Merry Christmas

Christmas Dawn
[Photo By: KPA, December 25, 2017]

O Come O Come Emmanuel

O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny
From depths of Hell Thy people save
And give them victory o'er the grave
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, O come, Thou Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height,
In ancient times did'st give the Law,
In cloud, and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

#SQ1Slay The Holidays

Image on Square One's website and Facebook page

Clever Christmas Promoters came up with this Facebook handle. It is clearly a play on "sleigh," but it fits with the non-Christian (anti-Christian) celebration of the holiday: All glitter and sparkle with urban slang added to the mix. Slay's literal translation is of course kill - Let's kill Christmas.

So Many Trees, So Little Christmas Square One Celebrates the "Holidays"

Below are photos I took of Square One Mall in Mississauga this morning. People were happy and festive. Christmas has become the perfect holiday for everyone: to be in good cheer; to give each other gifts; and to merrily wish everyone "HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!"

And the tree! I found three versions in my quick walk around the mall. (I went looking for "holiday decorations").

Nowhere, nowhere, is there any mention of Jesus and Mary. And even the angels are absent.

And who sits with Santa on Christmas Eve, when all the gifts have been delivered! Well the photo-op brngs n good money:


Santa surrounded by shrubs


Prices for a photo packages with Santa


Swarovski crystal tree next to horns


Bare winter branches all a-glitter


At least Santa is Jolly

More Holiday Cheer

James Perloff with "Hell's Mirror: Global Empire of the Illuminati Builders"

James Perloff writes at Amazon.com about a recently released book: Hell's Mirror: Global Empire of the Illuminati Builders by Texe Marrs:

With his usual outstanding research skills, Texe Marrs makes the case that the architecture for a future satanic kingdom has long been under construction here on Earth. Many of the pagan idols that were torn down as Christianity advanced are now being restored. Although the book discusses some structures I was familiar with, such as the Georgia Guidestones and the Masonic layout of Washington, DC, it includes information about them that I had not heard before, such as the blood, possibly sacrificial, that is on top of the Guidestones. The book includes many rare photographs of Masonic, Kabbalistic and satanic buildings and monuments I had previously been unaware of. The hidden meanings of various occult symbols are explained in this book. A welcome addition to any truth-seeker’s library.

Texe Marrs has this brief biography on the Amazon.com page:

Texe Marrs is author of over 50 books, including the Conspiracy of the Six-Pointed Star: Eye-Opening Revelations and Forbidden Knowledge About Israel, the Jews, Zionism, and the Rothschilds, #1 bestseller Dark Secrets of the New Age and Codex Magica: Secret Signs, Mysterious Symbols, and Hidden Codes of the Illuminati. A retired career U.S. Air Force officer, he has taught at the University of Texas at Austin and has appeared on radio and TV talk shows across America.

Here is Texe Marrs' website.

And James Perloff's website and twitter page.

Blowing Up Christmas: Part Dvah

I talked of an alt-right global movement half in jest.

Is it going Russian?

Spencer's (ex) wife is a bona fide Ruski. It is not even clear where she lives anymore.



The lakes and mountains of Montana can easily stand for the Russian Caucasus.

Blowing Up Christmas

Satan is ever present. He lurks where we are happiest and thus least vigilant. That is a fault and a great error.

Christmas is a celebration, but like Mary and her family, we have to travel cautiously.

Here we have the great answer to America's ills, the "alt-right" movement (who ever started a movement with abreviations?) blowing up a Christmas tree. OK, it is not a nativity, but they're treading water carefully. Next year...

I tried to read the discussion posted under the image titled:

The crew of Alt-Politics discuss Christmas, Paganism, childhood, and their experiences of the holiday.

Yep they said it: the "P" word.

I wasn't allowed in unless I signed up, when they would clearly block me.

Here's more:

Richard Spencer is American Editor of AltRight.com; he’s President of The National Policy Institute and founder of RadixJournal.com.

appears at the bottom of the image. "American" editor? So much for localism, so much for America. Here we have a global movement growing its horns.

They just want us to have a general idea of what they're up to. So that we're not completely surprised.

HO! HO! HO!

The Art Gallery of Mississauga: Unmasked

The Art Gallery of Mississauga is a small gallery hidden within the City Centre's City Hall.

It has been persistently following an agenda, which is now out in the open.

