sleeping days are officially way over.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 23:41:00 +0000

An unfortunate marketing campaign...

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 04:13:00 +0000

Trina has snuck back in to the internets, apparently under the radar of most - including myself - to reclaim his rightful place in the digital world. In his most recent post, he asks: "Is there somewhere you would rather be?"

Well, I'll tell you. Exactly.

I would pack a small carry-on bag with some essentials, including warm clothes and a light-but-decent jacket/pullover. I would proceed to Hartsfield and board the next flight to Boston. Upon landing at Logan, I would grab a cab and head into town, specifically Beacon Hill. I would walk into the Hill Tavern, claim a seat at the bar and take off my coat. Once seated, I would order a Sam - maybe a Harpoon - and an order of steak tips, medium rare, with the sauteed spinach and mashed potatoes. Regardless of the day, in my fantasy world there would be a football game on the TV and my favorite bartender there to trade quips with and laugh at the stumbling drunks that he occasionally gets to remove from the bar. Good times.

Invariably, there will be a few other folks there for similar purposes... good food, cold beer, TV diversions, and impromptu conversations with interesting and friendly folks. After a hearty meal and a few (too many) beers, I would say my farewells, don my coat and head into the cold, windy night to walk back home to the apartment - only I no longer live there, so I suppose I'd be heading back to Logan to fly back to Atlanta. This fantasy assumes, of course, that I have expendable income.

I guess what I'm saying is the place I'd rather be is Boston about 10 months ago - but only for a night.

I doubt this will have the same feeling, the same je ne sais quoi, to most people who read this. But if you think of your same "where I'd rather be" place, it's likely the same sort of thing. Joy, comfort, being at ease - even in a foreign place.

I wish you could have been there... it was a lot of fun.

holy crap, an update

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:44:00 +0000

Ok, so it's been nearly three months. I guess it is time.

Apparently the internet is no longer interested in humping, but instead people have found this site by some new exciting search strings, such as:

wedding dj do it yourself script
profundity is a game
funny flourescent
did Samuel Adams have a lucky hat

Who knew such a wide range of helpful and pertinent information could be had here?

As recently reported by Bean, our search for a house has indeed begun in earnest. Day One with the realtor provided much insight, not the least of which I shall chronicle in...

How To Know This House Is Not For You

Rule #1: (and really the only rule you need to know) If the garage door is tagged with gang signs and graffiti, this house is not for you.

Obviously, we didn't even get out of the car. I really couldn't back out of the driveway quickly enough. Color me stupid.

It was a nice house, too... recent construction, lots of curb appeal, nice interior - we knew all of this from the listing and photos we reviewed. However, the listing doesn't mention the crack deals going on just down the street. Shame on us, though, because we didn't know the neighborhood and didn't drive through it before our appointment with the realtor. Obviously, had we known the situation beforehand, we would not have made a point to visit the house. Chalk one up for experience.

There is a lot of travel in my future, some business, some pleasure. In the next three months I will see the likes of Greensboro (3 times, lovely), Louisville, Denver/Vail, New York, Boston, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Dallas. I generally enjoy traveling - maybe I should get into the travel business? - but it will be stressful trying to deal with all of this house hunting stuff while on the road.

There's nothing I can say about the Dawgs/College Football/BCS/bowl matchups/the SEC/Sanford Stadium/Mark Richt/etc. that hasn't already been said. So I'll jest shuddup.

And in other news... there is no other news.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:33:00 +0000

Working from home can be very challenging. I'm trying to make my "office" as much of an office as possible, to give myself the illusion of being in a little nest of productivity. It's tough, however, when there are plenty of potential distractions. It doesn't help that this time of year is a slow one for me anyway. I will have to create a routine to follow in order to really stay on top of things.

However, the ability to be flexible with my time while still getting paid is, shall we say, veryverykickass. For instance, I granted myself some "comp time" last Wednesday to go here:

It was the first time I've been to a weekday matinee game that I can remember, and it was a lot of fun. Thanks, Cat, for the tickets!

