No Good In Desiring The Unwanted (Evan's Lament)

 You make it through another day

                                               Of dust and grime and a rebellious mind

This thing you have with her is twisting

                                                  Backwards like a spring starting to unwind

You hope tonight everything will be okay 

                                                         But all that hope is wasted on the blind

You've begun to realise the truth

It's all there amid the lies and abuse

You've come to realise you don't need proof

Try not to blame yourself this time

                                                It wasn't bad choices, it wasn't a self-deceiving lie

Try not to think of yourself as being less

                                                         There's no losing in saying goodbye

Try not to believe it was some grievous crime

                                                               Only fools and charlatans hide a dry eye

You've begun to realise the truth

You've come to accept it's a part of youth

It's everyone lined up for seconds at the kissing booth

                                                 

The New American Hater

   A little less than a decade ago, when a dramatic hike in the minimum wage for workers in the state of Colorado was announced, I commented to a few friends of mine that the real beneficiaries in an increase in the minimum wage were landlords and landowners, and the taxman.

   I received almost universal derision for that statement.

   This was in 2016, when Colorado's minimum wage was $8.31 an hour. 

   In 2016, the average rent for a two bedroom apartment in Colorado was $890

   In 2016, the average price of a new home in Colorado was $298,000

   As of today, the minimum wage in the state of Colorado is $14.81 an hour

   As of today, the average rent for a two bedroom apartment in Colorado is $2,081.00

   As of today, the average price of a new home in Colorado is $606,800.00

   So...9 years after minimum wage started climbing...rents and home purchase prices are shown to have climbed at a commensurate rate.

   Coincidence? Yeah, and Epstein commited suicide.

   It doesn't take an iota of financial savvy to understand that anyone who purchased land prior to 2016, be it raw or developed, has been the beneficiary of the ability of renters or purchasers to be able to pay more.

   But I'll explain it as simply as I can. Let's say you own a real estate investment firm, and in the year 2016 you purchased a 50 door apartment complex - that would have run from five million to 10 million dollars then, and would have generated anywhere from $25,000 to $85,000 dollars a month ($300,000 to $1,020.000 annually) before expenses.

   In 2025, just a scant 9 years later, that same 50 door apartment complex is worth 14 million to 25 million dollars, and will generate from $105,000 to $200,000 a month ($1,260.000 to $2,400.000 annually) before expenses.

   That seems preposterous, eh? But wait, it gets better for your real estate firm, as your mortgage on that revenue-generating property dates from 2016, with a 2016 interest rate...so, yeah, you're printing money.

   Better yet, since the minimum wage increased dramatically, so did your salary, as the salary of the owner/operator of a real estate investment firm (and just about any other type of company) increases fairly proportionally to (well, actually, grossly out of proportion with) minimum wage.

  

   Think about it. For the vast majority of people, what we pay for living quarters takes the biggest bite out of our paychecks, anywhere from 20% (for the lucky) to 80% of our incomes go towards the payment of rent or mortgage and related expenses.

   Hell, buying a home is the biggest debt the vast majority of people will ever take on.

   And debt, as we all know, is the enemy of prosperity, not to mention tranquility.

   So, if housing is our biggest expense, and the cost of housing has been increasing like mad, why oh why is a person on instagram who calls himself the American President calling for a series of rolling boycotts against companies such as Wal Mart and Amazon? 

   He's calling these boycotts an economic blackout, and his stated purpose is to show resistance to a supposed alliance between corporations and politicians to rig the system against ordinary Americans.

   Mr. Instagram American President, may I ask a question? How is boycotting companies that employ millions of people and that, due to market competition, make two of the basic needs (food and clothing) incredibly affordable for the average American, going to help the average American?

   Is the impact of a boycott that might result in the loss of hundreds if not thousands of minimum wage jobs going to make life easier for the people that lose them?

   He says he is doing this because he doesn't want his three children to eventually have to struggle as many are now. He doesn't mention whether or not, as a responsible father, he has prepared his children for the realities of life, how to be financially responsible, or how to be responsible for their own choices.

  Did he at least pick up a copy of Beth Kobliner's Make Your Kid A Money Genius and thumb through it?

