25 posts from February 2008

First, let's observe the celestial intricacies of Leap Day -

"2008 is a leap year, with 366 days instead of the usual 365 days. Why?
It was the ancient Egyptians who first figured out that the solar year and the man-made calendar year didn't always match up.
That's because it actually takes the Earth a little longer than a year to travel around the Sun — 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds, to be exact.
Therefore, as the hours accumulated over the centures, an extra day was occasionally added to the calendar, and over time the practice became more or less official.
It was the Romans who first designated February 29 as leap day. Later, a more precise formula (still in use today) was adopted in the 16th century when the Gregorian calendar fine-tuned the calculations to include a leap day in years only divisible by four, i.e., 2008, 2012.
Another stipulation ruled that no year divisible by 100 would have a leap year, except if it was divisible by 400. Thus, 1900 was not a leap year ... but 2000 was! Go figure.
Thankfully, all this intricate plotting will continue to keep us in tune with the seasons over the next several thousand years." - From Chiff.com:  http://www.chiff.com/a/leap-year.htm

Second, let's have a little Leap Day inspirado courtesy of the ever-enlightening Whiskey River -

A LEAP OF FAITH
"Actually, Zen does require a leap of faith. To be mindful, you have to believe that life is worth paying attention to. To meditate, you have to believe you are worth getting to know. To reach a state of inner peace, you have to believe that you have peace within you and that your true nature is already complete. You have to believe inner peace is possible, that you are already perfect, that you don't need to add anything to yourself. If, at this moment, you don't believe some of these things, that's okay. If you can take them on faith, at least for awhile - then you can decide for yourself."
- Gary R. McClain and Eve Adamson, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Zen Living
From - Whiskey River: http://whiskeyriver.blogspot.com/

200 posts ladies and gentlemen, over the course of six months.  How else could we prove how very much we love you?  Seal it with a kiss?  Ok, here you go:


p.s.  Did you know that the French phrase to describe window shopping (faire du lèche-vitrine) tantalizingly translates to  'windowlicker'?

You know we think we're making art everyday here at Citrine - that each post is another section of expression that informs the whole.  And, even though we also make art the old fashioned way, you know creating this art blog makes us feel terribly chic and modern.  Of course being so ahead of our time has a price - namely that people are only just beginning to believe in what we do because it is hard to understand things that are so new they barely have a name. 

To wit, check out this excerpt from a very intriguing article about the etymology of the phrase 'new media art' by Susan Elizabeth Ryan:

Forever New
New media has been hailed by art-and-technology enthusiasts as a cultural practice much larger than art, or any other existing discipline. Lev Manovich, in his influential book The Language of New Media (MIT 2001), helps isolate and particularize the qualities of these new, new media. Bypassing historical usages, he says that "New Media" is a term defined by popular usage. In journals and television, new media means "the use of the computer for distribution and exhibition rather than production." He argues that new media is essentially unlike conventional media, either of the art or mass communication varieties. It is a new kind of thing, but we can define it: new media are not just digital; they are marked by the characteristics of numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and transcoding; and they are complex, containing both "computer" and "cultural" layers...

...And new terms for "new media" are already on the horizon. Multimedia is one that has been used frequently used, though it, too, has a complex etymology. The Berkeley Art Museum and the Pacific Film Archive's project "Archiving the Avant-Garde," part of the Variable Media Network, concerns itself with "variable media," encompassing "digital and Internet art, performance, installation, conceptual [art] . . . that represent the history of alternative artistic practice." "Variable media" historicizes the broad range of work that initially resisted objectification. The project seeks to collect, preserve, and categorize this work, rendering formerly "dematerialized" work as objects. Julian Stallabrass points out that today, "the materiality of the art object persists, even for video and media art [he defines the latter as "anything from online art to computer controlled sound environments"], which has generally been accepted as art only by paying the price of becoming partly material." But then again, that is exactly what the medium in art has always been: materialist.

Perhaps terms like new media or media art are diabolical. Or perhaps not. Commenting on video in 1996, Jacques Derrida said something with which I would like to close: "One never sees a new art, one thinks one sees it, but a 'new art,' as people say a little loosely, may be recognized by the fact that it is not recognized."

From Intelligent Agent 5.2:  http://www.intelligentagent.com/archive/Vol5_No2_new%20media_ryan.htm

Alas my pets, sometimes your darling Citrine must retreat so to reinvigorate the old inspirado.  This is one of those times.  I will be spending this post-full-moon weekend, in the company of friends of the highest order, making merry by the sea.  Naturally I will return, as always, to harvest the very best of me to communicate to you.  Here's to the magic of taking a break and then coming back full throttle.

