Just when I thought reality [sic] TV couldn't get anymore brainless...

Posted by Unknown | Posted in , , , , , | Posted on Tuesday, April 20, 2010

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Before I passed out at some terribly late hour last night, I happened to be flipping through the channels hoping that the soft glow and buzz of the television would knock me out. Unfortunately, I came across something that did just the opposite.

Michelle "Bombshell" McGee, alleged Jesse James mistress and all-around trashy broad, and Jamie Jungers, alleged Tiger Woods mistress and all-around airhead, are apparently in negotiations with Bobby Goldstein, creator of the reality TV show "Cheaters", to host their own spin-off of the show aimed at catching celebrity unfaithfuls.

Goldstein says that his goal with the show is to expose any other cheating celebrities and to make others think twice about being unfaithful. He also expresses that he is only creating this show for benevolent reasons. Somehow, I'm thinking it will simply turn into an all-out smutfest of cheating B-List celebrities, which is probably more along the lines of what Goldstein actually has in mind for the show.

It already makes my stomach churn to know that McGee has sold her "story" for approximately $30,000. Now, these two no-name, no-talent hood-rats are going to be cashing in and making "celebrity" status simply because they crawled into the beds (or bus, or car, or whatever) of a married man who happened to be in the public eye?

What's worse is that millions of people will tune in to watch this garbage if it does work out. It simply amazes me how pop-culture eats this trash up. It elevates no-talent garbage into super-stardom (I'm currently planning an article on the pop-star Ke$ha who produces "music" with as much potential for enjoyment and pleasure as a root-canal).

These two women, and I use that term loosely, don't deserve fame and money for what they did. Don't get me wrong, Tiger and Jesse are just as responsible for their infidelities and deserve no more respect, but at least both of them have some sort of talent to back up their fortunes. As far as I know, McGee's talents include sliding down a stripper pole and dawning Nazi regalia. As far as Jungers goes...well, she can serve a cocktail and form basic sentences.

This kind of stuff almost makes the possibility of Sarah Palin getting her own show on the Discovery channel seem bearable. Almost.

I hope the day comes when people realize that this kind of garbage is worthless and instead of rewarding talentless, trashy people like these two (see also: Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, etc. etc.) we'll simply forget about them. They don't deserve a shred of money, fame or glory. Hell, I shouldn't even be giving them the time of day.

Legos as Art: A look at Nathan Sawaya's "The Art of the Brick"

Posted by Unknown | Posted in , , , , , , , , | Posted on Sunday, April 18, 2010

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It had been quite some time since I had visited the Everhart museum in Scranton, but today I ventured there with a few friends of mine to check out the new exhibit The Art of the Brick.
The Art of the Brick showcases sculptor Nathan Sawaya's unique ability to turn the Lego brick, something most of us identify with as one of the top ten things you don't want to step on, into interesting pieces of art.
When I was first informed of the display, I was immediately excited. As a child, countless hours were spent building Lego sets by the instructions, admiring them for a bit and then destroying them only to create something from my own imagination. Cars with wings, aircrafts that doubled as houses, houses that doubled as cars, and everything else from robots to spaceships. However, not once did I even grasp the full potential of what those little bricks could become.
In The Art of the Brick, Sawaya constructs sculptures of the surreal, the whimsical, childish and historical. Upon stepping into the exhibit, I was greeted by the largest sculpture on display. A T-Rex fossil replica which stood approximately six feet tall and about twenty feet long. It was almost humorous how I smiled and thought back to my childhood days. Every one of my friends would have been extremely envious of me if I had that many Legos let alone if I had created a dinosaur out of them.
While the T-Rex was incredibly impressive, I was more interested in his portraits. While not as intense or intricate as the T-Rex or other sculptures, the portraits seemed to bring the artistic element of the display to light and leave the novelty feeling behind. The sculptures had me in a constant state of boyhood fascination while the portraits made me stop and appreciate the actual idea behind Sawaya's work. However, a few of the sculptures, such as "Yellow" which eerily reminded me of Cronenberg's film Videodrome, had the same effect on me as his portraits.
Extremely detailed and lifelike pieces are not what you will find in Sawaya's work, but the scope of his imagination and ability to translate these ideas using a childhood toy seems to overshadow the physical limitations of the medium.
I can't help but to have a feeling of novelty when viewing his work, though. Part of this is due to the childhood connection to the medium. As I said, for most of the exhibit I was simply awash with a feeling of boyhood excitement. While walking among the other spectators, many of whom were young children and their parents, most of the artistic ambiance was lost. Children hustled around exclaiming their excitement about the pieces rather loudly while parents kept vigilante eyes on them making sure they didn't try to play with the sculptures. 
You become enthralled with a feeling of simple joy and memory and forget about the fact that you are in an art gallery viewing artistic pieces of work. This could be exactly what Sawaya is trying to convey. To transcend from childhood imagination into artistic expression while keeping the observer in a state of borderline giddiness. Even if this is the case, however, the novelty of it wears quickly leaving one to contemplate the actual artistic value of Sawaya's work.
Is Sawaya's work completely novelty and worthless? Of course not. He explores the use of a non-conventional medium and does so rather impressively. Imagination and creativity can run rampant but, as much as Sawaya claims that there are no limits to the possibilities, limitations are inherent. The sheer size of his current work would be almost impossible if not for the use of adhesive to keep it all together.
Overall, if you take Sawaya's work for what it is, it is, at the very least, interesting and enjoyable. Artistic? Yes. Novelty? Yes. But, would you really go into an exhibit of Lego sculptures expecting anything completely groundbreaking and artistically mind-blowing? Sawaya is not DaVinci. He is what we all wish we could have been when we started throwing together Lego blocks out of our plastic bin of hundreds of pieces. Sawaya just has a much larger bin with millions of pieces and plenty of time to play with them.
If you enjoyed Legos as a child or simply want to see something out of the ordinary, then I suggest checking out The Art of the Brick. It's an especially child-friendly exhibit and may help to get your children interested in the art world by associating art with toys and fun. However, if you happen to miss the exhibit or it doesn't make a stop in your area, I wouldn't be all too concerned. I do suggest at least looking at Sawaya's website, though.
The exhibit is on display at the Everhart museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania until May 2nd. Cost of admission for adults is $5 and this includes all other exhibits and collections within the museum. 