Read below (also at the AGM's website here) the extraordinary statement, made publicly on the AGM's website, on the exhibition Unmasked now on display (which is a "satellite" exhibition coordinated with the Mississauga Central Library, across the City Centre grounds, a short five minute walk from the AGM). Below that, I will quote from Tau Lewis' writing, one of the artists presenting in this exhibition, and how she has assimilated the AGM's very language which was designed to lure her into projects such as "Unmasked," a language that the AGM has become an expert in constructing, with words and phrases such as "European colonialism" and "appropriated" (and of course many other similar words and phrases.) The European "colonizers," according to the AGM, continue their nefarious behavior of appropriating the works of their (former) colonies, "bringing great wealth and status to [white] artists and institutions who did so." By exhibiting works by Tau Lewis and other non-white artists, the AGM's mostly white managers and administrators are on a mission of re-appropriating those stolen goods and ideas back to their owners.

Here is the full statement on the AGM's webste on Unmasked :

The contemporary artists presented within this exhibition have responded to selected works held within the AGM’s Permanent Collection, and work to reclaim agency over their representations. They aim to expand upon and subvert a dialogue that was so rigidly enforced and perpetuated by problematic historical images, aesthetics and politics.

For over a century people of colour, and the cultural objects they have created, have been positioned as a tool by western artists to convey a more “simple” and “pure” culture. These peoples and their aesthetics have been romanticized and even fetishized in an attempt to indicate an idealized independence from the problems that plagued “civilized societies” — while their own cultures were being annihilated under European colonialism.

The aesthetic of art produced within colonized nations has been and continues to be appropriated and misrepresented to further these ideas — o, while the works of Black artists have historically been plundered and relegated to the vitrines of natural history museums. Even in Canada, the history of collections and collecting practices is fraught with violence and erasure.

This exhibition aims to bring to light the fact that not only do these attitudes still persist, they are maintained literally and symbolically within galleries and museums. The AGM commits to unmasking these harmful and persistent ideologies, and to highlighting alternative voices in order to actively decolonize the Permanent Art Collection.

And here is a one line quote from the exhibition's notes which succinctly presents the AGM's worldview:

For over a century people of colour, and the cultural objects they have created, have been positioned as a tool by western artists to convey a more “simple” and “pure” culture.

The figure above is a mask from Tau Lewis' collections. Lewis is presenting her works at the exhibition Unmasked.

The mask is not carved or sculpted, but a profile of the artist's face through a simple and common (but unpleasant) method used by sculptors usually for mock-up masks, or for entertainment such and masked balls. Similar structures can be constructed of the whole body or parts of the body such as a hand.

Below are images from Lewis' videos showing her technique.





And from this, a mask is formed which the artist then decorates according to her designs:



A photograph of the mask sells for $800 at this site!

The irony (or hypocrisy) here of course is that the exhibition is opening up a "safe place" where "non-western art" will not be "exploited" by western artists, and can resume its "authentic" primitive voice, which according to the AGM's notes is

...to convey a more “simple” and “pure” culture.

Since when, in our contemporary art world, have non-whites ever made to feel threatened or exploited? The bigger, nefarious, purpose is to dislocate and disband white and Western artists through attack words like "appropriation" and "colonization" in order that they are intimidated and made to feel guilty, and spend their precious energy, time and talent giving credence to mediocre Third World artists like Lewis.

The other irony (hypocrisy) of course is that Lewis would never be making such "art," nor would she have such a profile at institutions like the AGM, if white artists, white cultural leaders, and the white AGM troupe didn't give her such a "space" to present her work, but as long as she channels back to her heredity and race, and manages to instill some guilt inducing material into her works to pulling at the strings of her white Canadians with her primitive,“simple” and “pure” tribal art.

But who wants sophistication if one gets something "pure?"

Looking at Lewis' work, it is clear that she has fallen into the trap of the contemporary artist (no matter who the artist is - black/white/Asian/male/female/gay/transgender) and she explains this lucidly and "proudly." (I've added my own notes as commentary):

