One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Abused Man-like Hominids

Wow. Spain is taking the lead in granting certain limited rights to the great apes. For all you speciesists out there, don't worry, it's not the right to own property or speak freely or anything like that. It's basically the right not to be tortured. Can we all at least agree on that?

The detractors have a point though. Even though the intent behind this legislation appears to be humane and admirable, the legislation will only make the heavily financed chimpanzee lobby (pictured above) all the more powerful and unstoppable. You really do have to strike a balance.

The Extremely Belated Final Dart Post of the Year: Another Doubleheader Sweep. But Questions Abound for Next Year

The season came to an end several weeks ago with a win, leaving our team a record of 7-7-1. I don’t have all the details of the games, but from what I understand, both were lopsided victories.

That means we started the season 2-5 and ended the season 5-2-1. We were on fire. For reasons unknown to me, there are no playoffs after Spring League.

To close out the season , I’m going to cut and paste this article that I just read that’s kind of interesting. The article originally appeared in the June issue of the Iowa City Dart Digest.

Predicting the Club Car's Fortunes

By Doug Schroeder

After being dubbed the darling of the playoffs two years ago when they made a run to the semifinals out of the B-League, and one year ago, when they took home first place in the B league--a feat for which they were awarded both a plaque and individually-engraved metals-- team Club Car finally had a chance to play in the A league this year.

Though the Club Car’s .500 (7-7-1) season might be viewed as a passable showing for the young squad’s first season in the A League, others think the group took a step backward this year. Rumors are swirling around what kind of changes, if any, the GM’s are going to make. Join ICDD as we take a quick look at the fate of what has become one of the most dynamic and dangerous teams in the league:

The Manager:

Though team manager Brad “Griff” Griffith has quite competently guided the team to the respectable position in which it currently finds itself, privately fans are beginning to wonder if he has what it takes to make it to the next level. His board-side antics were down this year, and new psychological research has called into question his management strategy, which consists long tirades abuse sprinkled with moments of enthusiasm and coddling. Sources close to the GM have indicated her desire to get a championship to the Club Car, and have been wondering quite openly if this manager still retains the gusto and motivational skills that made him a B-League legend.

Our Take: Though a few fans have begun to circulate their disappointment in dart chatrooms and forums, in all likelihood, Griff will be given a few more years to take this team to the next level.

Personnel:

The lineup itself may be in line for a shakeup as well. Erratic but handsome dart-thrower Nick “Grady” Gregory will be departing after accepting an offer to throw for a German outfit next semester. Though he finished the season with the lowest power ranking on the team, his winning percentage was the highest and he has been impressive in a number of outings.

Our Take: Though Grady has always been dubbed as a player with a lot of “potential,” he has generally been inconsistent and unspectacular. What’s more, his improvement has stagnated, making him extremely expendable.

Ryan “Murphy” Murray will also be departing to play next fall in the Kansas City Municipal Dart League. Murphy was a surprise sensation and rookie of the year two seasons ago, and GM’s agree that he was probably the best free-agent pickup in the league.
Management has remained mum about the size of his salary, but sources close to the organization reveal that the Club Car paid a pretty penny for his services. This means his departure could open up some much needed room under the salary cap to allow the Bombs to make a play for another elite player.

Our take: It’s a wash. Though Murray’s departure may cost the team wins, it will also save the team money and make them less disgruntled, as Murphy traditionally won the money games that followed the matches.

That leaves three returning players to shuffle around.

The surprise of the season was Kyle Weiner, who hit a hot streak late and ended up with a # 22 ranking overall. But questions remain? Is Kyle a franchise player? Is he the type of player that the Club Car can build a solid program around? Or are the GM’s going to go out and try to fill the void left behind by Murray?

Will Goodman, one of the most effective and dangerous darters in the league several years ago, has struggled of late. Keeping him on the team, however, is always a threat. Our sources say that Griff has been subjecting him to a battery of workouts and dry runs in the off-season in an effort to recapture his past confidence and glory.

Excepting a bizarre move by management, it is widely thought that player/manager Brad “Griff” Griffith will be back for another shot at the title. Last year he had a full-size practice area built in his home and he keeps a strict workout regime even in the off-season. He’s built the program from the foundations up and no one doubts that he has the commitment and wherewithal to see the thing through to the end.

Final Take on next year: ICDD thinks that next year will be similar to years past. The Club Car Bombs rebuild and have another solid year in the A League. A run in the playoffs to the semifinals ends tragically to some lame, douchebag team that doesn’t deserve it. Possibly Shakespeare’s.

Let the Fun Begin: Barack Obama vs. John McCain

With the prelims out of the way, it´s time to get ready for the main event and decide who will lead us into the next decade.

In a superficial sort of way, I really like Obama´s chances.

Guanajuato (Guana-what-o?)

The mummy museum:

A while ago the authorities in Guanajuato started digging up the graves of people whose relatives couldn't afford to pay the graveyard fees (two guarantees: death and taxes right?). It turns out the minerals in the soil in Guanajuato naturally preserve human tissue and (especially) clothes, so they had all these creepy loooking mummies on their hands. If the mummies are presentable enough to make the cut, they put them in this museum.

