Gimme five

Memeage, because I haven't done a public post in awhile.

Comment with the words "Top Ten" or "Top Five", and I will reply with a subject for which you will generate a top ten (or top five) list. Post the listand instructions in your own journal.

ironed_orchid asked for my top five artists. I'm going to go with "artists I really dig at the moment" rather than "artists whom I think are the best artists ever," because the former is more fun. It's a bit slanted towards Russians and Germans, though.

1. Käthe Kollwitz: My favourite artist. If you've ever doubted that a piece of art can make you cry, pay a visit sometime to her museum in Berlin. Weavers Rebellion and Peasants War are my favourites.

2. Georg Grosz: After I stopped being so obsessed with Dada (admit it—Dada gets old after awhile) I still liked Grosz. He went beyond the "hee hee, random fish" and painted actual absurdity.

3. Otto Dix: Giant landscapes of mutilation, pain, and suffering. Yay!

4. Banksy: You all know who Bansky is, because you're all obsessed with him too.

5. Alexander Rodchenko: My favourite of the Russian Constructivists. I may have a soft spot for socialist realism, but the avant-garde, pre-Stalinist art is still way better.

Bonus artist: Rocky Dobey: If you hit that link, you'll notice that there are only two images there, and one is of Rocky. If you live outside of Toronto, chances are you've never heard of him (though you might have one of his posters on your wall). If you live in Toronto, you probably pass his anonymous plaques (to forgotten history, dead homeless people, etc.) all the time.

Edit: Also, it is a sign that my wee brain is not caffeinated enough yet that I forgot Francisco Goya, who ranks higher than several of the artists I mentioned in my top five.

Gimme five

Memeage, because I haven't done a public post in awhile.

Comment with the words "Top Ten" or "Top Five", and I will reply with a subject for which you will generate a top ten (or top five) list. Post the listand instructions in your own journal.

ironed_orchid asked for my top five artists. I'm going to go with "artists I really dig at the moment" rather than "artists whom I think are the best artists ever," because the former is more fun. It's a bit slanted towards Russians and Germans, though.

1. Käthe Kollwitz: My favourite artist. If you've ever doubted that a piece of art can make you cry, pay a visit sometime to her museum in Berlin. Weavers Rebellion and Peasants War are my favourites.

2. Georg Grosz: After I stopped being so obsessed with Dada (admit it—Dada gets old after awhile) I still liked Grosz. He went beyond the "hee hee, random fish" and painted actual absurdity.

3. Otto Dix: Giant landscapes of mutilation, pain, and suffering. Yay!

4. Banksy: You all know who Bansky is, because you're all obsessed with him too.

5. Alexander Rodchenko: My favourite of the Russian Constructivists. I may have a soft spot for socialist realism, but the avant-garde, pre-Stalinist art is still way better.

Bonus artist: Rocky Dobey: If you hit that link, you'll notice that there are only two images there, and one is of Rocky. If you live outside of Toronto, chances are you've never heard of him (though you might have one of his posters on your wall). If you live in Toronto, you probably pass his anonymous plaques (to forgotten history, dead homeless people, etc.) all the time.

Edit: Also, it is a sign that my wee brain is not caffeinated enough yet that I forgot Francisco Goya, who ranks higher than several of the artists I mentioned in my top five.

A return to blogging about disturbing political trends.

Via zingerella, the second-most disturbing news I've read this week: A 12-year-old boy died because his family didn't have dental insurance. It would have cost $80 to save his life. And we Canadians aren't in a position to be smug about it, either; with dental coverage excluded from provincial health care plans, this could have easily happened here.

This, dear readers, is why I get so incensed when I encounter people who are against universal health care. There still exists a pervasive myth, at least in North America, that the invisible hand of the free market will solve everything. As far as I can tell, the invisible hand of the free market exists only to give hand jobs to the rich and knock the teeth out of the poor.

The most disturbing news I've read this week comes via Lenin's Tomb, and it has to do with the revival of the use by the U.S. of the strappado, a medieval torture device. It's apparently also known by the Israelis as a "Palestinian hanging." Hey, remember when the Israeli government claimed that it banned torture and didn't torture people anymore? It's not like anyone believed them, but it was indicative of an idea that the general public considered torture distasteful, and something that should at the very least be kept under wraps. I guess we can forget about that.

A return to blogging about disturbing political trends.

Via zingerella, the second-most disturbing news I've read this week: A 12-year-old boy died because his family didn't have dental insurance. It would have cost $80 to save his life. And we Canadians aren't in a position to be smug about it, either; with dental coverage excluded from provincial health care plans, this could have easily happened here.

This, dear readers, is why I get so incensed when I encounter people who are against universal health care. There still exists a pervasive myth, at least in North America, that the invisible hand of the free market will solve everything. As far as I can tell, the invisible hand of the free market exists only to give hand jobs to the rich and knock the teeth out of the poor.

The most disturbing news I've read this week comes via Lenin's Tomb, and it has to do with the revival of the use by the U.S. of the strappado, a medieval torture device. It's apparently also known by the Israelis as a "Palestinian hanging." Hey, remember when the Israeli government claimed that it banned torture and didn't torture people anymore? It's not like anyone believed them, but it was indicative of an idea that the general public considered torture distasteful, and something that should at the very least be kept under wraps. I guess we can forget about that.