A self-taught [Note: almost all artists now loudly declare that they are self-taught. This isn't some grandiose declaration, but a rejection of centuries of western art and western methods] sculptor, Lewis combines natural and synthetic materials to create simulations of living things. She considers the history and symbolism of each material, exploring the political [Note: political now s a loaded word to mean discrimination and even in some cases racism as experienced by the artist from the "white" culture under which he (she) works) There s never any valid or substantial demonstration of that accusation by the artists] boundaries of nature, identity [Note: "identity" means racial identity, and can be expressed only by non-whites. Whites have been expressing their "identity" for centuries, and more recently at at the "discriminated" expense of blacks and other non-whites.] and authenticity. Her work is bodily and organic, with an explicit strangeness and subtle morbidity [Note: This is not specific to black/non-western artists, but a new and disturbing trend (more disturbing than false accusation of racism) is the appearance of alien forces - alien god-heads - in contemporary art. This is a serous rejection of God and a willing introduction of Satanic/Evil forces. These artists have NO idea what they're delving into]. Her current practice relies heavily on her surrounding environment; she constructs sculptural portraits using found objects, repurposed materials and live plants sourced from urban and rural landscapes [Note: I.e. she works with material she never "created."]. She connects these acts of repurposing and collecting with diasporic experience and black bodies. Her portraits are recuperative gestures that counter persistent tendencies to erase or peripheralize black artists and narratives within Canadian art and history.

Lewis has exhibited at the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Spring Break Art Fair in New York and New Museum, New York. She has received support from Toronto Arts Council and Ontario Arts Council [Note: The various Canadian governmental bodes distribute huge sums of money to mediocre and even talentless non-white artists who are bold enough to present their art through a "racialized" commentary. The purpose of these funds is to support non-white and non-Western (and non-Christian) artists and bring then out into the mainstream society. This way, Canadian art will be inundated by such art (which would otherwise remain n obscure corners of ethnic organizations) and the (white) public can be pushed into thinking of art as something which is/was hijacked by white society to the detriment of non-whites.]. Recent and forthcoming exhibition sites include: Night Gallery, Los Angeles, USA; COOPER COLE, Art Gallery of York University, Toronto, Oakville Galleries, Toronto, and Plug In ICA, Winnipeg.

These irresponsible and callous "cultural representatives" are short-changing young people like Lewis, who may have some talent as a plaster mask creator for theaters and entertainment projects (e.g. masked balls), and dug her into a hole where posterity will not be kind towards her.

One day, it will be "racialized" communities which will rise in mutiny against the AGM and its coven of artist "representatives."

But there is an underlying spiritual theme to all art. Lewis, who has rejected Western art, which still has at its historical base Christianity (however much modernists have rejected that), is delving into her own spiritual base and core. This piece below, on her Instagram page, shows the horned head of Lucifer. And an astute commentor tells her so approvingly:

Towards Demons

I keep posting on deteriorating Western art. What this vacuum allows in is alien, foreign art. But more importantly, alien, foreign gods.

Western art has always had at its base the Bible and the Christian Weltanschauung.

When the West began to be discard this, in the very late 19th century and throughout the 20th, and viciously in the 21st, what we began to see was first a disparagement of God then finally His full-out rejection.

Man cannot live by art alone, so what we started to get was a slow incursion of alien deities. This of course found its perfect league with immigration and multiculturalism, which let in, with open arms, all those alien god practitioners.

We see it now our arts institutions, but of course this bleeds into our daily lives and environments.

Here is what I took yesterday at the Square One mall in Mississauga where one (of many) stores carefully exposes us to its godheads. At the very entrance, right next to the Canadian iconic department store, Hudson's Bay, we have this:























Of course Harry Potter is the black magic movie which was such a big hit amongst vulnerable young children, mostly white and of "Christian" families.





Where there is a void, the demons will fill in. The post-modern, anti-God, anti-life Western civilization, with its Urban Decay emblems and Harry Potter magic, has allowed that to happen.

More on the Creep Harvey Weinstein

Of course the pathetic actresses also whored themselves to this man are also to blame. Who lets any "unknown" man into one's room?



From James Perloff's tweet.

Feminists are the biggest cry-babies. When the going gets tough they scream "RAPE!!!!!"

Well the sad part is that these neophyte Hollywood actresses are hardly feminists. They are simply stooges, manipulated by bitter, hard-hearted, anti-men women who are mostly lesbians or lesbian-wanna-bes.

My Response to Art Gallery of Mississauga

(From The Thinking Housewife)

My belly laugh: courtesy of the AGM and The Libby Hague revered retrospective now showing at the AGM.

"Poor Artists. Poor You. Everyone's Picking on You!"

In case you didn't recognize it, this title refers to Stanley Stucci's put down of Anne Hathaway in the film The Devil Wears Prada. Hathaway thought she was way above the meticulous and sharp fashion magazine editor Meryl Streep (after VOGUE's Anna Wintour), and realizes she's NOT!

Stan Stucci, who has been ordered to train this neophyte, takes her to the stock room to pick out dresses to present to Mme. VOGUE for the magazine's next edition.

