Hanzolo Goes to the Adirondacks & Albany & Back

3 Reasons You Should Buy a Work of Art

There’s no way around it: a work of art is a luxury product, and you don’t need it. 

That being said, we spend money on luxury products we don’t need all the time, simply because they are pleasing to us. 

Here are three reasons that more people should feel encouraged to, and find pleasure in, purchasing a work of art:

1.     You’re creating value for art in our society

By spending your hard-earned money on a work of art, you are intrinsically giving value to that most basic and important form of human self-expression that is: art. To create objects for creations sake alone, is a luxury that only we humans possess in the animal kingdom. We should take full advantage and uphold this practice in our society; it has been the foundational building block for our many diverse and shared cultures around the world. 

By purchasing a work of art from a gallery or directly from an artist, you are forming the bedrock of an economic process by which our society begins to ascribe value for these purely aesthetic objects. It is necessary for things to have value in order for the institutions in our society to uphold and protect them. Therefore, while it may not come to fruition for any particular work of art you acquire, you are participating and validating a system by which we are able to preserve our cultural output for future generations. 

2.     You’re encouraging the creation of art

Everyone’s an artist, but certain individuals are devoting, or are trying to devote themselves to their artistic creations full time. Every time that you spend your own hard-earned money to purchase a painting, you are affirming for the painter, that what they’re doing is worth their time as well as yours. 

It won’t be possible for everyone striving to be an artist to be successful, that’s just the nature of the world. We all can’t be artists, but shouldn’t there be some? We all need to participate in that financial risk, to use our money (if we’re lucky enough to have some extra), to purchase an object that was created for no reason, except as an expression of self. 

This is important, and if you walk into an art gallery and find that you connect with something, you should consider the positive ramifications of taking that uncomfortable step to purchase it, and to become the owner of that object. If you are able to continue to do this, you will surround yourself with things that speak directly to and about you as an individual.

3.     It’s an investment in your own personal aesthetic 

Like the clothes you wear, the art that you put on your walls in your home is a way of expressing yourself to those you invite into your home. While many of us often have important ephemera and family heirlooms that have been handed down to decorate our living spaces, it is just as pleasing and important to add your own personal touches. The work of art that you hang on your wall should be something you uphold, are proud to display and to live with, and that you value. By investing your money in the purchase of such an object you are re-affirming this value in a quantitative way that re-enforces all of the more important meanings it has for you.

Self Check Me Out

Sup

Self Checkout Terminals should be Illegal in this country.

Since you asked, I am going to rant and rave about self checkout stations now, why recently I have become increasingly pissed off about them, and why we should enact bi-partisan legislation to make them illegal.

The political left loves to complain about how the ultra wealthy and corporations in this country are profiting too much at the expense of workers and society, as a result of our government catering to runaway capitalism, and profit driven organizations seeking to increase their margins in any way possible. I usually take these arguments with a grain of salt, since I do believe that the encouragement for individual entrepreneurship and innovation that is encouraged by capitalism is what has lead to great progress for this nation and civilization in general.

Recently however, I have realized that this new phenomenon of self checkout computers is so blatantly and aggressively capitalistic and unpatriotic, that it crosses a line for me. These systems have clearly been designed for only one purpose, to generate greater profit for corporations by saving money they currently use to employ people. These systems take that job away from an entry level worker, and they give the work to me, the consumer.

Airport terminals use them, McDonald’s has more and more of them, and my local grocery store, Price Chopper, is one of the worst offenders.

Not even 5 years ago, if you went to go grocery shopping at Price Chopper in Cooperstown, there would be approximately 4 checkout employees running checkout lanes to service the customers of that grocery business. Today, if you walk into the same grocery store, there is often just 1, maybe 2 people running checkout lines, and a terminal of 4 self checkout points.

Obviously what’s happening here is, Price Chopper figured out that they could put in some computers and eventually lay off some workers, less money to spend on hourly wages and benefits for entry level staff. In addition though, and why I’m drawing a hard line in the sand here, is that in this case, I wind up taking on an additional burden and work as the consumer.

