Shelley argued that poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.

I would be much more willing to agree with the Hec/Suela axis of this discussion if that didn't put me on Shelley's side. Shelley aws kind of a melodramatic twerp, and I prefer not to be on the side of twerps.

For extremely broad values of art -- which, really, should be called "culture" if we're getting into things like singing rounds -- yeah, sure, it's useful, as the currency of social and emotional exchange. (Although, culture and $3.25 will get you a box of Oreos.) We're in a weird situation where culture is considered a vocation, and you can get paid for it, and if you don't get paid for it people wonder whether you're doing it wrong. But I think even now, and certainly for a lot of human history, making culture is something that comes during or after making food and shelter, not before. Historically speaking, it's a rare situation of concentrated/excess wealth where you really can sing for your supper.

I am already way more productive today than I was all day yesterday. I have showered, gotten a pedicure, grocery shopped, AND figured out what was smelly in my fridge. I think I'll even get laundry done today.

I am having a total rainy Sunday laze.

A friend is, er, I guess rehabbing is the proper term (she calls it making it liveable and not insane) her 100+ year old house. She's discovered that parts of the walls are insulated with quilted eelgrass. Er. It's circa the 20s or 30s. Weird.

I spent yesterday at honfest. Wee little girls in garish makeup, cats eye glasses, enormous beehives and lots of animal print. It was amusing.

Gotta clean and do some shopping. First I need to finish dyeing my hair.

Random thoughts about art/culture and society, with no particular thesis:

Culture is considered a vocation in our society, so doing something creative/cultural/artistic that doesn't net you money is often seen as a waste of time, at worst, or a hobby, at best, rather than a necessary survival element. And that's if you are lucky enough to have the time and the means to have a hobby. When we lived in the States I barely even cooked, spending all my waking hours in a cube farm.

Not to be all Rousseau, but societies at the basic food/shelter level without First World influences seem to always include art. The bowls to store food, the walls of the houses, the skin or clothing decorations. There's an impetus, a la Georgia O'Keeffe, to "fill the space beautifully." Even really poor cultures (I'm thinking Yemen and Bolivia here, so I'm generalizing) with lots of unfortunate external FW influences manage to occasionally work art into the life of the society.

What I don't get is the hatred and fear of art. When the Taliban blew up those Buddha statues, one of my cow-orkers said, "What's the big deal? It was just art." Years later, and I still haven't thought of a good response...that point of view is just too foreign to me. Our own culture (which my cow-orker is a product of) has some of this element also, with spasms of censoring books, black-balling actors, etc.

but societies at the basic food/shelter level without First World influences seem to always include art.

Often what we see as 'art' in these societies though, would be an utterly alien concept to those creating it. The decoration often serves a purpose - whether religious, or social.

I remember one example of an African tribe where the gourds were decorated by women. Women were nearly always married in from another tribe and were seen as lower status because of it. They had to adopt their husband's style of decoration and jewellery on everything but the gourds, which they decorated in their own family's style. However, because the husbands didn't recongnise the decoration, they would often paint them with the tribal markings of the young men of the tribe that they'd been having dalliances with.

Okay, so I made little gift bags for first day of shooting for Tim and John. I went ten dollars over budget because I forgot to add in the cost of the gift bags. Darn.

But! I got red giftbags with black and white checkered tissue paper just like a race checkered flag. I decorated the outside of them with these little mini hotwheels cars. Inside each is a bottle of Excedrin Tension Headache, chapstick, sunscreen (SPF 30), a water gun, a Mountain Dew energy drink, and little key chains that have cars that shoot across the floor when you push a button.

Everything one needs to run a show, I think.

Philosophically, I'm inclined to agree that art (even bad art/pop art) is a vital component of a functioning human society.

On a practical level, however, I often find myself getting through stressful workdays by reminding myself that the absolute worst case scenario for me fucking up at my job is that VH1 might only have 39 Least Metal Moments to broadcast.

Heh. My boss used to try to cheer us up with the reminder that at least our jobs don't involve clubbing baby seals.

Me, I'm feeling sorry for myself a little because Chumley got overexcited about a cat he could see out in our backyard, and bit my ring finger deep enough to draw blood. And I've finding out now that it hurts to type, though at least you can pick up things and so on without using your ring finger....

Theo- I hate to say this, but REALLY make sure you clean it out. As I painfully learned cat bites are Not Fun. Apparently, their saliva contains a bacteria called Pasteurella, which is what causes the problem.