Finally, A New Look

Posted by Unknown | Posted on Friday, April 16, 2010

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I've been throwing around the idea of changing the look of my blog for some time. I've finally gotten around to doing so and found a template that I thought fit rather well. Trying to come up with a template on my own, coupled with the fact that I have not done any type of web-based programming since high school, was getting increasingly frustrating.

So, I present to you the new look of Manic Frustration. I hope you enjoy it. Please report any problems that you may have.

Thanks,
D.R. Wilsey Jr.

Rest in Peace, Peter Steele

Posted by Unknown | Posted in , , , , | Posted on Friday, April 16, 2010

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There are many different types of vocalists in the metal genre ranging from your falsetto King Diamonds to your soaring Messiah Marcolins and your grunting Lord Worms. Then, there are those handful of vocalists that, no matter what their vocal style is like, have voices so undeniably recognizable that it's something you identify with the band. 

Peter Steele was one of those voices. His vocals were immense, encompassing and haunting. One of the first metal shows I ever went to was a Type O Negative concert back when I was still too young to drive. When Steele stepped onto the stage, it was surreal. The man was tall enough as it was, but seeing him on the elevated stage with his bass slung over his shoulder and the chain guitar strap made him look like some exaggerated warrior. And not the type of "warriors" that Manowar tries to portray. Steele looked like he could crush the entire audience beneath his boots.

He slammed down a large bottle of Jagermeister onto a small, wooden table next to his microphone stand and introduced the band. The set of riffs and crushing sounds will forever live in my mind. I couldn't tell you all of the songs they played that night, but the entire feeling and aura of the show is still with me. Chains hung from the ceiling. An eerie glow of green and blue light lit the stage from the back, and smoke rolled off the stage as Type O and Steele trudged through their set-list in a crushing fashion. 

Everyone speaks of the dark humor that Type O portrays in interviews, their music and their live shows. It's true. They are funny fellows. But who knows if it's to make you laugh or simply to pull you out of the moment long enough so you don't become completely lost in the haunting and eerie feelings of the band's music. They'll bring you to the depths of depression and suicidal thoughts, only to bring you back with a humorous lyric or a comment about how "they suck."

Steele once said that you can measure your success in two ways. One is by how many people hate you and the other is if you've had sex with Madonna. I don't know if Steele ever got the chance to bed the bullet-bra wearing, buxom blonde and I'm not sure just how many people hated him and the band, but I know plenty of people appreciated him. Even those who weren't into Type O Negative or his other projects like Carnivore or Fallout still appreciated the man. His talent just cannot be denied.

I was lucky enough to experience the band and Steele's vocals in person and I'm certainly glad that I still have his music to appreciate for the rest of my own life. I never knew the man personally, but whenever a musician passes that I appreciate it affects me in a way that I'm not really sure how to describe. Not genuine sadness like that of a friend or family member passing, but a sort of sadness to know that someone of worth who contributed to art has moved on. That their will never be anything new from that mind. 

So, heres to you, Peter Steele. May you rest in peace.

Peter Steele 1962-2010

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