I didn’t ask for this. I don’t want to run the checkout terminal. I liked it better when I would pick out the groceries I wanted to buy, with money, and then Price Chopper would provide me with the service of managing the transaction for me. I don’t wanna push all these little buttons and bag my stuff. Also, now I have to ask for help to fix the situation whenever your shitty computer messes up. That’s not my job. I’m paying you money, I don’t want to be inconvenienced and have to do more work now.

Price Chopper and other company’s using automated checkout terminals are actively cutting jobs, and shifting that labor on to consumers in order to increase their profits.

The political right loves to campaign on a message of putting American jobs first. So it seems to me that this current practice of slashing entry-level labor positions in this country should be fixed in a bi-partisan effort. We should all be able to agree that corporations should not be allowed to increase their profits by cutting staff and making us buy things through a computer when we’re in a brick and mortar store.

I would like to commit myself from this day forward, as a free American consumer, to protesting self checkout stations, whenever and wherever I can.

I will wait in line until I can be serviced by a worker. I will ask to see a service representative instead of using self checkout facilities. If the business says that I need to use the self checkout terminal to complete my transaction, I will calmly and politely explain why I am refusing to do that, and I’ll walk myself out the door. I’ll then bring my money to spend at a business who will employ people to help me buy the stuff I want/need.

Basic Information

Henlo fren 👋

Do you like breathing clean air?

Yes.

Oh, Ok.

^have you ever had that conversation before?

No. Why not? Because that would be a dumb conversation to HAVE. Why would anyone waste their time having a stupid conversation like that? The answer is that they wouldn’t. Because it’s BASIC INFORMATION THAT EVERYBODY HAS KNOWN SINCE YOUR MOM READ YOU DR SEUSS AS YOU FELL ASLEEP WHEN YOU WERE A TODLER BREATHING HEALTHY HEALTHY CLEAN AIR YOU SPOILED AMERICAN BRAT. look at all this beautiful clean air we have all around us!! That everyone gets to breath!! For free!! Omg so great right??

Hi there,

Every once in a while I hop on the internet and type out a political rant.

How often do I do this? Every once in a while. 

Why do I only do this every once in a while? Because I only do it when I know that I am ABSOLUTELY CORRECT AND NO ONE COULD POSSIBLY ARGUE WITH ME.

Would you like to breath air like they did before our government enacted environmental regulations that stopped FACTORIES FROM POLLUTING THE AIR??

No.. ya don’t.. cus people lived less long. it would also be idiotic for your answer to be yes to that question.

It’s not patriotic to pollute the air.

There are people in charge of the country who are standing up proudly and saying: I would like my fellow American citizens to breath LESS CLEAN AIR. Oh, and all their children, they can breath less clean air too..

You know why their old asses are able to stand in congress and make these bad decision for us?? Because they grew up breathing delicious clean air so they could live long and healthy lives, and now they are taking that away from us. From you and me, Americans, who have a basic right to breath clean air.

“Ohhhh but, you’re a libtard who doesn’t care about the economy and are a very privelaged person...”

Yep. And you know who benefits from deregulating environmental regulation? Not you. Not me. Rich factory owners and corporations. That’s who!

“Ohhh, but, this will bring blue collar jobs back to America!”

...uh no it won’t. Want to know why not? Because you know who works in factories now?? FIVE PEOPLE, that’s who.. and do you know what those FIVE PEOPLE do?? They make sure that the ROBOTS that DO ALL THE WORK IN THE FACTORY don’t break down. So when a factory starts saving money now because it doesn’t have to FILTER THE WASTE PRODUCTS IT CREATES where do those savings wind up?? .. revenue, shareholders and CEOs baby!! (Maybe a couple dollars in the paychecks of the people that know how to FIX ROBOTS FOR A LIVING)

Yeah so in closing this is not actually a political post because there should not be any sort of political debate in this country about whether or not there should be clean air. Enjoy going back to caring about whether Donald Trump tweeted something mean at a celebrity.

The link that I’m posting below does not come from any fake news media outlet. It is actually factual information that our government has made readily available for us.

https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/epa-deregulatory-actions

-J 

Ode to the Plow Man

When the winter time comes, it brings with it, the snow. White, light, and fluffy, or damp and heavy, it blankets everything as it falls to earth in below freezing temperatures. Evenly coating tree branches, evergreen needles, rooftops, hillsides, and of course, the roads.  

