Bear food

Magnet #748 - Mt. Mitchell, NC, Black Bear

Ok. Here's weird, I can't remember if I've been to Mt. Mitchell or not.

I do remember that my friends and I wanted to do a cross-country trip across Australia and the Pacific Rim, which then became a possible cross-Canada train trip, which then became a possible cross-US RV trip, that then ended up as a cross-theUSSoutheast roadtrip.

But, I want to say it was on that trip that we went up Mt. Mitchell. Or at least, I think it was Mt. Mitchell.

I remember lots of National Park elevation signs, and taking pictures of the lot of us in front of those signs. I remember numbers, but for the life of me, I can't remember if the name above the elevation was Mt. Mitchell. Hmmm.

Anyway, using this for today's magnet, because I'm quoting one of my colleagues, who for some reason always has the best bear quotes. Yesterday's quote, after a particularly challenging day was, "Sometimes you're the bear. And sometimes you're bear food."

Love that. Mind you, jury's out on which one I'll be before these couple of weeks are through.

Reaching for the skies

Magnet #747 - Icarus, high up on Empire State (1931)

Social photographer Lewis Wickes Hine made this image during the construction of the Empire State Building in 1931. An amazing photo, and the title is certainly indicative of how society felt about the early days of skyscraper construction.

I thought it fitting for a couple of reasons. The first is that one of the giants in skyscraper developments, Frank Williams passed away recently. He's responsible, or co-responsible for many Manhattan towers. In fact, he was brought in on an international basis whenever companies would want "American corporate architecture." I've never really thought about our corporate architecture having a personality before, so that's pretty interesting.

The other reason that I selected this image today, is because it's Wednesday, Day 9 of 20. And if I'm hanging by a rope already, I can't wait to see us next Wednesday night after we've had 2,100 kids run through this course. Oiy. Should be interesting.

Sweet dreams are made of these

Magnet #746 - David Tennant...again

So yesterday, after I said that I prefer macho men (goodness, that sounds ridic) men, I went to bed and promptly dreamed of David Tennant. Clearly, the opposite of macho, and way the more metro and surely off the real life list, but definitely on the onscreen list.

In my dream, for whatever reason, I was apartment shopping with a coworker, and we were running through this absolutely gorgeous apartment - and get this, it was small from the outside, and bigger on the inside...we just kept opening doors and finding new rooms. Such a great TARDIS apartment.

Then David showed up, wearing this ultrasoft brown leather jacket - I actually think it's the one from his "Who do you think you are?" episode, and he was all nervous about the next Doctor.

Seriously.

He said that he was nervous for Matt Smith, and how his (David's) last appearance was going to be Matt's first. And we were all duh, yeah, and p.s., btw, you know that already happened, right?

And then, I got to watch the start of the next episode, and it was damned good. It started out with David's Ten getting stuck in a timewall (whatever that is) - so from his upper torso he was Ten, and from his lower half, he was Eleven. I mean, there was a whole Murray Gold score and everything.

Good grief. I can't even begin to understand why I'm dreaming of the next Doctor Who episode, I can't even remember when Easter is, for when it airs in the UK.

But I will tell you, sweet dreams sure do put you in a good mood. Well, at least until the workday begins, anyway.

Macho man

Magnet #745 - John Wayne

I catch a lot of flak over my tv and movie boyfriends. Especially because when you watch tv or movies with me, it's generally because there's a cuteboy involved, and I'm generally grinning like a Cheshire cat, with the cooing in a high-pitched tone, "Eeeeep, that's my boyfriend!!!"

The funny part is that on the whole, most of the boys I love on screen wouldn't be able to live up to every trait I've imbued them with in my head. Which is yet another reason I don't really want to ever meet George Clooney or David Tennant or John Taylor. I want to preserve the mystique.

Oddly, even though I love the metroboys on screen, my tastes in real life generally run to macho men (good grief, does anyone ever really say that nowadays? what am I, a refuge from Kotter's classroom?), but basically the guy's guy. The big and burly, rough and tough, get the job done, with just a touch of class and a little more (secret) sensitivity, and a whole lotta lovin' for his woman. Think John Wayne in McClintock! or Hatari!

I don't care how sexist and girly this sounds, but I swear I fell for a (gentle giant) guy once just because I overheard him ask my (Amazonian) roommate where "the little one" was...that's just how big and burly that guy's gotta be.