  He also states that mega corporations have driven up prices, underpaid their workers and outsourced jobs while raking in record profits.

  He states repeatedly that the corporations are the problem and must be brought to their knees, and that by boycotting them, even if just for one day a month, the voice of the people will be heard and changes will be made.

   He has also set up a GoFundMe page that so far has resulted in $90,000 for expenses related to...what? Maintaining an Instagram account that allows him to rant and rave about business entities he hates and how unfair life is for the average American?

   I smell an L. Ron sized rat.

   Corporations have become the villain of the hour and are being used by a certain type of person as a whipping boy for everything they view as reprehensible about life in America. These types of people have always been able to fan the flames of discontent simply by using the good ol' demonization of whatever target they deem worthy of attack and hate.

   Their followers will call them iconoclasts, revolutionaries, freethinkers, I call them ill-educated malcontents who prey on the misfortunes of others in order to gather followers.

   It's a tactic used by haters throughout history, and is used with exceptional great ease in this age of the internet.

   I look at the Instagram American President as he presents his message and I see the trappings of the life he lives on the walls and shelves of his little home studio and I think to myself, "Man, wasn't it lucky that he was able to find all those wonderfully hand-crafted, small business sold items to decorate his home with, along with a hand-crafted, small business sold computer and hand-crafted, small business created internet service provider to enable him to broadcast his message of hope to his disenfranchised followers?

   Some readers may be getting pretty angry right about now, but I implore you to do some research. Ask yourself a few questions about both the man and the message.

   Ask yourself questions such as, what percentage of income tax revenue is collected from the top one percent of the wealthiest Americans (for the lazy or for those that have no idea what the purpose of google is, it's 40%)

   Ask yourself what percentage of income tax revenue is collected from the top ten percent of wage earners (those earning $169,800 or more). Okay, okay, it's 76%.

   Ask yourself, who buys and owns stock in publicly traded companies? Do more men than women own stock? Who is actually supporting big corporations and how mad is Nancy going to be? (Here, I'll make it easy for you: https://news.gallup.com/poll/266807/percentage-americans-owns-stock.aspx)

   Ask yourself how much stock in publicly traded companies do Teachers' unions or State Employees' pension funds own? (I'll throw you a couple of bones - the New York State Teachers' Retirement System owns over $2 billion dollars worth of Facebook stock alone, and the California Public Employees' Retirement System owns over 5 billion dollars worth of Microsoft)

   Fun Fact: Every single State Teachers' and Public Employees' Pension Fund - and the big, big daddy, the National Education Association Retirement Fund, own huge amounts of stock in Amazon, McDonalds, Apple, Wal*Mart, Alibaba (yep, they buy Chinese companies stocks), Google, all the big banks (JP Morgan, Citi, etc.) and credit card companies (Visa, Discover, Mastercard, etc.) - and every other company that the great Instagram American President thinks boycotting will bring the billionaires to their knees by lowering the value of their stock portfolio's.

   Know what billionaire investors do when the stock price of healthy companies with reasonable P/Es and sound financial management do when those stock prices experience artificial dips? 

   They treat them like Wall Street is having a terrific mark- down sale, so just like how the average American consumer treats anything that goes on sale they buy more stock in those companies, which in the long term makes them even wealthier.

   It's investing 101.

   By the way...if you are considering investing but do not feel confident in your ability to pick stocks, just mimic the picks of the New York State Teachers' Retirement Fund - they are on a thirty year win streak with a very envious return of nearly 9%).

   But I digress...

   Ask yourself, how is higher taxation of the most productive for the benefit of the least productive not enslavement of the most productive?

  Ask yourself, if envy or hatred or foolish blind obedience to an internet huckster is a good reason to put the livelihoods of people on the bottom rungs of the ladder at risk?

   Ask yourself if a person who bills himself as a "father, husband, musician, and meditation teacher" is actually qualified to make pronouncements about how the economy should be regulated?

   And most importantly, ask yourself what a self-appointed Instagram American President has to gain from your allegiance to his dubious message could be?

   Hint for that last one: Followers equal dollars.

