Sweet Pickles

This gives me the sads.

Half of my favorite couple in postmodern art, Jeanne-Claude, has died.  Her obituary in the NYTimes includes a nice slideshow.  I feel like the world will be less filled with wonder :(

If you've never seen the documentary about hers and Christo's Umbrellas project, I recommend it highly.  It's exciting, humorous, touching, and awe-inspiring.  And Jeanne-Claude's sass is definitely the star of the documentary. 

In her honor, here are my Top 3 favorite projects by Christo and Jeanne-Claude...

 
Running Fence.  1976.  Sonoma and Marin Counties, California.

 
Surrounded Islands.  1983.   Biscayne Bay, Florida.

 
Umbrellas.  1991.  A joint project in Tejon Pass, California (pictured above) and Ibaraki, Japan.

Top 3 List: Sweet Pickles' Favorite Yacht Rock Songs

Will Cooley Fan Club's recent post about Yacht Rock has got Sweet Pickles all worked up with its references to Sex on the Beach, coke, suntan lotion, and topsiders!  Yacht Rock is a genre that I associate with my childhood (its heyday of 1976-1984 succinctly covers kindergarten through junior high for me), would never have acknowledged as a teenager or college student, but have come to re-embrace over the past several years.  These examples are not intended to contend for the title of top Yacht Rock song of all time, but rather are some personal faves that Sweet Pickles recommends to those who are new to the pleasures of the genre as well as to longtime enthusiasts who appreciate the classics.  Now, I'm off to start working up a Yacht Rock playlist for Perdido this weekend!  [And I'll be happy to burn a copy to disc for anybody who wants one!]

Dreadlock Holiday by 10cc

"I don't like reggae... I LOVE it."  And I've always wanted to tell someone "Don't you walk through my words!"

Hold the Line by Toto

So Into You by Atlanta Rhythm Section

Top 3 List: Sweet Pickles' Favorite Paintings of The Annunciation

Henry Ossawa Tanner.  The Annunciation.  1898.  Oil on canvas.  Museum of Art, Philadelphia.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti.  Ecce Ancilla Domini (The Annunciation).  1850.  Oil on canvas.  Tate Gallery, London.


Francisco de Goya.  Annunciation.  1785.  Oil on canvas.  Collection of the Duchess of Osuna, Seville.

Sweet Pickles' Top 3 Favorite Michael Jackson Songs

Although I wasn't a fan back when he was the most popular artist in the world, and it took much hindsight for me to appreciate his talent, these three are reason enough to mourn his passing.  What are your Top 3 hits by MJ?

Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)


Off the Wall


Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'

Top 3 List: Sweet Pickles' favorite Greek statuary

Phaidimos.  Moschophoros (The Calf-Bearer).  c. 570-560 BCE.  Marble.  Acropolis Museum, Athens.

'The Rampin Rider'.  c. 550 BCE.  Marble.  Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Mausolus.  c. 350 BCE.  Marble.  British Museum, London.

Top 3 List: Sweet Pickles' favorite Roman statuary

The so-called ‘Togato Barberini’ portrait of a Patrician/Senator wearing toga and carrying two imagines (portrait-busts of ancestors).  1st Century BCE.  Marble.  Centrale Montemartini, Capitoline Museums, Rome. 

Livia Deified.  Early 1st Century CE.   Marble.  Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid. 

Augustus as Pontifex Maximus.  After 12 BCE.  Marble.  Museo Nazionale delle Terme, Rome. 

Top 3 List: Sweet Pickles' favorite still lifes

Le Corbusier.  Still Life.  1928-1931.  Oil on canvas.  Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York.

Juan Sánchez Cotán.  Still-Life with Quince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber.  c. 1600.  Oil on canvas.  Museum of Art, San Diego, CA.

Audrey Flack.  Royal Flush.  1973.  Oil over acrylic on canvas.  Private collection, Paris.

Top 3 List: Sweet Pickles' favorite portraits of children

Until I started doing these lists and including art, I never realized how much of Titian's work I like. If you had asked me before how I felt about Titian, I probably would have been like, "He comes after Raphael and before Tintoretto." It may be time for Sweet Pickles to have another look at ol' Titian.


Titian. Ranuccio Farnese. 1542. Oil on canvas. National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.


Gustav Klimt. Mäda Primavesi. 1912. Oil on canvas. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.


