Journalists call this the “Monkey Christ.” I’m not the one who came up with the name, so send your outraged cards and letters to the art journalism community. I’m just here to tell you a heart-warming story.
NOTE: We don’t seem to have else anything cued up for today, and I’ll have that Anaheim story up tomorrow, so — let’s start the Weekend early!
You may recall the botched unbidden-geriatric-volunteer art-restoration project for a church in Zaragoza, in Spain’s Catalan region, that the hit the news about a year ago when a fresco depicting Jesus was restored into something considerably less likely to serve as a religious figure. If not, here’s a before and after:
Youch! You can see on the left which octogenerian artist Cecilia Gimenez may have been moved to start to retouch the fresco — and you can see on the right why she was ultimately moved to stop. She had transformed the image of Jesus into something resembling an infant rhesus monkey. You doubt me? Behold:
Not religious figure level quality, admittedly — but still awfully cute.
So, lots of us observers laughed at Señora Gimenez’s efforts (though she has been a real artist in the past), pitied her (partly for her shame and perhaps partly for her age and partly because we thought that she must be a fool and partly for her bringing down the displeasure of the almighty … art preservationists), cringed at the thought of her having to bear her shame, made some rude and funny visual use of the image (probably not the same people who pitied her), and so on.
And about a year later, guess what?
A sort of a postmodern miracle happened — and we have a Happy Ending. Watch the video:
Yes, people are flocking to the church to see the “Monkey Christ,” for which admission is now charged with proceed going to worthy charitable causes, and the Monkey Christ image will now be displayed on souvenir dinner plates and such. From the Slate article linked above:
[T]he botched-restoration-turned-viral-sensation has drawn more than 40,000 visitors to the church that houses it, raising more than $60,000 for a local charity in the process. Gimenez, meanwhile, has agreed to share profits from merchandise featuring the image, and is even set to have her other artwork exhibited. “I’m happy because my neighbors are being nice to me,” she told the BBC.
The power of God may (I’m trying to navigate between the theists and atheists among the readership here) be incomparably great, but the power of Kitsch is itself pretty much unstoppable. Nevertheless, the Orange Juice blog asks that you please not deface artwork near you and expect it to turn out as well.
This is the Weekend Open Thread. Talk about that or anything else you’d like, within broad bounds of discretion and decorum. The Dearthwatch will, after taking its own sweet time, follow.
If you are home tonight…I highly recommend (pun intended) the program “Weed” on CNN…Sanjay Gupta hosts. I am a proponent of legalizing cannabis for everyone…no matter why…but especially for its proven medicinal qualities. Eating cannabis cookies helped me get through my chemo treatments. It now helps those with other illnesses.
I would comment on this article, but it just tips my “somewhat disrespectful” gauge. hummm .. I guess I did just comment ….
Does THIS have to be the weekend open thread?
Somewhat disrespectful? I gave you a miraculous happy ending in which goodwill triumphs and the church is able to raise money for the needy! If you want “somewhat disrespectful,” look back to the original coverage, which this turn of events somewhat softens.
Don’t get so exercised over graven images, skally. As for whether this is the WOT — yes, the moving finger hath writ, and having writ moves on. (Oh, damn — you’re not going to get upset over my quoting Omar Khayyam, are you?)
Scott Lay of Around the Capitol has taken both Fullerton Mayor Bruce Whitaker and La Palma Councilmember Henry Chareon off of the list of expected candidates for AD-65, generally considered to bethe most important Assembly race of next year.
http://www.aroundthecapitol.com/nooner/2013-08-16.html
So at this point — and I don’t really expect this to change — it looks like Democrat incumbent Sharon Quirk-Silva vs. Republican Ed Royce staffer Young Kim and whoever else doesn’t want to worry about actually making the runoff.
Vern may have some mixed feelings about his friend Whitaker not running for the position for which he was Chief of Staff last year under his boss Chris Norby. I have some mixed feelings about Chareon not running, but only because I liked the idea of referring to this as the “Chareon-Quirk-Silva” race. (And if “Chareon” isn’t pronounced like “Sharon,” I don’t really want to know.)
