Jonathan

I voted for Ben Kimball, and I urge everyone else to do the same. In my judgment, anyone who votes for Jenna or abstains from voting has no understanding of the practical role of philosophy in man's actual life—which means that he does not understand the philosophy of Objectivism, except perhaps as a rationalistic system detached from the world. J

Laure: Ditto. J

So does this mean that "Have you heard DIM?" is about to become the new "Have you read PARC?"? J

Rich wrote, I feel the same way. I don't like most of Pollock's work, but two or three stand out. Undetectable to whom? Beetlejuice, or serious Pollock fans and collectors? Actually, I don't know that it would prove anything one way or the other. Even reputable critics and scholars of realistic art have had as difficult a time as Wendy the Retard would have separating great originals from crappy forgeries. A good example is the work of Dutch art forger Han van Meegeren who fooled serious art critics with his cheesy knock-offs of Vermeer, Hals, Metsu and others. His proportions were awkward, his sense of perspective was inconsistent at best, his rendering of fabrics was rigid and bulky, his colors were smudgy and completely lacking in subtlety, many of his figures had ridiculously sunken eye sockets with heavy, flapping eye lids (resembling the maudlin widows and orphans which sometimes populated the paintings to which he signed his own name), yet, even after Han had confessed to having created forgeries, many scholars and critics refused to believe him. When I look at images of his forgeries, I wonder how anyone could have thought for a second that those horribly clumsy paintings were the real thing. I'm looking forward to hearing your work. Put me down for a signed copy. J

I remember seeing a compilation of interviews in which Russian leaders credited/blamed the Beatles for playing a part in bringing down the Soviet Union. Contraband Beatles recordings gave millions of Russians a sense of hope and an idea of what the world might be like where fun, happiness and freedom were the norm. J _____ Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup They slither wildly as they slip away across the universe Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my open mind Possessing and caressing me Jai guru de va om Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes They call me on and on across the universe Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box They tumble blindly as they make their way Across the universe Jai guru de va om Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Sounds of laughter shades of life are ringing through my open ears Inciting and inviting me Limitless undying love which shines around me like a million suns it calls me on and on Across the universe Jai guru de va om Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world

Barbara wrote, Barbara, If you haven't already, you should invite your young friends to come and visit with us on OL. J

One thing that never seemed to get discussed seriously on SOLO back during the Peron ordeal (unless I missed it) was what should be the age of consent according to Objectivist principles. I don't know where those who were the loudest during the Peron discussion stand on the issue. Do Perigo, Cresswell and the rest of the Sub Optimal Little Ogres agree with Bill Dwyer (the person who is responsible for bringing the Peron issue to the attention of the Objectivist online community) that it might not be unreasonable to establish the age of consent at puberty, or do they think that Dwyer, and anyone who shares his views, is a pervert? I haven't seen any typical "KASS" temper tantrums about Dwyer's views, so am I safe in assuming that the Sub Optimal Little Ogres believe that it might be acceptable for a 50 year old to have consensual sex with, say, a 12 year old? J

It's been very long time since I read it, but I seem to remember that Hedrick Smith's The Russians was very good. You should be able to pick up an inexpensive used copy from online book stores. J

Okay, so Victor is giving Hsieh the impression that he is creepily obsessed with her, and now we learn that not only did Victor plagiarize the piles-of-skulls idea, but he probably burglarized the Cox & Forkum studio to do so. Plus he's Canadian, and as we all know, Objectivism holds that the safety and rights of any one American outweigh the rights of all foreigners combined. So I think this all adds up to Victor's behavior meeting the Biddle Standard ("anything that we so much as feel might conceivably pose even a remote threat"). Clearly the Proper Objectivist thing to do is to advocate destroying Toronto with nuclear weapons. J

Brant wrote, Nor can you really judge the quality of anyone's work based on small scans or web images, especially when they're in black and white. I've seen large-scale color versions of two of Frank's paintings, and I thought they looked pretty good. It's been a long time, so I can't be sure, but I think that Serenity was one of them, and the other was of a male figure in a similar pose, which seemed to be a companion piece. And something just clicked: If I'm remembering correctly, both nudes (or similar paintings) appear briefly in James Valliant's Ideas in Action interview with Leonard Peikoff, as does Capuletti's Desnudo. I seem to recall that the camera work was irritating - too brief, too much motion, and odd, short-lens angles - but with Desnudo in particular, I remember getting a taste of what Ellen has described as the skin tone's living marble quality and dusky alabaster hue, at least more so that what can be seen in scans that can be found online. Barbara wrote, I remember that Peter Fonda's Frank was working on such a painting in a scene from The Passion of Ayn Rand where we, and Julie Delpy's Barbara, see that he's having difficulties. I thought it was a powerful moment in the film. J