The Truth Is Stronger Than The Friction

 

   It has been said (to me, on more than one occasion) that eventually, someday, your stupidity will catch up with you. Well, news flash Jeeves, my stupidity not only caught up, but has lapped my dumb ass several times over the past few years.

   And yet, here I am.

A Dialogue With Color

 Unconscious activity

                          Automatic

                       Abstract

Definitely calculated

                 Composed

               Contrived

                                   Deliberate

Balances and Oppositions

Linear components

Space and scale

Strikingly complimentary, decidedly antagonistic, small, strong

A delicious visual wit 

Articulate

Deer In The Twilight

 

Stand Back, Take Stock, Fully Reflect

1) Cardboard

2) White oil-enamel pigment

3) When 2 has become tacky gauze and plaster 

4) Water-colored red-brown as undertone

5) Tempera Neisch zinc white with linseed mixture

6) Delicate drawing and brush-stroked hatching with watercolor

7) Lightly anchored with oil-painting varnish

8) Partly illuminated with zinc white oil paint

9) Covered with oil grey-blue washed with oil madder lake

 

Complicated

Technical

Developed

Natural

Experimental

Fascinating

Better Than A Punch In The Gut By A Drunk Swede

 

Baseball Weathered Fence Of Fame

Traditional & Original

Expression of form

Rapid, sketchy, linear

Contours of shapes

                             Simplified

Opaque substrates

Unsaturated colors

Accented, loaded brushstrokes

                                                Thin flat layers

Detached white highlights

Innovatory

Immediacy of emotional impact

Weniger, Aber Besser*

   Most people have no idea who the Industrial Designer Dieter Rams is, and that is pretty much how he likes it. However, most people have enjoyed his work and his influence, even if they are not consciously aware that they enjoy it.

   Dieter Rams believes that the design of products slated for use by individuals, such as furniture or home electronics, should be as user-friendly as possible, with any knobs, dials, or buttons being self-explanatory regarding their function while remaining aesthetically pleasing.

   To that end in the 1970's Mr. Rams created a set of ten Principles of Good Design. According to Mr. Rams, good design should be:

Innovative - When tasked with creating the design of a product, especially if that product is one featuring new technology, do not fall back on the tried and true. Break new ground with respect to how the product is to be handled when used and how the various functions of the product can be readily accessed.

Useful - ease of use contributes mightily to the success of a product. Flashier, sexier, and sleeker might be eye-catching, but usefulness wins out when it comes to people repeatedly choosing to use a product.

Aesthetically pleasing - the above being said, everyone appreciates having a visually appealing useful item in their home or hand, especially if it is as functional as it is beautiful.

Helpful regarding the use of a product - nobody wants to have to read and reread a manual to understand how a product works. The design of a product should help the user understand the product's function intuitively, without the need for excessive instruction or explanation.

Unobtrusive - leave decorative arts to the artists. While products that are created to serve an everyday function should be aesthetically pleasing, they are not meant to be placed on a mantle or in a showcase. They are meant to be used.

Honest - honest design does not present a product as more than it is. It is not intended to fool the user into believing it is anything other than a useful tool that looks good.

Long-Lasting - good design does not follow and then fall out of current fashion. Good design is timeless, reflecting not only durability but also an effortless freshness.

Thorough down to the last detail - Attention to detail cannot be overstated. Exercising forethought and care when creating a product design results in elegantly precise functionality.

Environmentally friendly - minimize the carbon footprint while maximizing the long-term sustainability of the product. Create a design that ensures the product produces as little harm to the environment as possible.

As simple as you can make it - do not add unnecessary clutter to the design. Allow the user to readily focus on the essential function of the product without having to visually sort through a jungle. 

*Translated from the German = "Less, but better"

Doc Savage & The Disappearing Pure Evil Terror Of Unbelievable Unpleasantness

   The doorbell rang with a chime that lasted a full fifteen seconds, beautifully melodic, which was odd as not only did we not have a doorbell that chimed, we did not have a doorbell at all.

