Reports on Blogging

So the reports are in and here is my feelings on two of the bloggs I read:

1) This is a response to a blog I read on parenting and fairy tales:

Perhaps I should first say that I love fairy tales and have such a passion that I have both studied and written fairly extensively on fairy tales.

Fairy tales may not seem suitable for today’s parents and children but that does not mean they should be looked at in this way. Firstly it is absurd to apply our standards of today onto fairy tales that originated hundreds of years ago. Saying the tales are biased or too gory or racist may be true under our modern scrutiny but that is taking them out of their original context and devaluing them. Secondly without those original fairy tales we would not have the hungry caterpillar and Winnie the pooh. Do not forget that without knowing the past we cannot know where our future lies; same applies for fairy tales. Also it is easy to look back and judge those older fairy tales with a twist but one day someone might look back and twist our tales of today saying "Wow that caterpillar was actually really selfish and existed solely for himself". Now, I love that story, but I am merely illustrating my point that fairy tales keep up with the trends and mind-sets of the times they are created. One day someone might look back at our times of championed individuals and celebrities and correlate that to our caterpillar stories and such. Think about it.

Finally as far as statistics go: 3000 parents that visited the site and only half of them - so 1,500 parents - agreed to the view on fairy tales. A quick search online provided me with this: According to 2001 census data, there are 12.6 million parents of dependent children in the UK. My apologies as my math skills are limited but I’m sure anyone can see that in the end 1,500 parents is an exceptionally small percentage.

2) Second I would like to respond (hopefully without ranting) on the "Arts" (I use the term loosely) blog from NYtimes:

Celebrity news and gossip is not art! Scroll down the page and what do we find? More celeb news and gossip! I don't watch TV nor do I care at all about celebrities or what they do (I know I am pretty much alone on this one) and for the most part I try to remain out of it especially when people starting going off on tangents about the favorite celebrity (dead or alive) and everything about their life. Sure it is interesting and fun but I draw the line at calling it an "Artbeat". How about:

Pipilotti Rist: Pour Your Body Out (7354 Cubic Meters)November 19, 2008–February 2, 2009

which is showing now at The Museum of Modern Art. Now is not the time to begin a discussion about "Modern Art" versus "Art" but I am sure any art critic would agree it qualifies more as art than celebrity gossip. Or even better try this on for size for art:

My own piece "Untitled 713" Acrylic and Salt on Canvas