Sep 21 - 2022 - Celebrity Death Hoaxes

 

What is the purpose of celebrity death hoaxes?  By that, I mean how do they generate money for the perpetrators? "Web traffic-goosing tricks come and go. But if there’s one that has enduring appeal, it’s the celebrity death hoax." "Now considered a popular subgenera of misinformation, the celebrity death hoax is a tried-and-true scheme to drive traffic to their sites, which they’re monetizing with ads. The fake stories follow a loose pattern: Often coming from sites with legit-sounding names like Msmbc.co and Nbctoday.co, the stories tend to focus on young, popular celebrities with many fans who would be shocked by their premature death, causing a burst of traffic to the site, which is paid for with programmatically served ads." And the expression "traffic-goosing?" It doesn't pop up anywhere with a meaning, and fails to make it to the urban dictionary.  There are retrievals from 2010 accusing sites of traffic-goosing.  I would assume the expression comes from the slang use of the verb to goose - "To move to action; spur: goosed the governor to sign the tax bill." As Google seemed to not want to deliver any headlines on misinformation techniques, I hopped over to Bing for the "traffic-goosing" search, and got some results.  The gawker.comarticle HERE with an excerpt has a history of these techniques: "Internet publishers — successful ones — have concocted numerous sub rosa playbooks around traffic-goosing techniques: from the early days of annoying email blasts and Google-juicing headline techniques to, you know, more boobs. Then HuffPo came along with its lefty megaplex Drudge Report amalgamation which has morphed into the modern day Buzzfeed curating algorithm of business in the front, party in the back (or vice-versa), now considered standard wisdom for some of the bigger publishers." And what prompts this investigating into celebrity deaths?  It is the immediate burst of misinformation campaigns that the Queen is not dead or has been dead for a while and her death is part of a dark conspiracy involving pedophilia or child trafficking.  The Politifact post on the misinformation postings says it rates this claim "Pants on Fire".  There we go, another urban dictionary term to look up.

I created this interpretative image a few years ago.  The shape of the bottom of this Muscovy duck was egg-like so I thought it was fascinating on its own.    Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Oct 2 2020 - Ladies and Gentlemen, Everyone

 

"Ladies and Gentlemen"  - what might come next? This is a salutation to an audience of some sort.  It started off as gentlemen and gentlewomen - that was around 1586 to 1591. This was an expression of flattery - implying the audience is of higher social status. Gentlemen referred to a man (in the 1500s) who didn't have to work for a living - particularly doing labour.  They would therefore be of a higher social standing.  A gentlewoman had standing in their own right, so the expression became ladies - who were the 'wife of' someone, and also someone of noble birth or background.    The twentieth century demolished all of the notions of the term ladies with the waves of feminism, impacting culture and politics.  Lady became a pejorative term, and re-emerged in subversive representations in names like Lady Gaga. The same is true of gentleman.  It too has been destabilized as an expression of superior standing in society. An expression that came into popularity was 'The Guy'.  It comes from the Latin Guido, made famous in Britain by Guy Fawkes.  Did you know that the celebration of Bonfire Night in the UK included clothed effigies of straw named 'guys' who are thrown into the bonfire?  This is supposedly still done today (well there still re bonfires). The term guy became associated with shabby dress or strange appearance, and was meant to ridicule or insult.  By the 20th century it became a casual term.  It still had gender associations, so with the waves of feminism, it has been cast off having failed to make gender-neutral replacement. Hence the term 'everyone'.  General, inclusive, vague of sexuality.  Now we ask is is "Hello everyone" or is it "Hello to everyone" or could we use "Hello everybody".  That's our public address question today. There are expressions with 'everyone' in them like everyone and his uncle.  Are there jokes about everyone and his uncle? No.   Instead I found jokes that everyonelaugh at. There's a guy in this one. A preacher dies, and when he gets to Heaven, he sees a New York cab driver who is wearing a better robe and staff. He says to an angel, "I don't get it. I devoted my whole life to my congregation." The angel says, "We reward results. Did your congregation always pay attention when you gave a sermon?" The preacher says, "Once in a while someone fell asleep." The angel says, "Right. And when people rode in this guy's taxi, they not only stayed awake, but they usually prayed!" Isn't this an amazing picture?  It is the ceiling of the above-ground walkway between the Eaton's Centre and The Bay/Simpsons. I took this picture in Toronto in January when I checked out Eataly.   Read past POTDs at my Blog: https://marilyncornwell.blogspot.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

