I'm Tired of Sequels, Are YOU?

TOY STORY 4: Newer but not necessarily better.

     The other day I went to see TOY STORY 4. I had enjoyed the first three TOY STORIES and was eager to see what more they could add to a wonderful trilogy. I had been warned though by my friend in China that it wasn't all that good and that his 10 year old nephew didn't like it partly because the translation on the screen moved too fast and he had no idea who all the toys we were so familiar with had come from. I found it very derivative and thought if they hadn't seen the first three it really didn't make much sense. 

Can any Aladdin compete with Robin Williams?

     This isn't the first time I noticed that Disney was capitalizing on hits from the past. One of my all time favorites from Pixar was ALADDIN. I went to see the live action version and while many of the songs and characters were there, it felt contrived. What you can do with a cartoon and CGI is very different in feel and execution. You expect a cartoon to be, well, beyond reality. It is often unsettling to see what appears to be live action react the same way. The magical charm is somehow taken away.

Can anyone real beat
Super‐cali‐fragil‐istic‐expi‐ali‐docious but
Andrews?Julie

   I finally got around to seeing the "new" MARY POPPINS and was very unhappy with it. There wasn't even one hummable song and it was shamelessly derivative of the original in just about every scene. The original may have been 55 years old but it has stood the test of time. This one will fade into oblivion.

     I thought that maybe I was alone in this until I read a commentary in TIME Magazine who pretty much came up with the same conclusion. I guess more of the cartoons will be made into live action, actions taken to milk to the last dollar amount of a prized property. I guess they think that if your kids or grandkids have never seen it, it's new to them. Pity the poor parent or grandparent who has seen the remarkable version with a milked down current version.

Same cast, more boring plot
because,well, times HAD changed

As I pondered this I began to consider how this same thing was happening on TV. "Magnum P.I.," Hawaii 5-0", "Murphy Brown" which I never liked before and liked even less 30 years later mercifully gone and "Will & Grace" also recently cut by the network. What was funny 20 years ago is no longer funny when Gay marriage is legal and gay men refer to their husbands and women talk about their wives.

     Again the movie industry talks about declining ticket sales. Have you looked at the weekly features? It's Blah Blah 3, or Remember This 5. Not many years ago they joked about ROCKY 25, HALLOWEEN 30 or SAW 15. I can remember being startled by the first FINAL DESTINATION movie but by FINAL DESTINATION 3 you knew when the next "accident" would occur. That last Avenger movie this year had such horrible ticket sales that it was pulled from all theaters in two weeks. Remember ISHTAR?

     Where are the new ideas, the new plots? It's a sad commentary when Amazon Prime or Netflix win more nominations on either TV or the Oscars than the film makers do. My recent bingeing has been on such shows as GRACE & FRANKIE, LONGMIRE, LUCIFER, STRANGER THINGS - all three seasons, TALES OF THE CITY, BLACK MIRROR. They are original and if there is another season as engaging and changing each year.

BLACK MIRROR brings back the terror of "THE
TWILIGHT ZONE" in a new 21st Century way!

       Now the one thing from the past that I have revisited just for laughs was the old CHEERS about a bar run by Sam Malone a washed up Red Sox relief pitcher. I was surprised at both the writing, how smart it was, even today, and the acting. From the first episode it was funny and as the years went by continued to be smart, sassy and relevant. There are few on "free" TV today. You have to wander to cable for Amazon or Netflix where I've discovered many of their made for shows come from England, often BBC. Are the British funnier than us? I find that hard to believe but their shows are and also far more serious and less predictable.

Suddenly Lucifer is far more sexy
and dangerous all over again

     As I wrote earlier this year, I saw 10 movies during 2019 FilmFest and while some were weird or strange at least they explored new topics. Chinas's DEAD PIGS told about the corruption of a manufacturer who made pig food that started killing the pigs around Shanghai as his sister stood against authorities trying to tear down the family home. A Danish film was downright mesmerizing and deserved better than it received. The audience was so engaged with a kidnapping that when they realized what crime had been committed nearly everyone screamed at the same time, NO! When was the last time you were in a theatre where that happened? It surely wasn't  STAR WARS 21! That we got to see and talk to the cop profiled in BLACKKLANSMAN, suddenly, white supremacy felt all to very real.

