World Magazine printed my letter that I wrote in response to Gene Edward Vieth's article on the nature of art.
The way that World edited my letter kind of lost my main point though, so here's the entire letter below:
While Gene Edward Veith's attempt to find an objective basis for defining art is laudable, in the end his definition brings us once again to the question "who decides what is art?"
Does it really mean that a work lacks beauty, skill, intelligence,knowledge, and craftsmanship just because Mr. Veith or any other person may not be able to recognize them? I can see a sort of beauty in the stark minimalism of an empty room with the lights going on and off on a set timer, and I can even experience an oddly compelling feeling toward the work, which could, I suppose, be called love. I would even go so far as to say that such a work does require intelligence and knowledge, and yes, even skill and craftsmanship. Where Mr. Veith sees empty nihilism, I see wide open possibility.
This is not to say that there is not an objective standard for art, but rather to suggest that avenues for Christian creativity in art are far broader than Mr. Veith supposes. Yes, even minimalism and other modern and postmodern art movements can be brought under the dominion of Christ.
Well, I'm a happy camper. the Tampa Bay Lightning just swept the Montreal Canadiens. It's so nice when your team wins.
Ok, I admit that's a bit of an exaggeration, but some of the things that Kerry said in the speech on the environment that he gave earlier this week in Tampa didn't exactly go over so well in Florida.
Kerry apparently made the statement that he's supportive of oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, which was reported in an article on the speech in the independent University of Florida student newspaper. Oil drilling in the Gulf is a big issue in Florida, and back several years ago the Bush Administration tightened restrictions on drilling and oil exploration in the Gulf, largely because of the efforts of the President's brother Jeb, who is of course governor of Florida (the Clinton era rules on drilling, which were never challenged by our last governor, a democrat, were too lax). So, anyway, when Kerry said that he supported additional drilling in the Gulf, Jeb Bush was none too happy about it, and lest anyone think it was just partisan politics at work, Jeb's been the most environmentally friendly governor since Bob Graham, and no Republican would have come into this state and said what Kerry did because they know what Jeb's position on the issue is.
Continuing the story, when Jeb Bush publically called Kerry on the drilling issue, Kerry, in one of his famous flip-flops, claimed that all he really meant was that he supported drilling in the areas where there is drilling already. That's not what he said though. He said "I support oil drilling in the right places...[where] they’ve already had the leases.” That's not the same thing as saying you support drilling where they're drilling already, because back when Jeb Bush got Dubya's administration to tighten the drilling rules and stop drilling that was planned, the area where they were going to drill was an area where they already had leases, but in the eyes of pretty much everyone in Florida, drilling in that area was unacceptable and putting the environment and Florida's coastline in danger. The qualifications Kerry makes are totally meaningless, because there are still leases on those areas where Jeb fought to stop drilling, and there are other even worse areas that also have leases for drilling, and with Kerry's policy, it would be ok to drill pretty much anywhere in the Gulf.
Kerry claims he wants to protect the environment because he's opposed to drilling for oil in ANWAR, an area where the danger of a large scale environmental disaster is small, but he favors continuing and expanding drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, where even a small oil spill could cause massive environmental impacts.
Well, I saw Kill Bill Vol. 2 this afternoon, and it's excellent. As a film, it's so much better than Vol. 1 and in so many ways. I suspect that there are going to be martial arts fan boys who liked the first movie who won't like the second, since the second is heavier on plot and doesn't have nearly the volume of violence as the first. I won't write any more about it now, because I don't want to accidentally give something away, so it will suffice to say that I highly recommend it.
One thing that was pretty funny was that at the movie theater, there were two rather rotund guys who reminded me very much of Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons. Before the movie started, I could overhear them having a detailed discussion of anime. Most of the people who were in the theater appeared to be middle aged martial arts movie enthusiasts, which is a change from the audience when I saw the first movie, when the audience consisted primarily of that sort of retiree that is common where I live who will go to movies if they are critically acclaimed or have a critically acclaimed director, no matter what the movie is (that, and one teenage boy wearing a metal t-shirt, who had been brought by his grandmother).
