A water lily by any other name...

Magnet #1019 - Monet's Nymphéas (Water Lilies)

I just went on a wild goose chase to see if there was a definitive answer to just how many different water lily paintings Monet painted during his lifetime - and came up empty.

It feels like every major museum anywhere has a water lilies by Monet. This one, I don't even remember actually seeing, because we were actually at the Carnegie Museum of Art for a wedding reception, and while I remember going through parts of the museum, I distinctly remember hurrying (in silly shoes) to the gift shop to grab a magnet before it closed for the evening. But this piece, Nymphéas (Water Lilies), is one of the jewels of the Carnegie collection, I'm sure.

The information says circa 1915-1926, that it's one of six ginormous panels that he was working on up til his death in 1926. But, the detail on it is still pretty rather sharp - so it's even harder to believe that he was working on these with such detail, even though he'd already started losing his eyesight to cataracts.

Gosh, what a tragic tale of the painter who lost his ability to see. You can see the contrast on this page, about midway down, comparing his Japanese bridges from 1897 to 1923.

Anyway, I picked this magnet for today, because I meant to report back after my astounding visit to the Sotheby's preview exhibition, just before their Impressionist auction last month.

Remember how I was stunned that I was standing in front of a $20 million painting? And that it was yet another of Monet's water lilies (Le Bassin aux Nymphéas), and how it was clearly unfinished?

Yeah. That painting? Sold for not $20, but $24.7 million. Sheesh.

Quick. Someone get me a brush.

Not as smart as I thought!

Magnet #1018 - Metropolitan Opera

Growing up in North Carolina, we didn't get many opportunities to see opera. Or maybe, we just didn't take advantage of any opportunities to see opera, our preferences skewing toward piano and symphony performances. But never opera.

I mean, I've seen seen Real!Aida (versus the Elton John version) in a gorgeous, ancient outdoor amphitheatre in Verona. But that was pretty much it.

So that's why, when I first moved up here and scored free tickets to the opera at the Metropolitan Opera, no less, I was completely floored to learn that the backs of the seats had the opera's subtitles and translations! In digital display!

Seriously, ya'll. I can count on a couple of hands the number of times where this city's actually made me feel like a country bumpkin, and I'll tell you what for, that performance was one of those times. I don't even remember the name of the opera anymore. I don't even remember the story. I just remember watching the words go by with each passing stanza.

I must have missed the first half of the show, because I was just sitting in my seat, shaking my head, thinking, holy crap, ya'll opera-going folk, weren't as smart as I thought ya'll were.

I couldn't wait to get out of the show, to call my mom and tell her all about it. My roommate, an opera singer, laughed her bum off at me when I got home. I just couldn't believe how I was all opera's for smart people, cuz they know all the words to the stories and pieces, and in other languages, too! And the whole time, it was spelled out on digital displays.

Even so, I will say that not all opera is for me. I've only seen a couple of performances since then, plus, I did a fantastic behind the scenes tour - where we got to see Placido Domingo rehearse on stage, from the sound booth. Outstanding.

And I'll tell ya, I didn't need a translation to know what he was singing, either. Didn't understand a word of it, but really, I don't think anyone cares when it's Placido!

Ball girl

Magnet #1017 - Lichtenstein's Girl with Ball

I picked up this one from the MoMA design store in Soho, which is totally a dangerous place for me, with all the tchotcke stuff that I love picking up for me and others. But, I couldn't resist this magnet.

I'm really digging Roy Lichtenstein lately. He was part of the pop art movement of the 60s, and a lot of his work was modeled after comic panels. He literally went through old comics and pulled out panels that he liked, and either re-created them or used them as inspiration for his work. Some very cool stuff.

This particular piece, Girl with Ball, is part of the MoMA collection. The image was taken directly from an ad for a Poconos hotel that caught his eye.

She wasn't even a huge part of the ad, just a sort of window dressing for the hotel deals. Pretty funny how something so small became such a major piece of art.

Speed-dating San Francisco

Magnet #1016 - San Francisco

While at home last week, I stumbled over several pictures of my parents and me all over San Francisco. Of course, I was like six months old at the time, so I have absolutely no recollection of it.

Then several years ago, I spent less than 24 hours in San Francisco. I flew in, got in at like, 4 or 5 in the afternoon, had a sunset dinner by myself at Fisherman's Wharf, went into the office to help a friend get some urgent work done for a few hours, then late in the night, went back to my room at the W, to await my 8am flight. Truly a shame, since I didn't get to sleep but three hours on those 800 thread count sheets.

All that fuss, to drop off a banner stand and banner, for a pitch...that we didn't even win. Oh, Corporate America, will you ever cease to make me laugh.

Anyway, I think a friend of mine gave me this magnet, and clearly once again, it's been doctored from Joyce, to make my name. I mean, no offense, but seriously, when was the last time you even met a Joyce?

I'm just sayin'.

Here comes the sun

Magnet #1015 - Ariel

I have to admit, whenever I see this Ariel magnet, that Beatles song, Here Comes the Sun runs through my head. It's on the Parent Trap soundtrack, which is surprisingly one of the best. soundtracks. ever. It's one of my favorite movies, even if it's a little bittersweet watching Natasha Richardson in it.

Ariel was named Disney princess with the best hair a couple of weeks ago. I think it was a bit of an unfair competition, given that Snow White is like 73 years old, Cinderella's like 60, and Rapunzel's not even a month old! It's hair from different generations, and therefore shouldn't be judged against each other. Nevertheless, Ariel does have supercute hair, both above and below water.

