Edinburgh festival begins.

The world's biggest arts extravaganza, the Edinburgh Arts Festival, has begun, and the Scotsman has a nice guide to it and the city of Edinburgh. The festival's official web site itself is here.

This is a huge festival, encompassing books, films, televison, theatre, music, you name it. Besides the main festival, there are literally thousands of smaller events in the so-called fringe. If you like the arts you're sure to find something to interest you. And if you're interested in money you should know that it will probably pump over a billion dollars into the Scottish economy.

If you want to get a feel for it, try the ongoing photo blog. There's also a nice article on it in the Scotsman, which gives a good overview of what it's about. It points out that its jealousy of Edinburgh's success is inspiring other British cities to invest in the arts and similar festivals.


Maybe some day Americans will realize just how profitable the arts can be with some support and investment, and what they can do for a community's economy and reputation. ... Nah, it'll never happen. It'll require education in the arts for one thing, and that's long been sacrificed for the eternal state of war. But it's a nice dream.






20 Rules for Writers.

The Writing Salon is a writers community and group blog, where folks post their latest poems, stories or whatever. Found Erika's 20 Rules for Writers over there, and though I'd keep it around for future reference.


These really would apply to any of the arts, or pretty much any endeavor. Business too.






Writers and depression.

And via The New Pages Guide to Weblogs I found this great literary blog by Maud Newton. Lots of interesting and well-written reflections. I was particularly struck by her thoughts on depression in writers and artists.


She goes on to discuss the reasons for this, along with the argument of a well-adjusted friend of hers who objects to the stereotype. She links to an article in the Globe and Mail by Rebecca Caldwell, To be or not to be? That is the clich´ on the recent suicide of writer Spaulding Gray that also discusses the topic.

I don't know myself. I'm an artist and writer. Maybe I'm depressed a bit. But I'm also infinitely more optimistic than most people I know. I think one reason for this may be that people who are more satisfied with life as it is don't feel compelled to add anything to it.

But my own work stems out of a desire to create beauty, not to hide ugliness. I create for the same reason that a bird sings, or that a fruit tree bears fruit. Because that is my nature. And it is my belief that this is not "abnormal", but "normal". That if you are healthy and well-adjusted you will create. And if you don't, _then_ there is something wrong with you. Not the other way around.

And I believe that this notion that artists must "suffer" for their art is absolute nonsense. A stereotype created by people who spend their lives doing something they hate, and need to convince themselves that they have no choice, who need to believe that it is just too difficult to be an artist, or to follow their dreams, or to do something great with their life. People love to see other people suffer. It makes them feel better, and it makes it is easier for them to justify their own failures and lack of persistence and courage.

And the saddest part is that so many artists buy into this stereotype themselves, particularly the notion that there is no money in the arts. Which is self-defeating. I've seen this a thousand times. They start off with the assumption that they can't make money, so they don't try. They don't invest the money in it that any business requires. They label themselves "non-profit" and then wonder why they don't make any "profit." Duh!

If this was true before, it's not true anymore. Now the arts are the fastest growing and most profitable industries in the world, and artists are well on their way to being the highest paid profession of them all. Modern technology has vastly expanded the ways in which they can reproduce and market their work, and the explosion of higher education, greater leisure time and income, and many other developments, have entirely changed that.

And nothing has changed things more computers and the internet. In so many ways. In making it so much easier to word-process, print and even self-publish works for one thing. But mostly in making it possible to connect to a world of other people doing the same things, to find encouragement, to see examples of other peoples' works, to find places where you can send your work. To be able to go to someone's weblog and find someone dealing with the same problems that you're dealing with. It empowers individuals more than can ever be imagined. Such a joy and wonder.






Johnny Cash links.

A few Cash links. I may add more as I see them.

Here is his official site.

This page from Lost Highway Records, his last record label, has his latest video, Hurt, as well as several music selections. What a sad, sad song "Hurt" is. My goodness. Why so many regrets from someone who was so successful in life and accomplished so much?

Man In Black net. Dedicated to the music and lyrics of June Carter Cash and Johnny Cash.

Columbia's Legacy division, which has been releasing early recordings of his. In particular a previously unreleased 1969 live concert, reissues of several classic albums and apparently much, much more. Mr. Cash left a huge legacy of recorded music behind. Absolutely enormous.






FarmAid webcast tonite.

