Somebody's Reading This Blog

Three years ago I wrote an entry titled Nobody Reads This Blog, in which I discussed another blog post by cartoonist Hugh MacLeod called Why Most Artists' Blogs Fail. He was basically making the point that no one visits an artists' blog to see their paintings. They want more, something that means something, something inspiring.

I think in the three years since I followed his advice some of the time. I'm not going to follow it tonight, mainly because I'm tired and I don't feel like writing more than a few short paragraphs. I'm also going to forsake his advice for the duration of this next painting, because the vast majority of my blogging will be in regards to the new piece, working title blue. There's a lot of blue sky in it, and I don't often use blue, even in the sky. I just liked the idea this time and thought how fabulous it would be to have a large blue painting. Here's a sample of that...

(see? a lot of blue on the palette...)

Something noteworthy that I will mention, and this is entirely unrelated to the new painting, is that the American Dream project in the Meadowlands, formerly called Xanadu is back in the headlines. Some readers might remember the chronicles of a painting I did of this building called Xanadu, in which I followed the news stories and wrote about them in conjunction with the Xanadu painting.

I guess I'll start following this story in the news again, and I may make that my next destination for new photos. In the mean time, you get this...

Chris Christie's Grandpa Weren't No Monkey

I've already declared previously that Chris Christie will run for president in 2012. I believe the perfect storm is brewing, in that all of the current candidates are unelectable. I have plenty of conservative friends who are complaining that they need a "real candidate."

The people of New Jersey are really starting to hate Christie, but that wouldn't matter. He can easily win an election without New Jersey or any of the adjacent states (RE: George W). The people in the midwest could give a crap less about corporate handouts, union busting and teacher layoffs. A tough-talking red politician who gives great soundbites is all they need.

Salon.com has provided a guideline by which you can tell if a state governor has presidential aspirations. One criteria is that they begin to publicly display doubts about evolution and climate change, both of which are extremely unpopular in the lesser educated parts of the U.S. In other words, places abundant in conservative voters. Chris Christie is beginning to fit the mold. He has until November to make up his mind.

Being relatively unknown across the country at a time when the Republican front-runners are making asses of themselves means that he's got good potential to win an election as long as there are sufficient voters who want to get rid of Obama. If you hate Christie, now's the time to think about moving to Canada.

Trust Me There's Progress Here (Xanadu [formerly known as The American Dream] pt 17)

What can you expect, I only get time to work at like 10:00 at night. I only have an hour or so before my knees finally give out and I fall asleep standing up. Tonight I started at 10:45 and finished up around 12:15. I'm spent. I'm falling asleep typing this.



I think the title of this is going to change back to "Xanadu." It's just better and more poetic. Besides, people in the press still refer to the infamous magnanimous-mega-mall-to-be as Xanadu. American Dream just doesn't seem to fit. It doesn't stick in one's memory.

I've been thinking about Derrick Jensen's 2006 book Endgame and his 20 Premises and I realized that the Xanadu affair is a perfect example of #20:

Within this culture, economics—not community well-being, not morals, not ethics, not justice, not life itself—drives social decisions.

It was a foregone conclusion that Kubla Christie was going to get the NJ Legislature to rubber stamp his exemption for tax breaks for Triple Five. No one doubted that. Most of the Legislature is far too gutless to even suggest that they let the project die, even though it's an environmental catastrophe on a long list of environmental catastrophes in the Meadowlands.

It's hard enough keeping my house comfortable in 90-degree heat. I can't imagine the amount of energy that's needed to keep a ski slope frozen in those conditions. The whole thing is just one big energy black hole, plus a massive generator of solid waste, nonpoint source pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

One might say that the area is already so bad that adding this thing really won't make a difference. Again, I refer you to the 20 Premises.

It has to stop somewhere.

Kubla Christie Gets His Glass Slippers

I've been struggling with the urge to blog again about Xanadu, my favorite hot topic. I'm finding it harder to start any post about this subject because it requires such a long explanation for anyone not familiar with it. If you need some background to get caught up to speed start here and here.

I've been struggling with the urge to write something but once again I've found myself without any meaningful content to share because I haven't done any work on my new painting since last week. I've been following the Xanadu story in the news, but lately there's not been anything worth sharing. Last night I realized that there's a deeper meaning in this quagmire.