Here are images from the "NBI Art Reproductions" brochure, b&w, 1967 (thanks, Brant). Paintings by Frank O'Connor: Diminishing Returns, oil on canvas, original: 36 x 20, print: 23.5 x 13.125 Painting Within a Painting, oil on canvas, original: 36 x 14, print: 23.5 x 13 Serenity, oil on canvas, original: 36 x 24, print: 23.5 x 15.75 Leap Frog, oil on canvas, original: 30 x 24, print: 19.5 x 15.625 Still Life With Apples, oil on canvas, original: 12 x 16, print: 10.25 x 13.5 Character Study: Man With a Turban, oil on canvas, original: 24 x 20, print: 19 x 15.75 Paintings and drawings by Joan Mitchell Blumenthal: Crystal and Fruit, acrylic, original: 26 x 20, print: 23.5 x 18 Still Motion, charcoal drawing, original: 25 x 19, print: 19.875 x 15.875 Island in the Sky, oil on canvas, original: 24 x 20, print: 23.5 x 19.75 Dancing Leaves, oil on panel, original: 20 x 24, print: 15.75 x 18.75 Awakening, white and black charcoal drawing, original: 18 x 24, print: 14.75 x 19.875 Sunset Silhouette, oil on canvas, original: 12 x 20, print: 11.625 x 19.75 Boy on the Bridge, oil on canvas, original: 25 x 30, print: 19.75 x 23.75 Repose, white and black charcoal drawing, original: 18 x 25, print: 15.5 x 19.75 Smokestacks and Towers, oil on canvas, original: 16 x 28, print: 13.5 x 23.5 Morning and the City, watercolor, original: 17 x 23, print: 18 x 23.5 One painting by Ilona R.S.: Portrait of Ayn Rand, oil on paper, original: 17 x 14, print: 13.5 x 10.5

Victor's posts on humor in art made me think of dissident collaborators Komar and Melamid. I've always enjoyed their work, including much their performance art, such as conjuring up fictional artists Nikolai Buchumov and Apelles Ziablov, collaborating with the population of the world when creating their Most Wanted paintings, and even their establishing Elephant Art Academies. I love their senses of humor and satire. This is my favorite painting of theirs: Painted in the style of Socialist Realism, a Muse is tracing Stalin's silhouette onto a wall -- she's creating art which conforms to the dark shadow that he casts as he holds her in place. I think it very cleverly mocks The Origin of Socialist Realism (which is the title of the piece). Satire in painting at its finest. J

I haven't seen the painting you described, John, but the style you're referring to is called trompe l'oeil. And your story of the Greek competitors sounds a lot like a contest held between Zeuxis and Parrhasius: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeuxis_and_Parrhasius I wouldn't doubt if the painting you saw was at least partially based on the story, as it is well known among artists. Maybe a Google search on trompe l'oeil clubs, exhibits, etc., might help you find the painting. J

Wow. That's it? Just "Trash"? Man, Rand sure is hard to figure out as far as tastes in art. When someone speaks glowingly of a television show like Charlie's Angels, it's kind of a shock that she would see Parrish as "trash." It's like someone who has a collection of velvet paintings of Elvis, sad clowns and tigers in her home calling her neighbor's Corinthian bird bath "trashy." J "Little pink houses for you and me..." ~~John Mellencamp~~

Where would I find Rand's comments on Maxfield Parrish? Personally, I see Parrish much in the same way that I see Rockwell. Their narratives are usually cute and sweet, sometimes too much so for my tastes, but their rendering skills and their tastes in abstract composition, color schemes, etc, are so powerful that they more than make up for the times that they cross the line into sugary sentimentality (and, hell, sometimes I really crave sugar). My favorite Parrish is Reveries: http://www.tragsnart.co.uk/arthub/parrish/parris04.jpg J

MSK wrote, "AND I JUST LOVE THE NEW HEADER!" I agree. Kat's got a good eye for visual composition. J P.S. Actually, Kat's header makes me feel bad for SOLO, whose lackeys seemed to struggle so hard to come up with a design that expressed the essence of SOLO, and they failed again and again. Their logo should convey a sense of pathetic curmudgeonry, it should somehow represent the fact that SOLO has a very tiny sphere of influence, and it should give the viewer a sense of what he's going to step in if he enters SOLO territory. Perhaps something like this (I'm calling this sketch Lord of His Domain): http://static.flickr.com/83/238866785_7387e1a9b8_o.jpg

