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| The Valencia Opera House, designed by Santiago Calatrava |
— John Katz
www.JohnKatz.net
www.29Pieces.org
www.29Pieces.blogspot.com
www.29Pieces.tumblr.com
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| The Valencia City of Arts and Sciences, designed by Santiago Calatrava |
Monday, June 20, 2011
Big Spanish Art 8:51 AM
— John Katz
www.JohnKatz.net
www.29Pieces.org
www.29Pieces.blogspot.com
www.29Pieces.tumblr.com
Friday, June 10, 2011
The 29 Pieces Story 2:48 PM
Film by John Katz, Editing by Fast Cut Edits, Special Effects by Radium, Music by James Neel Music House, scripting by Poppy Sundeen. This is the back story of 29 Pieces.
Monday, April 25, 2011
They've got the ArtLoveMagic 5:11 PM
Our friends Michael Lagocki and Deborah Driscoll have been terrific . . . they had me on ArtLoveMagic Radio and then also gave 29 Pieces and my work a shout out in one of their artlovemagic online publications. Our gratitudes!
— Karen Blessen
Friday, March 25, 2011
You got the fight? 11:34 AM
Joni Mitchell transformed Rudyard Kipling's poem 'If' into a beautiful adaptation on her album, 'Shine.' See Mitchell's version below, and then read on for the original Kipling version. Both tap into essential skills of faith, confidence and tenacity, but end with radically different life views. See for yourself.  |
| Joni Mitchell If by Joni Mitchell If you can keep your head While all about you People are losing theirs and blaming you If you can trust yourself When everybody doubts you And make allowance for their doubting too. If you can wait And not get tired of waiting And when lied about Stand tall Don't deal in lies And when hated Don't give in to hating back Don't need to look so good Don't need to talk too wise. If you can dream And not make dreams your master If you can think And not make intellect your game If you can meet With triumph and disaster And treat those two imposters just the same If you can force your heart And nerve and sinew To serve you After all of them are gone And so hold on When there is nothing in you Nothing but the will That's telling you to hold on! Hold on! If you can bear to hear The truth you've spoken Twisted and misconstrued By some smug fool Or watch your life''s work Torn apart and broken down And still stoop to build again With worn out tools. If you can draw a crowd And keep your virtue Or walk with Kings And keep the common touch If neither enemies nor loving friends Can hurt you If everybody counts with you But none too much. If you can fill the journey Of a minute With sixty seconds worth of wonder and delight Then The Earth is yours And Everything that's in it But more than that I know You'll be alright You'll be alright. Cause you've got the fight You've got the insight You've got the fight You've got the insight © 2007; Crazy Crow Music If by Rudyard Kipling If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or, being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise; If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with triumph and disaster And treat those two imposters just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to broken, And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools; If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breath a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on"; If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch; If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run – Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son! Poet Rudyard Kipling, below.  |
Sunday, March 20, 2011
One bite of the elephant at a time 11:46 AM
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| Photo from tsunami, photographer unknown |
— By John Katz
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Teach me to seek you 6:15 PM
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| Photograph by Eugene Atget |
Originally written September 7, 2010
Teach me to seek thee, and reveal thyself to me when I seek thee, for I cannot seek thee except thou teach me, nor find thee except thou reveal thyself.
— by Saint Anselm
Right hand:
This is a complex thought, a complex plea. Let’s start with “Teach me to seek thee.” “Teach me to seek you.” What does that mean? It means the one making the pleas has picked a teacher and recognizes that there is some action required to go on the quest to be in the presence of that teacher. Is it a pilgrimage to Lourdes? Or Jerusalem? Or through much more treacherous territory? Past, through the fears, the compulsions, the little pleasures, until we finally, finally, finally arrive at this quiet, safe, irrepressible place. And getting there requires the instruction of a teacher, offering guidance on what shield to use, what to leave behind, what are the best shoes for the long journey, and what kind of sustenance will I need?
Left hand:
Slap my hand with a ruler. Go ahead. Really. It’s OK. Maybe that’s the quick route to bring me back to you, to Love, to trust, to wonder.
September 8, 2010
“. . . and reveal thyself to me when I seek thee.”
Right hand:
The plea continues. You’ve taught me to look for you . . . in meditation, in nature, in another’s kindness and patience, in the quiet time of making art, in the beauty of raindrops clinging to an ornate pine branch, in the creative vortex of children, in a child’s happiness, in the animals who live in my home, in a shared meal. The search is elementary, really, right? The sought after is everywhere, and the lesson so simple . . . just slow down, give attention where attention is due, look . . . listen . . . respect. You don’t make this journey particularly difficult. We do.
Left hand:
“. . . and reveal thyself to me when I seek thee. “
There you are, in plain sight – patiently waiting for me – in the same way that I patiently stand, waiting for my dog to sniff every scent that wafts her way, stop in her tracks and bark at every errant sound, get in a barking match with the shrill puppies across the street, relieve herself, leave her mark as many places as possible – finally. She is done, and she notices me again – maybe hears my voice calling to her – and she comes – smiling or sheepish — back, to my protection, kind words + embrace. Reunited.
— Karen Blessen
Friday, March 11, 2011
Principles of Flight 1.01 11:57 AM
Air Dynamics 1.01
There are, basically, four forces of flight: lift, drag, thrust and weight.
1. Forward speed is necessary to fly.
2. For an object to fly, it must always engage in a tug of war between the opposing forces of lift versus weight and thrust versus drag.
3. Lift force points upward, opposite to the weight.
4. Thrust pushes the object forward, as drag slows it down.
5. The lift force must be greater than the weight and the thrust more powerful than the drag for the plane to fly.
6. If the thrust is powerful enough it will overcome weight and drag and the plane will fly.
7. Drag works against thrust to slow an aircraft.
8. The difference in speed between object and horizontally moving air increases as object increases speed.
9. If object is flat, it is pushed back. If object has speed and lift, it will fly.
10. Too much lift may cause aeronautical stall.
11. During take off and landing, it is necessary for a plane to fly as slowly as possible.