I'm going to do something terribly irresponsible here. I'm going to offer some wild speculation about Xanadu and New Jersey Governor Chris "Kubla" Christie, but since I'm not a real journalist, I can get away with such foolishness. Actually, since I'm an artist I can just claim to be using artistic license and say pretty much whatever I like.

Here it is: Chris Christie is going to run for president in 2012, and he added Triple Five to the list of New Jersey's corporate welfare recipients because they're going to give him a hefty sum of cash to help him achieve that goal. Triple Five, in case you don't know, is the owner of such shoppatainment orgy-plexes as the Mall of America. They now own the mess once known as Xanadu in the New Jersey Meadowlands, which they have re-named American Dream. Didn't they get the memo that the Meadowlands are where dreams go to die? Just ask Matt Dodge.

It never occurred to me before because until I read this article by Leslie Savon from The Nation I didn't know the Republicans were even remotely interested in Christie running in 2012. And now I get it. There's not a whole lot for Red State Republican voters to dislike about Christie. His recent missteps and slipping job approval are not widely known outside of New Jersey and the surrounding region. In fact, he's relatively unknown across the country aside from some anecdotes about what a great reformer he is. It has the makings of a good Cindarella story.

But locals know better. Here's an example of love for Kubla Christie, from a happy New Jerseyan who commented on a recent article on NorthJersey.com:

Sunday May 15, 2011, 6:05 AM - Resident8 says:
Is there any grants from the government that can help Christie make the blasted pension payments? Oh I forgot, public workers are middle class and that's not in Christie's best interest. Fat pile of garbage, I hope he chokes to death on his triple chin...

I think Resident8 cuts right to the heart of the matter and articulates his point rather eloquently. I know I've been unfair to Christie about this whole Xanadu thing. The state got into this mess under Jim McGreevey. But his decision to give handouts to Triple Five fits in nicely with his overall agenda of slashing and burning public education (he's a school voucher advocate) and jobs and services that are desperately needed while greasing the palms of millionaires to help facilitate his political ambitions.

Christie's blunders and transgressions won't be heard of beyond the Mid-Atlantic states for several years. It doesn't matter that he's not well-like here because he won't win New Jersey or any nearby state, so who cares what he does at home. Plus he's betting the house on Xanadu. If it succeeds, he wins. If it doesn't, the people that hate him the most will vote for a Democrat, which they would have anyway.

The rumors surrounding the maligned exterior of the complex seem to be pointing to the idea of improving the look by changing the multicolored metal skin with glass. They should keep some glass aside so Christie can make himself a pair of shoes to wear to the Ball.

Swinging For The Fences

As long as Xanadu keeps popping up in the news I'm gonna milk it. Its what I call a grab iron issue. Grab irons are the metal bars on trains that workers and hobos use to climb on board. Like a hobo grabbing the iron to hop a passing train, I am using the Xanadu issue to hop that train and use it to propel my Five Miles From Times Square project forward. I'm also not going to stop using the name Xanadu, and I'm discovering that neither is anyone in the press refraining from using it instead of the sparkling new name, American Dream. Xanadu is becoming part of the New Jersey culture and part of the Meadowlands folklore.

Each day lately there is a new story in the news with new commentary and details, like this one from today in RetailTrafficMag.com. It's becoming clear that Triple Five is going for broke with their American Dream. In the face of insurmountable odds, they're pulling out all of the stops and hoping that an over-the-top entertainment complex is going to be a huge success. It has to be, because anything less than perfection would be a catastrophe and would be a huge kick in the nuts of every resident of New Jersey who are going to be responsible for $400 million in state funds.

Practically everyone who knows about this is predicting that it will be an abject failure. Everyone, that is, except Triple Five and the Chris Christie administration. Many are hoping that it will at least succeed enough so that it won't close and leave New Jersey a legacy of corporate failure.

But mostly, the thing is so reviled that in spite of the damage already done to the environment, the state economy and the state's reputation, people want to see the huge fat cats involved fall on their faces because of what Xanadu represents: corporate greed, political short-sightedness and utter disregard for the real well-being of the public. We want to wag our fingers in the faces of those who thought a mega-mall-greed-plex was a good idea for a state overrun with such excesses. We want to say "we told you so."

Unfortunately for Triple Five, this is an all-or-nothing situation. There will be no middle ground.

