Do you know the way to La-la Land?

Magnet #685 - Hopper's Lighthouse at Two Lights

Another sale magnet from the Met. I think I might singlehandedly be supporting their magnet sales.

As I was looking at my little fridge magnet art gallery, I realized I have a couple of Hoppers, well, in the hopper, so to speak.

So I won't wax poetic about Hopper's work in general, and how meant for Lighthouse at Two Lights (Maine) to stand for the individual's stand against industrialization. One, because I don't totally get it, but also because really? fight against industrialization?

But, a twofold reason why I picked this one today.

One, because I kinda like the idea of the lighthouse sitting as a bastion of hope on this promontory. And, two, because of the amount of sky in the painting.

Why sky? Because it really didn't even take the full first week of 2010 before I remembered my theory about advertising folks, and I suppose, people in general:

There are two people in this world.

The ones who have their head in the clouds, going about their merry little way singing their happy la-la-la's.

And those behind them, who have their noses to the ground, scurrying about, just trying to pick up the pieces.

Which one are you?

Those darned environmentalists

Magnet #684 - Recycle Reuse Rejoice

How pretty is this magnet? I picked it up during our Yale trip a couple of months ago, at their B&N student stores. It's made of wood, painted, and totally bedazzled. Superdupercute.

So here's the thing. I don't claim to be an environmentalist, a hippie, a save the earth type. I don't volunteer for anything worthwhile, I end up leaving as many lights on as possible, and I only fleetingly consider my carbon footprint.

In fact, I'm a pretty cynical thinker, when it comes to thinking that any amount of free speech, peaceful gatherings, ad campaigns (blue or green), passing of laws/regulations, or levying of taxes will actually, in the end, save the earth.

And yet, I remain convinced that the little things help.

A friend of mine was in a grocery store earlier this week, and she'd brought her own grocery bags. And when the cashier was trying to figure out how many bags she had to work with to bag groceries, the crotchety old man behind her was all grumbly about "damned environmentalists and nonexistent climate change."

While it's a little funny (albeit just plain rude, no matter what age you are), do you really need to be all grumbly when someone's just trying to do their part to help the environment? Bringing bags is the wave of the future, man.

For example, starting this year, DC's charging five cents a bag at their grocery stores. It's a great idea that serves to proactively lessen the amount of bags that end up in their landfills, as well as to raise revenue to help clean up the Anacostia River. A river, by the way, whose trash is almost half made up of plastic bags. Dang.

So, yeah, now everyone's gotta get used to toting along those supercute reusable bags to the groceries.

Know what's funny, though? I can't help it. The cuter it is, the more I want to spend the $2.99 to buy it. That's compounded by the guilt from not having remembered to bring my own bags to the store.

Which is why I totally have a dozen such supercute reusable bags sitting in my apartment right now. So while it's lessened my inevitable trash outside, it's also increased my overall footprint. Lesser of two evils, I suppose.

Oh! Right now, my favorites are those Elizabeth Haub Foundation bags from Food Emporium/A&P - great bags, nice art, and even funner colors.

What?

Hail, the conquered hero

Magnet #683a & 683b - Thomas Cole's The Departure and The Return

I've been waiting all day to be able to write and magnetblog these! Yes, yes, another art magnet. Even worse, you can't even see this art properly! But, here's a bigger version of the two, side by side.

I made these magnets from stamps I picked up last week at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, a great gallery I hadn't been to before.

They're companion pieces painted by the founder of the Hudson River School, Thomas Cole. Normally, I'm not really one for landscapey scenes, but these two were rather large pieces (indeed, they're three by five feet big!), and I totally got sucked into them.

What caught my eye, before I even read the placard was the majesty of them - the first piece, The Departure, and the second piece, The Return. And then I read the placard. And then I looked at the paintings closer. And then I reread the placard. And then I looked one last time. And then I walked into the next room, where the big museum collection book was strapped to a bench. And then I read the two-page essay on them.

