May 19 2022 - Gasps of Surprise

 

Was the gasp of surprise over Jason Kenny's resignation after getting only 51% of the votes on the leadership review?  They've dumped leaders for far higher percentage numbers.  Or could the gasp of surprise be yours as  as you looked at the cost of gas after "filling" up your vehicle for the long weekend? Where would we find gasps of surprise?  Not very many places.  It seems to me too calm a response to things these days?  We are used to profanity, screams, and generally noisy responses.  But there is a well known meme in this "gasp of surprise" category.  Jojo Whispering To Surprised Emma Roberts, sometimes referred to as Girls Gossiping.  Here's more about it: It is part of a series from Reaction Images. It is called a reaction image macro series based on a screenshot from the 2006 teen fantasy film Aquamarine. In the image, the singer Jojo whispers in the ear of actress Emma Roberts, who is looking off to the side with her mouth agape with delight.   Emma is supposed to be issuing the gasp of surprise.  Over the next decade, people used the image to mimic the feeling of being gossiped about. Roberts and Jojo, in the picture, were captioned with various subjects, usually with a variation on the phrase "I heard that…"  The best-known version is below and it has a strange existential quality to it.   An existential clause is a clause that refers to the existence or presence of something, such as "There is a God." Wouldn't it be "there is a god" if it is existential?  This is analogous to the expression "There exist(s)..." Would we be able to put in an existential quote here?  I vote for Woody Allen's - “I took a test in Existentialism. I left all the answers blank and got 100.”   But this image seems to makes the gasp of surprise trivial.  So I think it moves into Absurdism and the fourth person for the second time speaking in the first person seems a joke from an absurdist.   There are all kinds of flowers that follow the daisy form.  Sweet and simple. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca   Facebook Twitter Website Email Share Tweet Forward 1 Forward this email to a friend Update your profile   Our mailing address is: Marilyn Cornwell Associates 3 Sunnylea Crescent Grimsby, ON  L3M 2Y2 Canada Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences

Mar 15 2021 - Which Kind of Nap?

 

It's another Women's Day today - International Women's Day.  In comparison in the US, it is National Napping Day.  I wonder if that is their answer to the stabbing of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March.  HOW TO OBSERVE #NationalNappingDay Catch some zees! Be sure to nap early enough in the day so as to not interrupt your regular sleep cycle. Take a relaxing nap and use #NationalNappingDay to post on social media. How many kinds of naps are there? There's the power nap, a snooze session, and a full-on nap. Wait!  Psychology today says there are 9 different kinds:  The CEO nap. · The Nap-A- Latte. · The New Mom nap. · The Sports nap. · The Disco · The Siesta. The Shift Work nap.  The Teen nap. The Jet Lag nap.   Full details about each nap are Here.  There's definitely different opinions on how many naps.  Here's five different kinds of naps: 1. Dysregulative Nappers · 2. Restorative Nappers · 3. Emotional Nappers · 4. Appetitive Nappers · 5. Mindful Nappers ... What to make of all this?  I have an answer:  This is also Everything you think is wrong day! This is a day where decision-making should be avoided, where nothing goes right and everything seems to go wrong.   So the clear solution is to pick a nap of your choice and take it.  Our pictures are about Gerberas today.  Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Feb 22 2020 - China Work or Play

How do we know people are working if we can't 'watch them'? That's the remote work question, isn't it?   I know that we can easily measure employee output these days.   We've  been doing it with great vigour for more than 20 years - and even longer if you consider Total Quality Management started in the early 1920s.  We're experts at it now. But in China, there is great worry over productivity because of the coronavirus.  I found the most hysterical quote in the front page of the business section of the Globe and Mail yesterday.  Here's an excerpt: "Some Chinese executives and managers, though, have taken a dim view of their ability to get things done with workers at home. In a country that prizes long hours at the office, companies are keeping close track of how much is getting done by employees far from the gaze of superiors who worry they can’t trust their underlings to be productive on their own. With so many working remotely, ”there’s no way for us to supervise what people are doing. We don’t know if our employees are writing code or just playing with their cats,” said Cheng Zheng, founder of DDD Online, an augmented reality company. “It’s just the opposite of the traditional Chinese work style.” The article reports that productivity levels are varying. Solitary coders are fine, but those positions requiring communications had low productivity while working remotely.   It makes me wonder how they had been working and how efficient they actually were. They couldn't have been using teleconferencing or videoconferencing to meet in groups prior to this.  Or maybe they required employees to 'check in' with managers all the time to find out how things are going - judging on time spent rather than results. And that seems to be what the article says.  The Chinese are resistant to offsite work:  the Globe reports that there have been studies that prove remote work is more productive than on site work. The crisis is showing that remote work is as productive as on site work - a surprise to the Chinese managers.   And what is this about playing with their cats.  It turns out that there are more than 67 million pet cats in China and the cat owner population are generally millennials.  So the worry is there:  these millennial employees could be playing with their pets and making videos at home right now. (Don't read the other articles about cats and dogs - makes me sadly aware of my bubblesome existence). We are enjoying some daisies today.

Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

May the 4th be with you!

In 1977 Star Wars was released to very receptive audiences.  Line-ups were the norm in Toronto.  But then, back then, line-ups was normal in Toronto for most movies, and even in winter.  It was a movie-going town with lots of great venues with big screens and great sound. Maybe that's how the TIFF festival got to Toronto - knowing the audiences were already there. There are many articles - 20 facts, 30 facts, and so on  - things you didn't know about Star Wars.  These seem to be tidbits for diehard fans. So I have turned to finding jokes, and Reader's Digest supplied some puns: Q: Which program do Jedi use to open PDF files? A: Adobe Wan Kenobi Q: Which website did Chewbacca get arrested for creating? A: Wookieleaks Q: Why did Anakin Skywalker cross the road? A: To get to the Dark Side. Q: Why is Yoda such a good gardener? A: Because he has a green thumb.  Q: How do you get down from a bantha? A: You don’t. You get down from a goose. Luke and Obi-Wan walk into a Chinese restaurant. Ten minutes into the meal, Luke’s still having trouble with the chopsticks, dropping food everywhere. Obi-Wan finally snaps, “Use the forks, Luke.” The Star Wars text crawl walks into a bar. “Get outta my pub!” the bartender yells. “We don’t serve your type here.” These are the gerberas from the greenhouse tour a few weeks ago.   I am so taken by their complex centres with tiny pistols and petals looking like confetti.

I had thought the latest royal baby was expected at the end of April.  Today, at the beginning of May, the stories are still flowing but there's nothing from London yet. Today's news says that they will not be publishing pictures of the newborn on the day of the birth, that they will celebrate privately as a new family.   Harry's itinerary is being scrutinized to figure out the expected date.  The article says he is to make a 'surprise' two-day visit to Holland next week.  I expect that actual surprise would be if he cancels at the last minute.   There are so many questions for a royal birth: where will the family live, will they have a nanny, who will be the godparents, what title will the new royal baby have, where does it fall in the line of succession, and the key question what will it be called and will it be a boy or girl. I can't imagine being a Royal family reporter. Looking for something new to say every day when there isn't any progress.  But then, they self-select for the work.  The articles about royal reporters talk about them being 'friendly-ish' with the royal members.  That likely is the big draw - to be in the centre of the action - even if the action is quotes and gossip.  And of course, the scandal stories that are so sought after.  There's an article on thetalko.com with 16 scandalous pictures the Royal family tried to bury - what a strange work life that would be.  I received a finalist and a second place finish in this month's Better photo contest.  Here's the second place finish image.

New York's Newest Monument - Vessel!

Vessel is a new project in New York - intended to be a stunning experience of space.  The YouTube article is HERE.  There are two immediate visual comparisons for me - the first is the idea of Tower of Babel.  The second is Floyd Elzinga's Pinecone sculptures.  But we'll stay with the Tower of Babel today. Here's Vessel Here's the Tower of Babel The major difference is that New York's 'staircase' is an upside down structure - small at the bottom and large at the top.  The website hudsonyardsnewyork.com has a great set of pictures and story describing what they call New York City's next public landmark. Created by Thomas Heatherwick and Heatherwick Studio – Hudson Yards presents a uniquely interactive experience, a monument meant to be climbed and explored. Comprised of 154 intricately interconnecting flights of stairs—almost 2,500 individual steps— and 80 landings, the centerpiece will literally lift up the public, offering a multitude of ways to engage with New York, Hudson Yards and each other. This larger-than-life art piece will be New York City’s next public landmark.   You can read about all of the Hudson Yards projects at their website - The High Line, the Public Square and Gardens, The Shed, and more.   And what are today's photos?  The beautiful Gerbera flower in the commercial growing greenhouses in Grimsby. It came to North America in the 1920s. It was hybridized into a plant suitable for gardens and widespread commercial production in the 1970s.  Today it is a staple of the florist trade.

Daisy Chain

Wake Up on the Bright Side Aren't there such interesting colour variations on this daisy plant, Cineraria.  These are pot plants this time of year, heralding spring with their delicate little mounds of scented daisy blooms.   Daisies are one of the happy flowers of childhood. The website daisyparadise.com tells me there are over 1500 genera and 23,000 species and that the daisy family is the largest family of flowering plants. "The Daisy is pretty and versatile. Daisies are hugely popular too! There is a wide range of plants belonging tothe Daisy family or Compositae (Asteraceae). There are annuals, perennials, shrubs and even trees. Some are hardy while others are tender. In fact, everybody should be able to find a plant to their taste within the huge daisy family! Some well known plants like Osteospermum,  Chrysanthemum, Gerbera and Calendula belong to the Daisy family. Some are less common, such as Tithonia, Inula and Xeranthemum. Just use the Daisies A to Z menu at the top of this page and click on the daisy of your choice." One of the great floral plants in the Niagara greenhouse trade - the Gerbera - is included in this family.