I cannot stand Scott Lay – and I don’t even remember why. It might have had something to do with John Manly, whom I cannot tolerate either. It will come to me ………
No mixed feelings, Bruce ain’t a close friend, I’m glad he’s not running I guess. Quirk-Silva vs. Kim will be a good race.
This piece — http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/a-sincere-apology-from-cracked-to-daily-mail/ — may not be the funniest thing ever, but it is pretty easily in the top five. And Slate.com’s tribute to Cracked.com — http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/08/16/cracked_listicles_are_the_web_s_best_listicles_3_reasons_why.html — is an excellent short list of why you should be enjoying the latter site.
Am I the only one to have seen the story about the redwoods growing at an increased rate? The “scientists” wringing their hands trying to explain it, all the while I am thinking, well, you idiots there’s more CO2 in the air, haven’t you heard. Since it’s CO2 that plants breath in, the same thing you pump into a green house when you want increase growth.
How dumb are these people anyway? These are the same idiots who are going to save the planet for us…? Really, this is the best our university system can put out?
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-redwoods-climate-20130814,0,3829911.story
Heard of TPPA? Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement? I wrote about it around a year ago, when they met in San Diego…Well, our beloved president (the guy who promised change) wants to fast forward its approval. Please sign this petition to stop it. I will be writing updates about what this treaty is all about next week….
http://act.credoaction.com/sign/fast_track/?sp_ref=7990116.4.458.t.0.2&source=tw_sp
http://politicalblindspot.com/leaked-intelligence-agencies-running-mass-number-of-propaganda-accounts-on-social-media/
No more Pisco Times
When I thought that nobody had read my last week’s Pisco Sour Times, mentioning MC (MC does not stand for Master of Ceremony/ Money Cheerleader but for Matt Cunningham), all hell broke loose in the OC blog-sphere because of this guy. It was all Vern’s fault. He wanted so badly to join the Gentlemen club of C&C (Cunningham and Chmielewski). Dan C had snubbed Vern once at one of his Thursdays Liberal Drinking sessions, so Vern tried to get MC help even shaking hands with him recently. It didn’t work. So what did Vern do? He wrote a spicy, hot story that even pious Chris Prevatt thinks is likely libelous, about MC working for a business owner of….you can read the story yourself. Can you imagine if Vern had been accepted in the C&C club? That would’ve been quite a “menage a trois’…mi abuelita would’ve said “ dios los cria, y el diablo los junta”. Sorry Inge for mentioning God….
This story shook the foundations of morality and good behavior, and all involved were called nasty names, including myself…I was called sleazy by….you can also read this in the comments of the spicy story. So as I am officially a member of the hypocrites’ world, I am going to blatantly demonize this guy who has created so much havoc in Anaheim. I am going to call MC el diablo, el diablo malo y feo. He will participate in the Lucha Libre sessions in the Compadres and Comadres club. His name will be Matt Lucifer, and he will tangle with one of our luchadores, the Mexican-in-Chief, Gustavo, the anti-human trafficking fighter. There they will settle the issue of whether MC outed sex-victims or not….
Jay Leno said this week that bloggers are losers. We have so much time in our hands that many times we write boring chingaderas, that make people fall sleep…(was he thinking about Gregorio…?) instead of trying to keep up with the spin-master of Dan C, I couldn’t beat that guy, he is a pro on spinning and denials, I’d rather be talking to my amigos of the Weekly. I could’ve told my buddy Gabriel, chingado bro, are garage sales and car sales in the streets more important than all the rip-offs going on city govt? He is a good guy, I like GSR, do you hear me Gregorio?
On a serious note, I am not longer going to write Pisco Times. It was meant to be a satire, a spin-off of a joke from one of the posts. The reason is that Pisco is alcohol, and alcohol can be addictive, a terrible one. It is bad enough that old farts drink, but the marketing of alcoholic drinks, targeting the youth and minorities is unacceptable. The effects and stigmas of alcoholism is widespread. Look how Vern is treated and viciously put down by people who vehemently disagree with him: Gustavo, Moxley, Cunningham, Chmielewski… Sorry Vern for bringing this up, whatever caused you to get those four DUIs, risking the lives of others, is a serious issue. You’re my brother, and I hope you have the demons of this addiction under control.
No more Pisco Times. Back to Salsa in the Alpine Village!
OK, now I get it!