     When I was a journalism major in college my director / teacher told us you only needed three books to be successful to be a good writer; one of them being the Bible. Every story of mankind is in there he told us. And while there have been some blockbusters that came from there in the past, brought forward to modern times, maybe it's time to do a little mining there again. After all, critics say STAR WARS is nothing but a cowboy western on a planetary scale and cowboy tales come from our past and probably the past of every culture from the time of the Bible on.

Kids and adults are terrorized in STRANGER THINGS

     The studios, the directors and especially the screenwriters need to mine their own home and town and country and the world events of today. If there aren't a 100 stories after watching the nightly news each and every day, they aren't trying hard enough. I am reading Srinivashan's AMERICANA:  A 400 Year History of American Capitalism that tells the history of America through economics in a way I have never seen it before. If any book has plots and subplots of American history that needs to be told, at last I might add, this is it. 

     There are many stories out there that need to be told again and again for "those that forget history are bound to relive it." As we have seen in the movie theaters the past few years, producers, directors, screenwriters and actors think we have forgotten; we haven't. If you are going to do it again at least do it better "OR" leave it well enough alone.

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed! 

Be sure to check my ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. I am adding many new and exciting, collectible birdhouses and craft items. Many of the items talked about here will be for sale there!

The POWER of Words

Amazon vs. Consumers Reports Ratings

    

     I don't know about you but I am always comparing products. Years ago the only valid "tester" of things we purchased was either word-of-mouth or CONSUMER REPORTS. If you were a camera nut, or auto fiend there were magazines that, and still today, give you their impressions of various models made both here and abroad. As with all things however, you had to trust the reviewer.

     However, after a series of items, purchased on Consumer's recommendations, went south big time, I refused to continue my subscriptions anymore. Instead I would ask friends about items they bought or learned my lesson from bad purchases.

     When Amazon came along and started their star system, 1 - 5 stars, that became a convenient place to check out any items you wanted to buy. Rather than read the 5 star reviews, I hunted down the 1 and 2 star reviews reading the complaints then deciding if I could live with the faults or not. After the review scandal where it was revealed people were paid to write good reviews, I again backed off. However, I was back soon figuring the lowest scores had valid truth and they were not paid for that review.

     This week, in light of the Amazon made up PRIME holiday this July 15 - 16, I checked out a lot of things that I didn't need and did succumb to a few. I was also reading a copy of Consumer Reports and since I had had lousy luck with vacuums of any sort I was in the market yet again. Up to this point I've had the best luck with a $25 O'Cedar Robot that manages to collect at least most of my Labrador's hair. She is an unmitigated fur ball that has me vacuuming once or twice a day. And that's after brushing enough hair off her to fill a pillow! The stick cordless vacuum gets clogged all the time. I spend more time finding the clog than vacuuming.

     Consumer's had a review or a variety of vacuums and one, an electric Dirt Devil got a high rating. They noted that it had a 26 ft. cord that had a retraction feature, a biggie for me, and was good on carpets and collecting dog hair. 

     Yet, when I looked up the same model on Amazon, it only had a 2 star rating and many complaints. I wondered, how could the same model tested in a lab and considered good be rated so poorly on Amazon? Then it dawned on me. Testing a product has a short time frame in which to measure. On Amazon, these aren't testers but users and they often have a much longer time frame when they use an item. It is their experience, the experience in the real world that gives a much better view of products.

     Consumer's car reports have a longer time frame and continuing ratings on cars as they age. But that's all. Other items don't have that luxury of time and while they perform well in the short term, begin to fail as they age. Another-wards, what's good today may not be good tomorrow.

     Amazon is not much better actually. The review process is tedious and ultimately boring. After you purchase something they will send an email asking you to rate the item or the purchase. You open the email and are supposed to click one to five stars. Then the screen changes and you are asked to sign in, give the review a headline and write not too few or too many words about the product. Even though they even identify you as a "verified client or purchaser" you have to prove that yes, you are you and by then, well, I give up. Why are they asking me all these questions? They know I purchased the item. Let me rate it and if necessary comment. While I understand some of the need, my time is valuable too and if I give it 3 stars I don't want to write a "report." It's middle of the road. "Enough" said.