Do you want me to say, "Poor you. Miranda's picking on you. Poor you. Poor Andy"? Hmm? Wake up, six. She's just doing her job. Don't you know that you are working at the place that published some of the greatest artists of the century? Halston, Lagerfeld, de la Renta.

Poor Kendra. Poor you!

Here is Kendra Ainsworth (poor poor Kendra), curator of contemporary art at the AGM, standing in awe before the quack artist Libby Hague (well that is an oxymoron since all modern and post-modern artists are quacks) who herself looks like she needs some kind of consolation from some force higher than HER. I can fit that role! No. On second thoughts, one cannot wean decades of dependency on government grants: i.e. Free Money. And fakery.

Catherine Hernandez: The Lesbian Vs. God and Other Stories, Redux

I posted on Catherine Hernandez, the married lesbian Asian with one daughter from a former marriage to a white Canadian (man), about six months ago: Catch Them While They're Young, and Catherine Hernandez: The Lesbian Vs. God and Other Stories.

The Art Gallery of Mississauga hosted regular "story telling" sessions where she read her feminist/gay-sensitive story book M is for Mustache: A Pride ABC Book to toddlers. The AGM advertised her 2015 sessions thus:

AGM TOT SPOT!
with Guest Storyteller Catherine Hernandez
NEXT SESSION: FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 10 - 11 AM
Art Gallery of Mississauga | 300 City Centre Drive | FREE & Open to the Public

Monthly on Fridays, 10 - 11 AM, join us at the gallery for an hour of stories, movement and imagination!

Catherine Hernandez is a proud queer woman of colour, radical mother, activist, theatre practitioner and the Artistic Director of b current performing arts. Her one-woman show, The Femme Playlist, premiered at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre as part of the afterRock Play Series, co-produced by b current, Eventual Ashes and Sulong Theatre. Her children’s book, M is for Mustache: A Pride ABC Book was published by Flamingo Rampant in 2015.
The AGM recommends 1 parent for every 2 children at Tot Spot!

Hernandez maintained her lesbian performance art theater through her salary from a "home"-based day care, as well as, of course, with multitudes of government grants for her books and theatrical performances. Her daycare was also run on government funds.

Here is one example of a $10,000 grant for a Playwright Residency in which she participated through funding from the Ontario Arts Council.

And she was a co-winner of the Emerging Writers Award in 2015 with her manuscript Scarborough, a book on the Toronto suburban town of Scarborough where she has lived for most of her life. The award is presented by

The Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop Society (ACWW).

the Emerging Writer Award (EWA) was established in 1999 to help authors of Pacific Rim Asian heritage be published with an established publishing house [Source].

The Society is a not for profit organization and is governed by a board of directors and executive team.

More about the ACWW:

The Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop (ACWW) began as a writing collective in the early 1960s, by dedicated Asian Canadian writers: Rick Shiomi (playwright), Sky Lee (novelist), Paul Yee (children’s author), Jim Wong-Chu (poet) and Sean Gunn (poet). In 1995, ACWW was incorporated as a non-profit society which started publishing Ricepaper Magazine, originally as a newsletter to showcase the work of emerging Asian Canadian writers is now a nationally recognized web-based magazine with a global audience.

And the purpose of the Society is:

- to organize, sponsor, stage and otherwise promote cultural arts activities and events including festivals, presentations, demonstrations, exhibits, workshops and seminars involving Pacific Rim Asian Canadian literary arts, themes and interests conducted in the English language;

- to encourage public appreciation of the above through educational activities including cultural exchange and scholarship

- to foster public appreciation, awareness and community development through cultural events.

On Catherine Hernandez:

The ACWW is so proud to see Catherine Hernandez complete her first novel...The novel's name is a tribute to the community of Scarborough, a low-income, culturally diverse neighbourhood east of Toronto, which is also the fourth largest city in North America. Like many inner-city communities, it suffers under the weight of poverty, drugs, crime, and urban blight. Scarborough the novel employs a multitude of voices to tell the story of a tight-knit neighbourhood under fire: among them, Victor, a black artist harassed by the police; Winsum, a West Indian restaurant owner struggling to keep it together; and Hina, a Muslim school worker who witnesses first-hand the impact of poverty on education.

Hernandez' book Scarborough is newly released in 2017 by Arsenal Pulp Press, with a cover photo by Matthew Henry.



There is no way to verify where photo was taken, or even if it is a station in Scarborough. It might be Victoria Park station from the white tiles, which is a a stop before the Warden station where Hernandez stands posing in the photo below. Or a station in New York.