When the snow comes, school children gaze out their windows, hoping that it might be enough to incapacitate society. They eagerly hope to wake in the morning and see their districts name scroll across the listing banner of their local weather station. The realistic child though, knows that they have a tough opponent in this cause. Men, who have made their livelihoods in the prevention of this lethargic child’s wintertime wish. 

The Plow Man is a simple man. His paycheck is adequate, his living is a reserved one. He maintains the comforts that any decent fellow of his society is entitled to. Beyond these though, he does not often exceed in possession, indulgence, or want. Unlike many of us however, the Plow Man has a well defined purpose in our society. He wakes before the dawn, and goes to work, plowing the roads of snow. He knows what the world wants from him, and he goes to his task with a purpose that can only be the result of a real urgency and need for its completion.

He clears a route for the rest of us. Before he arrives, the landscape is untouched by the hand of man. To the Plow Man, the road is hidden underneath a canvas of nature’s wonder. While we sleep he goes to work, peeling back the blanket that lays over the world. Carving the veins by which the blood of our people may course through these lands. He wouldn’t put it that way. He’s not a poet, but what he does is filled with poetry. 

Ode to the Plow Man, who rises up while we lay resting, to lay down a path, that the rest of us may traverse in our meager existence. Trail blazer. We are mere sheep following your wake. Without you we would be naught but limbs and struggling shovels. But with you, we are free.  

-J

A Message to All the Diners in America

A message to all the Diners in America:

Please stop bringing me Grape Jelly. I don't want your damn grape jelly on my toast. No one wants your grape jelly on their toast. You don't want your grape jelly either, that's why you’re trying to hock it on me, thinking that I'm gonna be too lazy to specifically ask you for the strawberry jam.

We all know what's going on here, you guys get delivered bulk packs of these Smuckers Diner Fixens, with an equal amount of packs of strawberry jam and grape jelly, but no one wants that damn grape jelly so you try and give it out to us first and withhold your strawberry jams from the people.

You need to be speaking with your supply chain managers at Smuckers and explain the situation, we want the strawberry jam fam, get it together Diners.

-J

Moral of the Story: Stranger Things

So I just finished binge watching Stranger Things Season 1. If you were curious, it took me two days, watching four episodes per day.  Also, if you were curious, I am going to spoil some plot points, so if you haven’t watched yet and plan to, stop reading. 

Now let’s summarize what has taken place in Hawkins, Indiana by the end of season 1 of Stranger Things. An underworld beast (Demagorgue) that was unleashed in a secret government conspiracy project has ravaged the town and abducted two children: Nancy’s friend Barbara, and Will Ives, around who’s rescue the main plot and climax of the series is based. With the help of Eleven, the young band of brothers, and officer Jim Hopper, the cast and crew succesfully defeats the monster, and saves Will Ives from the “upside down” alternate dimension. 

So let’s sumarize the casualties list at the end of the season. Eleven and the Demagorgue canceled each other out. Most all of the government conspirators from Hawkins Energy have bit the dust in one way or another. Because Will was saved, the only innocent pedestrian to be taken as a casualty in this whole sordid affair was... Barbara. 

So let’s go back to Barbara’s abduction. It was at Steve’s casual house/pool party. Steve, and then Nancy have fun shotgunning beers together. Then, in an effort to include her morose friend Barbara in the activity, Nancy insists that she should shotgun a beer. Barbara, being a classic doofus, slips with the knife and cuts herself, thereby conveniently necessitating that she exit the scene in order to take care of her wound. In Barbara’s absence we see a fun pool party. Then she reappears briefly to instruct Nancy to remain celibate (advice that Nancy promptly disregards), before returning outside to the pool to pout on the diving board. It is at this point, while Steve and Nancy are banging, that a bit of Barabara’s blood from her cut hand, falls into the swimming pool. Shortly after, the Demagorgue monster then abducts her to the underworld and eats Barbara. Unlike Will Ives, Barbara will not be saved.  

Later we learn that it was, in fact, Barbara’s blood that attracted the monster to her location. Therefore, if Barbara had only been successful in shotgunning her beer, and not such a clutz, she never would have met such a horrible fate. 

