Category: ART

Moritat

My friend’s been after me for a while to join her in a couple of dance classes at the local Senior Center and I finally went yesterday. It was so much fun, good to move, with lots of sweat and I was in front of the fan for goodness sake! The teacher had a great playlist from soul, blues, jazz, rock, disco and more.  One of my favorites, was written for a German Threepenny Opera in 1928 by Bertoldt Brecht, Marc Blitzstein and Kurt Weill. The era fascinates me for many reasons as does the story, and there have been many versions — Sonny Rollins, Bobby Darin, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald (whose live version won a Grammy award) — of the tune amongst several artists. You might know the song as “Mack the Knife.”
“Now Jenny Diver, ho, ho, yeah, Sukey Tawdry
Ooh, Miss Lotte Lenya and old Lucy Brown
Oh, the line forms on the right, babe
Now that Macky’s back in town”

Shakespeare, Swords, Fruits, Jewels and Codpieces

Once I recovered from my initial indignation after I realized my memory lapse regarding Shakespearean sexual slang and repartee, I started thinking about how my error inspired some rather sweet erotic writing. Like all writing there’s good and bad, but Shakespeare’s sauciness really does lend itself rather well to the genre, and I may have to reconsider. I’ve always wanted to have a radio show and with the advent and ease of podcasts, it could be rather fun to offer an erotic story hour subscription, reading contributions sent in by listeners. Just a little Monday morning brainstorming.

French Postcards

I’ve sometimes wondered what I’m doing  on Instagram and I’ve realized I like thinking of it as French Postcards. We’ve already sent a few uncensored sets to patrons this week, and have decided that each run will be limited to 10 patrons or two weeks, whichever comes first. The longest each edition will be available for is two weeks. Then they’re  going…going…gone — and it’s on to the next set — kinda like limited edition baseball cards or…French Postcards! See the link above.

A Shakespearean Tragedy

It’s come to my attention that my memory of Shakespeare is a bit rusty. I’ve had some correspondence and comments using Shakespearean “nuances” involving me and when I’ve taken offense, I was directed back to my posts where I indicated an appreciation for Shakespeare’s double entendres.
Hence my apology, because while I do appreciate them, my memory of some of those colloquialisms has been selective. I’ve realized I’d just as soon skip over many of the Bard’s references to female body parts and other innuendo, and I have revised my earlier posts to reflect that. I do still admire his use of the word “codpiece,” but I prefer not to be a character in one of his ribald adventures.
All this being said, I’m delighted that many men are actually reading my writing and I am thanking you all for that. I’m also thanking you for the reminder that I really do need to revisit my Shakespeare if I’m going to be referencing him in any way. But alas, my brushing up on Shakespeare will most likely be on the other side of never.

R & R

Today is an R and R — recovering after yesterday’s massive shop at Trader Joe’s, and resting in an ice bath to stay cool. Heatwaves are here to stay and I am not a fan — stay cool, eat ice pops and drink plenty of fluids!

Red Zone

Yeah, been back in the red zone for a week or more and doesn’t look like it’s letting up. Most likely our governor is waiting until after the tourist season (which has probably contributed to our local spike since over 75% of the county’s eligible residents are vaccinated) to announce restrictions yet again. Time will tell.

In the meantime, I’m glad it’s not a polio or smallpox epidemic as I imagine those diseases would still be mutating happily today given the public’s resistance to vaccines nowadays. If only they had the same resistance to misinformation. But you know, the death of critical thinking and actually doing some proper digging to fact check, right? Oy, too much BORING research work and READING more than a headline or two sentences, right? Yeah.

Vitiligo, depression, anxiety — I’ve already got a good mix — and only one of them can be deadly untreated — but fortunately they’re not highly contagious to my fellow humans if I choose not to treat them. And at the close of my little rant here, it was dang steamy walking to the library last evening to grab a few more DVDs. We’re taking advantage of the library’s expanded hours although they’re still not open for sit-down-and-stay-awhile use. This morning I’m off to Trader’s for what may become a bi-monthly stock up — because who knows if whether or not we’ll be regressing into another round of the “quarantine” lifestyle. That’s my rant and I’m sticking to it.

An Announcement

   Recently, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri shared “We’re no longer a photo-sharing app or a square photo-sharing app,” but rather “we’re trying to build new experiences primarily in four key areas: Creators, Video, Shopping and Messaging.” Given IG’s constant changes where from my end it seems like they throw an on/off switch, I’ve decided to de-emphasize Instagram and focus more on Twitter, and especially here at ArtFoodSoul. What is also very frustrating is censorship, not only in photos, but writing topics. It may not be apparent to my followers, but when we look at stats and see that one innocuous post may get a quarter of a million impressions on Explorer, while a post that may touch on a more sensitive subject matter may have much less than 10,000, something is off here. Perhaps subconsciously, I end up writing or posting photos that I feel will conform to IG “standards,” which of course is a moving target.
      In using Twitter and ArtFoodSoul more and IG less, I’ll likely reach fewer followers. That’s okay. I just don’t want some mystery entity, wielding a suppressive algorithm, looking over my shoulder waiting to pounce on the first false word or photo that I post.