And there is no title for the photo. It is a major error for a book which purports to be "site specific" to have an unidentified picture on its cover page. But it is the usual generic and slack attitude of multi-cultists who are simply out to set an agenda rather then expose truth through accuracy. A little black girl running in an empty subway station stands for all those little brown and yellow girls abused by The System.

Hernandez' book sale went so well that she has abandoned her subsidized child care "small business" for the bigger bucks of a multicultural minor literary celebrity. Scarborough was a finalist in the 2017 Toronto Book Awards, but did not win.

She discusses all this on Steve Paiken's "The Agenda" program on TV Ontario on Wednesday.

The full interview is here, but what is outstanding is her presentation of herself.

On her easily google searchable website (the web address is her own name), she has her S&M Lesbian pose for all to see, as well as pornographic poses in other (easily viewable) websites.

But in more "polite" society (such as TVO) she presents herself as the convivial Filipina single mother (she calls herself a "single mother"). Although she can't help expose her tattooed cleavage.


Screenshot from TVO interview, Tuesday November 1 2017

Now that her book is published and she'll be done with the tours and interviews, she has a new project ready for the public:

“It is so refreshing to see a woman celebrate her sexuality on stage while actively resisting the oppressive gazes that would objectify her doing so.” —Jeremy Gardiner, Mooney on Theatre

Hernandez has her own company, amongst other projects, a theatre company she calls "b current", whose financial information is as follows:



62%, or a whopping 2/3, of b current's budget is from government sources. And this is for her company. We have no information on her other financial sources for her own artistic practices.

Here is the 2016/2017 season schedule for b current, which Hernandez calls A Season of Rebirth:

Trace
Nov 16 -Dec 3
Factory Studio Theatre
by Jeff Ho

trace follows three generations of mother and son from the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong to Canada in the 21st Century. Combining virtuosic original piano compositions with an incredible performance, and a lyrical text, this exquisite and stimulating one man chamber play offers a new look into what we give up to thrive under duress.

Take D Milk, Nah?
Apr 12-22 2018
Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace

A Pandemic Theatre and b current performing arts Co-Production with the support of Theatre Passe Muraille
Written and Performed by Jivesh Parasram
Directed by Tom Arthur Davis
Dramaturgy by Graham Isador

Jiv is “Canadian.” And “Indian.” And “Hindu.” And “West Indian.” “Trinidadian” too. Or maybe he’s just colonized. In Take d Milk, Nah?Parasram blends personal storytelling, ritual, and academic lecture to walk an audience through the Hin-do’s and Hin-don’ts at the intersections of these cultures. The show is a refreshingly candid and delightfully funny look at race, religion and nationalism(s): What divides us – and what we’re willing to accept in the desire to belong. Oh, and there’s a cow.
Generously funded in part by the Wuchien Michael Than Foundation​

Rock, Paper, Sistahz Development Series
Ongoing

rock.paper.sistahz festival has been reimagined into an in-depth development series where curated artists are invited to explore, play and present their work throughout the season, all within our newly renovated 50 seat studio theatre.

This year's works in residence are:
OUR FATHERS, SONS, LOVERS AND LITTLE BROTHERS​
Written and Performed by Makambe K Simamba
Directed and Dramaturged by Audrey Dwyer

February 26, 2012, Florida. A 17 year old black boy wearing a hoodie leaves a 7/11 carrying a bag of Skittles and an iced tea. He never makes it home. Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers invites us to enter the world of an infamous teen, relive his last moments, and face the intricacy of his dance into the afterlife. Makambe's residency is supported in part by Alberta Theatre Projects in Calgary where she is a member of the ATP Playwrights Unit.

Bite Hard: The Justin Chin Project
The Bite Hard Collective consists of: Jasmine Chen, Jeff Ho, Michael Man and Jonathan Tan

Bite Hard: The Justin Chin Project is a no holds barred performative exploration of queerness, love, sex, culture clashing and community, through piano and poetry. One of the first slam poets in America, Justin Chin was a force to be reckoned with. His performance style was uncensored, unapologetic and startlingly unique. Before his death in 2015, Chin was a poet who gave voice to his own intersectional identity, which served as his lens on the world. In his poetry, one-man shows and essays, he had the deft skill of delivering searing anger through sharp wit and cynicism.

