News

Jackson Pollock’s Birthday

Yesterday (January 28) was the birthday of the artist Jacskon Pollock.

Regular readers know that we at CatSynth are big followers of modern art, and Pollock was one of the most well-known and influential artists from the rich period of American art in the 1950s and 1960s. He is most often associated with the large and diverse movement abstract expressionism, but his work is quite distinctive even with in that context, and his large “drip paintings” are instantly recognizable.

I first encountered Pollock’s work at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, and later at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). I did have an opportunity to see a major retrospective at the MoMA in 1999, which brought together not only his large iconic paintings, but his earlier works that mixed abstraction with Native American and folk influences – although these works were “modern” they were more conventional for contemporary art of the time. I managed to find this article from the News Hour (PBS) discussing Pollock and the 1999 retrospective.

Although Pollock is held in high regard by those who follow and care deeply about modern art, he is often treated derisively by people who simply don’t like modern or abstract art. He is perhaps the most associated with the phrase “my five year old could do that.” The idea is laughable. This is unique and skillful art, especially on such a large scale. Such paintings were not seen before the 1940s, and centuries of five-year olds never produced anything like it.

Google has a tradition of honoring major artists on their birthdays with a themed home page, and yesterday they did so for Jackson Pollock:

Thanks to The Madville Times for capturing the above image.

The Miracle Cats that survived a wildfire

I had planned to post the story of Adam and Abe, the cats that survived a wildfire for Thanksgiving after reading their story on Monday. That was before more of the world started burning – some of the fires are natural, some human-made, and all are tragic. But perhaps this story is still appropriate, to know that these beautiful and much-loved black cats both survived the terrible wildfires in southern California and that small joys are always possible.

Marriage Equality (aka "No on 8") Rally, November 15

On Saturday, demonstrations were held throughout the country in support of marriage equality and against the recent passage of Proposition 8 here in California (as well as similar measures in other states). Of course our local event in San Francisco was one of the more prominent.

It was an exceptionally warm and sunny weekend here, considering that it’s the middle of November. It was already getting hot when people started gathering at City Hall ahead of the 10:30 start time.

And the crowd grew rather quickly.

Indeed, it was hard to see the speakers, or hear them. In that sense, it was a bit frustrating and gave the event a sense of poor planning. At the same time, it was great that the crowd was so large. And it was worth it to be there in support of my friends and all the other people whose marriage rights were taken away. This is part of the way to win them back.

Some more colorful banners, playing on the California and U.S. Flags (we featured the “rainbow Bear Flag” in a past Wordless Wednesday).

After a while of standing in the heat and attempting to listen to speakers, we all decided to march from City Hall along Market Street towards the Castro District.

That is where my participation ended for the day, but this is too important an issue to simply end at a street corner…

Election Day

Well, Election Day is here.

Here is our sample ballot and voter guide for the City and County of San Francisco, California:

Yes, it is a tome! One actually has to read and study in order to do a good job with today’s civic duty. And maybe that’s not a bad thing. The rather large size is mostly because of all our local and state-wise propositions. We have 22 local propositions. Most are very mundane, but we have some “interesting” ones, like naming a waste-water treatment plant in honor of the outgoing president (yes, the “George W Bush Sewage Treatment Plant”).

We also have 12 state propositions, including the most profound:

Those of you with us here in California, please use to your sense of reason and fairness, rather the fear and prejudice, when you consider Proposition 8.

And of course we shouldn’t forget that national election today:

Luna is joining us in absentia:


[click to enlarge]

Her boarding place is not far from our polling place, so I’ll pay her a visit after voting…

Unlike many other civilized (and not-so-civilized) countries, Election Day is not a holiday here in the U.S., and so some of us have to go to work. That includes me, as well as the construction crew here at CatSynth HQ. Making Election Day a holiday one of those things we question every four years and then never do anything about.

UPDATE

Well, the deed is done. It was actually a long line when I arrived late this morning. It seems that they temporarily ran out of ballots. It was a chance to talk to some other people from the neighborhood while waiting. I think all of us in line nearby worked in computer software. And indeed most of the line appeared to be a “blue demographic.”

I did go visit Luna afterwards. It was a wonderful moment of peace and calm amidst the current intensity and excitement and anxiety. I will remember that as part of this day.

Now there is nothing to do except await the results…

Election fun, electronic music, and seriousness

Well, we’re getting close, and things are looking good:

(This is a live link, so it will show the final results, and we’ll see how “good” things really went.)

One delightful election story that is rather apropos of this site involves Brian Dewan. He was in the news this past Saturday because of his performances of historical political folk songs (think mildly irritating songs about Jimmy Carter, Nixon or Eisenhower), but Dewan’s true claims to fame are his unqiue electronic musical instruments, including Melody Gins and Dewantrons, and “Folk Synthesizers.” We at CatSynth are delighted to see politics and our own art form crossing paths in such a direct and public way. As for Dewan’s instruments – we want one!.

This reminds me of how electronic music crossed paths for me during the previous elections, when I attended ICMC in New Orleans in 2006; and in 2004 as well, when my fellow electronic musicians and I watched the defeat at a bar in Miami. Things are looking much better this time.

