Spinning Circles: November to November

---- MEASURING THE BREADTH OF A YEAR ----
CREATIVE IMAGERY IN RANDOM FREEFALL, 2015-2016

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AUTUMN 2015

Round like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel...

Flowers sampled from my mother's garden

Was the sound of distant drumming just the fingers on your hand?

Deceased squirrel with lavender sprigs (supplied by me)

And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space...

"Golden hour" pre-sunset colors cast against the side of a church vestry

WINTER 2015

Half-remembered names and faces, but to whom do they belong?

Self-portrait in cashmere turban & faux-fur

Keys that jingle in your pocket, words that jangle in your head...

Peanut's doppleganger (a surprise stuffed "twin" for the Pomeranian I dogwalk -- I furnished both with the red holiday bows)

Like a tunnel that you follow to a tunnel of its own...

Handmade Christmas cards -- two different versions (front & back)

Like a snowball down a mountain, or a carnival balloon...

New Year's Eve along East 8th Street, NYC (above my head)

Like a door that keeps revolving in a half-forgotten dream...

New Year's Eve along East 8th Street, NYC (below my feet)

SPRING 2016

Down a hollow to a cavern where the sun has never shone...

"The Real O'Neals" debuts on ABC -- worth acknowledging because it features a rare male character, Jimmy, who proclaims to suffer from an eating disorder -- a detail abandoned after the premiere episode (above, a magazine promo page bathed in sunlight)

"It's important to acknowledge how the performance of manhood can be restrictive, and in many cases, harmful. Jimmy feels constrained by his role as a champion wrestler, so he wants out. This would've been the perfect time to revisit his anorexia, but once again, there was no mention of it. It's safe to say that detail has been abandoned — Eileen cured him with Jesus pancakes or something [by the end of the pilot] — and that is a missed opportunity. It's tough to make light of an eating disorder, so maybe it's best that it was abandoned. Nevertheless, it would've fit perfectly with Jimmy confronting the idea of what a man is supposed to look like."

- blurb from a Vulture.com recap of a later episode

Never ending or beginning on an ever-spinning reel... 

VIDEO, may not play on all systems -- "Stir of Shadows" (agitated branches cast their movements against our home's exterior)

Lovers walk along a shore and leave their footprints in the sand...

Collage box with ModPodge glaze for my sister, themed around her screenplay "Ye Deep", set on Nantucket Island

SUMMER 2016

Like the ripples from a pebble someone tosses in a stream...

Photograph by Erica Shires of me on the rocks of coastal Maine at sunrise (vintage prom dress chosen &  procured by me)

Pictures hanging in a hallway and the fragment of a song...

Another portrait by Erica, in a '40s-era antique nightgown with my mother's globe thistle

When you knew that it was over you were suddenly aware...

A fallen finch, laid to rest with morning/mourning glories

AUTUMN 2016

 That the autumn leaves were turning to the color of his hair?

Treeline "halo" bordering one side of our Maine property

Why did summer go so quickly?   Was it something that you said?

"Ayam Cemani" (black glossy enamel over chalkboard paint base with sequins, smashed sunglasses lenses affixed with ModPodge on 26" x 36" antique canvas)

 As the images unwind...

(Untitled on 11" x 13" canvas, with same materials as first work)

(Detail from mixed-media art shown above)

Like the circles that you find...

Errant pompom blossom, in swirls of shadows on concrete -- an effective punctuation until my next entry

 ...in the windmills of your mind.

Songwriters: Alan Bergman / Marilyn Bergman / Michel Legrand © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

From Dreamhouse to Milhouse

BARBIE GAINS

(THEN LOSES-OUT TO 'SIMPSONS' SNARK)

THE SIMPSONS (Season 5)

THE SIMPSONS (Season 5)

Milhouse Van Houten: You PROMISED me a JOB, Dad!  I was going to buy a 'Fat Barbie'!