The annual FarmAid concert, hosted by founder Willie Nelson, will be webcast today from 4 to 11 pm. www.farmaid.org. That's Ohio time I think.

Ah, I checked it out. They're asking for a $20 "donation" in order to see the show. Sounds like a great lineup. Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Sheryl Crow, Brooks & Dunn, Emmylou Harris and others.

Unfortunately it's for Windows Media Player 9 only. Strange. I would imagine that Mac and Linux users would be more likely to support activities aimed at helping victims of corporate American greed than Windows users. Especially since we're the ones whose computers actually work well enough to handle a webcast. Most of the Windows peoples I know are hassling with their virus toys, and don't really have the time for entertainment. You'd think Willie would have more respect for the outlaw spirit.

Well, hope it's a good show.






Lazy Guide to Net Culture: Random personal pictures.

Via the Scotsman, and a good example of why it's one of my favorite sites, is this ongoing series, Lazy Guide to Net Culture. This one focues on people's personal pictures. Quotes by Stewart Kirkpatrick.


Quite a few more links there. Even better are these random picture generators.


Warning: you can waste a lot of time looking at these. I've resisted for the most part so far, but there are some talented people out there.

Luckily I don't have a digital camera yet, or I'd be doing it myself. I've seen a lot of beautiful country lately. It'd be nice to wander around and take photos and put them up. Pretty soon it'll be possible to do it entirely wireless from almost anywhere.

A couple sites they don't mention, but which are two of my favorites for photos are: burningbird.net, from the American midwest, I think, and Andrea's site, from Germany.

Add: Just checked out photoblogs.org a little. Like I say, you could waste a lot of time, they have a LOT. The first one I tried, George Bailey's Nature Images, was beautiful. Incredible colors. So is this one, Digiteyesed Photography, by Sean David McCormick.

I can't believe some of these photo sites. I've done some sites, and it takes a lot to build sites of this kind of complexity, especially involving lots of graphics that must load quickly. Impressive. And photographers seem to possess the ability to focus on detail that also makes great sites.






The world of Vermeer.

Via Dublog is this great site, The Essential Vermeer, devoted to the Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer.

The complete catalog it looks like, plus videos, newsletters, tons of links to academic and other publications and so on. He didn't do very many works, but each one is a carefully considered jewel.






Masked and Anonymous.

Well Bob Dylan's new movie, Masked and Anonymous, is out. Doesn't seem to have been much publicity, not for the A-list cast, but I imagine it'll get discussed. That would seem to be the point.

The NY Times has an interesting review of it. I also saw one in Salon but haven't had a chance to read it yet. Looked good though, probably worth the day-pass thingie they have.

I remember going to see Renaldo and Clara when it was released in the mid 70s. It got roundly panned by the critics, but I thought it was great. The music alone was awesome. But this one sounds much more professional. And with a stellar cast: John Goodman, Jeff Bridges, Jessica Lange and more.

Sounds like a bleak vision of life tho, and especially of America. It also sounds like Dylan is having fun with it all too.



Thanks for the memories.

Have to get in my own goodbye to the ever funny Bob Hope. Found some great links in all of the stories. Particularly on the official Bob Hope site itself. There's a link to the new Bob Hope Gallery of American Entertainment at the Library of Congress, I think, that's got some incredible American history to browse through.

The web site is a comprehensive look at the history of 20th entertainment through the souvenirs, papers and memorabilia he and his wife donated. The page on vaudeville was fascinating. I'll have to go back and make some more specific links and comments. Lots to see, and some amazing old graphics. Very well done.

Glad he made it to 100 though. Very classy touch. What a lucky fellow.

The New York Times has a nice special section on him.






The Guardian has a recipe contest.

If you're tired of bad war news, try this article from the Guardian, announcing the results of a recipe contest they just held. There are several tasty dishes. I've always been a fan of roast chicken, and of garlic, and this garlic chicken sounds great. The chicken jhella doesn't appeal to me so much, having never been a big curry fan. But if you are it also sounds good.


That should satisfy even the most diehard garlic fans. :)






The Tate Gallery's online exhibition.

Enough with the politics, let's go back to art. The Tate Gallery in the UK is developing a nice online gallery. The latest is a special exhibit of the work of J.M.W.Turner, including many works from private collections never before exhibited. A really well done site, lots more besides Turner's. Probably a bit slow if you don't have a very fast connection. Lots of graphics, of course.

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