Is it dung, or is it art? Judge for yourself. Chris Ofili's 1996 portrait of
the Virgin Mary, which is currently creating an enormous ruckus in New
York City, makes use of elephant dung and cut-out pornographic pictures
of body parts (in addition to more orthodox materials) as artistic
media. In response, Mayor Giuliani has threatened to withdraw funding
from the Brooklyn Museum of Art, pitting artists and freedom-of-speech
fundamentalists against a swiftly forming coalition of offended
Catholics and opponents of public arts funding.
The portrait is part of the notorious "Sensation" exhibition, which,
by the time this column is posted, should be viewable online in its
entirety through David Bowie's website. Bowie
narrates the museum's audiotour of the exhibition gallery and has been a
longtime vocal supporter of the group of radical British artists whose
work makes up the bulk of the exhibition. Look for particularly
notorious artworks of the last several years, such as art world idol
Damien Hirst's dead shark floating in formaldehyde. Not recommended for
children under 13.
Scientific progress goes 'boink'
The scientific-research parody journal, "Annals of Irreproducible
Results," sponsors the annual Ig Nobel Prize
Ceremony, always a source of much merriment. This year's Ig Nobel
ceremony was held on Sept. 30, and, as usual, honored individuals whose
scientific achievements "cannot or should not be reproduced."
One of the honorees in Physics, just to give you an idea, was Dr. Len
Fisher, of Bath, England, and Sydney, Australia, for calculating the
optimal way to dunk
a biscuit. A Santa Fe man named Paul Bosland walked off with the
Biology prize for successfully breeding a "spiceless jalapeno chile
pepper." And don't miss the Kansas board of education's award for
Science Education.
Is it all in fun? Maybe. Says the site, "Each year, about half of the
ten Ig Nobel Prize winners have achieved something (or other) that most
people would deem wonderful. ... The other winners generally do not
attend the ceremony, sometimes because they are still in prison. The Ig
Nobel Board of Governors does not comment as to which Prize-winning
achievements might be deemed 'good' and which 'bad.'"
You can watch a recording of the telecast using RealVideo if you
like. Or wait for the National Public Radio broadcast, scheduled for Ira Flatow's "Science Friday"
this Nov. 26. (Flatow's site also archives recordings of past years' Ig
Nobel ceremonies.)
Hunker down for the winter
Cold weather is on its way, and if you're a homeowner, there are
things you've probably been putting off that you're going to want to
take care of this month. Need to replace
broken window glass? Fix that leaky
gutter before it develops into a truly fearsome curse upon your
house? Home Depot can help you with these and any number of other,
surprisingly manageable, fall projects. Their Fix
It Projects pages will help you narrow down just what it is that has
to be done, give you an idea of how hard it's going to be, list exactly
what you need for the job, and offer clear, illustrated instructions on
how to proceed. Preventative care now can often save you having to shell
out considerably more later on.
Another useful resource is Better Homes and Gardens's Home Improvement
Encyclopedia, which can help you add, fix, alter, or maintain just
about anything: the house structure, roof, deck, masonry and concrete,
plumbing, wiring, landscaping and tons more. It'll also give you the
tools and knowledge you need to deal with contractors effectively if
you'd rather not do-it-yourself.
In brief
The amazing amount of information the wonderful Web makes available
is a truly fabulous thing. But, like you, in real life I am not about to
waste my day reading stuff like, for example, movie reviews online.
Who's got the spare hours to sit there scrolling through all that
earnest Siskel-and-Eberting? That's why haiku enthusiasts and the
pressed-for-time are sure to value Ten
Word Movie Reviews. (OK, OK, I know. This isn't really a useful
time-saver site. Just a mildly funny one. Go ahead and click on it
anyway.)