And here's what I remember (and lightly researched):

In the 1830s, one of the wealthy Van Rensselaers of upstate New York commissioned Cole to do two paintings for him - all he stipulated was for them to be morning and night, and it was ready, set, go.

Cole went for a medieval story setting, where in The Departure (bigger version, from alloilpaint.com) the warriors are all leaving for battle, fronted by the knight astride his trusty white steed ready to lead them into hell. Dawn's over the horizon, and you can see his turreted fortress castle in the distance behind them. All's well, and even hopeful, as they ride out to meet their fates.

Then come sunset in The Return, (again, bigger version, from alloilpaint.com) the focus and the tone of the story has changed, somber in the wake of what's taken place that day. The angle of the painting POV has swiveled around to showcase the big foreboding gothic church, instead of the castle. You can tell it's a scenery POV change, because on the right-hand side of both paintings, you see the one common focal point - the tall temple thing (I want to say it was for some goddess).

But, there in the middle, you see just a few men have come home, and almost dead center, a processional, with the knight being carried by his men, mortally wounded, his horse riding alongside behind him.

While each painting is set against a gorgeous landscape with magnificent skies above, my absolute favorite part of these paintings are the little details in each - from the cleric standing in front of them, hailing them in the first piece and then waiting for the men near the church in the second, right down to the little milkmaid and her boyfriend shepherdboy hanging around the well in the first piece, and then quietly standing by the temple in the second.

Ok, ok. Obvi, I got a little invested in these two pieces - probably because I was already susceptible to the subject matter, given my romance editorial side. But, I really do love them.

I love that they tell a story.

I love that it was a story that sprouted from Cole's mind, not based on any one battle or love story or heroic tale, but all of them.

I love that the story doesn't even really begin or end, with so many unanswered questions about what they were fighting for, who was the knight, where's his family, what happens now, will the milkmaid get her man. Awesome.

And once again, I'm seeing that art viewed by oneself is often times the best art of all.

When you're wandering around the museums by yourself, you get to go at your own pace, you can maneuver more easily around the bobbing heads, and most important, you can absorb as much or as little of the art as you want. It was great to look at these paintings with all their tiny little people and details, even though the guard in the corner was wondering why I was loitering.

Mind you, I do kinda wish that these paintings were in the Smithsonian, so that I could visit them for free every time I'm in DC, but the Corcoran's pretty nice, albeit a knight's battle away from the metro.

But that's another magnet, I guess.

La La, la-la-la-la, La la-la-la-lahhhhh

Magnet #682a & 682b - Smurfette

You have got to love Target for their 99-cent aisles up front. So. Many. Magnets. I totally bought a Smurfy set of magnets. What?

And, you've got to love Sony Pictures for trying to bring back the Smurfs. Noooo, I'm not talking about Avatar. They're seriously trying to bring back the Smurfs in a live-action flick.

Live. Action. Can you imagine? Supposedly, and I guess quite rightly, the director attached is the same guy who did the Scooby movie several years ago with Buffy as Daphne and Mr. Buffy as Fred.

Then again, I just saw the movie's been moved to 2011, so who knows if it'll really ever get produced, but c'mon. Who doesn't love a Smurf?

I mean, they even had a Smurf Island down at Carowinds theme park (on the border of NC/SC). It was an acre-ish big island at the park, aimed at the young-uns with those plastic ball pools that parents are so afraid of nowadays, and fun little jungle gyms. And, the best part was that Papa Smurf and a few of the other Smurfs got to roam around to hang out with the kids.

As usual, in my childhood, I was a little older than the average Smurf-lover, I went, because my two baby sisters had to go. And, I'm sure at the time, it wasn't all that cool to be hanging out there.

But the most scandalized a pre-teen girl can be? Clear as day, while all the other kids were standing with her getting pictures and autographs, I watched as an 8-year-old boy grabbed Smurfette's behind, and hit on her, with a hey, baby.

On Smurfette!

Who doesn't love a Smurf, indeed!

