Avoid Mamma Mia, Save Meryl’s Reputation

“I have a dream……”

That’s how it begins, and after those words are sung the dream quickly becomes a nightmare.

I’ve always wanted to keep the Gemini Art blog positive and upbeat. I don’t want to be perceived as the typical spiteful, bitter ol’ queen with nothing but venom to spew onto the Internet. However, I must use a little space here to complain about the great injustice done to a musical theatre piece that I love very much. “Mamma Mia: The Movie” had to be one of the worst things I’ve ever paid money to sit through. The last time I paid money to endure that much suffering was for my last dental filling. I think the audience was in agreement with my opinion judging by the snickers and giggles I heard at inappropriate times through the show (some of them from me).

I went into the movie with some skepticism. If anyone has seen Meryl Streep’s closing number at the end of “Postcards from the Edge”, they would have known that casting her in a leading musical role might not be the best idea. But, I loved the stage version of the musical and was eager to see what this all-star cast would be able to do with it. I also attended the movie with a couple of fellow “fancy-boys”. Needless to say, our people are quite friendly to the musical theatre format. But it wasn’t long before we were all three wincing and cringing with embarassment of watching this talented actress crash and burn in this glorious cinematic failure. After the first two bars of Streep’s “Money, Money, Money”, her Donna looked old, tired, pathetic and totally unbelievable. By the way, for the uninitiated, Donna is the heroine of our story. We’re supposed to be cheering for her, not pitying her. Her dancing was a difficult routine of awkwardness to watch. I kept averting my eyes in discomfort while watching a near 60 year-old in overalls and stringy hair attempt sexiness and touching herself inappropriately. You know, it’s the same feeling you get when you accidentally walk in on grandma in the bath tub (just add music).

Now, for some compassion. I love Meryl. The ol’ girl’s got skills. She’s one of the most talented and consistent leading ladies in Hollywood. In a dramatic role, there’s none better. Remember “Silkwood“? As a comedian, she can go there too. I loved, loved, loved her in, “Death Becomes Her”, and “The Devil Wears Prada”. I would bet that a professional actress like her is probably delivering the dialogue and presenting the character exactly like she’s being asked to. So, we should probably blame the director for this turkey.

Streep is surrounded with an all-star ensemble that has big-time show biz creds. But, this was just not the movie for them. Pierce Brosnan is still the dashing, tall, dark and handsome business that he’s always been. He is still leading man material in anybody’s book. Who doesn’t love “007”? I promise, any day of the week, I would let Pierce Brosnan be the “Spy Who Shagged Me”. But if I have to listen to that man sing I’ll have to put him on the couch for the night. The casting director should have asked Brosnan’s agent if he can sing because this is a MUSICAL. And, by the way, he can’t.

I didn’t understand the weird interpretation of the movie’s time setting or the characters ages. In the dialogue we hear that Donna was a young “rock chick” in the early 70’s. Her daughter was born in 1974 and is now 20 years old. If Donna and her friends were around 20 in 1974 then they should now be about 40. But, its obvious that the adult leads in the movie are closer to 60 than 40. The freakish idea of any one of them has a 20 year old daughter here in 2008 is just bizarre. I wasn’t sure what type of strange scifi time-warping explanation the director has for this. Whatever.

The players that came closest to hitting their parts were Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, and Colin Firth. These three certainly understood that they were in a musical comedy. Baranski and Walters looked like they were having fun. I’ve met old sisters like them who enjoy being silly and don’t take themselves too seriously (my mother for one). You could tell they were laughing at themselves and it made it fun to laugh along with them. Baranski is an old pro at playing the man-eating middle-age cougar. It would have been fun to see more of her in this picture. Firth brought us some of the same Mark Darcy up-tight Brit that we loved in Bridget Jones’ Diary except here he was much more the ham. It was nice to see him playing for laughs against Brosnan’s straight man, the role that Firth usually fills in the Bridget Jones movies.

Another positive about this movie is the beauty of the location and the male chorus line. For those of us that quickly tired of watching the poor performance of the leads and the messy story-telling in this movie it was easy enough to just shift our attention to the beautiful scenery. The locations made me want to move to Greece today and the Speedo clad man-candy singing and dancing their hearts out was enough to hold my attention if nothing else did.