Football: Kit is right - GATA is definitely missing. BIG time. Without getting into a game dissection, all I have to say is that I'm still proud to be a Dawg and can't wait to see us redeem ourselves.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 13:31:00 +0000

Being that the festival was blissfully concluded about two weeks ago, I really have no excuse not to write something. It was really nice to take some time and not do anything for a few days... no e-mails, no phone calls, no constant decision-making required. I had two fabulous interns this summer, as well as another excellent employee who was pseudo-under my charge - I would have been sunk without them. It was a new experience for me to have help. Real help, mind you... I've always had helpful colleagues (some of them, at least), but helpful in the "if I have an extra minute I'll give you a hand" sort of way. No, no - real help is the best. I've never had the opportunity to delegate before, and damn it is the greatest thing in the world.

My greatest challenge now will be to stay disciplined with working from home. (Case in point: I am blogging now instead of working.) We are really looking forward to moving in a couple of weeks, and I think being in a place where I can set up a bona fide office will be a huge help. Having the right kind of workspace will help encourage my diligence... should be much better than what I have now, which is unfortunately not even as good as what I had in Boston (which is still not saying much). We have a sunroom in our new apartment that will serve as my office - I hope it works out to be a good arrangement.

I think it will be a really enjoyable way to work if I can make myself stay on task with what I have to do, and balance that with doing everything else that I want to do. The scary part is that I've never really been good at that...

Flashback to college: I need to practice. But, I want to go drink beer on the patio at Steverino's. Hmm... a dilemma...

I know that will be the biggest challenge for me, so I look forward to tackling it and staying on top of things.

Speaking of tackling (chuckle chuckle), football season is upon us. (!!!) I caught a few short bits of NFL pre-season this past weekend, which was enough to kick my football appetite into a veritable frenzy. Our moving schedule is likely to have us schlepping stuff into our new pad on the day of the UGA home opener (BALLS!) but I'll see what tweaking can be made to the schedule to avoid that all-important event. I am particularly looking forward to this season, because last season was a bit of a dry spell for me. Spend your autumn in New England and you'll understand - when BC is the hottest game in a 500 mile radius, you've got problems.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 00:21:00 +0000

Currently sitting at a rickety table backstage in Boone (yes - another runout) listening to the orchestra play American in Paris... one of the pieces I heard umpteen times on the last Pops tour. It's 63 degrees here tonight, by the way. Global warming, my ass.

I'm glad to report that I was offered full-time, year-round employment by the festival earlier this week. They met my requests on compensation, benefits, and - most importantly - my ability to work at home from Atlanta. Setting my own schedule for 9 months out of the year will work quite nicely, thankyouverymuch. I'm looking forward to it.

I've 6 days left after today, blissfully coasting down the home stretch. Sleep, alcohol, and a massage are high on my list of post-festival priorities - not necessarily in that order.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 17:27:00 +0000

I am officially over the hump - two and a half weeks left, and things are looking good.

The runout show Sunday was uneventful as I had anticipated. In my line of work, no news is always good news.

Serena fantastically surprised me with new clothes yesterday, after she was inspired to do some shopping. The new pair of pants I am wearing today are extremely comfortable, but my pocket has spilled my cell phone 3 times now. Gotta keep an eye on that - would be a very bad thing to lose. I've sent/received so many calls on it lately that scrolling through my list of recent calls only produces about 24 hours worth of results.

Yep. That's all I've got.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 17:10:00 +0000

We have a runout show today in Boone, NC. A runout would defined as an out-of-town gig where you drive to the venue on the day of and return home after the concert - as opposed to an overnighter (which hopefully needs no explanation). These both differ from a residency (more than one or two overnighters in the same location), and a tour (a string of overnighters all in different locations). I've been involved in each of these permutations, and have a lot of experience with runout concerts in particular, so this is a little old hat for me. However, folks here seem particularly nervous about the whole affair. I'm really not concerned. (I really hope I'm not going to jinx myself with that statement. Cue prayers to the gods of travel.)

The one thing I *am* concerned about is getting home at 12:30am and having to be back in the office at 8:00am tomorrow morning. grumble...

Have to finish getting my ducks in a row now before hitting the road.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 13:25:00 +0000

In sifting through my site meter report, I've noticed a startlingly large number of people who are finding this blog by searching for the word 'humper' and subsequently finding this picture.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 12:54:00 +0000

Oh, what the hell... I suppose I can try to write more often than one every six weeks. I don't know about every day, but we'll see.