Long and winding road

Magnet #681 - Mt. Washington Auto Road

Uh, I haven't.

In fact, I had to look up where Mt. Washington was. At best guess, I think Save the World Sister went to New Hampshire and went up Mt. Washington Auto Road and brought this back for me?

I picked this, because as I stare 2010 right in the face, all I can think of is just making it past the first quarter of the year, and how there's a long and very winding road before the end of March.

It's odd that I haven't magnetblogged about New Hampshire before. I mean, I've done the state for myself, but not for this mountain. Of course, when I went, it was with an old friend of mine, and we were headed up there to hang out with her relatives for the weekend. It was so long ago, I don't even remember why we went up there.

It was the oddest trip, really. The house we stayed in was filled to the brim with collectibles. Everywhere we turned, upstairs, downstairs, in the attic, in the basement, in the bedrooms, in the kitchens, there was something else the owners collected. Any one item that had more than one of itself made, there were literally dozens of them in the house. Yeah, read that sentence again.

But, I'm serious. Ya'll know how I watch Cash in the Attic, like all the time? This house should have been a prime candidate - I've never seen anything before or since like that house. Now? I would love a second chance to do a good old-fashion rummage about the house - turn over every little piece, explore every nook and cranny, in every stuffed to the gills room.

Well, except for the ammunition collection - that I didn't want to explore, no matter how historical the collection was.

Not. Even. Kidding. I guess New Hampshire isn't kidding when they say Live Free or Die.

Allons-y, Geronimo

Magnet #680 - The Doctor's TARDIS

For Christmas, I ended up with a supercool gift certificate to @KristinaMyers' Etsy store - which totally means I'll be adding more to my collection of Doctor Who magnets. Yay!

What? Just because David Tennant's gone doesn't mean Ten has to go, too. I'm just sayin'.

I'm just trying to figure out how which images I'll choose for the next batch of magnets. So far, my choices are:

1) Favorite Ten episodes

2) Favorite Ten phrases

3) Favorite Ten scenes

4) All the Ten companions

5) The two recent DW logos

Oh, the endless possibilities. Hahaha. I can't wait. It's gonna be fun.

And, no, I'm totally avoiding a whole Doctor Who/Ten/David Tennant good-bye post.

Maybe if I don't write it, it didn't happen.

Maybe if I delete it from my DVR, it'll be like I've changed history.

Maybe if I don't say good-bye, it'll be like he never left.

Maybe if I ignore it, David'll be the one who shows up in the Spring, instead of Baby Emo Doctor, Matt Smith.

Maybe.

Sigh. Ok, ok. In the meantime, I guess...Geronimo?

eta:

And, I guess it's fitting that with the arrival of the new Doctor, there's a stork delivery of my friends' baby girl, heretofore nicknamed NJ, despite that fact that she was born in NC, and not New Jersey, as her nickname would suggest. Welcome, little NJ!

Happy 2010!!!

Magnet #679 - Luzern

Happy New Year!

I visited Lucerne (Luzern in German, Lucerna in Italian) during our American Musical Ambassadors tour many years ago, but that was pre-magnet collecting days. So I was totally excited when I found this magnet on our Zurich layover. Yay!

I picked this one for New Year's Day, because if there's something that signifies renewal and new beginnings, it's the Kapellbrücke, or "Chapel Bridge."

The original bridge was built in 1333, and had 120 paintings that were begun in the 1500s, documenting the city's history. But in 1993, it nearly burned to the water. I can't imagine how heartbreaking it was to lose it, and then to have to restore as much as they could.

But, restore it they did, to almost its former glory, a testament to man's ability to restore, renew and rebuild.

Here's hoping we can do the same - taking the best of the past, and using it to make 2010 the best year ever.

eta:
Oh! Speaking of new beginnings, we're anxiously awaiting the arrival of a special stork delivery for one of my friends. The kid's a dozen days late, so maybe it'll decide it wants to be a New Year's kid!