The Bite Hard Collective seeks to use Justin’s writing as a launching pad to explore the intersectionality of Queer and Asian identities. Inspiring piano composition and spoken text, the collective will examine the complexities of this intersection and how it affects all aspects of life: family, religion, relationships, social status, body image, discrimination, etc. It is largely felt that the Queer lens in Canada is by default a White lens. White is accepted as ‘neutral’ in the gay community and Asianness exists outside of the dominant narrative. The intersection of Queer and Asian can sometimes feel like a violent collision; where two cultures often fail to accept or make room for the other. Yet, there is the popularized term ‘Gaysian’ - a loaded word that for some people is a reclamation and for others is an ill-fitted label. Bite Hard is a wild debate, a subversion, a piano-drag-burlesque, and a celebration of Asian Queerness.

Hernandez grandiosely tells us on her b current website:

b current is the hotbed for culturally-rooted theatre development in Toronto. Originally founded as a place for black artists to create, nurture, and present their new works, our company has grown to support artists from all diasporas. We strived over two decades to create space for diverse voices to be heard, always with a focus on engaging the communities from which our stories emerge. As a result, these communities hold our company in trust and respect the work that we do. Whether our audiences identify with our work through ethnic experience, social values, or political awareness, these groups are loyal to our programming because they recognize the high level of cultural authenticity and integrity we foster in our artists and their works.

So perhaps there lies the root behind the photograph of a black girl on the cover of Scarborough: to carry on the legacy she feels she's been left by her black neighbors in Scarborough, and her fellow black artists in Toronto. It is a condescending look at race: blacks are the most oppressed and therefore we (browns) have to stand in solidarity with them.

Her October 25, 2017 twitter message explains:



So there you have it, a post-modern, multicultural, brown, Asian, post-gender Canadian, with a pretty nice governmental financial package.

Food and Feet

Below is a post I wrote in 20057 on conceptual art. Besides the warranted art critic of all conceptual art (I do say that they should call it something other than art for it to have any redemption) I find this particular one creepy. What young child would really like wading in food? It seems the whole experience is for the adults who drag their children along as a pretext.


Blue
Installation
Blue gelatin;
Part of the exhibition Wade I, Toronto, 2005




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Conceptual Art: An arrogant snub
Art and Design Blog
Kidist Paulos Asrat
April 23, 2007

Conceptual Art is art where the idea matters more than the actual piece of work. The artist doesn't require any skill in the traditions of drawing, painting or sculpting, and rearranges objects to fit a concept - or an idea.

My whole critique of conceptual art would be too long for a blog posting. Suffice to say that it irritates me endlessly. Although I "get" it each and every time, I can never make art (or design) with such criteria, because really, my mind doesn't work that way. I feel that I would be cheating myself, and whomever sees my humble efforts, by using mental jig-saw puzzles to put my artistic projects across.

I also find contemporary conceptual artists to be cold and indifferent to the public despite the inordinate amount of time they spend to come up with "public art". This is very clear to me with a contemporary "artist" Gwen MacGregor, who recently used giant jello cubes to fill up a public space - a fountain, in this case.

There is something creepy about wading through jello cubes, of the very type that you might eat as dessert one of these days. I'm quite sure that the young children walked through it with trepidation, and it is only the adults who were gleefully amused.


http://www.wadetoronto.com/

The shortcoming is of course that MacGregor can never design a real fountain, either as a two-dimensional painting or drawing, or as an architectural piece. So, her "concept" becomes the art of the gimmick. And an arrogant snub.

The Marchesa and the Macho

Below is an article I wrote in 2013 on Georgina Chapman, the fashion designer behind the Marchesa label. She is married to Harvey Weinstein, but not for long.

Here is a post I wrote on her perfume, Marchesa's D'Extase.

Weinstein was cavorting around with Hollywood women and WHY!! with such a beautiful wife? I always wondered why she married him, the corpulent and crass "media mogul." She has her own millions, and talent too. She started Marchesa in 2004 and married Weinstein in 2007, although he may have pulled some Hollywood strings to get it started. Still designers come and go and Marchesa is now a big name. I guess it must be his machoness. "He's incredibly charming and so charismatic, it sort of draws you in," she says in an interview.

And why is he doing this? Well the truth is that his wife is successful, independently rich, and powerful in her field (Hollywood fashion). So that doesn't give him much to do as a husband. I already noted her modern-feminist-who-wants-it-all attitude in the article linked to above, where I comment on a video publicity of her perfume:

The ad...has one of the women rambling on about the perfume making a woman feel powerful, special, intoxicating, beautiful, sensual, confident, strong, ethereal. Is there any adjective missing for this woman who wants it all?

