It was a weekend full of excitement, complete with fire trucks and ambulances, which I will not get into here, but feel free to ask me about it through a different venue.
Instead I'll focus on the more 'artsy' aspects of my weekend, which began with a trip to the Portland Art Museum, my first trip to an art museum that did not involve going on a school field trip. My good friend, Miriam, an artist herself, joined me as we explored the wonderful world of artistic expression. I'll be honest, I don't get a lot of it. The museum hosts a lot of modern art, which to me is just bizarre. Take, for example, the burlap bags stuffed with who-knows-what, two to three dozen of them, arranged to look like a cluster of over sized potatoes. Or a block of marble sitting on the floor with uncooked rice around the base, appropriately titled "Marble and Rice." Then there was renowned British sculptor Rachel Whiteread, who had an entire exhibition at the museum. One of her pieces featured a old metal chair frame with half a dozen painted pizza boxes on the seat. Pizza boxes on a chair, people! A few of her other pieces included old toilet paper and paper towel rolls painted in pastel colors in various arrangements. I guess I'm just not that cultured.
However, once we got to the actual paintings, they were amazing. They have a Monet and a Van Gogh, both of which were very cool to see in person. My friend Johnny of The Dimes has also recently got me interested in the paintings of Childe Hassam, who has a few pieces in the museum, including 'Isle Of Shoals.' The Dimes recently wrote a song using the titles of Hassam's paintings, entitled 'Celia's Garden.' You can download a demo of the song here. I also loved the Asian and Renaissance art work and spent quite a bit of time admiring them. Overall a great experience. I will definitely need to include a trip to the MET when I visit NYC later this year.
I also went with a group of friends to check out Revolutionary Road. Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect. I wasn't familiar with the book and knew nothing of the plot. I only knew that Leo and Kate were in it and getting rave reviews for their performances. Admittedly, I have been a fan of DiCaprio for awhile, ever since I saw him in Basketball Diaries, and his performance this time did not disappoint. Kate Winslet has already won a Golden Globe for her performance, but, and maybe it's just me, I detected a bit of overacting on her part. Not much, but enough for someone with some acting experience to pick up on. As far as the story itself, it was just depressing. Think of American Beauty set in the 50's, the ideal of the perfect suburban life falling apart at the seams. But I never felt attached to the characters to really feel sympathy for them. It wasn't a bad movie by any means, but I can't say it is a must see.
Heading to the movies did encourage me to see more. I've been so reluctant to see anything since movies now cost over $10 a ticket. Lately, I've been reserving my movie watching to $3 tickets at McMennamins. That may have to change though. Any suggestions on what to watch next? I'm hearing Slumdog Millionaire.
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