I'm A Lone Nut With A Gun, But I Wouldn't Hurt Anyone

Here are a few things that I love right now.

I went to the St Louis Art Museum and they had an exhibit called Action/Abstraction, which had a focus on Pollock and de Kooning. To say the least, it was wonderful. And while the focus was on Pollock and de Kooning, the exhibit itself was much larger and included tons of artists. The exhibit also showed an evolvement of art since Pollock. One of the artists I was introduced to was Gerhard Richter, who has various styles he employs in his different pieces. I was surprised this was included in the exhibit since it's photorealism, but I'm glad that is was. This painting is called Betty and it won the my favorite piece in the whole exhibit award.

The rest of the museum was actually pretty fantastic. It's located in Forest Park which is, hands down, the most beautiful and serene place in all of St. Louis. The rest of the Museum had tons of great art and also that one room, that all museums have, that have the 3 or 4 best things ever all in one place. In this museum, it was a Chuck Close, a Lichtenstein and a Warhol all in a small room the size of a bedroom. In Atlanta, there used to be but is no longer,  a room with a Richard Estes, a Rauschenberg, and an amazing painting (not sure on the artist) that was huge and basically a black silhouette of a house against a black sky with a lone window light on. I would spend so much time in that one room.  Another pretty fascinating piece at the STL museum was a video loop called Placebo by an artist named Saskia Olde Wolbers. Here it is, taped off of the actual exhibit wall, so it's a rough version, but still illustrates some of the rad stuff in it.

Thanks to the constant gushing by Hugh and Emmi about how great Mad Men is, I finally sat down and gave it a shot. I usually find it hard to believe that something on TV can be that great, especially if it's not on HBO. Boy oh boy was I wrong. I can honestly say that Mad Men is the best thing I've seen, on any medium, in a long time.  I don't find it to be a show about morally absent people,  but more of a show that examines impulsiveness and instant gratification in human relationships and personal endeavors. It's dark and sad and constantly surprising to see the means to these characters ends.  I tried to find a single clip on youtube that conveys what this show is like, but it's almost impossible. While the easy one to show would be the "Carousel" clip, it doesn't work as well out of context, knowing what there is to know about Don Draper. So I chose this one, which conveys, microcosmically(is that a word?), the emotional failure of pretty much every character on the show. And it is more bizarre in context than it is out of context, which is a testament to this program.

So, art, television, and now music. There is a trailer for the new Sam Mendes film, Revolutionary Road, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, and it looks fantastic. It actually looks like it could be an episode of Mad Men. But I think what makes the trailer awesome is the song that is playing in it. I had never heard it before so I did some research and found out it is called Wild Is The Wind and is being sung by Nina Simone. It's a song that has been sung by what seems like a million artists from Johnny Mathis to David Bowie to Cat Power. But this version, by Nina Simone, is wonderful. It's the kind of song you want to listen to after a couple glasses of scotch. There is a short version and long version, but I'm gonna include the long version here because the song deserves the time. The accompanying video is nothing, and not important, but just listen to the song. Have a few drinks and just sit back and listen to this song. 

I did some research on Nina Simone and listened to a handful of her songs. She was around during the civil rights era and was a proponent of violent revolution. She had bipolar disorder and died of breast cancer. Listen to her other songs. Amazing stuff. 

Finally, to wrap up this video heavy post, I want to include one of my favorite things ever.