Need Another Drink
Christmas seems to be getting edgier over the years, don't you think, a product of the times or a product, perhaps, of a more honest expression of the season itself? Or I'm growing old and crotchety faster than I realize? An advantage of working at an office with people of every age and culture is rubbing against a range of parallel universes being played out before my eyes. I'm saying Christmas here, but it's basically the winter solstice celebratory season of half a dozen religions, a few off the wall cults (this is California after all) and cultures I know nothing about.
We're not going to get icky here, now are we? Violins, politically correct fuzzy exhortations?
No. It's been a good slow day, though, the laundry is now done and I'm thinking of having a drink as the evening approaches. I received a package from Amazon yesterday. I will occasionally add something to my shopping cart and every now and then place an order when the cost gets to a certain point, not too high, not too low. (Why not too low? I don't know.) Two of the items were the new Beatles remix of Let It Be and The Concert For George (Harrison). So I played them. Brings back memories of another time, but that's what you do during this season. Made me sad to listen to them, but it reminded me of how good they were when they were released. Hi, ho.
I also bought a copy of Sex In Asia by the photographer Reagan Louie. I'd read a piece in the Chronicle about the show when it appeared here recently in San Francisco (no, I didn't go) and another piece on the show in the Italian photography magazine Zoom. I must remember to actually look at these things before I buy them. You need to listen to music and look at art before you buy it unless you know the artist and want the work no matter what. This is not a complicated concept. I think the idea's good - I'd like to have shot the series myself, I know something of the subject, but where is the art in those women's eyes? You wonder, sometimes, if the photographer threw the pictures you would have chosen on the floor.
Then again all I'm saying is his vision isn't my vision and he's the guy with the exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and I'm the guy writing cranky things about his pictures here. Puts it in perspective. Still, I like the look on the face of the woman (women) in the picture at the top more than all but perhaps six of the photographs in his book. What else was in the Amazon package? A book on building Cascading Style sheets. I'll get to it next week. Next year. I'll put it up on the shelf and get to it when I can.
What does this have to do with Christmas on Christmas Eve?
Everyone I know is crazier than hell at the moment and I need another drink.
|