And, yeah, I just basically described any romance book in any time period. I know. I'm nuts, but I grew up on those romance books, so I have to believe that they exist somewhere. Never mind that I once had a romance author tell me, "Joy, you know we just make them up, right? They're not real?" Oiy.

Yes. They're real. Otherwise, they wouldn't have made magnets of them.

What? I'm just sayin.

Creativity takes courage

Magnet #744 - Creativity, Matisse

Indeed, it does.

Yesterday on our Tampa Museum of Art break, we dropped by the Gasparilla Festival of Arts Festival, where at least a hundred artists were exhibits and perhaps selling their wares. From blown glass to metal to paintings and jewelry. It was fun trying to fly through there to get to the museum, where I eventually bought this Pomegranate magnet.

But, Matisse was right. Being creative does take courage to execute. It's taking what's in your heart and soul and putting it out there in some sort of canvas for all the world to see.

Whether it's brainstorming ideas for a golf event, concepting advertising on TV to sell something to people who don't want it, a painting for a gallery or just drawing with crayons, it's art without a safety net.

My friend says sometimes the courage is in taking something you've created and calling it art.

I think it doesn't matter how good or bad it is. Share it. Get it out on the canvas, because if it stays in your heart and soul, what's the point?

With open galleries

Magnet #743 - Alexander Calder, National Gallery

We've established over and over that I love art, and art museums. That it's not even like I'm particularly well-versed in any genre or any artist, that I just love looking at the stuff in whatever museum I visit.

With as many as 15 grueling days ahead of us, we took a bit of a break and went to the new Tampa Museum of Art. A very cool building of pierced aluminum (900,000 holes!!!) nestled along the waterfront park, and designed by Stanley Saitowitz, an SF-based architect with several structures to his name.

So then we walk in - free, by the way, because of the Gasparilla Festival of Arts - and have lunch at the still getting its bearings in a big way Sono Cafe, and take a gander at some art.

The funny thing was that you walk into this giant open space, and you see this staircase that leads you up to the collections. Then, you turn around, and as you start to go up the stairs, you look up, and bam!, you see a giant multistory Calder mobile, much like the one in this magnet from DC's National Gallery. And while I'd seen the pictures of the Calder on their site, I was still awed by it as I looked up into the atrium of a zillion holes. Very cool.

The whole visit (save for Sono) was very cool. Very small. I think we may have missed a few collections, because we did only see one floor full of galleries that intentionally flow into each other to show the openness of art.

But that's the thing now...instead of having wings devoted to one particularly course of art, the rooms and exhibitions all just flow into each other. While on the one hand, this openness explores how art is interrelated, and pushes you to figure out how they are connected, it also doesn't visually define what you're looking at.

In other words, one minute, you're looking at a nude Matisse, you cross an entryway, and all of a sudden, you're looking at a Greek Black-Figure Amphora, circa 510 B.C., and then into a set of black and white Garry Winogrand Women are Beautiful photographs. And left to draw conclusions as to how they're brought together under one roof.

In the end, we did the Matisse side and the Winogrand side, and I'll give it to the TMA curator, that was a good job of tying the two exhibitions together. The sketches, drawings and paintings of various women by Matisse during the early 1900s was a great juxtaposition and comparison against the black and white photography of the women that Winogrand captured in the later 1900s.

It's kind of what the curator of the Accademia in Florence was going for, when he combo'd an exhibition of Mapplethorpe imagery of the human form and...Michelangelo sculptures. Mind you...that one blew my mind completely. Mostly because I couldn't believe it had been done.

Yeah, that's a whole nother magnet.

eta:
After being open a month, their little gallery was stocked full of the easily orderable Matisse magnets from Pomegranate (my faves, as you know), but low on the actual museum logo magnets themselves. Probably good because besides the Sono beef, my other issue with them is their logo. But, I can't wait to come back and see how that museum magnet collection grows. I'm hoping they do an atrium shot like this one here.

Hope floats

Magnet #742 - Seahorse

Day three. Done.

I'm thinking in the next day or so, I'll likely be regretting that I did this seahorse magnet from the NC Aquarium. Apparently, my boss while I'm here is trying to set up a kayaking experience for the three of us who've been working long into the night and day.

I fear it. Right now. I'm happy because it's the end of a rather long work week, and I'm just hoping to stay afloat from now to the end of the tournament.

We've got so much planned, it's going to be awesome. Now. We just have to execute against the workplan.

Today, we released 33 banners. For serious. Two designers, two PMs, two clients, one brand sponsor, just trying to get one tent going.

Two tents down. Six to go.

Woot.