So, if you want to see Mama Mia, be sure and see it on stage. I don’t want anyone to think that this movie is the appropriate interpretation of this musical. If you feel you must see this movie, then wait until it comes out on DVD and then borrow it from a friend. Do not spend money on this one.

Fallen Icarus by Randall Good

He's finally at home. I've just returned from the framer with my latest Randall Good drawing from Blue Moon Art Gallery in Hot Springs, Arkansas. This piece is a beautiful large drawing (roughly 22X27) of the mythological figure of Icarus as he lays wrecked on the earth after falling from the sky with his damaged wings. The work actually frames out to about 37" in height. I couldn't be more pleased with the final result. He will now take the place of honor over the head board of my bed. The small Icarus watercolors will go out to flanking positions on either side of this larger work.

Let's talk about the work now. Why are mythological themes still relevant in the 21st century? I feel the mythological themes are needed today just as much or possibly more than in previous centuries. During the ages of the Renaissance and later the Reformation, artists and philosophers grasped for these themes because the institutions of thought and spirituality had become so shallow and empty. Education during their times was parceled out exclusively by the church. However, the church had become nothing more than a political institution clinging to traditions and rituals that did not address the deeper needs of their followers. The figures of myth were much more visceral. They appealed more to the intellect. The themes were more universal and not culturally specific. They were what Jung would refer to as "archetypes" residing in the collective consciousness of us all. Can we agree that we are a society that has become just as intellectually complacent as that preceding the Renaissance and Reformation? Our cultural diet is fed to us through the mass media and television, our education is a government formulated collection of books and subjects, and the dominant religion (Christian Evangelicals) has become corrupt with greed for political power (Republicans). Yes, I'd say that we can benefit from the objective lessons the ancient myths have to teach us. They show us to accept our fallibility and humanity.

In this drawing Icarus has arrogantly flown too high and too close the the sun, the Solar Apollo. His man-made wings of wax and feathers has melted in the heat and he has fallen to his ruin on the rocks below. Let's examine the obvious lesson here that the ancient Greeks tried to follow. We are to respect the boundaries of our human limitations. Be careful that our "reach does not exceed our grasp." Was Icarus destroyed because he had the audacity to believe he could fly? No. His father, Daedalus, also built a pair of wings and flew without incident to safety and landed unharmed. It was Icarus, with his youthful arrogance, pride, and vanity that drove him to want to go higher. He wanted to show-off to his father, he wanted to exceed what his father had done. He ventured into territory where he was unwelcome and out of his league. Let's not forget that the Greek sun was a chariot driven across the heavens by the Solar Apollo. Apollo was the most beautiful and radiant being in the Greek pantheon. He was also the most vain and proud male in the universe (like most beautiful young men are). Icarus trespassed into Apollo's territory and the god took his revenge. Another lesson here is, do not presume to think we are equal to the gods. We are not omnipotent. If we believe that we have power over nature and the elements, its merely an illusion.

At first glance some may see only the violence and despair of Icarus failure and death. I see more than that in the pose of the figure and the composition of the overall piece. Notice that the figure, the dead body of Icarus, is low in the picture plane giving it less importance, almost an afterthought. The wing however, is dead center vertically and horizontally in the space. This represents that the focus is not on the man, but on his creation, his flight. The optimistic view of the Icarus story is not that he died, its that HE FLEW! Seen in this context Icarus takes on an almost Christ-like character. The Greeks also believed that mankind was the greatest creation of the gods and that's why they elevated their admiration of the human form to an almost worshipful reverence. The emphasis placed on the great wing in this drawing reminds us of man's resourcefulness and inventiveness. Only mankind has the ability to do this. The wing represents the greatness of man's achievements. Its the sum of these achievements that make us greater than we are as weak mortal beings. The wing centered in the picture plane reminds us of this.

I see in this drawing of Icarus death one last victory. The figure's pose is not static. The upward thrusting arm reaches back defiantly at the sun. The hand in the foreground is clenched claw like. And while Solar Apollo may have defeated Icarus, he did not win completely. Apollo did not go untouched. The tip of Icarus' wing stabs into the disc of the sun ever so slightly. Even in death Icarus challenges the god, piercing the perfection of the sun. The artist shows this so effectively by interrupting the one purely geometric shape in this piece with the rough and organic construction of the man's wing.