For me, I will admit that I'm superjeal of Rapunzel's hair at the end of the movie.

Why all the hair talk? Because I figured while I don't really have an office to go to, that I might as well take this time to grow my hair out and donate it. I try and do this every so often, but I never make it - I get so frustrated with ponytails, hair clips, and barrettes that I just run to the nearest hairdresser and ask her to chop it all off.

So, for the past several months, I've been waiting and waiting for my own hair to grow, to get that eight inches. And my hair is growing sooooo slow! Hurrrrrry upppppp!

/whinewhinewhine

eta:
And, in case you wanted to know where the hair's going...STW Sis donated her hair earlier this year to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths program. She's done it a couple of times already. I wonder if they can tell by hair condition if you've been using their products. /randomthought

Waves and Topsail

Magnet #1014 - Topsail Island, NC

I mentioned my parents and I did a quick roadtrip to the beach earlier this week. Yes. The beach. Me.

We went to Topsail Island for fish, first - of course, my pop has local fish guys. Then, we headed down to Wrightsville Beach and Wilmington.

Seriously, ya'll. At WB, My dad made me get out of the van to go look at the water. I don't think he's read half of my beach-hate magnetposts, and still, he was like, you better get out of the car and see the Atlantic, while we're here.

Really?

Of course, I went. And it was gorgeous. What? I only hate it when it's hot and sticky and sandy and crowded.

And what's a trip to the beach without at least passing by a Waves surf shop. We never really went to them growing up. But, after I got my dad to turn the van around so I could get a good shot of the giant alligator facade, we stopped so I could pick up this little number.

Though, off season, there's nothing sadder than a cavernous Waves, completely empty, but for the dude folding T-shirts at the counter, waiting for the 2011 season to begin. His face kinda fell, when I asked him where the magnets were, and I worry that my $2.99 would be the day's take.

This one's definitely one of the tamer magnets. I saw some diiiirty magnets up in there. Like, who wants that junk on their fridge? I totally wanted to take a picture, but I don't even want to know the bots that would show up here if I did. Ew.

But, it totally explains why my parents never really wanted us to drop by Waves when we were little.

Holla from San Salvador! - Guest Blogger, Save the World Sister

Magnet #1013 - Las Tortugas Marinas

How exciting! I've got a guest blogger from El Salvador!

Ok, technically she's by way of DC, and by way of my sister being there on a work trip. And technically, the magnet's not quite in my grubby little hands yet, but by way of Christmas, it's coming!

So, yeah, here's STWSis, blogging all the way from El Salvador, where she's off, well, saving the world...

By way of sea turtles!

- joy

____________________________________

Hola desde San Salvador, El Salvador. El clima es soleado y cálido! Estoy aquí para trabajar, pero tienes que venir para la diversíon. (Hi from San Salvador, El Salvador. The weather is sunny and warm. I’m here for work, but you should come for fun.)

That about sums up my Spanish…or I cheated and used Google translate (is there anything Google can’t do for us!?). For reals, though, I’m here in San Salvador for the week to help start the closedown processes for my project. What does that mean? I’m motivating staff and training them in how to pack boxes and organize files. Yes, folks, this is what my job entails. But the upside - I get to work with a great local staff and see a new country.

I’ve been here a few days and I think I like El Salvador. It is my first time in Latin America and I can only compare it to the other foreign countries I’ve been to. It’s a bit like the Philippines, which if you ask Joy or either of her sisters, will give you probably very different opinions. It’s warm when my DC-based mind tells me it should be freezing - though not as disgustingly hot as the PI. It’s traffic-y, though not as jam-y as Kathmandu, Nepal. And it’s nothing like Uzbekistan, though, no other place seems to be like that.

The people are super nice. I love my project staff. They are really patient with me (if you know me, my mom would say this is key) and helpful considering my Espanol consists of whatever Senora Adams taught me in elementary school and the two semesters of elective Spanish I took at Carolina.

This project has done so many great things and everyone on staff is sad to see it close. One of the project’s main activities has been the conservation of sea turtles (explains the magnet, the translation is “I Protect Sea Turtles”). We (I say we, but really, I just push the papers of the people that actually do the stuff) have been changing the people’s thinking on sea turtles.

Before, people would eat sea turtle eggs – it’s what you do at the bar with friends without even thinking about it. Now, we are raising awareness that sea turtles are an important part of the sea and the aquatic life cycle. We offer money to people who collect sea turtle eggs and give them to us rather than putting them on the market for consumption. We take the eggs and keep them safe in hatcheries so that the little baby sea turtles can make it to the ocean to live.

To raise awareness, our project made a documentary about the important role that sea turtles have and why we should protect them. The film just won best Spanish language film at the Blue Ocean Film Festival in Monterey, CA, out of a field of 349 films!

If you’re a Spanish speaker (and everyone these days seems to be except for me and my knowledge of odd languages), you can watch the documentary here:

Part I:

Part II:

While I only have a few days here in San Salvador (just one week!), I’m really glad that I got to come out and work with such great people. Also, I’m going to a turtle release on Friday! So I’ll get to see the kids and adults enjoying the little baby turtles crawling to the sea.

And that, my friends, is why I chose this career.

No comen huevos de tortuga marina! (Don’t eat sea turtle eggs!)

Adios!