Egypto-Roman mummy-portrait from the Fayyum. Eutyches, Freedman of Kasanios. 2nd Century CE. Encaustic on wood. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Top 3 List: Sweet Pickles' favorite Thai dishes

Pad Thai

Massaman Curry

Khao Pad

Top 3 List: Sweet Pickles' favorite portrait busts

Queen Nofretete.  c. 1360 BCE.  Painted limestone.  Ägyptisches Museum, Berlin.

Marcus Agrippa.  c. 25-24 BCE.  Marble.  Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

Andrea del Verrocchio.  Lorenzo de' Medici.  1478.  Painted terra cotta.  National Gallery of Art, Washington.

Top 3 List: Sweet Pickles' favorite self-portraits

Titian.   c. 1570.  Oil on canvas.  Museo del Prado, Madrid.

Tamara de Lempicka.  1925.  Oil on wood.  Private collection.

Pablo Picasso.  1900.  Charcoal on paper.  Museu Picasso, Barcelona.

Guess where Sweet Pickles will be on Dec. 19!

At the DMA, baby!  For our birthdays next month, my homeslice T-Bagg (president of Texas Women Art Travelers, and mother of my godchildren) and I are giving each other tickets to go see Tutankhaman and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs!  Although I prefer to transliterate his name as Tutankhamun, and would argue that earlier reigns in Dynasty XVIII's Empire Period represent the 'Golden Age of the Pharaohs', the important thing is that the boy-king is coming to Big-D!  Well, not the mummy, but some of the most famous pieces found in his tomb. Here are my Top 3 objects that I'm most excited about seeing:

an alabaster stopper for one of the Canopic jars containing the king's embalmed viscera...



the king's crook-and-flail scepters...



a gilded fan (originally with ostrich plumes)...



And one of my archaeological heroes, Dr. Zahi Hawass, will be giving a talk at the DMA. Yes, he may be more of a show-horse than a work-horse, but I still love him! Unfortunately, he'll be in Dallas in March, and I doubt that I'd be so lucky as to have Spring Break overlap with his presentation.

Sweet Pickles' Top 3 Favorite Republican Women Qualified to be Vice-President

I have been hoping against hope that John McCain would chose a woman as his running mate.  Was it Saint Theresa of Avila who wisely said that more tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones?  I'm not sure if it was Theresa or not, but I do know that it was Sweet Pickles who asked this question when L-Ant informed him of the news that broke today:  "Who da f*ck is Sandra Poland?!?!"

What, the Republican ticket wasn't already going to win all of Alaska's 1.25 electoral votes?  Am I missing something here?

I think I've finally figured out what's wrong with the McCain campaign.  I now believe that Senator McCain stopped wanting to become president a few weeks after securing the Republican Party's nomination, but by then, it was too late to pull back.  So, the only way out now is to try to lose the election in order to avoid the White House.  Next week, I expect he'll be caught trying to sneak an eight-ball of cocaine through airport security at Reagan International.  And a few days after that, accusations of sexual misconduct with an underage boy will begin to emerge.  Followed by revelations that he recently sold enriched uranium to Iran, pocketed the money for himself, and used it to pay for the abortions of multiple prostitutes he'd gotten pregnant.

Sweet Pickles' Top 3 Favorite Rolling Stones' Songs!

In alphabetical order:

1.)  Emotional Rescue
2.)  Miss You
3.)  Under My Thumb

Sweet Pickles' Top 3 Favorite Animals!

In alphabetical order:

1.)  alligator
2.)  kangaroo
3.)  pygmy goat

Sweet Pickles' Top 3 Favorite Authors of the 20th Century!

In alphabetical order:

1.)  Truman Capote
2.)  Robertson Davies
3.)  Penelope Fitzgerald

Sweet Pickles' Top 3 Favorite Vegetables!

In alphabetical order:

1.)  green tomatoes (fried)
2.)  okra
3.)  spinach

Sweet Pickles' Top 3 Favorite Pharaohs!

In alphabetical order:

1.)  Amenhotep III
2.)  Seti I
3.)  Tutankhamun

 

Introducing a New Recurring Feature!

  Top 3 Lists of Sweet Pickles' Favorites!

For our inaugural Top 3 List, here are glimpses of Sweet Pickles' favorite U.S. cities with populations of less than 150,000...

in alphabetical order:

1. 1.)  Santa Barbara, California
2. 2.)  Santa Fe, New Mexico
3. 3.)  Savannah, Georgia

I'm detecting a trend toward vernacular architectural styles, and exotic flora.