I hope you enjoy this drawing as much as I do. If anyone would like to view it personally, drop me an email and I'll invite you over. I have four of Good's works now so I've thought about charging admission to the bedroom. Just kidding, I'll probably give you a glass of wine and bore you with a long lecture on why these drawings and watercolors are so special to me. Just please don't be so tacky as to ask me how much they cost. To me they're priceless.

Ganges Under Glass

Ganges has been laying around the house for a couple of years now. I postponed having him framed because I knew it would be expensive. Larger works cost more to frame, and let's face it, Ganges is a big ol' boy. This work is actually 16"X20". After matting the frame was a good size.


What was the inspiration for this drawing of Ganges? Let's go back a bit and review. A few years ago I read Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons". In my opinion its a better read than "DaVinci Code". It didn't get as much attention because the story isn't as controversial and scandalous. But, its a much more exciting and adventurous tale. Just as the works of DaVinci were the star of "Code", the art of the sculptor Bernini was featured in "Angels". The basic premise is that Bernini's many angel sculptures that are sprinkled all over Rome help our hero, Robert Langdon, solve the murders being comitted by a serial killer.



One of the most exciting scenes involves a fight to the death between Langdon and the villain in the Fountain of the Four Rivers. Bernini sculpted four anthropomorphic male figures to represent the major river of each of the four continents known to Europe at that time. There is the Nile to represent Africa, the Danube to represent Europe, the Rio da Platta for the Americas and Ganges to represent Asia. These four figures support an Egyptian obelisk that is crowned by a dove. The Post-Reformation symbolism meant that the power of the church (dove symbol) triumphs over every continent in the world (the male river figures). Each of the male figures holds another symbol to help identify him and attach him to his associated river. For instance, the head of the Nile was unknown at that time so the male figure has a cloak pulled over his head and hides his face. The American figure shows non-European features (some suggest it is a native American figure, others say it has Negro features) and includes piles of coins around him to represent the riches of the New World. Ganges is holding an oar to represent that river as a major transportation and trade route through Asia.

I chose to paint Ganges simply because the photo reference I had showed great compositional elements. There are two strong diagonal lines in the work. The reclined body and legs move upper left to lower right and the direction of the oar crosses the opposite direction. The two lines intersect at the center of the mid-point of the work. The right leg of the figure is extremely foreshortened and almost thrusts out of the picture plane. I thought this was a great artistic challenge for me and enjoyed working on the drawing.

I originally planned to do more finishing work on this drawing. But, I started having artistic arguments with myself. I often get too fussy and picky with my works. I sweat over every detail. I started adding the classical columns in the background, then I worked more on the stone. So I asked myself. What is the main focus of this drawing? Well, its the very dynamic pose and action of this beautiful classical figure, of course. So, I realized that if I kept scratching and smudging around on the other stuff in the drawing that I would just distract from the central theme. So, I saw that I had pretty much completed the figure. So, I followed Maestro DaVinci's saying, "... a painting is never completed, merely abandoned." So I stopped and put him away.

I hope everyone enjoys this piece as much as I enjoyed making it. Some of my friends have already perceived Ganges' oar as a phallic symbol and have given me quite a bit of harassment about that. Personally, I never even saw it that way until some of them pointed it out. So, I suggest that they may be reading too much into it. They should remember that sometimes an "oar is just and oar."

Alex Ojeda in eFortSmith Magazine

Its always a pleasure to share good news. Its even more fun when the good news is about a good friend and their artwork. I just heard that the photography of Alex Ojeda will be featured in this month's Entertainment Fort Smith magazine.

We've been looking forward to this for a few weeks now. Alex consulted several of us a while back to help in his selection process. I was very flattered that he asked my opinion on his photos. He wanted his friends to help him pick 10 pieces to be featured in this month's issue. Of course, Alex never takes a bad picture so it was not an easy decision.

As you see from this sample magazine page, the subject of this series focused on commercial signage. These four images are just a sample of a much larger collection that included faded signs in disrepair found along the highway all the way up to the most elegant lights of Times Square and Broadway. Alex does a great job at making these very static images convey a very tangible sense of mood and character. The seedy old motel signs give us a nostalgic reminder of what glorious things they must have been in the days right before mass air travel led to their demise. The neon of Broadway glows with the radiance and hauteur of the stars that grace their stages. Of course, I'm partial to the black and white, and monochromatic images. Alex has a fine sense of value, balance and composition. In my opinion, its these photos where those qualities show up best.

