Sabotage

Sabotage - what does that mean?

The word "sabotage" comes from the French word "sabot" and means "to trample with wooden shoes." A sabot is a clog with a leather top. At the beginning of agricultural mechanization French farm workers threw their "sabotes" into harvesting and processing machines (which were taking their jobs), thereby blocking the complicated mechanics of the mowing and threshing machines and rendering them useless. For the sake of their labor, they engaged in "sabotage".

Interesting.... I wonder if this means that self sabotage is actually a way to create "work" for ourselves. I mean, we wouldn't want things to be too easy, now would we? My sister and I recently did some "work" on this subject. You can read about it here.

I Crucify Myself

I crucify myself
a thousand times every day
I keep thinking
that
I'll cut it out
but I don't
there is all this extra baggage
and unfinished business
and this nebulous thing about
"being nice"
even when
I'm trying to be pointed and honest
strings are attached
I forgive them and then
forget to forgive
myself
this is my crown of thorns
my Crown Royal
and this is where
I stab myself
in the back
driving the point home
just literally pounding it in
is this really me
or do I still have my blinders
on shattering self images
counting down the years
time is running out
burning the candle
at both ends i'm trying to get a
handle on it
I want to be "good"
I want to get all my shit
into one small bag
I want that last piece
of the puzzle to slide
easily into place
and is that once in a blue moon
pie in the sky happily ever after
magical thinking
did i make my bed and now
i have to lie in it
feels deeply rooted
am I still a girl fragile
easily shattered
or just an old hag
with a bunch of screws loose
this is my slippery slope
the not so soft place
where I land
the quick sand I thrash around in
every day

-Barbie

Like it?
See the slide show at Green Dolphin Studio or visit a complete set of photos at Flickr.
This piece, by the way, has been sold.

Introducing Snap Shots from Snap.com

I just installed a nice little tool on this site called Snap Shots that enhances links with visual previews of the destination site, interactive excerpts of Wikipedia articles, MySpace profiles, IMDb profiles and Amazon products, display inline videos, RSS, MP3s, photos, stock charts and more.

Sometimes Snap Shots bring you the information you need, without your having to leave the site, while other times it lets you "look ahead," before deciding if you want to follow a link or not.

Should you decide this is not for you, just click the Options icon in the upper right corner of the Snap Shot and opt-out.

One Thousand Paintings

I found something really interesting today... A website called One Thousand Paintings. I stared at it in disbelief for a full 10 minutes while the full impact of the idea sank in.

It said: For sale: the numbers 1 through 1000.

One thousand numbers = one thousand paintings. All beautifully painted on canvas (approx. 12 x 12 x 1.5 inches). Each number is unique - the number and the demand define the price. An experiment of art & mathematics, on the web, the first of its kind.

There were satisfied customer comments like this one:

"This is such an amazing idea - I had been looking to purchase a piece of unique art online and this 100% fits the bill."
Teresa Critien, UK

And this one:

"Several weeks later, a battered yellow box arrived bearing a Zurich postmark. Inside, swathed in bubble wrap, was the gift. I must say, it was glorious."
Dan Pink, WIRED Magazine

And this blurb about sales:

Paintings have been sold to the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, China, Singapore, Mexico, Brasil, South Africa, Germany, France, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Kyrgyzstan, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Portugal, and Israel.

I began to wonder how much they were being sold for and found this intriguing pricing policy:

Price calculator:
Price = 1000 - number.
Initial discount: 90%.
Current discount: 20%.
The discount will decrease by an absolute 10% for every 100 paintings sold.
Min. price: $40.

How many have been sold?

Well, there are only 240 numbers left! I didn't calculate how much money this guy must have brought in. But DAMN! That's a lot of sales!

So what makes these paintings so cool? What makes them so interesting? Why are people buying them?

I have no idea. This is what they look like. Yep. Just a plain blue number on a white canvas. I don't get it. Would you buy one? Are you even tempted?

100 Pic Challenge

Today I stumbled onto something really cool at Chaoticat. It's the 100 pic challenge. The point of the challenge is to test and improve your skill as an artist or photographer. The idea being to create 100 pictures, and after 100 pics who wouldn't be a better artist or photographer?

If I can get other people to do it with me, we might create a web page together for our individual contributions to the challenge. If it looks like I'm in this alone, I'll be posting my pics here. If you see this, and want to join in, that would be great! Challenges are easier to complete when you've got friends and companions along for the ride.

So, check out the rules at Chaoticat or deviant art, and let's get started!