Oh yeah, and I've decided to blame Janet Jackson for me getting carded two weeks in a row when I tried to buy tickets to an R-rated movie, when I've never gotten carded before in my life (I can understand carding for Kill Bill, what with all the controversy and all, though I didn't get carded for the first one, but carding for Ladykillers?). I'm almost 24, have been old enough to legally get into an R-rated movie for nearly 7 years, and now I get carded, not once, but twice, in the span of a week! I suppose I should be glad that people don't believe I'm as old as I really am, since that means that when I'm older and want to look younger, I will without botox or anything, but it's still a bit disconcerting that I've all of the sudden started getting carded. Thanks a lot, Janet Jackson.
Amazingly, the Devil Rays are still in first place in their division, and while it's not going to last, it's still the farthest into the season that they've gotten before falling into last place.
What's really great is that the Lightning vanquished the Islanders in overtime (yet another series ending overtime goal by Martin St. Louis), and they'll be moving on to the second round, most likely to face either Toronto or Ottawa. Speaking of Martin St. Louis, his story would make for a great Disney movie. Just think about it. He's this little guy, who's been "too little for hockey" his entire life, as a kid, whatever level he played on, everyone would say "just wait till he moves up to the next level when everyone's bigger, he's not going to be able to get by on his speed," and in every age group he proved them wrong. He went on to have a stellar college career at Vermont, only to go undrafted because of his size, gets signed as an undrafted free agent by Calgary, where he spends two years and only scores 4 goals before getting traded to the then basement dwelling Lightning. While in Tampa, he's gone from the guy that nobody expected to succeed to the guy who scored the series winning overtime goal in the first round of the playoffs two years running, who turned into this year's regular season points winner, got offensive player of the month two months in a row (a feat that hasn't been done since Gretzky), is the all around favorite for MVP--basically, he's turned into a bonafide superstar. It's just an all around heart warming story of the sort that Disney loves to invent, except that this one's real.
Why in the world is it that Democrats are the ones who are supposed to be the racially sensitive ones, when you have a democratic senator saying that Robert "Sheets" Byrd, the ex-klansman, would have been the right sort of leader for any time in history, including during the Civil War, and when John Kerry pretends to care about racial issues but his inner circle consists of nothing but white people?
Take a look at Bush in comparison. He's appointed minorities to all sorts of non-stereotypical positions in his administration. I mean, how many democrats can you think of out there who would have appointed a black woman to the position of National Security Advisor or a black man as Secretary of State? I can't think of any, because the Democratic party keeps all of it's minority officials in the ghetto of stereotypical posts like HUD or the EEOC.
BTW, my prediction is that the first minority president of the US will be a Republican--the way I see it going down, Jeb Bush will run for president in 2008, get the Republican nomination, and then name Condolezza Rice as the candidate for VP, and with her on the ticket, combined with Jeb's ability to draw the hispanic vote (having a Mexican wife and using Spanish as their first language at home certainly helped in Florida), he'll win the presidency, and with Rice as heir-apparent she'll run in 2016 and get elected. Either that, or, if Jeb doesn't run, then I wouldn't be surprised if his son George P. runs in 2012 or 2016, when he'll have the benefit in the Republican primary of being a Bush, and in the general election he can play up his Mexican half, which will definitely help draw the latino voters who may otherwise be leery of voting Republican.
It's starting to get a bit creepy, with yet another game in the Lightning/Islanders series ending with a 3-0. I had the misfortune of picking the game to attend where the Bolts were on the 0 side of that score (remind me to post the picture of me and my brother with blue hair), but since then, it's been all Lightning. The New York press is starting to turn on the Islanders, and the fans already have, chanting such niceties as "we suck," mock cheering for their goalie, and cheering "Go Yankees." I'd like to go to game 5, but the only available tickets that I could afford are the $8 tickets that go on sale on gameday, and there are only 200, which would mean camping out in front of the Lightning boxoffice in downtown Tampa tonight.
Changing the subject, word is that Kill Bill Vol. 2 is heavier on plot and dialogue, with less violence than Vol. 1, which lead my brother to make the prediction that Bill O'Reilley will take credit for the decline in violence. So, if that happens, you've heard it here first.
