Baseball

I love baseball. I really, really do. I'll be sad when the world series is over. But then again there's (American) football, specifically the New York Giants. If they break another quarterback I'll fucking flip out.

Religion Equals Art?

"I have come to believe, in my own journey of faith, that God lives in the questions."

What does that even mean?

"I believe that faith is the frontier beyond the limits of knowledge."

Huh?

The above quotes sound like the abstract mental masturbation of an artist on mushrooms but they're not. They're the words of someone named Susan Andrews who was writing about god and evolution in the Clergy Letter project.

Religion, science and philosophy are generally considered three basic schools of thought through which people search for truth.

Notice I say "search for truth." That truth is the carrot on the stick is a concept from which science does not shy away. In fact, science generally acknowledges that it is constantly searching for truth and that what it learns along the way can change as new knowledge is gained.

I'm not sure where philosophy stands in all of this, and frankly I question its legitimacy and purpose. Are people paid to be philosophers? If I started a company would I ever have a position open for a philosopher? They think, therefore they are unemployable. I tend to consider people who philosophize as not much more than glorified editorial writers.

Religion pretty much swings and misses each and every time when it comes to explaining how the universe works. Its more content with chasing the visions of age-old myth makers and trying to convince followers that fictional stories actually happened and if we don't believe them we're going to hell than it is with making new discoveries.

So what about art? James Cameron is an artist. So is George Lucas, George Eliot, Stephen King, Carole King, Edgar Allan Poe, Isaac Asimov, and so on. Homer's Odyssey (not the one about the cat) is a work of art. Myths, legends, fantastic stories, well developed characters, drama, sex, action, adventure, magic, wizardry. Great stories that we consider to be works of art contain some or all of these features and more. By these standards the writers of the Bible were artists and their stories were works of art. People who talk about or write about religion make reference to these stories, apply them to their own lives, reinterpret them, reinvent them and even create their own versions of them. So what?

So, artists communicate superlatively, fantastically, symbolically and metaphorically. If they have a message, it generally takes on the form of a fable or parable, where fictional characters act out the ideas which are then relayed to the audience as a lesson to be learned. Sound familiar?

What is the usefulness of art? Are there things art does that cannot be done in another, more practical way? Are there things holy books teach that cannot be learned in another, more practical way? Art adds color to our lives. It hangs above our sofas and ties a room together. It fills otherwise boring friday nights or rainy afternoons. Art cannot open cans, make electricity, rescue people from burning buildings or study the universe. It keeps our minds occupied, and people wouldn't necessarily miss it if it went away.

Andy Warhol is not god incarnate. William Shakespeare didn't give us anything that we could really use, such as irrigation or solar energy or weapons to fight the Nazis. Moses has had his likeness made into an action figure and the original author's family gets no royalties. Confucius was an artist. Buddha was a fictional character. Jesus and Luke Skywalker have much more in common than you think.

Much, much more.

Christine O'Donnell: One Of The Cool Kids Now

According to her background, Christine O'Donnell wasn't the popular girl in school, but it seems that perhaps her ambition was to have been part of the "in" crowd.

When I was in school (pre-college), being smart would often get kids in trouble. Being good at school and getting good grades usually meant being picked on, being forced to give answers on a test, having your lunch stolen or being shoved into a locker.

Today being smart means that you're part of a government takeover. That's the position of a new arm of conservatives who are trying to encourage people to live like dunces, afraid that the government wants to force them to believe things. The cool kid kool-aid never tasted sweeter, and the Cool Kid Army is scoring some significant victories thanks to mainstream dummies and people like O'Donnell.

Christine O'Donnell is a stain on this republic. Her attempts at mainstreaming ignorance threaten the survival of our society. She represents, along with certain other political figures and mainstream media pundits (you can easily guess who I mean), an attempt to satiate a lazy constituency, a large segment of the population who would rather sit on their asses than educate themselves. Her accusations relating the teaching of proven scientific facts and the suppression of mythology in the classrooms to violations of the constitution are reprehensible. It's a pathetic appeal to a citizenry who is already confused over whom to trust, and who is genuinely fearful of restrictions on their freedom.

If the general public doesn't believe in the theory of evolution, it doesn't take away from its validity. True is true, whether you buy it or not. The evidence is there. Just because it isn't popular doesn't mean that it's "just a theory." You can't take a vote on the facts.

One trick she pulls in debates is to fan the flames of patriotism by mentioning the constitution. She says to her opponent, when discussing whether or not intelligent design should or should not be taught in schools, "talk about imposing your beliefs on the local school" and "you will impose your will on the local school district and that is a blatant violation of our constititution." She even tosses in a "limited government and lower taxes." for good measure.

