troublesome curves

One commenter at the product blog-- whose name and sex shall remain undisclosed (the comments are hidden)-- wanted me to remove certain language from Items 35 and 36, two pieces of brush art I had done a few years back, depicting a woman seated by what may be a riverbank (the scene is minimalist, so you can fill it in as you please). The woman's back is turned to us, but her curvaceous fundament is plainly visible. The comment I appended to the image jokes that, in painting this picture, I may have revealed my weakness for plump, curvy asses-- the "may have" of course alerts the reader to the fact that I haven't actually stated my real preference: we're in the world of humor, here.The commenter didn't give a reason as to why the "weakness for" text should be deleted, leaving me to speculate as to what, exactly, was so distressing or offensive about it. Let's review-- and refute-- some possibilities.1. A public comment by a male about his preference for plump, curvy asses is disrespectful to women: it objectifies them (women, not asses... or, yeah, maybe asses, too), and from there it's a slippery slope from objectification to victimization.This claim fails on a number of fronts. First, any argument rooted in victimization undermines whatever feminist goal the claimant has in view. To speak, on the one hand, of women as empowered, equal, and even better than men in certain (or in many) respects, while also speaking of women as constantly vulnerable to "the male gaze" is to engage in a hypocrisy that keeps non-feminists from taking such feminists seriously.Second, it's not obvious that objectification is always a bad thing. How can a man praise a woman's physical virtues without referring to her physical parts? There are many women who prefer such praise to remain vague and poetic, which I can understand (and a man who shouts "Damn, she got some junk in dat trunk!" isn't going to inspire female lust or admiration), but like it or not, people are wired to respond to each other's physicality. To stoop to the language of postmodernism for a moment: we are embodied; this is as much a part of our interiority as it is a brute, objective fact. To perceive someone is not merely to perceive them abstractly; it is, first and foremost, to perceive them concretely, i.e., through the senses. Women are no different from men in this, and these days women often offer sexual commentary that is just as public and just as raunchy (Exhibit A: MTV-- watch college girls talk about guys on any number of "reality" shows).It's primarily the main strains of paleofeminism that attempt completely to separate sex from gender, peeling biology away, pretending it's irrelevant, and arguing that "manhood" and "womanhood" are purely mental and social constructions. This sort of thinking still gets a lot of play in American academe; it's a shame we Yanks aren't as relaxed as the French (I don't speak here of old-school French feminists, who are arguably among the worst offenders in the "abiological" movement), who take female sexuality to be an advantage, even a weapon-- a worldview that's closer to the truth than the twisted gospel preached in American classrooms.And that's why, as I've mentioned here and elsewhere, I'm a Camille Paglia feminist. Paglia represents, to my mind, a far more liberated, empowered woman: a woman who can hear sexually charged male comments and say to those men, "Yeah, that's right... my ass is hot, and you ain't gettin' any of it." (Well, obviously: Paglia's a lesbian. Paleofeminists often uncharitably accuse her of being a betrayer, a "gay man in a woman's body," as one feminist put it.) Paglia doesn't separate sex and gender; biological reality is front and center in her thinking, and objectification is, for her, something we simply do:Other feminists contest feminist claims about the objectification of women. Camille Paglia holds that "Turning people into sex objects is one of the specialties of our species." In her view, objectification is closely tied to (and may even be identical with) the highest human faculties toward conceptualization and aesthetics. Individualist feminist Wendy McElroy holds that the label "sex object" means nothing because inanimate objects are not sexual. She continues that women are their bodies and sexuality as well as their minds and souls. [source]I also like McElroy's contention, quoted above, because it points to a major philosophical flaw in the abiological paleofeminist victimization stance. Is most objectification really objectification? Probably not. To be fair, I'm willing to grant that there are forms of human objectification that shouldn't be tolerated. The demonization of one's political enemies, in which the other side is portrayed as irrational or stupid or subhuman or simply evil, is a good example of this. Such a stance precludes meaningful dialogue, or at least makes it unnecessarily difficult. Other out-of-bounds forms of objectification can be seen when we turn to outright acts of cruelty, in which people are treated literally as objects. Some examples: slavery, kidnapping, spousal abuse, etc. But my point is that putting a guy declaring "What an ass!" in the same moral category as spousal abuse strikes me as ridiculous, not to mention insulting to victims of abuse, i.e., people who actually merit the label "victim." Luckily, I'm