I think Pitt did a fine job in Se7en, Twelve Monkeys, Spy Game and Meet Joe Black (Claire Forlani. Mmmm.). And it's not like Galt is a difficult character with lots of complex personality traits that an actor would have to struggle with. Look handsome, speak with confidence, and it's a wrap. Jolie did well in Girl, Interrupted and The Bone Collector. I think she'd have no problem handling the role of Dagny. Btw, am I the only one who envisions the film in black and white or a sort of diffusion glow sepia? To me, the textures of heavy industry in AS demand it. J

I didn't read the entire speech, and I don't have time to read it now, but in skimming through it, I noticed this: This is interesting coming from Fred Ross, who owns paintings by Bouguereau, the artist he seems to promote most often in his speeches, in his activism, and on his website. A few years ago he tried to stir up controversy when the Minneapolis Institute of Arts decided to sell Bouguereau's painting _Bohémienne_ in order to finance the purchase of Albert Moore’s _Battledore_ (Moore is generally considered to be a much more important realist artist than Bouguereau). Ross publicly campaigned to try to prevent the sale. If I recall correctly, he placed ads in the Star Tribune attempting to stir up public outrage, and offered $30,000 to the MIA if they would back out of their arrangement with Christie's. He failed. The painting was sold at auction to a private party for about $650,000. J

Does anyone have an idea of how many paintings Frank O'Connor created, how many survive, and where they are now? I've seen print or digital reproductions of only five or six. There's the painting which was on the cover of an earlier edition of The Fountainhead (I'm drawing a blank on its title), there's "Diminishing Returns", and I've also seen a few paintings of nudes/semi-nudes, at least two of which have the figures facing away from the viewer and looking out of a window or other structural aperture. Also, how long was his painting career? Did he ever show his work in a gallery or otherwise try to sell any of it? Had the NBI, Rand's estate, or any other organization ever sold reproductions of any of his paintings other than "Diminishing Returns"? Was there ever a calendar or "coffee table book" collection of his work, or anything like that? J

MSK wrote: Thanks, Michael. I don't have a lot of experience in dealing with people who have had serious problems with chemical abuse, but from the few instances that I've seen or directly heard about from those who have had such problems, I've gotten the sense that it's not uncommon for them to be pretty successful at hiding their drug or alcohol problems from others, including hiding it from extremely intelligent, observant spouses who would "persistently grill" them if caught in the act. Thanks for the link to Barbara's post. J

On the "Lindsay and his 'take' on Zionism/Israel" thread on SOLOP, Diana Hsieh wrote: MSK, With your experience and knowledge of addiction, would you say that the fear of being grilled persistently by a strongly moral spouse would prevent a person from drinking heavily on a regular basis, or is it much more common for a person with a serious drinking problem to do his best to hide his habit from such a spouse, as well as from her friends and admirers? Might such scolding play a part in driving an addict to confine himself to drinking in a place where he can be alone for hours or days at a time? Btw, I was looking for the post here on OL in which Barbara named names of those who claimed to have seen Frank drinking or intoxicated, but I didn't have much time to search, and couldn't find it at quick glance. Could you point to where it is? Also, if you haven't already, you may want to quote Hsieh and add Peikoff and Rand to the list of people who are said to have seen Frank intoxicated. J

MSK: Speaking of obsessing, have any of you Linz-bashers flown all the way to New Zealand to deliver a speech to a half dozen friends and relatives of someone else who was having a pitiful book signing in a store (which doesn't carry the book being signed) down the street from a conference at which Perigo was delivering a speech which you were trying to refute before hearing it? Now that would be obsessing. J

BAMF I'm in south central Minnesota, in a region which is becoming the Kansas of the north. I've been in several situations where tornadoes have passed around or over the area that I was in, but these were the first that I've ever seen up close and personal. Photos and video footage just don't do it justice. A couple of friends and I were within a few feet of very solid shelter, so we stayed out and watched the thing approaching as long as possible without being unsafe about it. We ducked inside when it was about six blocks away. Seeing the size and power of it was...well, indescribable. Two dimensional images, even tricked out Hollywood films, can't come close to capturing the feeling. Chris Grieb Thanks. I was definitely careful, but I'm glad that I wasn't too careful. It was an awesome event to behold. J

This is what my world looked like on Thursday: These are stills from a video that someone else shot from a couple miles west of where I was, which was about two or three blocks from the tornado in the first image. The second and third shots are from about 10 and 20 seconds later. The fourth was taken a few minutes after that when all four or five tornadoes combined to form one biggun. A few houses were destroyed and many others battered, but there was actually surprisingly little damage to people and structures. A lot of crops are down or were ripped from the ground. In one field that I saw today, acres and acres of corn stalks were completely flattened but are still green and growing. If I get a chance I'll shoot a photo. It might make for a pretty amazing image of the resiliency of life. J

I'm sure I would have loved the art, and the science and the traveling companions might have been somewhat interesting too. ;-) J