What the devil are you doing sir!?

Frank O'Hara:



As I decided (temporarily) to study the New York School of poetry instead of Virginia Woolf,

partly because I didn't want a certain tutor to think that he had an influence on my learning,

partly because I thought that they may be similar and therefore comparable to the Beats,

partly because (thanks Frank) I wanted to do something a bit different, I discovered the wonderful poetry of Mr. O'Hara, which is frankly mesmerising in its blend of everyday occurrences and allusions to high art, and in its blend of fantasy and realism. He didn't live very long (he died at 40), so the poetry he did leave should be cherished; check out his website for a couple of other videos and written examples of his work:

Frank O'Hara.

Thanks also to the New York poets, I got into having a look at a few painters, abstract expressionist to be more precise (abstract expressionism being a major movement in New York during the 1950s, about the time that old Frank was working at the Museum of Modern Art). Jackson Pollock is probably the most famous of the abstract expressionists, with his "drip paintings" which he created by putting the canvas on the floor and standing over it. It has a very striking effect:



This painting, entitled "Greyed Rainbow", has bright colours obscured by masses of grey - making it literally a greyed out rainbow. You can see where the name "abstract expressionism" comes from, right? Jackson Pollock is a pretty interesting guy, so look him up.

Anyway, that's enough pretense that I have any real understanding of high art for one day.

I'm very excited, because Ed is attempting poetry... Call me arrogant and presumptious, but I can helping thinking (or at least hoping) that he might have been reading my blog and it inspired him to have a go hero. So check that out on his blog, and check out Heather's blog for a picture of my ugly mug, and check out Matthew's blog for some more hilarity.

That's more than enough for today, I think I'll kill some brain cells with beer and Mass Effect.

Cheerio!