So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Harp]

. How many wanna-be Edward Hoppers can one town absorb?

Or Wyeths.

 

[Harp]

Same problem in old Germany. Much too much art-galleries all around. So, no one can really visit all of them. Curious oversupply.

Art abounds in Marburg and Munich, Frankfurt is also a great search town for bargains. Cannot ever be too much art!!!!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Or Wyeths.

One of my favorite local stories dates back to when the credit-card monstrosity MBNA was rampant in the area, buying up buildings right and left for call centers. The company president called a vital meeting and asked his acolytes who the best painter in Maine was. "I guess Andrew Wyeth," offered one of the flunkies. "Get him in here," demanded the prez. "I want these walls done in a light buff...."

 

[tonyb]

I wouldn’t wish my disdain for “arty” types to be mistaken for a lack of appreciation for artists themselves.

I didn’t actively seek out the company of artists when I lived in Seattle all those decades. But kindred spirits have ways of finding one another, and such are the economics of the original art world that most of the people who actually produce the commodity find themselves by necessity occasionally working other jobs. The visual artists of my acquaintance didn’t often hang out in the arty bars and coffeehouses. They “made the scene” only to the degree necessary to get some sales under their belts. Show openings were just the worst — the wine and cheese, the mostly empty chit-chat, the having to buy a new shirt.

That’s going back decades now. To a person, these painters and printmakers, etc. have relocated to more remote locales because they just can’t afford to live in the city anymore. Hipness don’t come cheap these days.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The art scene here is loaded with fatuous pretentiousness, but it's mostly the gallery/museum crowd that perpetrates it more than the artists themselves. Many of them have a very refreshing attitude toward the art racket: they know and acknowledge that it's a racket, and they're just trying to get their share of the gravy before it dries up. I don't have a problem with them at all -- it's the movers and shakers and promoters with their novelty haircuts, year-round-tans, and over-pronounced "r's" that are stinking the place up for the rest of us.

 

[GHT]

The art scene here is loaded with fatuous pretentiousness, but it's mostly the gallery/museum crowd that perpetrates it more than the artists themselves.

Well said, I couldn't agree more. The arty farty set, those pretentious charlatans, that, when not castigating an aspiring artist, speak in highfalutin gobble-de-gook terms about menus & restaurants. Not only are they an authority on art but also connoisseurs of all things when it comes to food. But the best of this breed of overblown, self-important prigs, is their judgemental authority and use of language when describing wine.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I've never understood what was supposed to be so appealing about something that tastes of "wet leather, old tobacco, and a damp corduroy sleeve."

 

[GHT]

I've never understood what was supposed to be so appealing about something that tastes of "wet leather, old tobacco, and a damp corduroy sleeve."

Absolutely, I am so tempted to graffiti: "I'm get musings of kitty's litter box."

 

[LizzieMaine]

If your vacation plans this summer include a road trip to Maine, take a tip from me and go to every possible length to avoid the stretch of US 1 between Camden and Northport. Rotten roads are a fact of everyday life here, especially at the municipal level, where "maintenance" is perfunctory at best, but I have never, in my long decades on this earth, experienced a more disgraceful stretch of Federal highway as this twelve-mile expanse of moonscape. Potholes, washboard frostheaves, and what appear to be shellholes are unavoidable, the shoulders are soft and washed-out, and if you try to do over 30mph at any point along the way you're a reckless idiot who will soon be paying big dollars to get your ball joints replaced.

It's even worse because there are no Interstates or limited-access highways here -- it's US1 in all its 1940s two-lane glory or you take back roads that are one step removed from cow trails. Either way it's a miserable experience, especially at night, where the only ambient light is your headlights reflected from the tapetum of the stunned deer that's having as much trouble crossing the road as you are driving along it.

Don't say you weren't warned. Better yet, forget about the trip altogether, go to eBay and order the "Scenic Maine" reels for your View Master. Your car will thank you.

 

[GHT]

Don't say you weren't warned. Better yet, forget about the trip altogether, go to eBay and order the "Scenic Maine" reels for your View Master. Your car will thank you.

On the other hand, you might think that a trip to Europe would be a better bet. It probably is because your car will be hired and you won't be left with the cost of pothole damage. This is the front suspension spring of my wife's VW Golf. Both front springs were replaced, I won't tell you how much, you might think that I'm wealthy.

