Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
9.28.2012
5.17.2012
4.18.2012
organistic or artistic
Is a performance an artistic event or an organization event? Both, but...and there is always a but...after the initial creation of the artistic event all that is left is the organizational event. Following this line of thought, could we then say that famous touring artists are not necessarily successful artists, but products of successful organizers?
The artistic feats of Cafe Müller, Glacial Decoy or Content with Content (to put myself in lofty company) happened but once, the initial birthing of them. But every other iteration of them is an organizational feat, not an artistic feat.
After taking a workshop here in Berlin about funding bodies and grant, and hearing about another workshop about international touring and funding, I began to wonder about organizing and creating. Creating something is definitely more fun than organizing something that is already. And as we all have a finite amount of time on this earth we can only do so much. Is it an either or situation? Do I have to pick one or the other? Or can I do both? It as of now has to be me doing both as no one is organizing for me. Haven't sparked the interest of an agent or a funder to do that part for me. And I do not have the natural tendency to organize.
The creating of a piece has to come first, no? Not necessarily. One can apply to make a piece and then the funds to make it. But then should one wait to make a piece until the funds are there? I say no.
Often after I make a piece and perform it a few times, I lose interest in revisiting that idea or experience again. That road has been traveled and I do not want to travel down that path again. This lack of interest in repetition prevents me from creating situations(applying to festivals, etc.) to show my work multiple times. I would rather spend the time, money, energy investigating something new, making something new. At least when I make it I know that I will have some measure of success. By making something I do not necessarily mean a whole production with lights camera action and audience. But thinking and encorporealizing it for myself. Exploring those neural pathways.
Maybe then, moving to Marfa and building a studio will be a viable option for me.
Make, make, make. Let the organizers sort them out!
(or maybe this is all just rationalization for someone who can't organize!)
The artistic feats of Cafe Müller, Glacial Decoy or Content with Content (to put myself in lofty company) happened but once, the initial birthing of them. But every other iteration of them is an organizational feat, not an artistic feat.
After taking a workshop here in Berlin about funding bodies and grant, and hearing about another workshop about international touring and funding, I began to wonder about organizing and creating. Creating something is definitely more fun than organizing something that is already. And as we all have a finite amount of time on this earth we can only do so much. Is it an either or situation? Do I have to pick one or the other? Or can I do both? It as of now has to be me doing both as no one is organizing for me. Haven't sparked the interest of an agent or a funder to do that part for me. And I do not have the natural tendency to organize.
The creating of a piece has to come first, no? Not necessarily. One can apply to make a piece and then the funds to make it. But then should one wait to make a piece until the funds are there? I say no.
Often after I make a piece and perform it a few times, I lose interest in revisiting that idea or experience again. That road has been traveled and I do not want to travel down that path again. This lack of interest in repetition prevents me from creating situations(applying to festivals, etc.) to show my work multiple times. I would rather spend the time, money, energy investigating something new, making something new. At least when I make it I know that I will have some measure of success. By making something I do not necessarily mean a whole production with lights camera action and audience. But thinking and encorporealizing it for myself. Exploring those neural pathways.
Maybe then, moving to Marfa and building a studio will be a viable option for me.
Make, make, make. Let the organizers sort them out!
(or maybe this is all just rationalization for someone who can't organize!)
3.20.2012
Blame
Corporations, corporations, corporation...the root of all evil. Faceless disembodied entities that are ruining the world, the environment and now the political system in the United States by their ability to funnel unlimited amounts of cash into the coffers of willing politicians. The Supreme Court of the United States blocked a ban limiting how much corporations could spend on political campaigns.
It is all the fault of corporations. These mindless soulless beings that wreck havoc in the world, utterly uncontrollable.
But what a minute...don't these corporations have presidents and CEOs and board members?!?
Aren't those the people who are actually making the decisions, the bad decisions that we all hate?
And isn't it possible to find out who these people are?
So why don't we go after these people more? Instead of saying that corporations are ruining the political system, why not actually name the people who are making the decisions? Why not put a face to those actions?