I hope everyone will take the time to look at this months issue of Entertainment Fort Smith. Its easy to find locally. There are usually free copies at most local restaurants and newsstands. For convenience I'm including a link to this month's Entertainment Fort Smith web page. I'm also including a link to Alex's photography web page.

Congratulations, mi amigo!!

Randall Good on NPR

On Monday I took one of my regular pilgrimages to Blue Moon Art Gallery in Hot Springs, Arkansas. I consulted with my favorite art gurus Pat and Dishongh Scavo. They've updated me on the latest news about my favorite artist, Randall Good. While I was there I acquired my fourth piece of work by Randall. Its a large and dramatic drawing of "The Fallen Icarus". As some of my frequent readers know I've collected a couple of drawings and a couple of small watercolor studies of Good's mythology subjects. Three of the works are in the Icarus series.

My last trip to Blue Moon was in March. Randall just happened to be at the gallery. He had just been interviewed by a local NPR station about his work and the exhibit at Blue Moon Art Gallery. Dishongh and Pat told me on Monday that the radio station had just recently given them a copy of the interview and it is now posted on the Gallery's website. I am including a link here for those of you that would like to hear Randall himself speaking about his work. I'm sure you will hear how knowledgeable he is about art history. He's a very articulate speaker but also a very accessible artist. I'm sure you will enjoy the interview.

There is more exciting news about Randall and his work. His work is currently showing in New York and getting quite a bit of positive notice. Also, several of Randall's major works in oil have recently been acquired by an admiring collector. I'm very happy for Randall and Blue Moon for their success. But, its sad for those of us that love to see his work at the gallery won't be able to see those paintings any longer. The up side is that Randall is always working on new drawings and paintings and the gallery will soon have more beautiful things of his to show us. I'm particulary interested in a new breathtaking series of angel subjects he has started.

I will have the new "Fallen Icarus" drawing framed some time this summer. Its a large piece and I want some special things done for its presentation. I'll be sure to post a whole article of it when its ready. I will also be attending the next Gallery Walk event in Hot Springs on Friday, June 6th and visiting Blue Moon Art Gallery then. I hope many of you will make plans to attend also. I hope to see you there. For more details about the event be sure and contact Pat or Dishongh at Blue Moon via the email links on their website. If you see me be sure and say hi. I will be the guy standing in the Randall Good shrine at the back of the gallery staring hypnotically at the inspiring imagery. Just shake me out of my trance and shake my hand.

Be sure and check out Randall's NPR interview. I'm sure you will enjoy it. Leave a comment here if you feel inclined to share or drop me an email.

Now Public News

I was recently contacted by a fellow blogger that wrote an article for Now Public News. He had seen my Memorial Day photos on Flickr and asked to use some of them to illustrate his article. I was very flattered. Click on the links in this post to view those articles and photos.

Remember Their Sacrifice

Yesterday I attended a Memorial Day service at our National Cemetery. We were honored to even have a Pearl Harbor survivor with us in attendance. After the ceremonies I walked around taking pictures. It was a beautiful day for it. I used the time for personal reflection while I looked over the cemetery. So many of us see this holiday as nothing more than the beginning of summer. Its the start of the picnic and grilling season. I too often confuse the holiday of Memorial Day with Veterans' Day. But yesterday as I walked around I tried to focus on the differences between the two holidays. On Veterans' Day we celebrate and show thanks for our service men and women. On Memorial Day we honor the sacrifice of those service men and women who lost their lives in service to our country.

I was very moved by this simple grave marker. We think of the tomb of the unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery because of its size, the daily ceremonies and Presidential wreath laying that we see on TV. This little marker reminded me that the Arlington tomb is merely a symbol of all the many unknowns that have lost their lives in service. This soldier will never have a flower or wreath placed on his grave because his family doesn't know where he was laid. No doubt his mother and father knew their son was lost in action but never heard more about him. The could remember him but never visit his grave. This simple flag placed by his marker will be the only tribute he ever receives. It was heartbreaking to see not just this one, but row after row of unknown grave markers. It certainly puts our American freedoms into perspective. To see more of the Memorial Day photos I took yesterday, please visit my Flickr account.