I'm exhausted. My last day off was June 10, and I won't have another for 24 more days. Yes, I'm counting. We have a pretty tough weekend ahead, but after that I'll be over the hump with the light growing brighter at the end of the tunnel.

It's still a bit early and the rest of the staff hasn't trickled in yet - my last blissful moment of solitude and quiet for the next 10-12 hours.

The first concert of either of the student orchestras was last night, and by all accounts was quite a success. I heard some say it was the finest performance by a student orchestra in recent memory. So that's good... obviously we have a solid talent level this summer. In addition, the faculty orchestra plays very well - and our hall is surprisingly good, which is nice. (If you saw it, you'd be surprised too.)

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 03:35:00 +0000

I'm taking a quick moment to pop my head out in the midst of my summer seclusion. I've been working solid for the past four weeks, and will continue to do so for the next three. But after that, there is an extremely good chance that many good things will happen. Not to jinx myself, but the list of those good things - in no particular order - are as follows:

- the festival, and the 70+ hour weeks that accompany it, will be over
- we'll be moving back to Atlanta
- I'll still be employed by the festival
- I'll be working from home on a pretty flexible schedule for the next 8-9 months or so

So, in short, I can put up with being totally consumed by this job for a brief period of time if it ends up with a payoff in the long-term. It has been and will continue to be tough, but all told things are going well and the end is not terribly far away. Hopefully I'll have a chance to post again before six more weeks pass - either way, I look forward to coming up for air before too long.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Fri, 25 May 2007 02:57:00 +0000

Furthermore, I miss walking. I'd really rather walk most places than have to deal with driving and traffic. It's not so much driving itself, but rather the other people who are driving on the same roads as me. That and the $50 bucks I dropped on gas the other day. As a wise man once said, "Shit ain't right."

It sounds like the upstairs neighbors have set up a bowling alley in their living room. I have never heard so few people make so much noise.

New moneymaking scheme: roam around New York City and stalk the Cash Cab. The City is roughly 300 square miles, and there are about 13,000 cabs. I think I've got a shot.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sat, 19 May 2007 03:19:00 +0000

I'm usually pretty quick to sniff out the local brew.

Yes, Russ - I'll bring you some.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 16 May 2007 16:11:00 +0000

In fairness to the land of the bean and cod, here are a few things I miss about Boston:

sirens
car horns
the T
proximity to water
taxis
the near ubiquitous presence of Dunkin Donuts

Seriously.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 16 May 2007 01:51:00 +0000

I love being badgered into writing. Motivation is a wonderful thing.

I posted a comment on Brett's last post, in response to an article he linked to which outlined the author's personal interpretations of the definition of art. In my comment I noted my disagreement with basically all of the author's points, and was considering writing a rebuttal - not necessarily for the sake of argument - but more for the intellectual exercise. I'm really interested in the topic and have thought about it often, maybe because of its relevance to how I earn my paychecks. But after re-reading the article, I realized I had overlooked an important point made in the opening paragraph:

I have given much thought as to what distinguishes art -- meaning anything an artist produces -- from Art (which I capitalize here) meaning that which has the 'magic', so to speak. I have subjectively concluded that for a work to qualify as Art, among other things it must satisfy these criteria...

Every human being experiences art on their own terms, choosing to enjoy and appreciate those things which are most meaningful to them. By defining "Art" (with a capital "A"), the author is making a personal statement of those very things. This is different than asserting a definition of art that would be applicable to our society and culture as a whole. While I am interested in the objective discussion of what is or is not art, my rebuttal is somewhat pointless since obviously I can't argue with the man on what he likes and/or doesn't like. Maybe you're reading this and thinking, "Well.... duh." Sorry... I guess I failed the reading comprehension portion of this exam.

I am glad to be back in the south. Boston was great, and I do miss it, but I'm grateful for the following:

Y'all
waving, nodding, or otherwise sharing a greeting with people you don't know and have never seen before
the Braves on TBS
buying beer in the grocery store
Chik-fil-A

But I still miss Publix.

This is the strangest thing I've seen recently:

Yes, of course there is a story.