On the other not-so-ambiguous side, this past weekend I went to The Clothesline Arts Festival at Memorial Art Gallery (500 University Ave., near Goodman St.) and checked things out. In general, I found that it shared the disappointing characteristic of Park Avenue Festival (Park Ave. from Alexander St. to Culver Rd.; also see Rochseter Event's Park Avenue Festival Page) and Corn Hill Festival in the Corn Hill Neighborhood. Generally, each of these events seems more like a trade show for basic material science techniques. "Look what I can do with glass." "Look what I can do with bronze." Blah blah blah.

I decided I'd do something this year to try and change the trend. I earmarked some cash for each of the events for my pick of the "most artistic" vendor. My definition of art is "expressing something that is difficult or impossible to do in words." Thus, a copper butterfly on a stick doesn't count, but an abstract painting of blue stuff that kind of reminds me of flowing water, or clouds, or thoughts does count. In the previous two "art festivals" I didn't actually find anything. For Clothesline, I found Carrianne Hendrickson way in the back by Prince Street. I saw her stuff last year, and decided to go over my original budget and get Star Catcher because I thought it was cool looking. Now there's at least one person who paid one artist for one work of art and hopefully this will drive a trend.

However, I've got constant buyer's remorse ... I don't want to say how much I spent because the actual dollar amount won't mean the same thing to everyone. I guess I can put it this way: it's about 20 times more than my "impulse limit" which is the most amount of money I'd spend without thinking about it. So like when I was in college, I wouldn't really hesitate to drop up to about $5 if I saw something I wanted, so this was like spending $100 when I was in college.

The remorse is fading, though, and I'm liking having it around. I still think it's kind of creepy ... and kind of cool. I want to ride cats around and catch stars. I wonder what the guy looks like under the mask, if that's even a mask. Or even a guy. The hat's pretty cool too. He's got a clock with compass points on it instead of numbers ... whatever that's supposed to do. From my New Math experience, I'd say it shows about East:South o'clock. I bet that's P.M. too. The cat seems kind of irritated because it's switching its tail.

I'm just afraid I'm going to get drunk one day and want to smash it or something. Hopefully not.

• Northfork (at The Little) - The town of Northfork is soon to be at the bottom of the lake that feeds a dam, and everything and everyone must go. This looks really quite good, but it's not recommended as a summer pick-me-up. (The Little had this on their "coming soon" calendar weeks ago, and I don't know if it ran then, but it looks like that calendar is just a joke.)
• The Magdalene Sisters (at The Little) - Women in Ireland in the 1960's were essentially enslaved for "unladylike" behavior like getting raped and such.
• American Splendor (at The Little) - Based on the comic books which is based on the average life of Harvey Pekar. See his interview on The Onion's AV Club for some more insight.
• Cabin Fever - Since this is an R-rated American movie, you can bet on seeing the hot chick's tits without having to see the guy's cock.
• Matchstick Men - Some con men get a surprise when one of the guy's daughters appears on the scene, and some boring plot ensues.
• Once Upon a Time in Mexico - Shoot-em-up type thing, I guess.