   My mother and middle older sister answered the door and greeted a group of young men on the front porch with loud, cheerful hello's. The group appeared to be a 1950's era gang of hoods greatly influenced by the movie "The Wild One," all of them clad in black leather motorcycle jackets over white T-shirts, and Levi jeans with four inch cuffs at the ankles. However, each and everyone of them sported open-toe huarache sandals, the slip-on style that didn't have a back for the heel.

   They were not a 1950's era gang of hoods though, they were in fact the Backstreet Boys, and my Mother and middle older sister instantly knew adventure with a capital T for trouble  was imminent.

   As one (in 5 part harmony) they asked if I was home and my mother replied in the affirmative and then sent my middle older sister to get me.

   I was in the middle of reading a pop-up edition of "Black and Red: My 44 Years In The Soviet Union" by Robert Nathaniel Robertson and munching on a bowl of deep-fried sauerkraut balls, but had gotten to the part wherein Paul Robeson, during a visit to a factory that Robertson worked in, turned a deaf ear to his pleas for help in getting out of the Soviet Union (difficult read, that), so the interruption was welcome.

   My mother turned to me as I approached the door and mouthed the words "McLean is smoking again, get him off my porch." Mom never could tolerate cigarette smoking.

   "Hey guys, what's up?" I said when I walked out onto the porch. In sync all of them turned to me and stood silently for a few seconds, then Littrell piped up and said "John Sunlight has escaped from the escape-proof Velveteen Island prison, Doc needs our help recapturing him".

   To say I was gasted would be an understatement - I was full-on flabbergasted. Capturing John Sunlight had been Doc's greatest victory but it had come at the cost of Colonel Mayfair's nose for disturbing insinuations, Major Robert's sense of inexpedient propriety, Bill Littlejohn's desire for chocolate eclairs, General Brook's incomparable ability to balance 37 pennies on his tongue, and Colonel Renwick's extraordinary skill at cooking sausages, all of which had the effect of rendering the team useless in future endeavors.

   Which is where we came in. In a weird (some would say grotesque) twist of fate, Doc had stumbled across the boys and I as we were engaged in a charity footbag game against the Legion of Uneasy Cohorts in Skullduggery, our stunning upset win of the championship convincing Savage that we would be the perfect replacements for the trusted fabulous five.

    And thus we became the sensational six.

    Littrell continued. "We need you to get dressed in a hurry - Doc is waiting at the heliport, and every second we delay, our chances of capturing Sunlight dims. Get a move on!"

   Spittle flew from Littrell's mouth as he reflexively sang those words in his two-octave tenor - that's when I realized how serious the situation was.

   Coincidently, that's also when I realised I was standing on the front porch naked as a featherless jaybird.

When You're Tasked With Clearing Snow From Side To Side Along A Wide Path

Flattened Planes Of Light & Shade

 Luminosity and Flatness

                     An illusion of depth

                                        Shallow pictorial space

Oil-rich colors in the central motif

              Deliberate

                     Hesitant

An impression of immediacy

Laborious

Careful

Methodical

           Charm and finesse

Improvisational

           Diluted, subdued colors

                                       Paler colors

Traditional and innovative 

Past and present

                    Boldly evocative

                    Revolutionary

                             Strange spatial anomalies

                             Bold

                             Ambiguity                   

             

Brilliant & Luminous

 Harsh contrast of light and dark

                             Powerful lines

            Contrasts of color

            Contrasts of tone

                                Bright contemporary

                                Color

Free handling technique

Bold

     Decisive

          Distinctive

                          Innovative

Exploiting color like no other

                  Delighting in representation

                  Unfamiliar pictorial qualities

Man situated in nature 

        A modern interpretation

                                        Inspiration

                         Texture, texture

                         Swirling, climbing

                         Dancing, falling

                         Impasto

       Horizontal strokes

       Vertical 

                   Cool blues, cobalt

                   Pale greens, malachite

 Vigorously descriptive forms

 Two dimensional 

                       Thrice transfixing

                                Brushwork                 

Current Difficulties In Social Interactions

   Lately I've been getting a lot of that ol' "If you don't think like me and agree with all of my opinions about _____ then you must be a bad/ignorant person and a Fascist" from a few friends and acquaintances.

   Which is a little unsettling, but then again, not.