not the only one who feels this way.Third, it's not obvious that public statements of appreciation of the female form constitute objectification. Men aren't exactly known for phrasing their utterances in the most delicate manner; most of what men say to and about women is, believe it or not, a weird form of praise, and should be taken as such. (I'm obviously not including extreme cases, such as that of a violently drunk Mel Gibson snarling "Whadaya think you're lookin' at, sugar tits?" upon viewing a female officer at a police station in 2006.) But many women seem not to understand this, choosing instead to be offended. This state of affairs puzzles me since women are routinely touted as more perceptive than men! (I happen to agree, at least generally, that women are more perceptive than men, though I think each sex has its own set of blinders, denials, and other forms of self-deception.)Finally, we can't end this section without noting that slippery-slope arguments are of dubious validity, if not outright invalid, when applied to human behavior. They rely on the idea that a certain set of psychological initial conditions will hold steady, even gain momentum. While there is evidence to support such an idea, there is, I think, an equal amount of evidence against it. People are both social creatures and creatures imbued with free will; they can be swayed to act in certain ways, often en masse, but they can also pull themselves out of a pattern of action before that pattern solidifies, for such is the nature of freedom. A guy might have a "what an ass!" moment upon seeing un joli cul, but this doesn't mean he's going to start kidnapping women and locking them in cellars as part of a growing collection. Such wildly irrational thinking is what leads some feminist schools of thought to preach, for example, that "all men are potential rapists." No, we're not.2. The "plump, curvy ass" language matched neither the general tone of the rest of the blog, nor the tone of the picture in question.It might be true that that tone is jarringly out of place for some, but this doesn't amount to an argument for removal of the offending language. Quite the contrary, asking for such a removal amounts to a rude imposition, as mentioned before: it's like coming into someone's house and demanding they rearrange the furniture.3. It's just icky, OK? Change it! Strangely enough, this is probably the most compelling stance. But note that there's no reasoning here; whatever motivation exists behind the command is all visceral, totally irrational, purely emotional, and not particularly considerate of my rights to blog as I wish. Nevertheless, if the commenter is someone with whom I'm on friendly terms, that bond alone may be enough to make me back down. And that is, in fact, what I've done in this case (though not without grumbling about "the thought police"). Yes, you may call me a wuss. Or a pussy.Two final thoughts: first, ultimately, I see nothing wrong with publicly appreciating the feminine form, whether we do it in florid language or in a markedly lower register. We, men and women, exist bodily and are prone to act bawdily. I'm not suggesting that we drop all pretensions to civility, charge outside, and rut madly in the streets (that's what nightclubs are for: to channel all that sexual energy), but we do need to relax and shed our political correctness. I'm reminded of this daily, because my own bathroom reading is currently George Carlin's often-hilarious When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?, another collection that takes on the PC mentality that wants everything to be inoffensive... the end result of which is the stultification of thought and culture, all ironically in the name of respect.Second, a public proclamation about a general stance ("I've got a weakness for plump, curvy asses") is not the same thing as loudly declaring "What an ass!" when a woman passes by. A lot of people fail to see the difference, which is usually the result of overly large ego boundaries that contribute to inordinate sensitivity. I've had commenters who, at both this and my other blog, have reacted to things I've written as if I had personally attacked them. That reaction might be understandable if I were, say, tossing off racist remarks or engaging in truly sexist rants (like this dude, or possibly even this dude), but I fail to see how appreciation qualifies as offensive.I like big butts and I cannot lieYou other brothers can't denyThat when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waistAnd a round thing in your faceYou get sprung, wanna [pull out your tough]'Cause you notice that butt was stuffedDeep in the jeans she's wearin'I'm hooked and I can't stop starin'Oh baby, I wanna get with youAnd take your pictureMy homeboys tried to warn meBut that butt you got makes me so hornyOoh, Rump-o'-SmoothskinYou say you wanna get in my Benz?Well, use me, use me'Cause you ain't that average groupieI've seen them dancin'To hell with romancin'She's sweat, wet,Got it goin' like a turbo 'VetteI'm tired of magazinesSayin' flat butts are the thingTake the average black man and ask him thatShe gotta pack much backSo, fellas! (Yeah!) Fellas! (Yeah!)Has your girlfriend got the butt? (Hell yeah!)Tell 'em to shake it! (Shake it!) Shake it! (Shake it!)Shake that healthy butt!Baby got back!(Sir Mix-a-Lot, "Baby Got Back")_