Yes, that would be harder to do. It is much easier to say that the corporations are at fault as opposed to naming every Tom, Dick and Harriet who sits on the board of those harbingers of doom. It is much easier to blame(and here I will automatically lose this argument, some say, by invoking Hitler) Hitler than all the generals, colonels, captains, corporals who also decided to kill people.
Corporations...Hitler...it is much easier to demonize a single entity than all the actual individuals involved.
Is it any more effective?
It is all the fault of corporations. These mindless soulless beings that wreck havoc in the world, utterly uncontrollable.
But what a minute...don't these corporations have presidents and CEOs and board members?!?
Aren't those the people who are actually making the decisions, the bad decisions that we all hate?
And isn't it possible to find out who these people are?
So why don't we go after these people more? Instead of saying that corporations are ruining the political system, why not actually name the people who are making the decisions? Why not put a face to those actions?
Yes, that would be harder to do. It is much easier to say that the corporations are at fault as opposed to naming every Tom, Dick and Harriet who sits on the board of those harbingers of doom. It is much easier to blame(and here I will automatically lose this argument, some say, by invoking Hitler) Hitler than all the generals, colonels, captains, corporals who also decided to kill people.
Corporations...Hitler...it is much easier to demonize a single entity than all the actual individuals involved.
Is it any more effective?
9.13.2011
National Debts
The population of Germany according to the CIA is 81,471,834 (July 2011 est.)
The national debt of Germany is € 1,895,561,620,931 according to nationaldebtclocks.com
The population of the United States according to the CIA is 313,232,044 (July 2011 est.)
The national debt of the United States is $ 15,091,192,666,470, also according to national debt clocks.com.
Dividing the debt by the population gives us a €23,266.47/German debt and a $48,178.96/American debt. Converting the Euros to dollars with an exchange rate of €1=$1.36, gives us $31,642.40.
This gives us a difference of $16,536.56, that each American owes MORE to whomever than each German owes.
What have you gotten for your $16,536.56?
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The national debt of Germany is € 1,895,561,620,931 according to nationaldebtclocks.com
The population of the United States according to the CIA is 313,232,044 (July 2011 est.)
The national debt of the United States is $ 15,091,192,666,470, also according to national debt clocks.com.
Dividing the debt by the population gives us a €23,266.47/German debt and a $48,178.96/American debt. Converting the Euros to dollars with an exchange rate of €1=$1.36, gives us $31,642.40.
This gives us a difference of $16,536.56, that each American owes MORE to whomever than each German owes.
What have you gotten for your $16,536.56?
Tweet
6.07.2011
Tour vs. Make
Hot off the mental press, coming at you live. As I ponder more and more of late about what to do in life, what path to follow or forge, all due to grad school and the birth of my first child, I think now about a binary of touring vs. making work. Is it even a binary? All these thoughts could be because I am just lazy and don't want to do the work of getting my work out there. Writing grants, making packets, sending them out, schmoozing with presenters is a lot of work. Work that scares me. Maybe scares me is the wrong word.
I see other artists who tour and get presented and looking at their work, I don't understand why they were presented, why the director of theater X gave them a 6 month residency. Must be in the documentation the artist presented, or maybe the kind of work s/he does is more easily marketable. Could be that my work is just not interesting. Don't get bitter, don't get bitter, don't get bitter.
And grad school, context, context, context. Shit in on context smell, a different context helps make food. So maybe I need to rewrite all my performance blurbs so the context is sexier. And then write the grants, make the packets, and hound the presenters. But for whom am I making the work? Because I work in a time based medium that can be viewed as performative, does that mean the work is made for other people? How many painters make work for themselves, and have studios full of canvasses not meant for general consumption?
And now a child! What a wonderful bundle of joy and confusion. Her laughter, smiles and cries make everything, all my frustrations disappear. But then they come back. Provide, provide, provide...that is what a parent, a father is supposed to do. Hack away at performing, etc to make money to provide. But then touring could conflict with schooling. School is still a couple years off yet.