     Its common knowledge that bad news travels 10 times faster than good news. I was taught this  as a Journalism - Marketing major in college. If I get a particularly terrible product you can be sure I'm going to comment. The same can be said for a tremendous product. Most things, however, are okay and don't deserve other than a 1 - 5 star rating. Who wants to spend an hour writing about their experience? I have enough to do maintaining my condo, dealing with the dog, cooking meals for myself, housecleaning, doctors appointment, and oh yes, finding time to be creative, not always succeeding. Amazon needs to streamline the process for the majority of their reviews. They know who I am. They know I am a "verified" purchaser. Will I continue to look at reviews? YES. Do I need to write WAR & PEACE for each and every item I purchase? NO!

     The only way we can really know for sure which gives better or, shall we say, more accurate reviews, is to simply buy the product and see which review is more accurate. The one good thing about buying it on Amazon is that you can, within a certain number of days, return it. That process is thankfully simple though its often a hassle to find a UPS Store of FedEx store nearby or open when you happen to be in the area. The service center for UPS in Palm Springs closes for lunch around 2 to 3, usually when I am out and about.

     As we become a more and more online shopping community, I think we are finding that the old ways of doing business don't work. As other retailers smarten up we are again seeing what was old becoming new again ... service. Real service not the made-up kind we deal with on the phone. However, success will be in the details and the execution. As I have said before, manufacturers will have to be much more attentive to their customers. You might have been able to sell shoddy products in the past, but not anyone, where just about everyone with a cell phone, can make comments that are available to everyone else. These comments can make or break companies, and do. If everyone gives a product 1 star and wishes it could be a -1 star, would you buy it?

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed! 

Be sure to check my ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. I am adding many new and exciting, collectible birdhouses and craft items. Many of the items talked about here will be for sale there!

Recreating A Basic Birdhouse

Here was the basic raw birdhouse. I started drawing

the ferns used in the cutouts and put them on the

top, sides and back.

I don't know about you but in crafting I have never, ever, been able to just paint inside the lines. Remember those words of wisdom in grade school? As most artists discover very early in life, its really what's outside those lines that makes all the difference in the world. I guess the mantra of any creative person would be, "Color OUTSIDE the lines, damnit!"

     As I was working on getting the ferns "right" and carrying the design around to all of the sides, I thought about using the interesting pods that drop from a tree in my complex as well. Give it some dimension. 

     Since the seeds in the pods were mostly gone I decided that I would add golden beads in them to add a little color and bling to the entire project. As you will see it gives the birdhouse a more 3D effect and radically changes the look of the entire item.

     Since I thought the ferns should show the sky, the next step was to stain the entire birdhouse with a light blue stain. I figured this needed to be in place before I painted the mimicked ferns that would cover the birdhouse.

Its important to sand every item
as well. As you sketch keep sandpaper
handy to remove those rough spots

     One of the tricks in painting, one that I learned early on when I started oil painting is to consider backgrounds and lay them first and then build your colors from dark to light. It seems counter intuitive but it works. Since I didn't want blue stain over the ferns I did that work first knowing the dark greens would cover the blue.

Adding blue stain

     I can't tell you how tedious this process was. First the sketching of the ferns, then the painting of every surface but the front that already had them cut out of the wood. It's a good thing I like audio books. This was a 13 CD disk book!

     However, its important to get the layout right now because it is very difficult to go back and try to correct. My mistake here was that once the pencil outlines were made and then the stain was added, I could not go back and erase errant lines. You must cover them now with paint.

Here you can see the project about
halfway done. The base has been
painted, the ferns added and several
of the pods are in place.

     Once the fern leaves cover the rest of the birdhouse, I realized that they needed a bit of "lightening." Any plant has lights and darks. To add a bit of color to the solid deep colors I added dots, something like the spores the leaves of all ferns have. This allowed me to add a bit of color, something missing as you can see at the left. It's nice but still rather two dimensional.

Spores are added to the ferns and
natural painted pods with shiny
beds complete the vision of the front

  Here you can see the change the "spore" dots make and how the addition of the painted pods with beads give both depth and interest to the basic birdhouse. What was plain and almost too simple on the roof, both sides and back suddenly has new interest echoing the cutouts that grace the front of this birdhouse. 