Dell Adamo: a first look

Dan Ackerman, CNET, 17 Mar 2009The 13.in. Adamo, toe-to-toe with Apple's MacBook Air (which is about 440g lighter).One of the most buzzed-about new notebooks of 2009 is Dell's Adamo, a high-end, ultra-thin 13in. model that starts £1,649 and shares a design sensibility with the MacBook Air and HP's Voodoo Envy 133. After teasing the system at CES 2009, Dell formally announced its availability for preorder online on 17 March, with shipping from 26 March. We've managed to get our hands on pre-production version of the hardware to bring you our initial impressions. ZDNet UK's colleagues at CNET.com in the US have looked at a pre-production example of Dell's much-anticipated Adamo notebook. At first glance, the Adamo, is a stark break from Dell's recent notebook designs, built into an aluminium case with unibody construction — similar to the current MacBooks. The model we have is black (Dell calls it 'onyx') and a white 'pearl' version is also available. The back of the lid and the keyboard tray are split between brushed metal and a fingerprint-attracting glossy finish. About 1.65cm thick, Dell claims this is the thinnest notebook in the world. It's certainly thin, but going toe-to-toe with the MacBook Air, the true 'thinnest' title is open to interpretation. The tapered Air is thinner at its narrowest point, but slightly thicker at its widest point. In either case these are both very slim systems. Picking up the Adamo, we were surprised at how heavy it felt. At 1.8kg, it's certainly lightweight, but based on the size, we were expecting something closer to the 1.36kg MacBook Air. Dell is pitching the Adamo as a 'luxury brand notebook design for the luxury conscious consumer', which may not seem like the most timely of ideas, considering the current economic climate and the resultant growth in low-cost netbooks. While the timing may be unfortunate, products such as this generally have long, multi-year production cycles, from concept to release. As a luxury notebook, the Adamo has plenty of high-end visual touches. The pearl finish has a wavy pattern etched into it, while our black model has a more traditional brushed metal look. Notably, the usual brand and regulatory stickers have been removed, in favour of etching the information directly into a panel on the bottom of the system. Instead of the typical Christmas tree of lighting effects found on notebooks in all price ranges, the Adamo has only a handful of small LED lights — for the power button, the touch-sensitive media controls and the caps-lock button, as well as a backlit keyboard. Besides Adamo-branded desktop wallpaper, Dell also created a custom Windows Vista theme for the system, called Adamo Ice. Along with branded accessories Dell plans to offer, it's all part of a concept for the Adamo 'brand ecosystem'. The keyboard itself is a big change from the typical Dell notebook keyboard, which has always had tall, tapered keys. This borrows more from the Dell Mini 9, with flat, closely spaced keys, similar in style to what you might find on a MacBook or Sony VAIO. We found the keyboard easy to use, but there's a little wasted space at either side of the keyboard tray that could have been used to space out the keys more. The keyboard itself has too much flex in the middle, and the keys are a little clacky — but these could be issues with our prototype hardware. The metal touchpad was very good — sometimes using non-traditional surfaces on a touchpad can add uncomfortable friction and finger drag, but that was not the case here. The 1,366 by 768 LED-backlit display is behind a sheet of edge-to-edge glass, again similar to the current MacBook line. It's a sleek look, but very susceptible to glare and reflections. The screen hinge is set back about 2.5cm from the rear of the system, leaving what looks a bit like a small handle when the display is open. Other than a headphone jack and a user-accessible SIM card slot on the right side, all the other ports and connections are on the rear edge. There are two USB ports, a USB/eSATA port and an Ethernet jack, plus a DisplayPort video output (although dongles to other video connections will be available). Inside, this prototype unit has a 1.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U9300, 2GB of RAM and a 64GB SSD hard drive — these components could change in the final shipping version of the Adamo, and we hear that a 128GB SSD will be standard. With a low-voltage version of Intel's Core 2 Duo, it's not meant to be a speed demon, however, in anecdotal hands-on use, we found the Adamo to be perfectly fine for normal multitasking — web surfing, working on office documents and media playback — and we'll run a complete series of benchmark tests on the final shipping version. We haven't had time to run a full battery drain test yet, but the battery icon in the system tray claims more than three hours of battery life on a full charge at the default power settings.Related Article:Dell's ultra-thin laptop on sale

