PLACES TO GO FOR THINGS TO SEE:
Katydid just started a blog, too. She has finished another charming garden fairy. And she took a picnic to a remarkable place in her home state of Georgia. I wish I could put on some of her flower fairy wings to fly over to see it first hand. I guess photos will have to do for now. Take a look at what one amazing artist created at Pasaquan.
I have been fortunate enough to visit The Watt’s Towers in Los Angeles. Build by Simon Rodia in the Watts district of Los Angeles (known for its infamous riots), they consist of 17 connected lacy structures, two of which reach heights of over 99 feet (30 m). Rodia built them in his spare time over a period of 33 years, from 1921 to 1954. Why would he spend all his time doing this? Easy for him to explain: “I had in mind to do something big and I did it. ”
Both of these creations echo the amazing works in Barcelona by Antoni Guidie. La Sagrada Familia, the Cathedral of the Holy Family, remains an unfinished masterpiece. Wandering through it is a true religious experience for me, one of awe and lightness of spirit. Rodia and St EMO bring me to the same level of reverence.
LIKES AND DISLIKES:
One of my favorite movies, one of the few that I own, is Walt Disney’s Fantasia. Only one part of this enchanting film grates on my nerves. That part is The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. I like the music well enough…but Mickey as the lead? No Way! This mouse in gloves has made some entertaining cartoons but this is not one of them. I think this duality is at the heart of my problems with Disney. I like Sleeping Beauty; I can’t stand Cinderella. I enjoy Lady and the Tramp; I can’t watch The Little Mermaid. This list goes on: like The Lion King, 101 Dalmatians; dislike The Hunchback, Beauty and the Beast. Disney destroys classic fairytales! The Little Mermaid danced on broken glass and became seafoam to save her love. Cinderella’s friendship with mice? Give me a break! She lived a miserable life in an ugly home. It sorta makes me glad that her sisters mutilated their feet to fit into the glass slipper. Fair tales can, literally and figuratively, be Grimm. They don’t teach children that monsters don’t exist. They teach us all that we can live in spite of them. Happy endings and ever afters seldom happen.
QUOTE QUIP:
Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.
G. K. Chesterton
BLOGGING 101: It seems that to get a slideshow, I have to have my photos saved in Flicker or some other "source." Humm, this could become just another link in the chain.
1 comment:
Hi Jean, thanks for the mention and the compliment on my little fairy. Pasaquan is truly an amazing place. You can't begin to get the full effect with just pictures. It is mind blowing; to think that one man, Eddie O Martin, AKA St. Eom; created it pretty much by himself. It's a definite OMG, how'd he do it place!?!?! (And that deserves the extra punctuation.) Pasaquan was his self proclaimed religion and he was the only official Pasaquanian. He predicted that after he died, more and more people would understand 'where his was coming from'. I think it's beginning to happen... and in the meantime, it's a great place to picnic.
Katy
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