Ron Mueck: Amazing Sculptures

I’m not much of a Museum person, but I visit the odd one once in a blue moon.

I like art; it’s just not on the top of my to do list.

BUT

by chance, I saw some of Ron Mueck’s work in Kanazawa, Japan.

He Rocks!!
Unbelievable stuff.

Life like? I wouldn’t have been surprised if the pieces got up and started walking around.

I’m not easily impressed, but this stuff was freaky real: faces, bodies, even the soles of the feet were amazing.

If you have a chance, take a look at his stuff in the flesh. Photos just don’t do it justice.

This is a link to more info and great photos of Ron Mueck’s work.

http://paintalicious.org/2007/09/14/ron-mueck-hyper-realist-sculptor/

Tourist Attraction Improvement Guy

Tourist Attraction Improvement Guy! That’s my new dream job.

Just going around telling tourist attractions how to improve their trap… uh, I mean attraction.

Lighthouses: You only visit a lighthouse because that’s the next thing between good stuff and more good stuff. You have to pass it, so why not stop in for a look? They all look the same: by the ocean, big house with a light on top, white.
I’d put a really big switch on the outside of it that says, “Off/On“. Great photo opportunity. I’d bet more people would visit, or at least remember the stop. (same thing would work for Nuclear Power Plants too)

Anywhere that has a plywood/stick your face in the hole/take a funny picture thing.
Make the cut-outs naked and doing rude things. (doing rude things to other naked cut-outs would be better)

Signposts showing distance from other locations.

Put a few original locations with the distance from them; for example…

ex-wife: 5,000 km
job: 2,184 km
Tim Horton’s Donuts: 3,987 km
there: 1 cm
photographer: 5 meters
the moon: 400,000 km
being a millionaire: a long way
normal: see “being a millionaire” above

Spicing up tourist attractions; that’s for me!

note: photo model courtesy of planetross modeling inc.

Home for a Rest

Holidays are unnatural.

You work yourself in to a nice little routine for most of the year, and then you blow it on vacation.

Driving long distances, waking at strange times, eating strange food at strange places, carrying a camera around, visiting things definitely not on the road between home and work, and sleeping on strange beds.

It’s enjoyable in a “shooter of the day” sort of way: it’s something different. If you don’t like it, well you tried it at least.

To be fair, I love traveling.

I seriously really love traveling a lot. I’m more use to long trips though: 1-2 years. It takes me a while to get into the groove of things.
A short 5 day holiday just seems so rushed: “wham bam thank you ma’am” and it’s over.
It’s like lighting off a few firecrackers, when you’re use to a 2-3 hour fireworks extravaganza.
It’s nice, but just not the same.

I guess it scratches the itch, but it’s not the full body massage.

note: I need a few days off to recover.

Ghost Towns

There is something about ghost towns that I like.

They are failures in the longevity department, but somehow that’s part of their appeal.

Visiting a ghost town is like seeing someone wearing a California Golden Seals hockey jersey: it’s sad and cool at the same time.

Whatever first attracted people to an area dried up, ran out, disappeared, or failed.

The people moved on like Nomads or Bedouins, but they couldn’t take their permanent tents with them.

Drive-In movie theatres remind me of ghost towns.

Something from the past that left visible remains on the landscape. Just a big area with a falling down screen; a few hundred metal posts sticking out of the ground at regular intervals; and a dilapitated building in the middle, that used to sell tubs of popcorn and housed the projector.

It looks like the Drive-In movie people forgot to take their tent poles with them.

Watching Trees

People love watching trees in Japan.

In April, it’s cherry blossom viewing. Everyone and their dog go and sit on blue tarps under cherry trees and drink heavily. I do it too, but I usually watch the women who are watching the trees.

In October, it’s Kouyo: the changing of the leaves. People always ask me what the word for Kouyo is in English. They usually seem disappointed when I say, ” the changing of the leaves”. I think they expect some great one word answer.

Tour buses haul people around the countryside in April and October. It’s a big business.

I like both these times of year, but I’m more of a root person. My sister is too.

When we have travelled together, we point out interesting roots to each other, take photos, and have little discussions over the merits of our discoveries.

We know a good root when we see it.

Trees have their seasons, but roots are all year round fun.

Dead Man Sandals

I’m amazed at how many single shoes I see lying on the sides of the road.

Usually they are running shoes. I haven’t seen any pumps, gumboots or sandals.

My first thought is usually that someone must have been hit by a car, but I don’t think there are that many people getting hit by cars. And the police would probably pick up any shoes as evidence anyway.

Are people throwing shoes out of their car windows?

In Australia myself and a few others were in a National Park following a river that cut through a canyon. We walked beside the river where we could and swam certain sections where we couldn’t walk.
We found a sandal on a rock, and about 30 minutes later we found its partner.

My friend picked up both and wore them for the rest of his Australia trip. He probably still has them. They were nice sandals.

We called them his Dead Man Sandals.

Supposedly somewhere in Africa an Aid Agency was distributing clothing and shoes. The local people wore the clothes, but they didn’t wear the shoes.

They thought the shoes must have been from dead people, as no one would just give away such nice shoes.

Parking Lot Wanker

What’s with some people?

I parked my van in an isolated spot in the parking lot so it wouldn’t get scratched, and some loser parks right next to me.

He or she could have parked anywhere, but no……. they chose to be jerks and picked the spot next to me.

Look how close they parked!

They are even over the designated parking lines!

Those lines are there for a reason: they are not guidelines you can just ignore.











I spent a lot of time making my van look good:

washing:10 minutes, 2 weeks ago

detailing: spraying the rust on my rear bumper with rust protectant, emptying ashtray, and putting on a classy bumpersticker.





Yes, that’s the remnants of another classy bumpersticker: Astroboy

When I saw this after returning from making important purchases involving canned ready-to-eat products, I can assure you I examined my van closely for scratches. There were lots of scratches, but none with yellow paint. (that car’s yellow paint at least)

I was lucky this time.

Lucky 13

Thirteen is the traditional superstitious number.

I haven’t met anyone who is really bothered by it though. Where are all these people who have messed up my elevator rides, floor counting, and hotel room location skills? Is it only architects who are superstitious?

Does anyone anymore anywhere get freaked out by 13?

It’s everywhere else.

Sports jerseys, theater rows, examination test questions, ranking systems, baker’s dozen, metric rulers, weigh scales, birthday cards, and movie titles ( but I think they are playing on those architects’ fears).

If this superstition was on Myth Busters, this one would be BUSTED!

In Japan, the superstitious number is 4 : it has the same sound as the word for “death”.

Same thing though. It’s everywhere but in buildings.

I guess the number 13 must be architects’ superstitious number only.

note: if there is no 13th floor in buildings because it’s unlucky, why aren’t there two lucky 7th floors?