So, do I finish this schooling, get my MA then jump out of the artistic realm into the academic realm to get health insurance, income to provide? Just as much chance of getting a big grant. Both require applications and schmoozing.
Maybe this is all justification for laziness. Artistic high road and all that. Even now all these thoughts/emotions I don't want to bother to craft into a polished blog post. But isn't this more just for me as a place to vent?
No one reads this anyways...
waaah
waaah
waaah
I see other artists who tour and get presented and looking at their work, I don't understand why they were presented, why the director of theater X gave them a 6 month residency. Must be in the documentation the artist presented, or maybe the kind of work s/he does is more easily marketable. Could be that my work is just not interesting. Don't get bitter, don't get bitter, don't get bitter.
And grad school, context, context, context. Shit in on context smell, a different context helps make food. So maybe I need to rewrite all my performance blurbs so the context is sexier. And then write the grants, make the packets, and hound the presenters. But for whom am I making the work? Because I work in a time based medium that can be viewed as performative, does that mean the work is made for other people? How many painters make work for themselves, and have studios full of canvasses not meant for general consumption?
And now a child! What a wonderful bundle of joy and confusion. Her laughter, smiles and cries make everything, all my frustrations disappear. But then they come back. Provide, provide, provide...that is what a parent, a father is supposed to do. Hack away at performing, etc to make money to provide. But then touring could conflict with schooling. School is still a couple years off yet.
So, do I finish this schooling, get my MA then jump out of the artistic realm into the academic realm to get health insurance, income to provide? Just as much chance of getting a big grant. Both require applications and schmoozing.
Maybe this is all justification for laziness. Artistic high road and all that. Even now all these thoughts/emotions I don't want to bother to craft into a polished blog post. But isn't this more just for me as a place to vent?
No one reads this anyways...
waaah
waaah
waaah
1.24.2011
Federal Oversight
I am not sure about the Republican argument against Obama's socialist takeover/makeover of healthcare in the United States, something about how the Constitution doesn't allow for the Federal Government to require people to have health insurance.
SIDE NOTE - Please check what the Constitution has to say about marijuana (nothing, yes?) and the internet (nothing).
And from what I know, the Federal Government has the right to oversee and regulate businesses that cross state lines. I don't think there is a national health care commission. There is a person who oversees insurance in California. Maybe other states have such an office.
I can't imagine that the health care in any state does not cross state lines in many ways. The doctors are educated in another state. The test tubes, pipettes and needles are probably made in China. All the diagnostic equipment - MRIs, Ultrasounds etcs - if not made in another state of the Union or Germany are probably made in China. The billing services that the health insurance companies use probably are involved in more than one company and one state. The patients who get sick are crossing state lines bringing illness home from other states. Food, a known vehicle of pathogens (spinach, eggs to name a couple of recent vectors) crosses many states lines.
With all of this interstate business involved in the business of health care, shouldn't the Feds be involved to make sure it all runs smoothly? Maybe they already are, but if so, they sure are doing a crappy job.
Tweet
SIDE NOTE - Please check what the Constitution has to say about marijuana (nothing, yes?) and the internet (nothing).
And from what I know, the Federal Government has the right to oversee and regulate businesses that cross state lines. I don't think there is a national health care commission. There is a person who oversees insurance in California. Maybe other states have such an office.
I can't imagine that the health care in any state does not cross state lines in many ways. The doctors are educated in another state. The test tubes, pipettes and needles are probably made in China. All the diagnostic equipment - MRIs, Ultrasounds etcs - if not made in another state of the Union or Germany are probably made in China. The billing services that the health insurance companies use probably are involved in more than one company and one state. The patients who get sick are crossing state lines bringing illness home from other states. Food, a known vehicle of pathogens (spinach, eggs to name a couple of recent vectors) crosses many states lines.