Bob Matthews

Londoner Bob Matthews' latest exhibition entitled, Garden Ruin, is on view at the Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, from May 7 though June 27. Garden Ruin addresses the familiar issue of humans in nature, or in this case, superimposed on nature. Matthews' landscapes have a certain untamed quality, likely resulting from exposure to the English style of landscape design. Although highly stylized, the English garden is known to be less formal than its strictly symmetrical French counterpart, appearing as if it occurred naturally.
There is a striking visual dichotomy present his work, especially in the oil and acrylic on wood piece Human don't be angry. The natural wood panel contrasts with the perspectival, geometric image and shiny varnish to raise viewers' awareness of these contributing elements. Prints like, Garden Ruin 1, broach the subject differently, by superimposing shapes over nature scenes. Without being overbearing, these shapes suggest the presence of humans in the landscape, creating a visually and psychologically unique composition.
Bob Matthews currently lives in London. He teaches at his alma mater, the Royal College of Art, where he received his MA in Printmaking. His recent curatorial endeavors include shows at Cell Project Space, London, and Aspen Museum of Contemporary Art. He has exhibited in London at the Collyer Bristow Gallery, Monika Bobinska, and the Keith Talent Gallery.

Free Espresso at Crussh with The London Paper

Crussh Offer of the Week: Recycle The London Paper at participating Crussh stores and receive a free organic espresso!
List of Crussh stores here
Terms and conditions: Offer valid up to and including 15th May 2009. The London Paper must be handed in at the time in order to receive a organic espresso. Only the full paper will be accepted and not copies or tear outs. Offer is restricted to one customer per transaction per day. Available while stocks last.
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In case you don't know The London Paper is a free paper handed out at peak times in London, usually outside tube stations.
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New Epicenter for recipes

I just read about a new website that is a central source for recipes from Gourmet, Bon Appetit, Martha Stewart, Better Homes and Garden, Food and Wine, Chow, Eating Well, Food Network and many other recipe sites. I had to go check the site out and have committed myself to this new endeavor by downloading their toolbar for my browser. From what I can tell it started in December 08 and is still stating it is Beta. The website is www.food.com and the owners are Scripps Howard owners of the Food Network. You have the capability of storing the recipes in the site’s recipe box and uploading your own recipes there as well. Maybe I can stop wearing black, I was morning the loss of a feature on my MasterCook program that allowed me to highlight and paste recipes I found on the net into my own web-cookbooks very simply. Food.com seems to be your one-stop shop for recipes, the epicenter to a numerous recipes from the major recipe sites and store them in one central location. So if you love recipes go now and test drive www.food.com and be sure to give us your personal feedback. You can sort your recipes even to gluten-free…CHECK IT OUT. Don't forget - check out www.food.com and come back with a review. Is it good, not sure, found a great recipe? Come share your thoughts.P. S. This in no way has diminished my love of and collecting of cookbooks.

Is it a Giclee?