Kirk Van Houtem: It's 'Curvy Barbie' ---and that would mean you'd have to buy ALL NEW CLOTHES.  -  dialogue exchange from Season 28 of THE SIMPSONS

It was lazy writing and, frankly, an easy joke to cast, given the almost absurd ubiquity of the target and its highly-touted societal implications.  In what was no doubt a sobering indication of modern animation's protracted production process, The Simpsons last Sunday took aim at one of the most daring launches in the landscape of toy manufacturing this year --- a newsworthy event, yes, but one that was far more topical in the earlier months of 2016 --- those slow vernal days preceding Olympic commotion and, later, election fever.  The storm of discussion and general media buzz surrounding Barbie's revamped range of body molds --- the fleshiest of which has been delicately compared to pop icon Katy Perry's "womanly" hourglass --- is now at a mere murmur compared with its initial reception last February.  Expanded, updated, and democratized, we have transitioned into a world where our playthings can, if we so choose, summon a healthy human form and not only the expectations of what works best when catering to adult fashions and interests.  (These may still be realized, but more exclusively in relationship to those mature collectors with whom I identify, having on occasion acquired Limited Edition dolls intended for show, not out-of-box use.)  

Barbie's inherent character has shirked definition in her 60-year history of retooling, tiptoeing between a wide range of careers but never entirely escaping a bleached Wonderbread/Stepford Wife mien.  Upending this "dumb blonde" attitude was the central theme of The Simpsons' 1994 episode "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy" --- and one can easily intuit that Mattel's designers intend to assume the mantle when rebranding their doll for the real world.

SIDE NOTE: It is anyone's guess why J. Stewart Burns, accredited Simpsons scribe of "Friends and Family" (cited above), chose to abandon tradition and not apply the well-established euphemism of Malibu Stacy when referring to Barbie-esq products in the alternate universe of their nebulously-placed, "every town" Springfield, U.S.A.  Any viewer who knows his Rod from Todd Flanders is aware of this tradition.  Similarly -- but far less consistently -- Apple products are switched-out for the satiric, fictional "Mapple" computer and accessories empire.

THE NEW YORK POST January 29, 2016

THE NEW YORK POST January 29, 2016

As the New York Post first announced in its signature style of unapologetic, unfiltered, un-PC declarations, new generations will be the first to "MEET NEW 'FAT BARBIE'".  For those of you who may have missed the now-faded headlines and personal responses, here, unearthed, are the initial insights from TIME Magazine's corresponding behind-the-scenes tour of the Mattel company headquarters (cover article excerpted in screenshots below) and an even more comprehensive reaction from the New York Daily News.  Whether kids embrace or deride a more diverse selection of doll sizes and skin tones is still in the air, and likely will not register as deeply at first until these children can distance themselves from their formative ages to cast an objective review (as today's adult bloggers already demonstrate).  

TIME February 8, 2016

TIME February 8, 2016

I, for one, am cautiously optimistic and encouraged by Mattel's alterations (especially the option of a flexible foot sole without permanently pointed toes).  The "standard" and "tall" figure molds might still receive the same criticisms that have always dogged the company's company's golden goose --- that the toy encourages impressionable girls to aspire towards difficult-to-achieve physical proportions, and in so doing promotes eating disorders and body dysmorphia.  Admittedly, Barbie is not now nor ever will be a wholly sensible avatar and should not be released into the nursery or wreck room with total abandon.  But is there really anything that we deposit into our children's hands that doesn't come with a cursory introduction or, in special cases, more nuanced discussion?  Doesn't responsible parenting command that we take measures to engage in and monitor the imaginative play of our charges, to help outline where, how, and why gametime deviates from reality?  Surely, launching an early, gentle dialogue concerning body image/inclusivity is an improvement over leaving this sensitive issue to simply "work itself out" via other channels of education, risking less family involvement and with it a better guarantee of cautious, sensitive oversight?

TIME February 8, 2016

Mattel, Inc. El Segundo, CA headquarters (Wikipedia) / THE SIMPSONS (Season 5)

Turn For The "Worst"

TV'S LATEST TREND DELIVERS "COMPLICATED" ISSUES VIA RELIABLE CONDUIT:

H  U  M  O  R

"The best series wake us up; the worst are numbing agents."