Stately, Indeed

In a state where almost every kid lives close enough to a mall to ride a bike to one, the answer to the question, do we need American Dream @ Meadowlands is obviously no, but mostly for us no-funzniks who think malls are the incarnation of Hell.

In a state that is $43 billion in debt, where the governor has waged a war against everything the public needs such as social services, public services, police, fire department and education, the answer to the question, do we need to help pay for American Dream @ Meadowlands is "are you fucking kidding me?" This article from northjersey.com discusses the press conference and some of the latest details.

At a press conference today, New Jersey Kubla-In-Chief Chris Christie officially announced the deal to line the pockets of the new developers of New Jersey's favorite commercial orgy-plex-to-be with taxpayer financed, borrowed money. It was also an opportunity to announce that the original site that was called Xanadu will now occupy more square footage and feature even more ludicrous attractions than the original design, such as an aquarium and a glass-domed indoor amusement park with roller coasters.

The infamous exterior, which prompted Christie to dub the complex the "ugliest damn building in the state" will get a new look that will hopefully be suitable to Kubla Christie's taste. The world's largest Pepsi logo, a.k.a. the massive Ferris wheel, is still apparently going to be part of the center's final design.

Triple Five, the new owners and linguistic innovators who presented us with the site's patriotic new moniker claim that American Dream @ Meadowlands is projected to attract 50 million visitors each year. That's a tall order, and a generous prediction, and I won't be surprised if we see the building occupied by rats before long. But it seems to me that the vision of everyone involved is to take money from the taxpayers in an effort to convert them into creatures who live and play exclusively indoors.

The latest news on this hideous project has inspired the New York Times to sponsor a poetry contest, asking readers to submit their own re-writes of the Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem that inspired the original idea for the project. Congratulations to Steve Schoenwiesner of Montclair, NJ. Late tonight I'll post the latest progress on my personal inspiration regarding the human zoo formerly known as Xanadu.

Your Neon Lights Will Shine For You

Here's yet another story about the public sentiment regarding the exterior decor of New Jersey's favorite unfinished funplex. The videos show submissions of Ledger LIve viewers' ideas for what the re-design should look like. My favorite of all of the submissions is Xana-Doobie. This is how we deal with situations like this in the Garden State.

I'm noticing so far that absolutely no one is referring to the place as Meadowlands. The Xanadu name is sticking, so they'd better get used to it.

Xanadu: Our Polls Are Rising

I knew this thing couldn't stay out of the news too much longer. Quinnipiac University recently polled 1,532 registered voters and the overwhelming majority polled believe that a giant over-inflated super duper consumer orgyplex painted to resemble stacks of freight containers is ugly. Wow. Maybe they should have taken that poll before they built it? At any rate, Kudos to Quinnipiac for affirming what we already know.

The next poll on the Funplex Formerly Known As Xanadu should be:

"Would it be a good idea for not-quite-accomplished urban landscape painter Matthew Green to use Xanadu as the subject of his latest painting for his project Five Miles From Times Square?"

Just be forewarned that I most often do the exact opposite of whatever advice I'm given, regardless of what the overwhelming majority of interested parties thinks I should do. It's interesting to note that for the first time I am in complete agreement with Kubla Christie on something.

Do you think they'll refer to any poll data before they commit to adding to New Jersey's defect by contributing state financing to finish this nightmare? My money says no.

Would Kubla Kahn Have Approved Of This?

I don't think he'd be too happy about the name change. After all, he did stately Pleasure Dome decree. There's something about the official MEADOWLANDS website that falls way short of the "wow" factor for me. I wish them the best of luck getting all of those smiling douchebags in that horrific montage of pictures to actually go to this place to justify all of the money and effort spent on bringing this nightmare to fruition.

Don't they know they're doomed to fail here? It won't be long before the ghost of Jimmy Hoffa rises up from the swamps and drags the whole damn palace of commercial debauchery into the mud. Even after reading about all of the stories about the financial shortcomings and scandals since the inception of the Xanadu project I'm inclined to believe that the reason that it keeps falling flat is because those meadows are pure evil.

This could very well be the decision the defines Chris Christie's governorship. The meandering path that this project has taken is illustrated by its oddly mottled exterior design, having had as many twists and turns, ebbs and flows as the Hackensack River near which it stands. It's about as incoherent and sequitur-deprived as Samuel Taylor Coleridge's dream.

I'm seeing a painting here. Definitely.