Conversations like this these can usually be transcribed as follows: "Blah blah blah blah constitution blah blah blah freedom blah blah blah constitution blah blah blah founding fathers blah blah blah blah constitution freedom freedom blah blah blah."

(cue applause from the peanut gallery)

She further declares that public schools set their own agendas and have the right to teach intelligent design if they so choose, that it's their right to do so.

Sorry, but Ms. O'Donnell is wrong. She is very wrong and people who know better are very angry about what she says. It's not a right for a public school to teach ideas that are not facts. Intelligent design is not fact. It does not have a shred of evidence, or data, or research to support it. To teach that in a science class is as dishonest as teaching alchemy to chemistry students. Teaching mythology as fact is the same as lying. Lying to children is immoral. If Christine O'Donnell thinks this is OK than she is immoral and has no business running for public office.

Unfortunately, she IS running for public office and she's not the only one. Furthermore, like-minded people already hold public offices, or have high-profile jobs in broadcast media. The cool kids are getting way too successful, and now we have a problem on our hands.

This is not a coincidence. This is well-engineered. An ignorant public is easily taken advantage of by political and corporate machines seeking power and control. People like Christine O'Donnell are working on behalf of interests who need the general public to be among the cool kids. When Glenn Beck speaks about evolution and global warming as being "forced down our throats," he is helping to fuel a culture of paranoia and confusion about real scientific facts and wrongly equating them with government conspiracies and the "Establishment." The public, being uninformed, easily buys into these ideas. How convenient for those whose ambitions depend on a society of mindless drones who would easily fear government and believe mythology and pretend that our problems can magically go away with prayer, consumer products and Dancing With The Stars. After all, that's what all the cool kids are doing.

And finally, to further clarify something that bugs the living shit out of me: evolution is not "just a theory," it IS a theory. It's a theory supported by volumes of evidence and decades of research. Intelligent design is NOT a theory. It's not consistent with anything in nature. It's implausible and utterly preposterous. It's a myth, and mythology isn't science.

Being the voice of the people doesn't mean you have to be cool and hope they like you. It doesn't mean you have to pander to or enable their ignorance because that's what's popular. It means being a leader. It means inspiring them to better themselves and to strive toward greatness. Doesn't Christine know that being smart is sexy, and being dumb is, well... dumb?

Christine O'Donnell: The Whole World Is Laughing

Oh no, she did-ent!!!!!!!!



What does it mean when a candidate for public office is laughed at during a debate? Is "ignoramus" one of the criteria for being in the Tea Party? Did she really say what I think she said? In case she forgot, here's the first amendment:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The phrase, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." is otherwise known as the "establishment clause" or more commonly referred to as "separation of church and state."

And evolution isn't "just a theory" it IS a theory. It is scientific fact supported by volumes of evidence. Creationism and "intelligent" design are religions doctrine, not science and they are not supported by any evidence. They do not belong in public schools. That would violate the First Amendment.

Also, she has no idea that the 14th amendment has nothing to do with illegal immigration. It protects the rights of citizens, born or naturalized from any law which may deprive them of life liberty or property without due process and it guarantees equal protection for citizens. It was written after the abolition of slavery to prevent unequal treatment by federal or state governments. There are 4 more sections of related issues, but immigrants or any other foreign born citizen is not mentioned.

I wonder if she is as much of a "grammer" wizard as she is a constitutional "skollar." I do hope to see her daughter one day on dancing with the stars. To LBJ they said "the whole world is watching." To her and others like her I say "the whole world is laughing."

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Ha!

Give A Man A Fish

Give a man a fish he'll eat for a day. Give a man a religion and he'll starve to death praying for a fish. There's a very blurred line between faith and stubbornness. Here's your quote of the day:

"...the god hypothesis is incoherent, causally inadequate, unsupported by any other line of evidence, inconsistent with what we do know about how the universe works, and also internally inconsistent in all religions. Gods are simply bad ideas that don't even deserve the dignity of being treated as an alternative explanation for anything."

— PZ Myers

Matthew Green's Big Meadow

The painting pictured below is finally home after spending the first 5 weeks if its life on exhibit at the A-Space in West Philadelphia. It's now in its new place of glory on the far wall of the Green family's dining room. A good portion of this painting's creation was captured on video by Green and I for the series How To Paint A Masterpiece on my YouTube channel. It's the first in a series by Matthew Green for his project, Five Miles From Times Square. You can read more about this project on the project blog page or on Green's website. The website has the project proposal available for download.