   It's unsettling because it reinforces the polarization trend that the major political parties in the United States have been promulgating and appear to be supported by all the major mass media businesses in this endeavour. (if you're not aware of it, all of the news organizations you listen to or watch are indeed businesses, geared to selling ad time to other businesses trying to reach a specific demographic).

   It's also unsettling because the same people who are deeming me to be a "bad/ignorant person and a Fascist" do not seem to realise that what they are doing, attempting to force me to believe specifically what they believe, is in fact Fascism itself.

   Let me clarify something here, as Fascism has been designated by those who wish to define terms, as being exclusively a descriptive of the far right and labeling a person a Fascist is to imply that the person in question is therefore an adherent of the far right - but that is simply not true, for as history has shown, Fascism in it's purest form can be applied readily as a descriptive of the far left as well.

   Fascism has been defined as a sizable political movement that incorporates virulent adherence to certain core beliefs, such as total control of a society's social structure, the suppression of individual rights (specifically the right to disagree with the political party in power), the regulation of the economy via strict government regulation, and contempt for anyone who disagrees with the parties principals.

   Yeah, that's just the gist of it, but it's sufficient for my argument.

   Quite literally, that definition can be applied to just about any political or religious movement one can think of (perhaps not the Baha'i faith, which is probably why it meets with almost universal opposition from most of the other religions).

   Any whatzit, most everyone who knows me also knows that one of my core beliefs is that as long as a person does not harm or take advantage of another human being, that person is okay in my book.

   But I'm being told that is simply not enough, because that means I must be in agreement with people who, while not actually harming or taking advantage of people, are espousing beliefs that differ from what the aforementioned few friends and acquaintances believe.

   So much for those aforementioned few friends and acquaintances oft stated "live and let live" idiom.

   I try to be fairly broad minded and just because someone I know or associate with holds an opinion about something such as music, art, literature, religion, or politics that differs from mine doesn't mean I am going to no longer associate with them, or that I'm going to condemn them.

   Again, as long as it does not harm or take advantage of another human being.

   So, as I mentioned at the beginning of this rant the part of being labeled a bad/ignorant person and a Fascist is both unsettling and then again, not.

   The "then again, not" part is that it challenges me to find a way to explain to those few friends and acquaintances why they are absolutely wrong about that belief without resorting to a good ol' "oh yeah, well f*ck you."

   

The Man In The Zebra Suit

The other day I saw a man wearing a zebra suit walking down the street.

It was a one-piece zebra suit, kinda like zebra overalls, or maybe pajamas. 

It even had a tail.

There was not a zebra head though, just a hood that was as zebra striped as the rest of the suit.

The man was young, possibly mid-twenties, maybe closer to thirty.

And he had a beard.

He was accompanied by a somewhat older man who was pushing a shopping cart.

The shopping cart had a large suitcase-on-wheels attached to it, making it look much like a small car towing a small trailer.

The older man was dressed like an average man dresses, casual dress shoes, dark slacks, a sweater vest over a long-sleeve shirt.

The shopping cart he was pushing was loaded with what appeared to be scrap metal.

I have no idea what was in the suitcase-on-wheels.

A Rarely Glimpsed Side Of The Art Of Dr Seuss

                        Sawfish skull reformed and painted by Theodore Geisel (aka, Dr Seuss)

 

   The Children's book author/illustrator Theodore Geisel (better known as Dr Seuss) is world renown for his fanciful and fun drawings of interesting comical characters. What is little known was that his penchant for creating fantastic drawings of imaginary creatures also extended to the medium of sculpture.

   The above sculpture incorporates the skull of a sawfish and was created by Ted Geisel well before he began using the nom de plume Dr Seuss, in his teen years when his father (at the time the supervisor of the Springfield, Mass public parks system, which included the zoo) would bring home the skeletal remains of various animals for his son to apply his imagination and talents to. 

   It is both wonderfully whimsical and a tad scary, though as low a key scary as scary can possibly be. 

A Very Bad Case Of The Mondays

 

The Two Cardinal Rules As Determined By Ferdinand Waldo Demara

1) The Burden Of Proof Is On The Accuser

2) When In Danger, Attack