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A Blush of Rose
June 23, 2013
Reclaiming Beauty


Perfume bottle for D'Extase
I have photoshopped the image to give the bottle a rose hue.
Otherwise, it looks a bland colorless crystal.

It's time I posted on a perfume.

Marchesa has a perfume out. It is their first one. About time!

I went to Sephora's to look around for what's new, and I found D'Extase sitting on the shelf. I had seen it before, had smelt it, and wasn't overly impressed by it. I decided to give it another try.

The salesgirl was pleasant. She said she's "In love with the perfume." I'm now used to the word "love" being thrown around for all kinds of things: "I loved the movie!" "I love how you do your hair!" "I love [fill in the actress/celebrity of the month here]!"

"I'm in love with [fill in some fashion item like a dress, shoes, lipstick, nail polish color, perfume]!"

I simply went off and sprayed the perfume on those sample strips of paper they have provided for us. Again, nothing impressive.

I went to the Sephora data base, and looked it up.

These are the notes for D'Extase:

Iris Flower, Freesia, Black Current, Young Violet Leaves, Lotus Flower, Night Blooming Jasmine, Bulgarian Rose Water, Orange Blossom, Iris Root, Ambrox, Captive Musks.

Rose water, jasmine and musk? These are my favorite ("I LOVE jasmine and rose together!").

Then I thought I should give it some time to settle and for the notes to combine together.

Sure enough, after about five minutes, it became something very different. After about fifteen, it had reached its peak and stayed that way for several hours.

The scent is floral, but not insipid. Musky, but not overwhelming. Slightly sweet from the jasmine but not clingy.

These Marchesa ladies are smart.

I asked the salesgirl to give me a sample. At $72 for 30ml, it will not be a purchase I will make any time soon, but I will keep the scent alive with the tiny (5ml) sample I have.

The perfumer (the nose, in perfume technical language) is Annie Buzantian, who has created a long list of perfumes with well-known designers.

I wonder if she chose perfume composition because of her long nose?


Annie Buzantian

The designer of the bottle is Malin Ericson, who appears to work for Calvin Klein and Nina Ricci. The bottle isn't that special. They could have added a blush of pink to it, or lavender, and designed the crystals around that. Here is the beautiful bottle for Violet Eyes by the aesthete Elizabeth Taylor:


Violet Eyes
by Elizabeth Taylor

I've reviewed Violet Eyes here. It has that combination of rose and violet. The cedar gives it a lighter quality, which while musk would have made it too heavy. Elizabeth Taylor's choices
are perfect.


The beautiful Georgina Chapman, of Marchesa,
with her multi-millionaire husband film mogul Harvey Weinstein
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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Happy Thanksgiving!

(Photo taken about a week ago.)
[Photo By: KPA]

I won't go into ANY of the controversies:
- "Today is Columbus Day"
- "Columbus didn't discover America"
- "'Native Canadians do not accept this holiday because..."

(Well, I just did skim through them.)

So let's simply give thanks for the harvest, which is what Thanksgiving is all about.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Fierce New Governor General

I introduce to you Julie Payette, the new Governor General of Canada.



Payette stands by the throne as she was sworn in at the ceremony held on Parliament Hill this morning.

Our new GG has a fierce sense of fashion. It seems everything she chooses is fierce, just like her career in astronomy, and her flight out to space, albeit as the "the second Canadian woman to have flown in space."

Here she stands at the throne in Parliament Hill at her swearing in, proud and happy, almost looking angelic with her crinkly hair floating across her shoulders. And still, we dare not call her "une" astronaute.

First day of October

[Photo By: KPA]

Along Lake Ontario, the monarch butterflies are getting ready to leave. It's time for Fall!

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Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

"An Asianist Responds To Multiculturalism In The Academy"

An Asianist Responds To Multiculturalism In The Academy
September 29, 2017
By Roger
Red State

It may seem odd to speak of “multiculturalism” in the context of the monoculture that the twenty-first century academy has become, but “culture” itself is one of those protean terms that, chameleon-like, tends to take on different nuances, some of which are at odds with each other.

Multiculturalism was a fairly new word back in the ’80’s when I was in graduate school studying the East Asian classics and, naively understanding it to refer to high culture (“capital c” Culture), I was all for it. It would be very welcome, I thought, for the canon of recognized classics to be expanded to include the great works of the Far East and elsewhere. That initial misunderstanding was short-lived as continued exposure to the term revealed its (purported) meaning to be “small letter c” culture: the peaceful coexistence of various groups with differing cultural identities, and even (so it was claimed) a willingness to learn from each other—the ideal of a salad rather than a melting pot. Though less lofty, still quite laudable, and I endorsed it.