Matthew Green, Big Meadow, 48" x 72", oil on canvas, 2010.

Matt Green or Matt Greene?

To "e" or not to "e"?

Artist Matthew Green, having a fairly common name, has noticed that he has been confused on more than one occasion with Matthew Greene, another artist who's probably getting kind of perturbed himself over the mixup. Green's work is strikingly different from Greene's work, the "minus-e" Green working primarily in realist, stark, sublime urban landscapes, and Greene's being an abstract, expressionistic urban/pop style.

I know Green very well and understand his work and his vision more than most. He has not achieved quite the level of success as Greene, but in my opinion has developed a maturity and focus in recent years that puts his work on a level playing field with Greene, as well as many other of his contemporaries.

The pics below are new works in progress from Green's new project on the New Jersey Meadowlands, Five Miles From Times Square. His work seems to be taking a slightly new direction lately, and I'm hoping he challenges himself a little.

Below are: Muddy Little Secrets I, II and III

Philadelphia Sounds Good This Time Of Year

The poem below is from Matthew Green's Controlled Demolition Vol 1. It's a charming ditty about the non-tourist side of the city of brotherly love, posted without the author's permission. If he sues I'll steal his car...

Philadelphia Sounds Good This Time Of Year

Between stiff winter gusts and the
“Hey-you-motha-fucka,”
Philadelphia sounds good this time of year.

Lost my way in the great Northeast.
It’s not high fashion like New York City.
It’s oil drums and church steeples.
It’s not all Billy Penn.

Southwest is the setting sun.
I can almost see it touch the Earth.
East sandy beaches emerge in summer
From dreams of boardwalk and funnel cake.
Northern lights shimmer in the night,
And from my window see domes and needles,
Junkies and drifters living under trestle.

In the diner is warm and dry,
Hot coffee always full and bacon greasy.
Outside is the cold and rain.
Soaking through is the homeless overcoat,
Hypothermic.

Philadelphia certainly sounds good this time of year.

Like a soft truck or rattling motor.
Like a word of friendly from the lady upstairs,
Or a “where you at?”
Like a jet plane skimming space needles of red, white and blue.
Like the song from dirty flute under dripping-wet overpass.
Like the network of cars on the river Vine.
Like the stiff winter gusts and the
“Hey-you-motha-fucka,”
It all blends together in a quiet gray hum,
And it all sounds good this time of year.

From under el tracks emerge shamrocks,
From under shamrocks emerge the sodden and drunk
Who stagger home to wives and children.
While they sleep they dream of warm sandy beaches,
But awake to rusty metal, steam and punchclocks,
Or drywall, mud and tape,
Or motor oil, tranny and axle grease,
And it all sounds good, every day, all year.

The crack of the liberty bell and the clop of
Horse hooves on cobblestone tell no one of how
Good Philadelphia sounds on any given day.

Try not to miss
The silent scurry of cockroach and field mouse,
The pitter-patter of flaking lead paint,
The “phist” of Budweiser cans with dinner,
The “ding” of microwave for macaroni and cheese.

Try not to miss oil drum and
church steeple skyline.
Try not to miss rainbows in puddles.
Try not to miss the
“hey-you-motha-fucka.”
Beneath dripping-wet overpass, It’s not all Billy Penn.

Attention Whore

I am an attention whore. If you're reading this blog, chances are it is because of deliberate moves I made in helping to connecting you, the reader, with me, the writer, marketer and videographer. I will not disclose exactly what techniques I employ to direct viewers to this site. Just trust the facts here. I have the statistics, I know where the majority of my traffic comes from. And I know that wherever you come from, odds are it is because I led you here on purpose. The reason for this, and it goes back to the attention whore thing, is that I need to be loved.

I have been in partnership now for the better part of a year with an artist and very dear friend of mine who has graciously allowed me to hijack his blog site for my personal indulgence and to satisfy my need for attention. I have a very fragile ego and if my lack of blogging success continued for too much longer I would have slipped into a severe state of depression and not left my apartment for days on end except to go up to the corner deli to get smokes and Suzy-Q's.

All of the thoughts, opinions, factoids and diatribes that I post here are 100% sincere. However, the little bits of outreach that precipitated your visit (unless you found it by chance, which is statistically improbable based on the data I have) may be a little dubious. I do not apologize for this. Welcome to the coal-black sea.

If you're reading this blog then you've found it. If you've found it, read it, enjoy it, hate it. I don't care. I don't work for a corporation and your data is not being collected for commercial purposes. I'm just an attention whore.