Watching Hidden Fortress (credited by George Lucas as an inspiration for A New Hope and also borrowed from for Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones), I realized that the reason that the new movies aren't as good is that for the original three, Lucas borrowed from other movies and literary traditions left and right, but for the new ones, he couldn't get away with that like he did with the originals because this time around too many people would have been able to recognize the movies he ripped his story from. As it is, it's totally obvious that the whole princess-in-disguise-sneaking-past-enemy-lines thing in Episodes 1 and 2 was ripped from Hidden Fortress (I don't think Lucas has admitted that).
Back in the late 1970s, early 1980s, Lucas could get away with ripping large chunks from foreign films because outside of film schools, it was a lot harder for people to have the opportunity to watch old black and white films by foreign directors. Lucas didn't have to worry about coming up with original story lines because he could take from others without the American movie going public knowing it. Since he couldn't get away with ripping his plot and character piecemeal from Kurosawa films mixed with medieval european themes, he actually had to come up with his characters and storyline himself for the prequels, and we all know how far that got him. Can anyone say "Jar-Jar Binks"? Or maybe the idea that long scenes of government bureaucracy at work makes for a good story?
Over at The New Republic, on Gregg Easterbrook's blog, he's got a post imagining what would have happened if the U.S. would have, based on the evidence they had at the time, done a preemptive strike on Afghanistan prior to 9-11. It's an interesting read.
Thus far, the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs has been quite entertaining. Some years, there are downright boring games, but every game I've caught thus far has been great. I think part of the excitement level comes from how little difference there is between even the number 1 and number 8 teams, as far as regular season stats go.
I, of course, am rooting for the Tampa Bay Lightning, and last night's game was proof positive that the only stat that matters is the number on the score board. The Islanders had a lot more offense going than the Lightning did (they outshot the Lightning 30-18), but the number on the scoreboard was Lightning:3, Islanders:0. The Bolts offense wasn't really in sync, but the sign of a great team is that even when they can't get much going, they capitalize on those openings that they get. Plus, after all the talk about which goalie should start the playoffs for the Lightning, Khabibulin stepped up and showed resoundingly that he can do the job.
Finally, for the obligatory Detroit reference. Red Wings Suck!
Man, who was it that thought it was a good idea to release Kill Bill Vol. 2 and The Punisher on the same day? In other situations, I'd probably go see The Punisher next weekend, but when the other option is the second half of Kill Bill, there is no doubt which one I'm going to see, and it's not The Punisher. Early word is that Kill Bill Vol. 2 is better than Vol. 1, so it should be pretty cool. Also, from the looks of things in the previews, The Punisher looks like it will be entertaining as well.
I've decided that I'm not so sure about the name of my blog, I think I want something more original than Infinite Improbability, but I'm not sure if I want to change, and I don't know what I'd change it to.
Any comments?
If anybody wants the chance to see Freddy Adu in action, this is your chance. The season opener between D.C. United and San Jose Earthquakes will be televised on ABC at 4:00pm Saturday. It should be a worthwhile game to watch, despite the fact that American tv doesn't do the greatest job with the cameras.
As a somewhat useless bit of information, both Adu and Landan Donovan of San Jose are products of the IMG Addidas Soccer Acadamy in my town. Several years back, Donovan and DeMarcus Beasley, who are both top US players, were both on the soccer team of one of the very small private schools here, and the year they were on the team, the school ran away with the state championship, much to the chagrin of the schools they beat, who didn't think it fair that they were competing against a team with two future superstars.
The Lightning beat the Panthers tonight, and since the Bruins tied Washington, the Bolts have clinched the Eastern Conference and are the number two team in the league. I'm happy. Go Lightning!
Now, if only the league would decide on the dates for the playoff games, so I know whether the game I'm going to will be on Friday or Saturday.
...held a press conference earlier today, in which they announced that they are really all good friends. "Al's the man," Savage proclaimed, while Jackson stated that he "admires Rush" and that "Rush is right, McNabb really is overrated." The four then joined hands and sang "kumbaya" before heading off to endorse the Ralph Nader/ Pat Buchanan presidential ticket.