If you haven’t heard, the Duluth Art Institute will soon be starting screenings of Robert Hughes’ Shock of the New, which is a fantastic eight-part series on the rise and fall of the modern art movement. Not only will you be able to rest your eyes on the handsome and talented Robert Hughes, but you will be able to do it for free.

Screenings will be every Saturday at 11 a.m. from Feb. 11 to March 31.
Now for the even more fun stuff:

Have you dudes and dudettes ever heard of Ryan Gosling, museum lover? Well if you haven’t, here’s a link: museumheygirl.tumblr.com

We got a little inspired after logging way too much time on this site, and this blog was a product of that time well wasted:
roberthughesartloverdai.blogspot.com

Last day of January and I have a few sackfuls of questions with incomplete/partial answers. With time running out, maybe you can give me a few hints on my homework? Below, I’ve boiled down a list of [A] v. s, isolating dichotomies about life here in Duluth — if you have a few extra intro/outrospective minutes to kill today, I’d love to hear how you’d weigh in on any or all of these. Of course, in each matchup there’s no need to declare a clearcut winner (balance in all things), so your answers can take the form of one word or a phrase or a few thoughts or an essay if you’re exceptionally motivated:

(1) Isolation v. Community.

(2) Passion v. Responsibility.

(3) Nostalgia v. Trailblazing.

(4) Cynicism v. Optimism.

(5) Underdog Mindset v. Inferiority Complex.

(6) Willing Confrontation v. Passive Aggression.

(7) Coffee v. Beer.

(8) East v. West? How deep is the division?

(9) “Come enjoy our wonderful city!” v. “Stay the hell out.”

(10) If Duluth were un-propered into a regular vocabulary word, “duluth,” what part of speech would it be (to duluth, a duluth day, look at that duluth) and what would its definition be?

So tomorrow is the last day of January in Duluth (and everywhere else too). I’m going to be writing a post in the morning asking some bigger picture questions I’ve been thinking about, but haven’t answered definitively. Look out for that (also, if you’ve been following and holding back, you can tell me what you really think about the project — but wait for tomorrow to do that).

For today, I have a morbid question. If you knew tomorrow were your last day on earth, and you were to spend it entirely within Duluth/immediate surrounding area, what would you do? A last day, in Duluth.

Is anybody out there a film person? I have a very short film I’d like to make — named “100 Seconds of Solitude” — that’s reasonably simple in concept/shooting but might be a little tricky to edit. If anybody wants to spend some time this weekend on a fun project, I’ll bring the beer!

Bjørn Jørgensen Image taken: Jan. 22, 2012 Location: Grøtfjord close to Tromsø, North Norway

Also to listen to the effects, check out the software defined radio from Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The low and middle bands show the activity.

I recently got hosed big time by Go Daddy. My domain was up for renewal and instead of notifying me, they sold it. Now I have a new domain, but I lost my search engine standing (my old site was numbers 1,2 and 3 for a Google search of my name). Anyway, if you have a minute, give my new site a click and help a guy out. Thanks.

tim-kaiser.org

I have an invitation to offer — I’m looking for Wisconsinites and other Midwesterners who have relocated to Duluth to talk about their process of adjustment, assimilation, and Duluthification. I was looking to record parts of this conversation, this Saturday, at Anchor Bar in Superior. Any immigrants interested in a drink and chat?

As the days pass, we will gradually release more information about the show. Stay tuned!

SUBMISSIONS:
Please email six recent images of your “tiny” art (fits in a 12 in X 12 in box) that will provide us with a good representation of your work, along with a brief bio. Feel free to send us a link to your website, Flickr page, Facebook or any other online collection of your work.

Below is a nice example of a sculpture piece that would make it into this show.

O.K., the door wasn’t literally ripped off so that it tumbled down the street, but it bent all the way backward. Instead of stopping at the usual 70-degree angle, it opened all the way up to a nearly 180-degree angle.

I didn’t take a photo at the time, because my first instinct was to quickly pull the door back and close it. Once it closed, I considered that a major victory and left it that way. Here’s what the damage looks like today:

Now the door won’t open to more than maybe a 20-degree angle because of the bent panel. It seems to still be on its hinges, but the plastic thing that covers the wiring is ripped apart, and there’s probably something else in there I’ll find broken if I decide to force the door past 20-degrees and take a look.

This will be a fun one to explain to the insurance company. As a companion to the previous post about finding a good Duluth mechanic, does anyone know who might specialize in this type of repair? I suppose I could start with the infamous ear worm, huh?

(1) If Duluth were after an eligible date prospect, where would Duluth look?

(2) If Duluth were taking somebody out on a first date and needed to impress them, what would Duluth pick?

(3) If Duluth were on an early relationship date and really wanted to test the date’s mettle, what would Duluth pick?

(4) If Duluth were settled into a longterm relationship, what would its regular date spot be?

(5) If Duluth were going to propose, what spot would Duluth pick to do it?

P.S. The January In Duluth project is going well! So far, getting to know Duluth in a flash is just as challenging and overwhelming as it is fun and thought-provoking.