Since Barbara is the only “innocent” unsuspecting victim of the events that unfolded in Hawkins, we must assume that this television show is trying to teach us all a lesson so that we don’t wind up like Barbara. 

Therefore it’s safe to say that the moral of the story of Stranger Things Season 1 is: to always make sure not to mess up while shotgunning beers.

-J

Well Grammar

Its important too pay attention two you’re grammar. When someone misspells or misuses they’re words to much it can negatively effect there ability too get they’re point across. The affects of good grammar are important to my colleagues and I, to insure that we can communicate good with each other. Their is a reason why diligence is important, it’s value is in it’s establishing a set of ground rules for discourse; than we can understand each other better then if we all were simply too do our own thing.

-J

Hanzolo in the Studio

https://www.facebook.com/HanzoloMusic/

The Vatican Should Buy The Last Da Vinci

On Wednesday evening, November 15th, Christie’s auction house will facilitate the sale of one of only a handful of known paintings in the world by Leonardo da Vinci. It is estimated that the painting will sell for over $100 million dollars. Although there has been some skepticism about the legitimacy of this work of art, and whether it has been properly accredited to da Vinci, let’s for the purposes of this argument, assume that it is what the auction house claims it to be. The portrait is that of Salvator Mundi, or “The Savior of the World”; in layman’s terms, it’s a portrait of Jesus. Whatever your religious beliefs, or opinions on religion and art, you cannot deny that a painting of arguably one of the most influential people in history, done by Leonardo da Vinci, arguably the most well known and renowned painter in history, is an object that holds some extreme cultural significance and value for a lot of people.

The nature of an auction is such, that this painting will be up for sale to the highest bidder. God forbid (pun intended) that this painting should fall into the hands of some billionaire investor or hedge fund, and subsequently be locked in a vault and never seen again by the public. I think most could agree that this painting, to quote from Indiana Jones, “belongs in a museum”. But the auction estimate for its sale is upwards of $100 million. There isn’t a museum that could justify that type of expenditure on a single work of art. Hedge funds, and wealthy art investors, have the ability to make astronomical bids on works of art like this one, because they know that the value of the painting will continue to grow over time, and if needed, they can always resell it; some make good profits this way. Museums don’t have this kind of ability, since they purchase art to add to their collections, without any intention to resell them; $100 million dollars spent by a museum on a painting is $100 million lost.

So who can stop this painting from falling back into private hands, and by so doing ensure that thousands upon thousands of people might be able to experience and share this piece of our history and culture together for generations to come? I propose: The Vatican. For the Vatican to purchase this painting by Leonardo da Vinci makes great sense for a number of reasons.

First and foremost, it’s a painting of Jesus, so it would certainly fit in well with the Vatican’s art collection. The Catholic Church could make an argument to justify this type of expenditure as being in the interest of preserving and protecting a most important object of the Christian faith.

Secondly, the painter, Leonardo da Vinci, was an Italian. This could potentially be an incredible homecoming for this work of art, to become a shared treasure of the Italian people, and of the nation as a whole.

Thirdly, the Vatican has the funds to be able to purchase it. A 1965 article in TIME magazine estimated the Vatican’s wealth at between $10 and $15 Billion, and that was in 1965.

Fourth, this purchase could only serve to benefit the Vatican, in adding to its renown and appeal to visitation from tourists, art historians, and religious pilgrims around the world. The Vatican could add to the justification for this purchase, by thinking of it as an investment in those future tourism revenues that it could perpetually bring to the church, and the surrounding city of Rome.

Finally, the Vatican should purchase and display this painting by Leonardo Da Vinci as a service to people around the world. Not only for Christian’s, but for people of all faiths and religions. We all can see the value of preserving, observing, and continuing to learn from our collective cultural heritage. If it were to purchase and publicly exhibit the painting “Salvator Mundi” by Leonardo da Vinci, the Catholic Church would be doing a great service to it’s own constituents as well as to all those around the world that appreciate beauty and culture in art.

-J

(Above video from Christie’s auction house YouTube page)

P.S.

