Jonesing For Mad Men

So apparently there will not be any episodes of Mad Men this summer. I am aware that not everyone watches the show, and I am not really sure why I do either...The women are for the most part passive and the all the men are drunks. Yet there is something about the show that when you watch an entire season you get completely sucked in and you don't realize that you have just sat through twelve hours of television, because they are not one episode after another but a complete story that you as the viewer also get involved in.

 Yet this whole situation is just turing into a he said/(s)he said. AMC is blaming the delay on the show's creator Matthew Weiner. He is blaming it on disputes between AMC and Lionsgate. Weiner is objecting to AMC wanting to get rid of two characters and even shortening the episode time just to save a little bit of money. Also Lionsgate and AMC are arguing about who will get more money from each episode.

I am aware that this is the way Hollywood works, people want money, and they will stop all production until they get what they want. We as the viewer or as fans of the show might not appreciate this or like it all, but there is nothing that can happen until they figure out what they are doing with the show. If you like the show then you will probably agree, it sucks that we might not see new episodes until 2012...BOO!

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/29/amc-confirms-mad-men-delay-over-contract-dispute/

Guggenheim in Abu Dhabi

So in the beginning of this article it says that the museum is suppose to be costing $800 million to build. There is a prototype or maquette picture in the article that shows the monstrosity that will be the new Guggenheim museum. Apparently, artists are boycotting the building and refuse to show in the museum because conditions for the workers and laborers are so poor. The biggest problem with this is that they have nothing to put in this new museum, they have few pieces that they are collecting, and for almost 150 artists to drop out, it isn't fair for a new museum to try and build upon. 

My biggest discrepancy is that they say these workers don't have a living wage, and aren't being treated fairly. Now I am not completely sure about this but I would venture to guess that most of the places being built or that have already been built have been built by exploited workers. They are building up Abu Dhabi  as a rich man's playground and I am sure are putting a lot of money into it, but I doubt they give a damn about the workers. Lets not forget the United Arab Emirates is the Middle East. Am I the only person who does not expect the workers over there to be receiving 'normal' working conditions? Grant it they are not getting paid all of their wages, which I think is very unfair, but they also are saying that their working conditions are too hazardous, again this is the Middle East...I feel like their normal working conditions if compared to working conditions in America might be our dangerous conditions. Their conditions over there must really be horrendous if they are actually complaining about it. Yet the article does not really state if the workers are the ones complaining, it seems to only be the artists who refuse to participate who are the people complaining. Maybe they are giving a voice to the people who cannot speak for fear of being fired. 

Yet again who knows how the rest of these places were built, let's not act like this is the first place being built at Abu Dhabi that has treated their workers poorly. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/arts/design/guggenheim-threatened-with-boycott-over-abu-dhabi-project.html?ref=design

Another Pompeii exhibit...

There was a Pompeii exhibit that came through the National Gallery around two years ago, and I went to see it. Although, I was a little disappointed because I honestly thought there were going to be some kind of bodies there. Now I have taken art history, and I am aware that the figures of people were formed with a combination of ash and lava that have essentially made molds of the inhabitants of the people of Pompeii. So I did not exactly think I would be seeing the exact remnants of Pompeii, but I did think that maybe they would find some way to show the people, or even show photographs! Nothing. There was one book in the National Gallery exhibit (that was enclosed in glass) with one picture of the lava/ash mold, of a dog...There were frescos that had been moved from Pompeii, but mostly it was just other artists depictions of what the streets might have looked like as the volcano was erupting. The exhibit was a little bit of a let down to say the least...

So to my point!

There is an exhibit opening (or opened) at the Discovery Museum in Times Square called “Pompeii the Exhibit: Life and Death in the Shadow of Vesuvius,” AND they have bodies!! Ok well not exactly bodies, but they do have plaster molds of the people from Pompeii, I don't know how many people were there but the museum has 32 of them. Yet, in the article they say that the exhibit is nice but you are not looking at people just plaster molds, I think they should be happy with the plaster, some of us haven't been able to see even molds! They also have some things that people were holding, or had in there hands, like jewelry or coins. They did have some of that at the National Gallery too. I think that the people who get to see this exhibit should enjoy it, and not worry about the fact that it's only plaster molds, and take in the beauty that was an entire towns destruction and a stop in time. I don't know if I have room to complain either because the National Gallery was free, and to see this exhibit, is $25. So maybe I lucked out, but I still would have like to see the people of Pompeii, plaster or not.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/arts/design/04vesuvius.html?pagewanted=1&ref=design

Movie theater popcorn bad for you? Thank you Captain Obvious...

It seems since the Oscars just happened, or over the weekend was about to happen, I have read in three different newspapers what is actually in movie theater popcorn. I am sorry, but are the readers of the newspapers or the articles surprised that there is over a thousand calories in a tub of large popcorn? or surprised that for every tablespoon of butter you add to the popcorn it adds over a hundred calories?? Or that there is also an unbelievable amount of salt on the popcorn...really? I couldn't tell because every time I put my hand in a tub I have to wipe all of the grains of salt off. The article describes how people who go to see movies think that getting popcorn is the healthier option, because popcorn itself is a 'healthy' snack. I am not sure if these people are diluting themselves into thinking that the popcorn at movie theaters is the same as if they popped it on their stoves or even in a bag in their microwave. Even the popcorn that you pop in the bag still has saturated and trans fat in it, the best bet for trying to make popcorn 'healthy' is to air pop it on the stove. Yet in movie theaters they pop the popcorn in coconut oil, which according to the article is 90 percent saturated fat.

Also another problem with eating popcorn at the theater is the amount, you cannot eat just one serving (one cup) of popcorn and a large tub comes with twenty cups, and free refills.

I have no problem with popcorn at movie theaters, in fact I love it. I love that you can put your own butter and salt on if you want. Honestly sometimes I get out of a movie after eating a lot of it and my chest feels heaving like I am going to have a heart attack, and I know exactly what that is from, the popcorn. I might go to the movies once a month and I will always (or try to) get a popcorn, it is part of the treat and experience of going to the movies. What I have a problem with is the people who think that the popcorn at the theaters might be the 'healthier' option. As Seth Myer and Amy Phoeler (when she was still on) would say on Saturday Night Live: REALLY?!

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/popcorn/