BEAUTY: Art--Ethan Murrow

Ethan Murrow calls this series of graphite drawings "Zero Sum Pilot Drawings: A flawed aerial experiment." They are fantastical and the titles give them a slightly humorous spin, but ultimately they seem a bit anxious-making. I have had flying dreams my whole life, but if I fly too high, results are sometimes disastrous (in terms of Jungian dream analysis, this little dream phenomenon in my head is rich with meaning).

Top to bottom: Foot is still cramping up,results otherwise positive; Landing crew unaware of descent,protocol to be reinforced; Negligible frostnip during Baffin Bay freefall; Release point adjusted down to 165th rotation; Sled is responsive,soft landing in doubt; Small gap between goals and accomplishments

http://www.bigpaperairplane.com/

From Acme

From Things Magazine.
http://www.thingsmagazine.net/

The Passenger

Coffee bar by day and rock n' roll bar at night, The Passenger, owned by young Spanish actors Rodrigo Taramona and Jimmy Castro along with entrepreneurs Miguel Peman and Carlos Carrillo, is Madrid's newest, hippest spot. I love the concept and execution of this project because it speaks to both of my careers (interior design and acting) since the interior design of the space is so much like a theatrical stage set, complete with a wonderful special effect to make it appear as if the "train" is in motion, speeding through the countryside...

This amazing space was designed by multi-talented designer Parolio. The concept and space is described on his company website:
"The new space occupies a long and narrow architectural structure which inspired Parolio to create the concept of “A train constantly on the move, right in the center of the city”.

The main area is designed to look and feel like a train cabin. To create the illusion of movement, three huge solid screens play the role of windows. They are constantly projected with synchronized and programmed videos that flow, from one screen to the next, just like in real life. The images have been recorded from train windows all over the world, presenting urban and nature landscapes that transport the clients into the fantastic experience of travel and leisure, pulling them away from the reality of the city around them.

The whole interior has been covered with great work on dark wood, brown leather with brass finishes. On the main hall photos of some of the greatest stars of classic rock, inside trains and train stations, welcome the clients.

The Bar cabin completes the space with an 8 meter bar that serves some of Madrid´s best coffee by day prepared exclusively by “Toma Café” and really delicious bite food. By night great cocktails, craft brewery beer, gin and whiskey fuel the train accompanied by a sound track of classic rock."

https://www.facebook.com/ThePassengerMadrid
http://www.parolio.com/

Mixed Message

http://www.marcjohns.com/blog/

Seen In The Midwest

I am in the bleak American Midwest for the holiday week.

Photos by JEF

BEAUTY: Painting--Chris Sedgwick

Mystical symbols abound in the dense, allegorical work of Chris Sedgwick. These absorbing paintings are crammed full of ideas and concepts from astrology, alchemy, Jungian psychology, science, and genetic biology. He has even created his own code using colored dots to represent the letters of the alphabet and hidden messages are spelled out on banners above or around, and on cloaks and robes on characters in the tableux.

Top to bottom: title unknown; The Geometer; The Passing of the Ages; The Sunset Ritual; The Alchemical Divination of Soul Synthesis

For fascinating and detailed explanations about the symbology, visit his website and click on CONCEPTS.
http://www.crsedgwick.com/

BEAUTY: Illustration--Louie Zong

Louie Zong is a student at Tufts University in Boston but already has an impressive portfolio of work. His website "Drawing A Day" charts his efforts to create one new illustration every day for a year, and some absolutely charming work has come out of this project. He is clearly inspired by classic children's books and their illustrations.

He also cites early Hanna-Barbera cartoons as an influence and it is easy to see in "The Sun Also Rises," an animated short he recently finished, which can be seen on Vimeo here.

http://louiezong.com/

The Shot That Was Heard Around The World

Today, forty-nine years ago, a man was shot in Dallas, Texas, at 12:30 P.M.

All day
Hiding from the sun
Waiting for the golden one
Waiting for your fame
After the parade has gone

Outside was a happy place
Every face had a smile like the golden face
For a second
Your knuckles white as your fingers curled
The shot that was heard around the world
For a second

It took seconds of your time to take his life
It took seconds

Seconds

For a second

Happy Thanksgiving 2012

Happy Thanksgiving!

“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.”
― Eckhart Tolle

Thanks, Jesús

As we eat our Thanksgiving meal, let us thank not an imaginary figure in the sky but those who are TRULY responsible for bringing our food to our tables, through their numbingly long days of low-wage, backbreaking work.

Perspective

http://www.uaine.org/

"Snap"

Snap

It’s a specialty, a trick I like to do.
I stand with a relative, a friend, a pet,
bend the camera lens back,
point it in our direction,
center the unseen frame around us and
push the button.
Snap.
Moments recorded—a laugh, a guffaw,
tenderness. The picture may stop but
we go on.

2001: I stand next to my father on top of
an impossibly thin tower, twenty stories high.
From it we can see the relentless expanse of
the central Florida lake country.
“Dad, come here…”
“Huh?” he replies. He has been losing
his hearing at an alarming rate lately.
His hands shake too.
“Come here, to the edge, I want to take a picture of us.”
“Oh, okay.”
The wind blows our hair and we can
see for miles, even the house he will
live in, the house he will take his life in.
I am 38.
Snap.

2002: I kneel down next to my mom in
her favorite peach wingback chair.
Chemo and radiation have left her bald and thin.
The regret, the resignation, the despair,
the quiet fear is omnipresent in her eyes.
I point the camera at us—and something else,
nameless… not my father’s ghost but
something far worse: the empty space he left us.
I am 39.
Snap.

2003: I stand in the half-light by the glass doors.
I have had a tooth removed but the area
is not healing. I have what dentists call “dry socket”—
and it hurts. My face, puffy and distended on
one whole side gazes into the lens.
Today is my birthday.
All around me is empty space, shimmering, swollen.
I am an orphan, alone. They will never get
to see me turn 40.
Snap.

© JEF 2006

Ten years ago today...

1941 - 2002

I Am My Mother’s Keeper

In the end, she lives in all our former homes at once.
My father is gone, destroyed by his own hand,
it ripples backward and forward, like
he was never there. He was never anywhere.
It’s just me and her.

In New York, she has cancer, tumors everywhere.
They grow on her back, strangle her spine,
kill nerves, paralyze. She can’t walk. She is in her bedroom,
upstairs. Mine is next door, with my toy box.
I bring her crackers, water, tea.
There’s not much I can do to help.

In Miami, she sleeps a lot. In the bed
with the purple velvet bedspread, the
curtains are drawn. Her dresser holds her clothes,
her jewelry sits on top, next to pictures of
her and my father. Her things.
In the same building, in the same unit:
#313. Just me and her. It always was.

In California, chemo, radiation make her sick.
She is in her bedroom at the back of the house.
She cries, I try to comfort her. Her head hurts.
She is wearing a fuzzy white robe that smells like
her perfume.

In central Florida, her wheelchair is next to the bed.
She wakes crying, asking for my father.
I have to sort her meds, give her these pills:
Tegretol
Elavil
Megace
Lasix
Colace
Paxil
Zofran
Reglan
Compazine
Ativan
Dilaudid
Fentanyl.

©JEF 2007

...

"The wound is the place where the Light enters you."
--Rumi