Have a marvelous weekend,
xo -Citrine
p.s.  If you begin to miss me too much, take a stroll down memory lane in my archives.  :)

This came to me yesterday from my good friend Jules: 

"I hope this finds you healthy and well.  Do enjoy the beautiful weather we are having!  Can you believe how clear and crisp the air has been?  Breathe in this clear, clean crisp air in the atmosphere!  It is so healthy for you!  Did you know that we each take some 17,000 breaths daily, and each time we breathe, we exchange 10 billion trillion atoms from the environment.  Each of these atoms have traveled through the bodies of living beings for eons.  Right now you may be breathings in atoms from an African Lion that lived centuries ago or from a rose that bloomed last week.  It is one of the most amazing things that keeps us all connected.  We take our first breath as we enter this world, and we take our last breath as we leave."

Tonight fair ladies and gentlest gents, most of the world will see a total eclipse of the moon.  A rare treat we won't see again until 2010, this should prove to be an awe-inspiring feast for the eyes.  So if you are lucky enough to be under a clear night sky tonight, we beseech you - look up!

"A total eclipse of the Moon occurs during the night of Wednesday, February 20/21, 2008. The entire event is visible from South America and most of North America (on Feb. 20) as well as Western Europe, Africa, and western Asia (on Feb. 21). During a total lunar eclipse, the Moon's disk can take on a dramatically colorful appearance from bright orange to blood red to dark brown and (rarely) very dark gray.

An eclipse of the Moon can only take place at Full Moon, and only if the Moon passes through some portion of Earth's shadow. The shadow is actually composed of two cone-shaped parts, one nested inside the other. The outer shadow or penumbra is a zone where Earth blocks some (but not all) of the Sun's rays. In contrast, the inner shadow or umbra is a region where Earth blocks all direct sunlight from reaching the Moon."
- From NASA's official site:  http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEmono/TLE2008Feb21/TLE2008Feb21.html

"The total phase of a lunar eclipse is so interesting and beautiful precisely because of the filtering and refracting effect of Earth's atmosphere. If the Earth had no atmosphere, then the Moon would be completely black during a total eclipse. Instead, the Moon can take on a range of colors from dark brown and red to bright orange and yellow. The exact appearance depends on how much dust and clouds are present in Earth's atmosphere."
- From MrEclipse.com:  http://www.MrEclipse.com/Special/LEprimer.html

We feel you deserve a little something special.  And you know we adore and worship flowers - with their soft petals, robust greenery, and sweetly scented perfume.  So here's a virtual floral gift, red roses, just for you.

"How can one help shivering with delight when one's hot fingers close around the stem of a live flower, cool from the shade and stiff with newborn vigor!"  ~Colette

"Flowers really do intoxicate me."  ~Vita Sackville-West

"The flower is the poetry of reproduction.  It is an example of the eternal seductiveness of life."  ~Jean Giraudoux

"Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers where I can walk undisturbed."  ~Walt Whitman

"Flowers... are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world."  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

All flower quotes via QuoteGarden.com.

Another round of Google Divination, this time with the words "palate cleanser."  Curious how this works, the first result perfect in both the literal and figurative senses...

"Ginger Kisses
by Kate Heyhoe
One of the more pleasant gastronomic practices that seems to have fallen aside in this day is the custom of providing diners with a palate cleanser. In earlier times, if a strong course, such as fish was served, a small dish of lemon sorbet would immediately follow it. The purpose, of course, was to clear the taste buds making them ready to experience the next bountiful dish without competition from lingering flavors.

This practice is still maintained in Japanese customs, using ginger. For instance, the Japanese serve paper-thin slices of pickled ginger with sushi and sashimi. The ginger acts to clean the palate, allowing each food to be tasted without contamination from other flavors.

It is a concept that should not be discarded in our hasty kitchens. A simple piece of ginger or citrus refreshes the entire body and perks up the mind. Just think how your body reacts when you cut into a lemon or lime. Or, rub your fingers across a freshly cut piece of ginger, then hold them to your nose. The aroma produces a warm but invigorating feeling. Indeed, the use of citrus and ginger in medicinal products is no accident, for they both are proven to have restorative properties.

Next time you serve a dinner with more than one course, try serving your guests a palate-cleanser. They will remark upon it to no end, for most people will find it a pleasantly surprising novelty. And, you will profit from having your dishes consumed under better tasting conditions, allowing the true flavors, which you have worked so hard to create, be fully realized and appreciated." 
From Global Gourmet - http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/recipes/gingerk.html.

  We here at Citrine are wishing you a happy day and hope you remember the value of play...

Here's an amazing link to the National Institute For Play  - http://www.nifplay.org/polar-husky.html

"The National Institute for Play unlocks the human potential through play in all stages of life using science to discover all that play has to teach us about transforming our world."

Play on! 
xo - Citrine