This might be the coolest and most truly macabre museum I’ve seen in my life. My favorite bit? the little baby mummies perfectly preserved in cute, perfectly preserved baby blue cardigans (see above). In addition to the spooky music that keeps you on your toes as you make blind turns into new exhibition rooms, interpretations on Simon and Garfunkel play in the background free of charge. (Seriously).

Spanish speaking:

I’m currently doing the majority of my sightseeing with two excellent Spanish speakers, both who more or less speak it as a first language. This is obviously a plus and a minus. Plus: I can listen to them speak and crib notes and ask them questions. Minus: Whenever there is any millisecond break in communication or pause for reflection they are quick to the rescue. Eso es la vida.

The Basilica in Guanajuato:

It’s quite beautiful and impressive, but it’s under construction so I haven’t taken a picture. On one occasion I raised my camera, ready to capture her majesty, imperfections and all. But then felt a little dirty, like I was taking a picture of someone who wasn’t fully clothed without their permission. When the scaffolding on the walls of the basilica has been removed, I will get the shot that both I and the Basilica deserve.

The Ex-Hacienda Outside of Town:

The Ex-Hacienca included the luxurious mansion and immaculate, sprawling gardens where the nobles lived and played while the peasants slaved away in the hot Mexican sun. Some of them were over a million acres large. A million acres. Diego Rivera and Grant Wood would have been rolling, mummy-like, in their graves. Viva land reform!

Why Diego Rivera is the Grant Wood of Mexico, or Vice Versa

As soon as I find someone who claims to have even passing knowledge of both Grant Wood and Diego Rivera, I’m going to make this bold statement: “You know, if you think about it, Grant Wood was really the Diego Rivera of the United States,” and see what comes out of it.

I will concede at the outset that this post will be written with the aid of hazily remembered facts and an imperfect understanding of the stylistic nuances of the visual arts (read: please don’t fact check this post). That being said, in quickly cobbling together the little that I know about the styles, eras, and politics of the two iconic painters, I think you’ll agree that the similarities are uncanny.

Where to start? Both were born in smallish, land-locked towns in the Western Hemisphere; Wood in Anamosa, IA and Rivera in Guanajuato, Guanajuato. Both began painting at a very early age and continued to study the arts through high school and college. Both went to Europe during the Impressionism craze and painted various impressionisty/cubistical looking pieces that hardly even resemble their more famous works. And for both Wood and Rivera, it was after being exposed to these colonial influences that both painters ended up finding their unique voices that, in many ways, were a reaction to and a rejection of these continental influences.

Rivera returned to Mexico and began to paint what he knew: the peasants, the indigenous peoples, farmers, laborers using bold, bright colors and simple figures. Wood returned, stepped out of his home near Iowa City, and began to paint scenes of farms and country folk performing everyday tasks using a similarly bright and bold color scheme on his canvasses, although usually with a tad more attention to detail.

And there’s more. They were also both ardent lefties. Rivera was an admirer of Emiliano Zapata, from whom the leftist Zapatista rebels (a group still active in the state of Chiapas) take their name, and a member of Mexico’s Communist party. Wood became close friend to Vice President and Iowan Henry A. Wallace, who ran unsuccessfully for President with the Progressive Party after being dropped by Roosevelt for being, get this, too liberal (and over-crazy). Wood even did Wallace’s portrait for a Time Magazine cover that appeared during his glory days. Both artists had successful academic careers teaching painting, Rivera at some University that I can’t remember, and Grant Wood at the University of Iowa.

Appropriate to their politics, both painters also played major roles in New Deal type policies. Rivera was chosen to lead various government funded mural projects when the government was looking to put people to work. Wood became the leader of several major public works art projects in the Midwest during the New Deal.

These appointments makes sense, as both men were proponents of murals as a more democratic form of art. Murals beautified cities and made art part of the landscape of one’s everyday world. They were also major projects and called for the work of many men to complete. Rivera has his murals at, among other places, the Palacio Nacional in Mexico City; Wood has his at, among other places, the Iowa State University Library.

Possibly the most striking similarities between the two mural-painting, revolutionary-loving, farmer-depicting lefties, was their philosophy about painting and art. Rivera revolted against all things colonial: customs, religion, class, cruelty, etc. Wood too revolted, but it was against a different kind of colonialism. He revolted against a blind acceptance of the artistic forms, subjects, and styles that had filtered from the cultural centers in Europe, through the East Coast of the States, eventually to be adopted by the heartland as not just fine art, but the finest art.

In his manifesto Revolution and the City, Wood called this kind of trickle down capacity for artistic creation or appreciation “Cultural Colonialism.” That’s right, the man wrote manifestos. And some critics refer to him and his work as quaint. Quaint people don’t spend sweaty nights pumping out manifestos. Wood took on the art establishment and he won. His victories might have been short lived, but they were on his terms. And at the time, this was revolutionary. To think, a painter in Iowa could step outside of his home, paint the land and his neighbors, and call it Art. The gall.