Following the sale it was later revealed that the successful buyer of the painting (For a staggering $450 million) was a Saudi Prince, (see article linked below) and the painting is now scheduled to be placed on exhibit at the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

Regardless of your opinions on wealth inequality in the world, or on the politics of the Saudi royal family, I think that this is a good resolution to the story of this painting. As outlined in the above argument posted before the sale, one of the most important goals from my perspective is that this painting should be available to the collective public for viewing, to be seen and studied. The decision of a private collector to purchase the painting for exhibit at an established institution satisfies this goal.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/saudi-arabias-crown-prince-identified-as-buyer-of-record-breaking-da-vinci-1512674099

A Theory on Life after Death

I’ve fallen off the edge of a cliff and am now plummeting towards the ground, faster and faster. What happens at the moment that I land?

..I wake up. 

This is something that it seems everyone has experienced: you’re dreaming, the dream goes south, and at that point in the dream when you would die, or just before that moment, you wake up.

Eaten by a monster? -just before the big crunch you’re back in your bed. 

Crushed by a tidal wave? -as it hits you, you sit up wide awake. 

Someone pulls out a gun, points it at your head, and right before you would’ve heard the shot, you’re already outside of the dream, because the occurrence of your death in the dream has jolted you back to reality. 

..so why shouldn’t the same thing be true for us, when we die in reality?

If there is anything for us to experience after we die, wouldn’t there be some poetic justice in our waking up to this new reality, as if we had died in a dream?

It would certainly be a jarring transition to move from our reality which we have known our entire lives to another state of experiencing things. However, perhaps our familiarity with having been woken up by death in our dreams, is meant to prepare us, in some small way, for this eventuality. 

-J

A Critique for Ke$ha

Pitbull’s 2013 smash hit “Timber ft. Ke$ha” themes on a common phrase employed by Lumberjacks when they are in the process of felling a tree. Traditionally these woodsman bellow the phrase “Timber” for all to hear, as a warning that the mighty tree they have been axing is about to plummet to the earth.

Ke$ha’s classic hook in “Timber” makes use of society’s familiarity with the lumberjack’s stereotypical catchphrase. She repeats: “It’s going down, I’m yelling Timber! You better move, you better dance,”. The lyricist uses a little bit of clever wordplay here. Instead of a logging expedition, Ke$ha is actually talking about a night out partying on the town. The party is what’s “going down”, and Ke$ha is yelling “Timber” to warn us all about this fact, just as a lumberjack yells “Timber” when a majestic redwood, or perhaps a mighty oak tree “[goes] down”, it’s trunk having been severed. Furthermore Ke$ha instructs that we as the listener “better move”, just as the phrase ‘timber’ was originally used, to warn people to get out of the way of a descending tree. But in the context of the songs lyrics, this phrase is most certainly in reference to “moving” on the dance floor, and this metaphor is further made clear by the explanatory “you better dance” which immediately follows. 

Since the song Timber by Pitbull ft. Ke$ha themes on the activity of logging forests, one would think that the music video released in 2013 would do the same. This, however, is not the case. The music video for Timber features footage of Pitbull enjoying a tropical island vacation, while Ke$ha is presented in montage, dancing at a western style saloon, and touring about a traditional American cattle ranch. At one brief point in the video (2:20) Ke$ha wields an axe in order to split a piece of firewood. This is the only allusion to chopping down trees that the viewer receives in the video, and even then, this small attempt at manual labor would not necessitate Ke$ha to yell “Timber”.

It seems to me that Pitbull, Ke$ha, and the directors of the music video, all missed a golden opportunity here. I for one, would have loved to see the participants dressed in traditional red and black flannels, and wielding axes in order to, at least, feign chopping down some trees. I think that all manner of sex appeal and male bravado that is required of a music video still could have been achieved in the context of a lumberjack based visual theme that was more closely aligned to the lyrical theme of the song. Ke$ha and Pitbull’s lack of respect for the context of their lyrics, and their detachment from their work may have resulted in this monumental gaff. While I will continue to enjoy the song Timber, I must express my discontent with its music video; it does not adequately capture the mood and feel of the tune.

 -J

https://youtu.be/hHUbLv4ThOo 

Hanzolo Goes to the Big City

https://www.facebook.com/HanzoloMusic/