 

[GHT]

The British press have gone Royal baby mad. And it's driving me mad too, only I'm not what you might describe as a monarchist. I wonder if the pub is open yet?

 

[Edward]

The British press have gone Royal baby mad. And it's driving me mad too, only I'm not what you might describe as a monarchist. I wonder if the pub is open yet?

I'm not sure whether to be grateful that the parents in this case have eschewed much of the usual performing monkey stuff (the photocalls, the 'isn't she impressive, wearing high heels ten minutes after giving birth', and all the rest of it), or whether that's ultimately caused more media frenzy over the whole sorry event. I mean..... "woman has baby." Shouldn't really be news, should it? The sole shred of entertainment (or even useful information) in the first seven pages of the Metro this morning was the satisfaction of knowing the oafish Duke of York and his ridiculous children are again one step less important, which will doubtless enrage him.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The sad part is she's now fulfilled her only function and now has the rest of her life to think about what she's gotten herself into.

 

[Edward]

The sad part is she's now fulfilled her only function and now has the rest of her life to think about what she's gotten herself into.

Like every royal spouse ever.

 

[tonyb]

We got our own version of royalty over here in God’s Country — celebrities from the world of entertainment, mostly.

Evidence? Box-office numbers are top-of-the-hour news. Whatever attire some women named Kim K and Lady Gaga wore to something called the Met Gala (whatever that is) is a matter of great public interest, judging by the level of press coverage it receives. And even I, who devotes as little attention to such things as can be reasonably accomplished while living in the wider world, knows more than I ever cared to know about one Brad Pitt and one Jennifer Anniston and one Angelina Jolie.

 

[Edward]

We got our own version of royalty over here in God’s Country — celebrities from the world of entertainment, mostly.

Evidence? Box-office numbers are top-of-the-hour news. Whatever attire some women named Kim K and Lady Gaga wore to something called the Met Gala (whatever that is) is a matter of great public interest, judging by the level of press coverage it receives. And even I, who devotes as little attention to such things as can be reasonably accomplished while living in the wider world, knows more than I ever cared to know about one Brad Pitt and one Jennifer Anniston and one Angelina Jolie.

Modern royalty certainly seems a lot more like celebrity in some senses, though by comparison the Kardashians don't tend to have their faces all over the money, nor does one of them getting married involve disruption to the working week. I might also contrast the funding model, but that's a hole other can of worms too!

 

[Lean'n'mean]

The sad part is she's now fulfilled her only function and now has the rest of her life to think about what she's gotten herself into.

To suggest that she didn't know beforehand is kinda underestimating her intelligence but any thinking she has to do or any regrets she may have, she can at least do them in luxury.

 

[tonyb]

Modern royalty certainly seems a lot more like celebrity in some senses, though by comparison the Kardashians don't tend to have their faces all over the money, nor does one of them getting married involve disruption to the working week. I might also contrast the funding model, but that's a hole other can of worms too!

We may not put their faces on our currency (not while they’re living, anyway), but we have had this habit in recent decades of installing our third- and fourth-rate entertainers in high public office.

 

[sheeplady]

To suggest that she didn't know beforehand is kinda underestimating her intelligence but any thinking she has to do or any regrets she may have, she can at least do them in luxury.

I don't know... for all the women who have a "dream" of marrying into royalty, I for one would run like mad in the opposite direction. It's like being a celebrity only with incredibly high standards for your behavior. Sure, you have lots of cash and luxury but every little piece of your life is on display for criticism. Either you're too stuffy or too informal; no chance of winning.

I like being able to walk into the grocery store wearing yard work clothes and the worst I face is having a current or former student ring up my groceries. Maybe seeing my boss. And the general public doesn't care who I or my husband sleep with (including each other), hang out with, or how many kids we have.

I will note: I was surprised that Prince William and Kate Middleton had a third kid. Here, in the US at least, 2 kids is considered standard, UNLESS you have the same gender (which makes having a third socially acceptable, to "try" for another gender). Having three kids when you already have a boy/girl is often viewed as slightly excessive. I haven't seen any push back on the couple for expanding their family to three; which I would expect in the US culturally and in the UK at least from the sense that they are supported by the public. My understanding is that families are relatively small in the UK as well (2 kids or less; 3 is considered large).

 

[LizzieMaine]

One woman's luxury is another woman's prison. Or sometimes even the same woman.