Of course, of the two, Rivera is viewed as the more revolutionary, probably because 1) he was a communist who participated in Communist revolutions; and 2) he was more overt in his critiques of religion, which always tends to get a rise out of the faithful. Case in point: one of the murals at the Palacio Nacional features a Priest with a bottle of liquor in one hand and a prostitute’s arse in the other. Then again, I still think there is a strong argument that American Gothic actually is a subtle critic on religion and conformity.

But let’s not stray to much from the thesis. When you get down to the heart of the matter, the two aren’t that different. They were both anti-colonialist skeptics who celebrated the simple beauty of the worlds that surrounded them. Revolutionaries both, through and through.

Viva Rivera! Viva Wood! Viva La Revolution!

Diego Rivera: 1886-1957
Grant Wood: 1892-1942

If You Can't Beat 'Em, Eat 'Em

I couldn't help passing on this article, which a lot of people have probably seen because it was posted on the Druge Report today. It's about the idea of eating nutritious insects as an alternative source of protein. Though I was aware the practice is widespread in many parts of the world, it seems like with the right kind of marketing campaign, insect-eating could really catch on in certain niche markets in America as well.

Here is my favorite little bit:

"As for pesticides, some experts have pointed out the irony of using chemicals to get rid of bugs that are more nutritious than the crops they prey on.

In Thailand when pesticides failed to control locusts, the government urged locals to eat them and distributed recipes."

In essence, Thailand adopted the, "if you can't beat 'em, eat 'em," approach. Take notes rest of world, because this is creative problem solving at its finest.

Maybe one day we'll just have a couple token crops in a field to lure in all those tasty bugs. Come harvest time, we'll kill off the few worthless, bug-damaged plants, leaving a large bounty of delicious critters to harvest and devour. Something to think about.

Some Thoughts That May or May Not Concern Mexico City

On the whole, I find travel stories to be boring and self-indulgent (calm down, I’ve been witness to 100’s of exceptions). This being the case, I’ll try to make it quick.

The Flight:

If I fly a million times in my life, I doubt I will ever tire of looking out the little double-paned window during take-offs and landings. The matchbox-sized cars pulsating through the main arteries of the city, the personal pools dotting the suburbs, the grid-like organization, the verdant parks and the symmetric and well-manicured baseball fields, I love it all. Occasionally I see someone with a window seat reading a magazine. Invariably, he looks exceptionally cool and seasoned. I, on the other hand, have my face pressed, 6 year-old-like, firmly against the pane for 10 minutes straight, admiring the millions of hours of human blood, sweat, and blueprints that brought us the modern day metropolis. Impressive.

Flying in to Mexico City was no exception. Its size is mind-numbing, and there were plenty of cool streets, buildings, and smog to keep a spectating passenger occupied while landing. And the best part of its massive size, as the Museum of Mexico City points out in its permanent exhibit about the city, is that “it all fits in a basin.”

Ha! Humor in museums? I love Mexico already.

The Hostel:

I think a great idea for a reality show would involve filming the revolving cast of characters that occupy the cockroach infested rooms of international hostels. German loners, American middle-school teachers, New Zealand surfers, British students, Canadian skateboarders (all of whom were present at Hostel Amigo) under one roof, reading their enormous, eco-political books, swapping travel stories and getting wasted on alcohol and diarrhea while the cameras captured it all.

Obviously, turnover would be a problem. So by the end of the show you’d have a catalogue of some 5000 plus characters. But given Altman-like direction and an audience open to the idea of a different kind of character development, it just might work.

As for my hostel, I couldn’t complain. Seven dollars for a room, breakfast, dinner, free internet and a pool table. Also included, free of charge, was the late night music. The music, apparently DJ'd by Donald Rumsefeld, was played just loud enough to shake the floors and make sleep impossible, but not loud enough to physically hurt you.

The Diego Rivera Murals in Mexico City:

One of the more impressive murals in the Palacio Nacional depicts a jumbled mass of over 2000 people, many of them historical figures. That’s 2000 individual faces, painstakingly painted.

And thank God I found a guide. Sure, I could have seen the murals by myself. I even would have appreciated them. But having a guide explain the history behind the images was fantastic. I think there’s part of our brain, probably from being read to as children, that craves to have pictures explained and described. “The running goat is happy,” says my mother, pointing to the image. And sure enough, there is a goat. And he’s running. AND he’s happy! To a child, the descriptive power of language is almost like a magic trick.

I think that’s kind of how I felt looking at the murals in Mexico City. Our guide would explain the way in which the Aztecs collected taxes, and sure enough we’d look up and see the whole scene it being elaborately played out in a historic, pastel snapshot 10 feet tall.

Somebody’s Got a Case of the Mondays

In Mexico City, all parks, museums, and zoos are closed on Monday just ‘cause. Make sure you take advantage of this day to ride aimlessly on the metro or wander around markets.

The Bus to Guanajuato

I can say, without the slightest bit of hesitation, that the bus from Mexico City to Guanajuato was the nicest bus I have ever had the privilege to step foot on. Though my previous experiences are limited to school buses (three to a seat!) and greyhounds (vagrant-drug-sex in the back row!), I have a hard time even imagining a bus more comfortable than the one provided by ETN. I officially support ETN buses.

Stay tuned for news from beautiful Guanajuato.