With all of this interstate business involved in the business of health care, shouldn't the Feds be involved to make sure it all runs smoothly? Maybe they already are, but if so, they sure are doing a crappy job.
Tweet
9.10.2010
Equal representation before law
States are having financial trouble in all areas. One such area is funding for public defenders. After reading this article about the trouble in Missouri, I started thinking about lawyers and equal representation before the law. Party A and Party B are in a legal dispute. Party A is very wealthy and can afford a top law firm and all the research teams, expert witnesses, and investigative teams that come along with it. Party B is poor and not so well off, think small family farm fighting a developer. I am sure John Grisham has written a book about this.
Due to the financial divide, Party A is essentially getting better representation to the law than Party B. Unfair, no?
What I propose is that both parties put the amount of money they were going to spend on legal fees into a pot and then that amount is divided in half. Each party would then have, in theory, equal representation before the law.
Due to the financial divide, Party A is essentially getting better representation to the law than Party B. Unfair, no?
What I propose is that both parties put the amount of money they were going to spend on legal fees into a pot and then that amount is divided in half. Each party would then have, in theory, equal representation before the law.
Taxes for Veterans
Some people argue that American foreign policy is largely governed by the United States insatiable thirst for oil. Please note we invaded Iraq to save them from Saddam, but haven't given as much of a concerted effort in other troubled locations - Rwanda, Somalia - to name a couple. And in our foreign policy efforts, we send many troops into harm's way. Then veterans come back home physically and mentally harmed.
What I propose is a 1¢/gallon tax increase on gasoline. The more gas you buy/use the more you pay. And these extra funds go to help veterans. I would like to see the right try to talk down the idea of increased aid for veterans.
What I propose is a 1¢/gallon tax increase on gasoline. The more gas you buy/use the more you pay. And these extra funds go to help veterans. I would like to see the right try to talk down the idea of increased aid for veterans.
5.24.2010
Sub
This current economic crisis is another example of people not paying enough attention to language.
Sub-prime. They were called sub-prime mortgages. Sub-prime. SUB as in less than as in lower, as in not as good.
As in subpar.
As in substandard.
Yes, the prefix "sub" can be used with other words and not necessarily mean less than as in submarine, subway, substitute (though, there ain't nothing like the real thing, baby! And what is a stitute?).
But pair the word sub with prime...
Below prime, less then prime, under prime…
Would you be surprised if the grade "F" eggs you bought were spoiled and gave you food poisoning?
Would you be surprised if you went to a no star motel and it was a dump?
Would you be surprised if you paid $15.99 for a flat screen TV and it didn't work?
If so, you have a future in finance and or politics in the US.
Sub-prime. They were called sub-prime mortgages. Sub-prime. SUB as in less than as in lower, as in not as good.
As in subpar.
As in substandard.
Yes, the prefix "sub" can be used with other words and not necessarily mean less than as in submarine, subway, substitute (though, there ain't nothing like the real thing, baby! And what is a stitute?).
But pair the word sub with prime...
Below prime, less then prime, under prime…
Would you be surprised if the grade "F" eggs you bought were spoiled and gave you food poisoning?
Would you be surprised if you went to a no star motel and it was a dump?
Would you be surprised if you paid $15.99 for a flat screen TV and it didn't work?
If so, you have a future in finance and or politics in the US.
2.06.2010
Deficits
Can someone please explain to me why when Dubya was running up the deficit (after he spent all the surplus Clinton left him) spending money on destroying another country no one was bitchin'.
And now when Obama adds to the deficit trying to build up OUR OWN COUNTRY, everyone goes crazy and gets mad at him.
And now when Obama adds to the deficit trying to build up OUR OWN COUNTRY, everyone goes crazy and gets mad at him.
1.03.2010
Borrowing Money
I do not understand why conservatives object to borrowing money to pay for the healthcare of their fellow citizens, i.e. increase the general welfare of our country, but have no objection to destroying the huge post-Clinton surplus we had to and borrowing massive amounts to attack Iraq on false grounds. And the war in Iraq does not have a positive effect on life in the U.S.A.