People's Choice

When did the idea of "The People's Choice" start?  This is not a topic  - it has no origin date and no serious definition.  At the urban dictionary, we'll find a satirical definition:   "Any group of tossers that self proclaim their greatness by assuming the collective title of "Peoples Choice". Usually participate in QuietThunder, if not it is because they are also known to suffer from permaflop.  Oh man, i would rather sit on the grenade than deal with the "Peoples Choice" It seems to me that there are a few possibilities:  that people's choice awards and ideas come out of the microeconomic theory area of Consumer Choice.  The idea of a People's Choice Award is to give consumers the voting power to decide the # 1, #2, and so on.  The second possibility is having political origins of making decisions/choices through voting. Today we have opportunities to vote for our favourite retail and service organization, usually through media outlets - newspapers and websites.  Up pops the number 1 city and restaurant in the world.  A humorous article says that Wawa's bathrooms were voted number 1 in Pennsylvania and number 2 in the country? I did vote for Longwood Garden's washrooms as the most interesting washrooms in the U.S.  They won (!) Who would guess washrooms would be a subject of people's choice. People's choice awards should also be considered a reaction to awards that are juried and judged by experts and authorities. This is the case of the People's Choice awards where the intent is to "thumb their nose at the Academy" and "The people have spoken and their choice has been heard, and high time too. What we have here is democracy in action, and a poll in which every voter is equal and every ballot counts."  These two quotes are from The Guardian newspaper article by Xan Brooks in 2009. And so we conclude the topic of People's Choice -  very prevalent, but without much analysis.  That would leave an opening for a book or two. We have two abstracts today -the first picture is grunge 'as is' with slight enhancements in Photoshop.  The second picture starts with a grunge image and then is finished with painting in photoshop using French Kiss grunge brushes to create a more interesting composition.

Rats and Mice - It's Your Day!

Encyclopedias used to be our way of tracking events, people, places, and everything of interest to us.  With this great expanse of the internet there are so many things that can be tracked for little cost.  Here's Wayne Geiger's Fun Facts and Daily Trivia. He tells us that today is: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Inauguration Day  Rat and Mouse Day National Hugging Day National New England Clam Chowder Day Squirrel Appreciation Day  National Disc Jockey Day, a day to appreciate radio disc jockeys (on the birthday of Wolfman Jack, born in 1938) National Granola Bar Day Don't you wonder how Rat and Mouse Day got started? The History of Fancy Rat and Mouse Day The American Fancy Rat and Mouse Association, a California-based non-profit club of rodent enthusiasts that sets breed standards, organizes shows, and helps to promote both the fancy rat and the fancy mouse as appealing pets, was formed in 1983. The AFRMA claim their main objective is to “promote and encourage the breeding and exhibition of fancy rats and mice for show and pets.” I found three different dates for Rat and Mouse Day and in the search read this headline:  'Rats could one day be bigger than cows, claim scientists'.

Original Art

The original art in the Brickworks was graffiti.  Before the 'ever greening' of the area, graffiti artists and photographers were frequent visitors.  There was much discussion on whether the graffiti should remain. The resolution seems sublime.  This image is a combination of graffiti and an art installation - portraits of workers from the factory in graffiti style. When you look at the intensity of the graffiti images below the portrait, it is easy to see what makes them compelling in the space. For a self-guided graffiti tour, go to: http://www.evergreen.ca/downloads/pdfs/EBW-Graffiti-Tour.pdf

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Urban Extractions - What Pylons Say

Pylons don't lend themselves to much decay, wear and tear.  I did find a tear in one recently, and thought it have a story to tell.

I found a pylon in traffic in Montreal a few years ago, it it revealed a portrait.  This one is 'Vogue Model'.

This pylon was on Bay Street and Wellelsey near the beautiful Bistro 999 (which is gone and a condo is going up).  It had decaying reflective tape that told a story of friends.

Urban Extractions…Toronto Finds

This is a new series of square format images.  They come from the streets of King West in Toronto last year.  Hidden away lanes, back corners, dumpsters hidden from view - these don't need to be pristine and neat.  Spray paint from graffiti, rust and scratches from wear and tear are in abundance.  It is fun to explore these alleys - there is discovery and wonder around each corner.

In the Key of Red

With the proliferation and abundance of graphic design and signage, there are often opportunities for abstract art in commonplace areas.  This was a Remax sign in Grimsby that had a bit of wear and tear from weather.  The proportions of the black shapes in the top figure make me think of piano keys, so this theme was in my mind as I composed the images.  Mostly I prefer to have even light without shadows to work with the textures and colours and yet the third image shows that shadows can create visual appeal and interest.  

Prehistoric Times

These images came from an east-end Toronto fence, created by a photographer.  While his neighbours didn't seem to appreciate the complex textures and shapes, I found it fascinating and evocative of a prehistoric time.