We at CatSynth have also been quite amused by some of the humorous and well-designed sites that have recently appeared, most notably PalinAsPresident.com. This Flash animation depicts Sarah Palin as President (presumably after McCain’s untimely demise) in the form of an interactive game where you click on different objects (it reminds my a lot of Myst series and similar games from the 1990s). Humor abounds, as you uncover stashes from huge shopping trips, make Palin say goofy things like “Where’s Russia” and variations on “Maverick.” It is being updated every day through November 4th, and it’s always fun to come back and see what’s new. Hours, or least minutes of quality entertainment.

One thing that is not so entertaining: a mailer I received, using Barack Obama’s image and words to support Proposition 8. He is officially against it – though he hasn’t been particular vocal about the issue, mostly because of cultural blackmail in certain regions and among certain demographics. Nonetheless, it is really troubling, hopefully it doesn’t sway anyone in this largely Obama-supporting state.

The ad seemed largely targeted at African Americans, given the images and quotes from black clergy. It made me wonder about my own ethnic hertiges and their support for marriage equality. In particular, the Indian side of my heritage. I did find this survey thanks to Prerna. It suggests a 47% vote against proposition 8, which is far higher than I expected. Given my own experience (as well as the stereotypes of Indian Americans), I would have expected far lower, as we (i.e., South Asians) have an embarrassing track record on social and cultural issues. So on that note, I am somewhat optimistic. But both Prerna and I agree, “We can do so much better.”

And that’s true for the country as a whole, we can do so much better. Hopefully, we will chose that option, both nationally and locally…

Weekend Cat Blogging: Halloween and Black Cat Edition

We at CatSynth are proud to again host the Hallowe’en Edition of Weekend Cat Blogging. We also want to take a moment to appreciate the chat noirs, the black cats.

Every year one can read articles both celebrating black cats, and warning for their safety. From the Santa Barbara Independent:

The superstition surrounding black cats cause them to be the target of pranks on Halloween. Therefore, people with black cats should be extra careful about keeping them safely inside on Halloween. The concern is serious enough that most humane societies avoid adopting out black cats during the Halloween season due to the risk of them being harmed.

Superstitions and unfounded prejudice persist to this day – and not just at Sarah Palin rallies. Fortunately, stories of harm to cats on Halloween is relatively rare. But there is more concern for black cats being used as “Hallowe’en props”, only to be returned to the shelter or abandoned after the holiday. But black cats have a difficult time during the whole year, not just on Hallowe’en. From The Cat’s Meow by Kathy Covey:

When you look at the fate of black cats in animal shelters, you’d surmise they were the most unlucky of creatures. Overlooked in favor of their orange neighbor, last of the litter chosen, passed over for the more visible white cat — they make up the largest segment of the Cat Adoption Team’s shelter population.

But Covey then describes the virtues of black cats, and leaves us with this thought:

So all of you who have and love black cats, consider yourself fortunate to be in the presence of such a genetic marvel, the black cat!

So we at CatSynth would like to celebrate black cats this weekend. All cats are welcome to join, but if their is a chat noir in the house, we would ask you to feature him or her in your post. As always, you can leave a comment below, or contact us, and we’ll add you to the round-up over the course of the weekend.

And so let us begin…


Cece comes over trick-or-treating this morning at iInfidel. Looks like he wants in.


Want to see something scary? Check out this baking disaster at Paulchens FoodBlog. Othello seems unperturbed, and is determined to relax this weekend.


Welcome to Pam and Patchouli of Sidewalk Shoes, who are first time participants in Weekend Cat Blogging! Patchouli give us her fake "smile for the camera" smile for the occasion. Please do stop by to welcome them.


Black cats can be very helpful, and Samantha helps recycle bags (that is, after first playing with them). See Samantha, and Tigger, and fall foliage at Life From a Cat's Perspective.


Rosa's Yummy Yums features the lovely black cat Marushka and a tribute to cats from Jules Verne.


Luna's fellow house panther Diamond Emerald-Eyes shares this "fangtastic graphic" with us. She also hosted Costumed Capers this past Thursday, a veritable feline masquerade. We think we spotted a few of our friends there.


Over at Gattina's, Rosie attempts to be scary for Hallowe'en. But being scary requires some serious follow-through. Let's go see if Rosie succeeds, or just ends up being cute.


The handsome black denizen of the The House of Chaos, Loup-Garou, joins us this weekend. He is suffering from stress, which was probably exacerbated by a trip to the vet. We hope that things calm down a bit.


The story over that The House of the (Mostly) Black Cats is more comfy than scary, where Mini enjoys a unique way of sitting in a lap.


It's time to turn back the clock in Stockholm at The World According to Pia. We are also reminded to "appreciate cats, no matter what colour, as well as other animals, as the most amazing, loveable, adorable, quirky beings they are." We at CatSynth couldn't agree more.


We remain in Stockholm for a moment to visit with Klara at Anne's Food. Klara may be the opposite of a black cat, but she is still very cute.


More cuteness, and more than a little mischief, can be found today at Cuisine Guylaine.

Thanks to everyone who participated this week. We will continue to post entries through Monday morning.