So stated The New Yorker's television critic Emily Nussbaum early last year; that April, her column examined the legacy of Norman Lear's All In The Family and the reemergence of "agitating comedies."  Whether on cable, basic network, or streaming channels, edgy themes have seized command -- pushing to the margins lighter fare in the last two years.  Between Orange Is the New Black, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Louis, Mom, Nurse Jackie, Married, Girls, black-ish, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Last Man on Earth, and just-released Master of None, we see, respectively (and in some cases collectively):  dysfunction and corruption within America's correctional facilities and hospitals; brainwashing by evangelicals and cults; sexual violence; abduction; skewered female body image and with it gender disparity; race relations and identity; class elitism; alcoholism; parental malaise; marital dissatisfaction; fire arms misuse; human extinction; nervous breakdowns (with stifling OCD and without, not to mention occasional song-and-dance routines); cancer; mental/medical crises and addictions of various ilk.  And this is only just within the sitcom landscape, speaking nothing of sketch shows airing on Comedy Central (crass, brassy Inside Amy Schumer, wickedly sardonic Key & Peele) or of that same channel's news parodies trading in what The Colbert Report dubbed "truthiness" (see:  The Daily Show, Nathan For You).  Then there are the limitless, open-format YouTube feeds of even greater genre ambiguity, as well as well-established viral-video generator Funny or Die -- known for quick-to-the-draw short-form videos enlisting high-profile celebrity casts and topical, buzz-worthy gags.  Programs have entered such nebulous territory in recent seasons that they straddle categories; OItNB resists being defined as strictly "comedy" or "drama" and submits itself based on a quantifiable point that everyone can agree on:  time.  It's easier to measure technicalities (such as running length) than it is to count jokes, after all.  Humor is less easily nailed-down, less identifiable.  That's why at The 67th Emmys this September Orange was thrown together with "serious" shows like Homeland, Mad Men, Downton Abbey, House of Cards, and Game of Thrones, based almost entirely on its hour-long structure.  Life, and with it its media mirror, is "a lot more nuanced than that" -- to borrow a defense from the titular Crazy Ex-Girlfiend, pitching her dilemma in one of many musical interludes.

You're the Worst, the latest comedy to adopt a saturnine sheen (albeit intermittent to ballsy. snide jocularity and sophomoric activities) is another will-they-or-won't-they young-adult romance dumped amidst your obscure cable fields.  In the November 13 issue of Entertainment Weekly -- on newsstands -- a spotlight is awarded the executive producer and female lead by writer Danielle Nussbaum (not of relation to Emily).  Even though it has built a reputation for raw, honest opinion and snide bravado, "fans were [nonetheless] shocked by its latest plot twist."  Below, her featurette from page 18 titled, 'YOU'RE THE WORST' GETS REAL DARK --AND REAL GOOD:

You're The Worst, FXX's sleeper hit about four thirty somethings treading in a pool of ennui, has hijacked the zeitgeist with its poignant writing and appallingly likable characters.  But beyond the coke binges, rap feuds, and Sunday Fundays, season 2 (airing Wednesdays at 10:30 p.m.) has started its biggest conversation yet by tackling the complicated subject of depression. 

In the Oct. 21 episode, Gretchen (Aya Cash) admitted to her boyfriend, Jimmy (Chris Greene), that she suffers from clinical depression.  It's not the first time a TV character has struggled with the illness, but the confession, from a foulmouthed partner with boundary issues, was surprisingly candid.   

"When the word depression came up, it sounded exciting -- but also scary," says show creator Stephen Falk.  "Would people stop watching and say, "I thought this was a comedy'?  But for all the intentional silliness [on the show], I want these characters to feel real." 

Falk is using the show's format as a storytelling tool.  Each episode since the reveal has been an interpretation of Gretchen's coping mechanisms, from the cabin-fever setting of attempting to stymie a relapse to the horror house of someone trying to "fix" her.  This week, Worst takes such a creative risk, you might think you're watching the wrong show.  For the first six minutes, viewers are immersed in the lives of a hip Silver Lake couple, with dark a familiar You're the Worst character in sight.  It's not until we get a glimpse of Gretchen in the background that we understand she's trying to feel normal by appropriating someone else's reality. 