But “multiculturalism” has become an example of what Richard Weaver called “god terms”; i.e., words that defy close definition, but that elicit a positive reaction from the majority, words like “freedom” or “progress” being common instances. Every society has such terms, many of which may of course play a salutary—or at least a benign—role. One characteristic of a god term is the fact that people take its meaning for granted, and may take a demand for a definition to be some kind of hostile gesture. The academy has its own perverse god terms, “diversity” (every third word of college administrators) coming immediately to mind. A career spanning three decades in this environment has disabused me of any notion that multiculturalism is anything like what I once supposed it to be. As with other god terms, merely asking for clarification—much less a precise definition—is taken as a sign that the enquirer is morally suspect, but at the risk of incurring such obloquy, allow me to share a few experiences that turned this erstwhile true believer into a skeptic.

The first occurred a few years after my appointment in a tenure-track position, in the early ’90’s, when I was asked to make a presentation at a campus-wide multicultural extravaganza. That invitation confirmed what (I still supposed at the time) was the most admirable aspect of multiculturalism: promotion of genuine interest in other cultures. I spent much time preparing a lecture/demonstration that would likely appeal to undergraduates, light on pedantry and heavy on audio-visuals. The paucity of my audience—no more than five, none them students—was painfully emphasized by the size of the hall. What went wrong? All the events had been adequately publicized. Were the students just not interested in these multicultural events? Then I discovered upon further inquiry that most of the other sessions were delivered to packed houses: the African-American students to hear the African-American speaker, the Latino/a students to hear the Latino/a speaker, the LGB students (that was still the common acronym back then) to hear the LGB speaker, and so forth. I was the only presenter who was not by birth or identity a member of the culture about which I was presenting, so apparently I was not “authentic” enough. But beyond personal pique, it caused me to wonder about what people really meant when they used the word MULTIcultural; if it’s mere tribalism, then isn’t that really just as old as the hills? What is “multi” about it in any new or positive sense?

Some months after that, I mentioned the incident in a general education course I was teaching at the time and wondered aloud if the term should not be “multiethnic” rather than “multicultural.” At that hypothetical question, an African-American student in the class went ballistic, ranting that unlike me, she was from a “multicultural” family, so she could address the meaning of the term with more authority than I ever could. Such are moments of panic in any professor’s life; you never know where such manufactured outrage might lead. But after recovering from my anxiety, it occurred to me that her outburst merely corroborated the point I was making. Never mind the fact that I am married to an Asian woman, have raised a biracial family, and have devoted my life to the study of a non-Western civilization, I am not “multi”—according to that student an honor bestowed only by birth. This was only confirmed some years later when various campus offices sponsored a recital of traditional Chinese music, bringing in a noted Pipa artist. I only knew of the event because my wife—who happens also to teach at the university—received an invitation from the Office of Multicultural Affairs. She received an invitation because she is Asian. Never mind the fact that I was more knowledgeable about the music and its historical background than anyone in the audience, I was just too Caucasian to be invited by the multi crowd.

Thus I came to the conclusion that the term really has very little to do with culture in any received sense of that word. Though it has more recently been partially eclipsed by “diversity,” it still has currency as a god term. And however defined, in Wikipedia or elsewhere, in actually usage it is clearly aimed at boundary maintenance rather than understanding, and too often at the generation of new victimologies whose purpose is division rather than comprehension and mutual empathy.

What does this have to do with the teaching of East Asian or any other culture? It has been my experience that too little grounding in one’s own cultural tradition actually hampers efforts to understand another. Fascinating comparisons between, say, the Socratic method and Confucian discourse cannot be made if one knows nothing of the former, and such examples could be multiplied exponentially. My best students have always been those who approach the study of the Far East with a working knowledge of the West under their belts. THAT is how multiculturalism ought to work. Instead, I’m always confronted with the expectation that an important mission of my field of teaching and research is to provide fodder for the regnant narrative of relativism, or for the perpetual outrage of SJWs-in-training as they approach ancient texts with ignorant—but impeccably politically correct—presentist biases. It would be extremely difficult if not impossible to discuss these issues rationally on campus without being tarred with all kinds of nasty names, and if certain mean-spirited people made the connection between my identity and this essay, whose tone is hardly incendiary, it could have unpleasant consequences. Such is “diversity” in the modern academy.