As many already know, the term giclee has been used and abused; it started as a way of defining a high quality print on archival paper, made with archival pigment inks and by a skilled printmaker. Now I go to shows and "Mom and Pop" operations spit out prints with their Walmart bought $99 printers and call them "Giclee". Sometimes I want to ask: "Do you really understand what a giclee is? Do you realize you are deceiving customers and selling generic inkjet prints?". Then I stop and think: There is no known standard for giclee; after all there is no standard of definition of a sports car; no one can tell a car manufacturer they cannot define a car a sports car; if it has 4 wheels and looks sporty, it's a sports car. An informed buyer will know that a true sportscar such as a Carrera 911 is at a completely different level than a Hyundai Tiburon. The point I am trying to make is that any business can describe its products with fancy terms if there is no regulation on the use such terms. We adhere to strict standards we explain on the allpconline.com site. These standards are self imposed and derived by my experience as a printmaker in Los Angeles where it all started in the early 90s. Please read the info on our site and also the previous posts and archive on this blog; call other companies and ask questions regarding their giclee methodology. You will become more informed and possibly avoid costly mistakes.

IN PURSUIT OF A DOUBLE STANDARD

By Lynn Stuter
May 12, 2009
Over the past year, numerous lawsuits have been filed regarding the eligibility of Also Known As (AKA) Obama to the office of president of the United States of America under Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the United States Constitution.
While AKA claims to have been born in Hawaii, evidence shows that no one, outside a select group of people known to support his cause, has actually seen the document he claims is his birth certificate and that he claims he obtained from the Department of Health in Hawaii.
Regards the birth certificate:
1. The document he claims is his birth certificate is not a birth certificate, its a Certification of Live Birth; a birth certificate is issued at the time of birth; in this case 1961 before computers and computer generated documents.
2. The pictures of this document, that have turned up on the internet have been tampered with, meaning, quite bluntly, they have been forged/altered.
3. Any pictures that show up on the internet cannot be construed as legal proof of anything; to be legal proof that they are an exacting copy of the original requires a notarized document to that effect.
4. Requests of the Hawaii Department of Health (HDOH), under freedom of information, to produce the documents, signed by AKA, requesting what he is presenting as his birth certificate, have not been responded to, suggesting that,
a. The HDOH is deliberated obstructing the peoples right to know;
b. No such request was ever made by AKA and the documents AKA are presenting are, indeed, forged as has been stated by forensic specialists in sworn affidavits;
c. The HDOH is hoping that in dragging their feet, the request for disclosure will be abandoned.
In regards to number four above, the last request for disclosure was sent, via e-mail, receipts requested, on May 5, 2009 at 10:53 a.m. (7:53 p.m. Hawaii time); within three minutes of sending the e-mail to Janice Okubo at the HDOH, the following response was received:
Your message
To: Okubo, Janice S.
Subject: Request for Disclosure; attention required
Sent: Tue, 5 May 2009 07:53:39 -1000
was read on Tue, 5 May 2009 07:56:33 -1000
The requested documents have yet to arrive, nor any explanation of why they havent. The original request for disclosure was made two months, on March 14, 2009 by letter to the HDOH.
Of course, the birth certificate issue is only part of AKAs problem with regards to his usurpation of the Oval Office, his illegal occupation of the White House.
AKA has, himself, claimed that he was, at birth, a dual citizen, American by virtue of his mother; British by virtue of his father. This would only be possible if he was born in Hawaii and there is no proof that he was. If he was born in Kenya, as his step-grandmother has claimed before witnesses, Stanley Ann Dunham Obama was not old enough to confer her American citizenship to her son, which means he was, at birth, a British subject. Beyond this, under the British Nationality Act of 1948 which extended to the British colony of Kenya, the child of a British subject, no matter where born, is a British subject. That means Obama was, at birth, a British subject no matter whether born in Hawaii or born in Kenya.
There is also the matter of his adoption by Lolo Soetoro following his marriage to Stanley Ann Dunham (Obama) and the moving of the family to Jakarta, Indonesia where AKA was registered at the Fransiskus Asssisi Primary School as Barry Soetoro, his father listed as Lolo Seotoro, and his citizenship listed as Indonesian. By his own admission, in 1981, at the age of 20, Barry Soetoro traveled to Indonesia and Pakistan. He could not have traveled on an American passport to Pakistan at that time which means he traveled on a foreign passport (probably Indonesian, possibly British or Kenyan).
The Rest&NewsWithViews.com