I’m a terrible logo designer, but I still like a good one. So I was pleased to find this entry on Logo Design Love about logos that the Obama campaign decided not to use. Pretty interesting to see how things could have been.
Good Reason
It's okay to be wrong. It's not okay to stay wrong.
Category: art (page 6 of 6)
From the world of art:
An Italian museum on Thursday defied Pope Benedict and refused to remove a modern art sculpture portraying a crucified green frog holding a beer mug and an egg that the Vatican had condemned as blasphemous.
The board of the Museion museum in the northern city of Bolzano decided by a majority vote that the frog was a work of art and would stay in place for the remainder of an exhibition.
Great news. Now can we please use these skills the next time there’s a work of art that offends Muslims?
The Vatican wrote a letter of support in the pope’s name to Franz Pahl, president of the regional government who opposed the sculpture. Pahl released parts of the letter, which said the work “wounds the religious sentiments of so many people who see in the cross the symbol of God’s love“.
In other words, he thinks his ideas are so important that everyone else should tiptoe around them to save his feelings.
Then he holds his breath and turns blue.
Pahl, whose province is heavily Catholic, was so outraged by the sculpture of the pop-eyed amphibian that he went on a hunger strike to demand its removal and had to be taken to hospital during the summer.
I hope he’s okay now. At least he only tried to harm himself rather than others, so props for that. But he (and everyone) needs to realise that it’s not okay for his ideas (or mine, or anyone’s) to be exempted from satire, scrutiny, or even criticism and mockery.
“Art must always be free and the artist should not have any restrictions on freedom of expression,” Claudio Strinati, a superintendent for Rome’s state museums, told an Italian newspaper on Thursday.
Most encouraging.
Prophet Muhammad novel scrapped
Plans to release a novel about Prophet Muhammad’s child bride A’isha have been scrapped by US publishers Random House over fears it could spark violence.
Violence? From Islam? But they told me it’s a religion of peace!
Random House is wrong to pull the project just because they assume a small number of violent Muslims will be offended. Yes, they may, but you have to give them the right of reply. They made an awful fuss over the Muhammad cartoons, but maybe —just maybe — they’ll react differently this time. And anyway, people need to realise that we live in a marketplace of ideas, and even their wonderful precious beliefs aren’t immune to some tough scrutiny now and again.
I guess it’s pretty rich coming from me, since I wouldn’t be the one targeted for violence. But I could be. Having my face on this blog and criticising religion like I do could make me a target some day. Any of us could be, just for living in a secular society. That’s why it’s vital to confront violent religious extremism head on, instead of tiptoeing around it hoping it will go away.
Let the adherents of Islam step up and show that they’re a peaceful religion, as they claim. Or let us see the reverse.
When Jim Davis retires, they’ll still be able to make Garfield strips with the Garfield Randomiser. But why wait until then? Here are some I created yesterday.
Jon gets stroppy, and Garfield puts him back in his place. Way to go.
Garfield’s been spraying in the spare room, and he’s not sorry.
They can do this all day.
It wasn’t always obvious, but there’s no hiding it in 3D: Fido Dido is a frighteningly misshapen and deformed character. Is that supposed to be hair, or head-mounted tentacles?
CGI isn’t always better.
Sam Loyd invented this enormously popular puzzle in 1898, and it’s one of my favourites. You’ll have to excuse the stereotyped artwork, though.
The puzzle shows some warriors around a globe. The inside circle is a separate piece of paper, attached at the center so that it can turn freely.
Behold the globe with 13 warriors.
But give the globe a turn…
and one warrior disappears.
What’s happening here? How does the thirteenth warrior disappear? And don’t say the Rapture.
If you want to print it out and try it yourself, you may want to use the very nice PDF available on this page.
Today was the opening day for ‘The Golden Compass’ in Australia. Took the boys, and we all really enjoyed it. I haven’t read the books yet, and I’ve been avoiding the carping from those who have. The film had a good feel to it, like being dropped into a magical past that’s by turns quaint and genteel, then opulent and elegant, then rough and lawless.
The film copped some flak from religious groups who likely hadn’t seen it, as well as the Vatican because of its references to ‘the Magisterium’, a monolithic (but waning) organisation trying to grab for power while destroying children’s souls. Now why do you suppose religions would see their own reflection in that mirror? As for me, I didn’t see anything overtly religious about the Big M in the film; I viewed it as symbolic of any authoritarian, paternalistic organisation. Which some religions can be. So can lots of other groups. Avoid them.
The jaw-dropping bear fight, where Iorek returns to his tribe to claim the throne, was exciting, but a bit grisly. Sorry.
And there was a new Kate Bush song over the credits. A very good choice.
So I quite liked the film, and I’m looking forward to the next one, should it get green-lighted. Only one snag: the boys are atheists now, as are all the children who went to the cinema with us. Oops.
Cat and Girl tackles the issues: When does life begin?
I believe that life begins at 40. Seriously.
Oh, and the comic improves measurably if you mentally read Girl with a Lisa Simpson voice.
I’ve just gotten 200 exams from some very smart students, so I’ll be marking them for the next few days.
But while I’m busy, why not regress to childhood?
At least, my childhood. I’m two years older than Sesame Street, so all the really early Sesame Street clips are burned onto my memory. I remember Mr Hooper. I remember the first Gordon, and I can remember when Luis had a crazy Latino friend named Rafael. I even remember when The Count had mind control powers. And who’s this Elmo I keep hearing about?
Even though those episodes are gone, here they all are on YouTube. Do you love living now, or what? All the things we thought were lost and gone are at our fingertips.
I’ve spent a few minutes getting misty over these clips. Here are my favourites:
Rolling Ball 1 2 3
For some reason, this clip is a kind of scene in my mind that I’ve had ever since I was little. I love it. But why does the ball get ground to powder? It’s the hero of the story. Is it the evanescence of mortality?
Would You Like to Buy an O?
Man, is that guy shady. I’m afraid if he offered me letters, I wouldn’t be able to resist.
Capital I
This one’s kind of CSNY. If your life’s work were this simple, would that be good or bad?
X
This one actually freaked me out as a kid. What the hell is that thing with spikes? Childhood can be a very frightening time. I still love the tune though. It’s so wistful.
National Association of W Lovers
A great song, despite the present-day Bush connotations. What’s better; the rocking podium, or the way Bert throws back his head before starting in? It’s nice that Ernie shows up to the meetings to support his buddy.
Ever wanted to find every Calvin and Hobbes cartoon with the word ‘afterlife’ in it? Now you can, thanks to the Calvin and Hobbes Searchable Database.
This cartoon matches my feelings about life and dying. Hobbes’ perspective, not Calvin’s.
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