9.11.2009
Beauty Contests
In the 1930s, financial markets, for obvious reasons, didn’t get much respect. Keynes compared them to “those newspaper competitions in which the competitors have to pick out the six prettiest faces from a hundred photographs, the prize being awarded to the competitor whose choice most nearly corresponds to the average preferences of the competitors as a whole; so that each competitor has to pick, not those faces which he himself finds prettiest, but those that he thinks likeliest to catch the fancy of the other competitors.” - from the NY Times.
sounds like an apt description to me
sounds like an apt description to me
6.30.2009
Don't Put Bernie in Jail
I think it is a terrible idea to put Bernie Madoff in jail. I am not saying that I think he is innocent and I am not saying that I think he should not be punished. I think he should be punished and severely.
But if he is put in jail, he will once again be living off other people. He will continue his parasitic lifestyle. He will be sucking his livelihood from the taxpayer. We will be paying for his food and shelter and his health insurance.
Instead of putting him in jail we should make him live in a suburb of Pheonix or Cleveland or Fresno. Make him live in a nondescript badly struccoed apartment complex with meth addicts and hookers. In a small one bedroom with broken air-conditioning and dark wood paneling. With the only view being the back of an equalling depressing building and the dumpsters between them.
Make Madoff work at a minimum wage job that does not provide health insurance. Make it so that he can never be promoted and always has to clean the bathrooms. Make him stay there till he croaks with no retirement and terrible health insurance.
Yes, this might fall under "cruel and unusual", but shouldn't the punishment fit the crime?
But if he is put in jail, he will once again be living off other people. He will continue his parasitic lifestyle. He will be sucking his livelihood from the taxpayer. We will be paying for his food and shelter and his health insurance.
Instead of putting him in jail we should make him live in a suburb of Pheonix or Cleveland or Fresno. Make him live in a nondescript badly struccoed apartment complex with meth addicts and hookers. In a small one bedroom with broken air-conditioning and dark wood paneling. With the only view being the back of an equalling depressing building and the dumpsters between them.
Make Madoff work at a minimum wage job that does not provide health insurance. Make it so that he can never be promoted and always has to clean the bathrooms. Make him stay there till he croaks with no retirement and terrible health insurance.
Yes, this might fall under "cruel and unusual", but shouldn't the punishment fit the crime?
12.18.2008
The Perfect Name
12.11.2008
12.06.2008
jewel heist
I'd wear a dress for that kind of money.
Four armed robbers -- two of them men disguised as women -- walked into a luxury jewelry store in Paris and swiped an estimated €80 million (U.S. $101 million) in jewels, the Paris prosecutor's office said.
Makes you wonder though if this was some kind of an inside job - >
"The same shop was robbed of millions of euros worth of jewelry just 14 months ago, in October 2007."
Also makes you wonder why the robbers felt the need to wear dresses. How did that figure into the plan? Maybe shock and awe? Maybe we should have gone into Iraq with an army in drag and the whole mess would already be cleaned up. Never underestimate the power of a good outfit.
Four armed robbers -- two of them men disguised as women -- walked into a luxury jewelry store in Paris and swiped an estimated €80 million (U.S. $101 million) in jewels, the Paris prosecutor's office said.
Makes you wonder though if this was some kind of an inside job - >
"The same shop was robbed of millions of euros worth of jewelry just 14 months ago, in October 2007."
Also makes you wonder why the robbers felt the need to wear dresses. How did that figure into the plan? Maybe shock and awe? Maybe we should have gone into Iraq with an army in drag and the whole mess would already be cleaned up. Never underestimate the power of a good outfit.
12.05.2008
surplus
Obama's organization retains some $30 million after his successful presidential bid.
Can I get my $100 back?
Well, maybe it's better than being a McCain supporter now. That money went nowhere.
Can I get my $100 back?
Well, maybe it's better than being a McCain supporter now. That money went nowhere.
