Mission Statement

If it has anything whatsoever to do with art, music or the planet I'm blogging it! This is a fairly new website though, so let me know how I'm doing, either by e-mailing feedback, or posting a comment, or voting, or sharing, or ... whatever method you're comfortable with. (And thanks a lot for reading today. I really appreciate it.) Take a free art exhibition tour right HERE.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Comet ISON of Oort

Americonic Art is hoping the appearance of Comet ISON -- formerly of the Oort Cloud district of the universe -- will not only make a spectacular appearance over Earth this autumn, but maybe shed some particles in the process.

That kind of stuff would go well in the White Trash Collection, since space junk, debris and stardust are the only materials that haven't been incorporated in this vast and varied body of work.

Comet ISON, so named for the Russian-based astronomers who discovered it in 2012 (the International Scientific Optic Network), is an icy mass from distant Oort scheduled to hurtle by our planet sometime in the fall of 2013, observers say.

The event could produce the light show of the century, experts are already speculating, or it might just as easily turn out to be a complete dud.

Bedazzling or not, something's bound to drop from the celestial object -- 200+ kilograms of matter every day -- as it continues on its haphazard trek across the galaxy,,,

And it'll be finders keepers if any of it lands on or near the studio of Americonic Art in upstate New York.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Happy Birthday Sandra Bullock

LOVE POTION #9 STARLET IS 49!

Sandra Bullock, queen of levity and (now) gravity is having a birthday this month, although she's already announced she'll try her best to ignore this one which brings the award-winning actress to the brink of five full decades of life.

Birthday Girl Sandra BullockShe doesn't look it, but the rip roaring gorgeous American icon of the silver screen officially turns 49 on June 26th, so this blogger wishes the birthday girl a very happy day nonetheless.

While Bullock's latest film project Gravity opposite George Clooney is a scify movie slated for release in October, she's at her personal best when employing that demure comedic approach for which she's now become so famous.

Like leggy beauty Lucille Ball before her, Miss Congeniality has made her own unique contribution to the art of comedy, and whether 50 or 100, she too will always have millions of grateful fans because of it.

In good times and in bad everybody needs a hearty guffaw now and then -- so thanks for the laughs and happy birthday, Sandra Bullock.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

THE SKY IS FALLING (This Time For Real) 5 TIPS

For millennium, doomsday predictors have been saying the sky is falling. In fact, just browse the bible and you'll see some have even made End Times a religion.

For whatever reasons -- economic depression, famine, war, egocentricity -- every generation seems to believe that theirs will be the last.

But now global warming experts tell us mass extinction is no longer just a myth or a maybe. 

Humanity is headed for catastrophe, scientists warn: Earth is getting hotter, storm systems bigger, natural disasters more devastating... 

And it's only getting worse with every passing year.

A rising tide of concern

What can we do about the melting poles and rising sea levels at this late date, many ask. 

Can we build elaborate barriers to hold back the oceans, place our major port cities on stilts? Should we flee to higher ground and abandon these cultural icons altogether while we still can? Or should we quietly accept our fate, go out with one big bang?

After all, it's too late to do anything else. Isn't it?

Where there's life there's hope

Repaired salad bowl, by Americonic ArtAs evidenced, Americonic Art thinks it's never too late to salvage things, not even a hurting planet.

Of course, this now requires a major paradigm shift on everybody's part.

Enlightenment.

And, naturally, we'll also have to accept that some prized species and ecosystems recently lost to us can never be reclaimed.

But we can put out the fires. We can control ourselves. We can atone for our sins.

5 quick tips to save our ship:

1. Turn out your lights for a couple hours each day and shut down your computer as well:  You already know electric isn't generated cleanly. More often than not it's made from burning fossil fuels, a leading component of greenhouse gases and global warming.

2. Don't chuck that thing in the garbage: If the item is merely *old* give it to someone else who can use it. If it's malfunctioning then fix it. Our ancestors didn't heap up landfills with their throwaways. Whatever was broken or frayed they quilted, repurposed, and mended, mended, mended.

3. Don't buy from corporations that insist on supersizing their packaging: As much trash is generated via big, fat, fancy wrappers as it is from faulty, useless products designed to break or become obsolete in a year so you'll have to purchase them again. Better yet, write these unfriendly companies' CEOs and complain -- filling a 16 ounce cereal box with 8 ounces of corn flakes and asserting that the carton is half empty due to 'contents settling' is deceptive and ridiculous.

4. Assess your needs realistically and show some restraint: Millions of people are signing on with expensive gyms to work off their six meals a day and the adverse effects of a sedentary life, when they could simply eat less, walk more, and save money in the process. Worse, those with less disposable incomes are going into hock to buy stuff they don't need and which has no real or intrinsic value anyway.

5. We're all in this together; let's be compassionate: Prejudices, dislikes, even preferences, are taught to us at a very early age and are usually unfounded. That means, to truly lend the world a helping hand, which is now so desperately needed, we have to make an effort to override these negative lessons. Because less strife, less war, less hunger, and less hate equals a greener planet.


PEACE BE WITH YOU AND HAVE A GREAT DAY

Monday, July 22, 2013

White Trash and a Royal Baby

With word from ye old palace that a royal baby is at last on the way -- another heir to Britain's beleaguered throne and the first grandchild of late great humanist Princess Diana -- all eyes are on England today.

Boy or girl, babies of regal birth and ones of *humble* origin both generate a lot of white trash, new moms and dads can attest. Sometimes pink or blue trash, too, depending on how traditional-minded families are.

None of it gold, however, nor inlaid with rubies.

Across the pond here, Americans keep watch on Kate Middleton as well, waiting with bated breath to rejoice in the new mother-to-be's birthing success. 

Like present day British subjects, we're also enamored of such royal goings on, even though centuries past we-the-people broke with monarchs and aspired to create for ourselves a world where there would be no aristocracy to fawn over and adore. 

No kings or queens to bow to. No lowly babies born. No royal baby to someday wear a crown and rule us.

But with our own would-be kings, corporate cabals, and celebrity gods calling all the shots per usual, it's a socio-politcal experiment that some critics claim has dismally failed. 

America's become a land of haves and have-nots, they warn. A country ruled by thousands of wealthy tyrants, selfishly lording over a disenfranchised 99 Percent.  

Other less cynical analysts nay-say the naysayers, though. They optimistically insist our democracy is still in its infancy, slowly but surely evolving to one day soon include everyone, rich and poor alike, in the American Dream scheme.

This blogger truly hopes they're right about that, and, in the interim, sends well-wishes to Princess Diana's noble son William, and his lovely wife Kate:

May these new, proud parents find peace in their ancient castles, and decades of domestic bliss.