Even the roof, which dominates this
birdhouse is given the fern treatment.
The pods and painted ferns break up
a large, blank area giving new
dimensionality!

     

     I am never satisfied with what I buy instead considering it just like a blank canvas that needs or wants additions that make it more interesting. Just as a canvas is a blank slate open to anything the imagination can, well, imagine, I apply that same kind of consideration to a birdhouse or any craft item for that matter that I paint. Its what we do with it that can make all the difference in the world. It is the crafter, the painter that can see the possibilities and creates one of a kind items that are often as original as any work of art. To me, this is MY work of art three dimensionally. 

     Again, I urge you to think outside the box, or color, if you dare, outside the lines. You never know what you might end up with but unless you try you will never know the excitement of creativity that just might make wonderful be fantastic!

The finished birdhouse. You can find it in my Etsy store at:
Krugsstudio.etsy.com

      Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed! 

     Be sure to check my ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. I am adding many new and exciting, collectible birdhouses and craft items. Many of the items talked about here will be for sale there!

Why Seniors Or Anyone Else Don't Count Anymore

In a trip to China last year by friend came back from paying our dinner bill and said, after being gone a very long time, "I don't know how seniors can pay for things anymore. I just spent all this time trying to pay and I 'thought' I knew what I was doing."

     I just got off the phone with Capital One trying to redeem milage points for a ticket I purchased on the 4th of July while the earth was rolling under me (here in Southern California) again speaking to Capital One. They said that the points towards my ticket payment would be available in 48 hours. Dutifully I called them 48 hours later, today, and was told that it wouldn't be posted until midnight tonight, another 12+ hours; so closer to 72 hours. If I called at 12:01 am I can battle their robot again and get credit for my ticket.

    To be fair, she said that I could go online and do it there, again after 12:01, but from my last experience that was an invitation to again play Sisyphus rolling rocks up hills and them rolling back down. You know the drill. After 15 screens you give up, what they wanted in the first place.

      You have to wonder what companies are considering when it comes to customer service. The mantra of "Your call is so important to us. We are experiencing higher than normal call volume but you are important." There are two options, 1. leave a number that they will never call back or 2. stay on the line where your wait time is at least 45 minutes. I feel that each one designs the experience to benefit them and remove themselves as far away from giving any service while eagerly taking your money. It doesn't matter anymore what you do either. There is a kind of "stonewall" separating you from speaking to any living person. How many web sites have you searched for a phone number to actually talk to someone? I'll bet plenty.

     Apple isn't bad and they usually return calls in a matter of minutes and actually try to help you when things go south. It is a rare experience today though. That's probably why I tend to stay with the same services, providers and companies that provide good "enough" service. Believe it or not, my time is worth money too!

     However, that may change. I was reading about all the changes Apple is making to their computer operating system and how the iPhone and iPad and possibly the Watch will all have their own operating systems. One of the reasons I bought the very first iPhone, but have become increasingly disenchanted with them, is that what was once elegant and simple for even a senior to use has become cumbersome and awkward. Functions come and go, designs have come and gone. The current phones resemble the feeling and fit of the very first phone. Design is important as Ive's and others have learned. Pretty isn't always functional especially if you hold the phone in your hands a lot each day.

     As I read today about the seriously ugly new Chevy trucks, each face even uglier than the last, the moaning over the new 2019 iPhones with an ugly bulge for its cameras so you should wait anyway for the 2020 5G version, you have to wonder, why? Why create things, operations, promotions that you already know are stinkers? If you have a promotion about "What's in your wallet," make the wallet work for me rather than what's easier for you? 48 hours is maybe reasonable but you know the transaction is recorded instantly, this IS the 21st century, not the 19th. Why make me wait? She could see the transaction but I can't get any help until 12:01 am, Sunday, July 7th.

     I don't know, maybe the next time around I WILL see what's in my wallet and it may not be Capital One!

   

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed! 

Be sure to check my ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. I am adding many new and exciting, collectible birdhouses and craft items. Many of the items talked about here will be for sale there!