For her nuanced performance, Cash drew from real-world encounters.  "It was completely in line with my own experiences of people who have clinical depression of which I've been around quite a few," she says.  "We don't see the episodes before they air, so I watch with everyone else, and the response was so moving, it felt like we got this right."

Sunday Morning ComEDy: Repurposing comic strip panels to illustrate the development and lifespan of an eating disorder (a story told in scroll)

Pity poor Cathy, Garfield, Dagwood, Nate, Earl, Adam, Jeremy, Curtis, and cadets of Camp Swampy -- seized by one of the most curious, debilitating mental-medical conditions.  Herewith, a meandering slideshow of  cartoon cells, lifted selectively over a period of at first months -- then years -- from the sunny pages of sundry Sunday serials.  Arranged to depict the courses of disordered eating -- as marked by self-starvation, manic exercise, isolation, and depression -- from origin to apex, treatment to recovery.  The ultimate lesson?  When it comes to retooling our bodies, be advised to take caution with what you wish for.  A selective eater may believe he or she yields control -- but, like every obsession, a diet can inflate and expand, consuming one's entire world -- changing, even scarring, it irreparably.  Best to educate yourself, lest you become beset by anorexia, orthorexia, bulimia, or addiction to off-setting food with physical activity.  If it can happen to Fred Basset -- or beagle Snoopy and other 'Peanuts' alumn -- then surely isn't anyone culpable?

- - -

In the beginning... FOOD IS FUN, and innocently consumed without judgement (with emphasis on flavor).  But even as children we absorb the concerns of those in our vicinity -- and a CULTURE OF CAREER DIETERS influences many to grow to perceive FAT as a "four-letter-word."  What's more, weight loss is espoused as a VIRTUE by most western nations, and encouraged despite (or in reaction to) mass-consumption of fast, ready-made "convenience" eats.

 

 

Based on MEDIA CUES AND COMPARISONS, new health standards are explored, considered, EXPERIMENTED with.  ANXIETY OVER APPEARANCE increases.  Friends and family innocently suggest lifestyle changes -- some others BLATANTLY TEASE -- leading to self-shaming and guilt. OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE RITUALS and time-consuming, circuitous daily errands compromise normal activities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The "solution":  adherence to EXERCISE + CURBED INTAKE.

 

An increasingly INFLEXIBLE, RESTRICTED, DELUSIVE MEAL PATTERN becomes primary focus, interfering with normal activities -- as does avoidance of heavier fare typical of social events.

One's own worst enemy -- SLAVE and MASTER.

DEPRESSION - ISOLATION - LETHARGY

 

PRONOUNCED PHYSICAL DECLINE, as characterized by drained reserves -- the body in literal collapse.

ACKNOWLEDGING THERE IS A PROBLEM -- with clinicians called in.

All come to agree that the health restoration requires ASSISTANCE within a MONITORED ENVIRONMENT.  (Whether insurance and work schedules cooperate is a different matter.)  Many in this dilemma enter onto a long waitlist.

 

Ultimately, employers are informed of a leave of absence and costly inpatient treatment is entered.  There, SUPERVISED EATING, RESTRICTED MOVEMENT, and REST are enforced, with trust slowly established between more compliant patients and caregivers.

INPATIENT LIFE provides structured, regular meals -- along with imposed, painfully awkward THERAPY SESSIONS (at times with family).  Recovery is seen as a carefully navigated journey.

COGNITIVE EXPANSION!

"Refeeding" is managed with a well-informed support-staff -- who maintain close-supervision of calorie intake.  (An overwhelming process, but energy reserves soon rally, coupled with INSATIABLE HUNGER.)

Post-hospitalization sees GROWTH & GIVING BACK - Apologies made - Stronger resistance to unnecessary exercising/dieting opportunities presented by peers.