10.20.2008
Borrowing Money
France is borrowing money to shore up its banks.
Italy too. England, the USA, and Germany also.
Iceland has gone under. Guess they didn't borrow soon enough.
Japan and South Korea are also borrowing money.
From whom are all these countries borrowing to stay afloat?
The Saudis? Russia? The Chinese? Kim Jong Il, illin' and chillin' like a villian above the DMZ?
Italy too. England, the USA, and Germany also.
Iceland has gone under. Guess they didn't borrow soon enough.
Japan and South Korea are also borrowing money.
From whom are all these countries borrowing to stay afloat?
The Saudis? Russia? The Chinese? Kim Jong Il, illin' and chillin' like a villian above the DMZ?
10.01.2008
Guess it runs in the family
Neil Bush was the most widely targeted member of the Bush family by the press in the S&L scandal. Neil became director of Silverado Savings and Loan at the age of 30 in 1985. Three years later the institution was belly up at a cost of $1.6 billion to tax payers to bail out.
The basic actions of Neil Bush in the S&L scandal are as follows:
Neil received a $100,000 "loan" from Ken Good, of Good International, with no obligation to pay any of the money back.
Good was a large shareholder in JNB Explorations, Neil Bush's oil-exploration company.
Neil failed to disclose this conflict-of-interest when loans were given to Good from Silverado, because the money was to be used in joint venture with his own JNB. This was in essence giving himself a loan from Silverado through a third party.
Neil then helped Silverado S&L approve Good International for a $900,000 line of credit.
Good defaulted on a total $32 million in loans from Silverado.
During this time Neil Bush did not disclose that $3 million of the $32 million that Good was defaulting on was actually for investment in JNB, his own company.
Good subsequently raised Bush's JNB salary from $75,000 to $125,000 and granted him a $22,500 bonus.
Neil Bush maintained that he did not see how this constituted a conflict of interest.
Neil approved $106 million in Silverado loans to another JNB investor, Bill Walters.
Neil also never formally disclosed his relationship with Walters and Walters also defaulted on his loans, all $106 million of them.
Neil Bush was charged with criminal wrongdoing in the case and ended up paying $50,000 to settle out of court. The chief of Silverado S&L was sentenced to 3.5 years in jail for pleading guilty to $8.7 million in theft. (Keep in mind that you can get more jail time for holding up a gas station for $50.)
Today Neil Bush is working on closing a deal in Florida, where his brother Jeb is governor, to sell a software package to schools with his startup company Ignite.
The basic actions of Neil Bush in the S&L scandal are as follows:
Neil received a $100,000 "loan" from Ken Good, of Good International, with no obligation to pay any of the money back.
Good was a large shareholder in JNB Explorations, Neil Bush's oil-exploration company.
Neil failed to disclose this conflict-of-interest when loans were given to Good from Silverado, because the money was to be used in joint venture with his own JNB. This was in essence giving himself a loan from Silverado through a third party.
Neil then helped Silverado S&L approve Good International for a $900,000 line of credit.
Good defaulted on a total $32 million in loans from Silverado.
During this time Neil Bush did not disclose that $3 million of the $32 million that Good was defaulting on was actually for investment in JNB, his own company.
Good subsequently raised Bush's JNB salary from $75,000 to $125,000 and granted him a $22,500 bonus.
Neil Bush maintained that he did not see how this constituted a conflict of interest.
Neil approved $106 million in Silverado loans to another JNB investor, Bill Walters.
Neil also never formally disclosed his relationship with Walters and Walters also defaulted on his loans, all $106 million of them.
Neil Bush was charged with criminal wrongdoing in the case and ended up paying $50,000 to settle out of court. The chief of Silverado S&L was sentenced to 3.5 years in jail for pleading guilty to $8.7 million in theft. (Keep in mind that you can get more jail time for holding up a gas station for $50.)
Today Neil Bush is working on closing a deal in Florida, where his brother Jeb is governor, to sell a software package to schools with his startup company Ignite.
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