Sunday, August 4, 2013

Sunday Observations 8.4

So you should know by now I have a thing for movies where things go boom but rarely if ever has that included French films. Live and learn. I watched a movie called Forces Spéciales (Special Forces) which is about a fictitious hostage rescue mission into Pakistan. I have to admit I did enjoy it even if I was bit confused at times because it's in French but also English and Persian. As for the plot, well if you have ever seen the Bruce Willis movie Tears Of The Sun you get the idea, just substitute the Hindu Kush for Africa. What's also funny is that the French reporter who is taken hostage by the Taliban is played by Diane Kruger who also happened to play Marie Antoinette in the movie I mentioned last week, Farewell, My Queen. For the record Kruger is a German actress.

It may seem like a weird quirk but when I read a magazine article about a woman I always look to see if the writer and photographer were men or women. What made me think of that? Currently a short bio of Kate Upton in the June issue of Vogue which mentions her breasts quite a few times. Both the writer and the photographer were women. The same issue has a nice fashion layout by Peter Lindbergh, "Stardust." I can't say I've ever really wanted to do fashion photography but if I did I like to think it would look something like that. Maybe it's just the motorcycles, or Edie Cambell's eyes, or her short dark hair, I'm not sure.

Who says an advanced art degree is worthless? It seems more and more people are willing to pay to have someone give them a private tour of a museum or a 'cultural excursion' as it is called. A couple of examples are Art Tours in Europe and Art Smart in New York City. The going rate in New York, about $200 per hour with a two hour minimum. I could handle that kind of money but I wonder how much I would have to talk to people because, well, anti-social.

Something in the same line of thought, art degrees not money. It's that time of year when everybody comes out with a list of worst college majors. I wont bother with links but just say that there is a common thread in all of them, art degrees. All the worst ten degree or major lists include Fine Arts, Film, Photography, and Theatre. None of the lists include Art History which either means they think it's a good degree to have, highly doubtful, or they don't even want to admit it exists.

Finally my sister is off on a fishing expedition this weekend. She texted me a photo of her holding a bass she caught and I'm terribly jealous. For a change that isn't sarcasm.