Trendsetter Pt. 1:
Trendsetter Pt. 2 OR How No One Will Confuse Me For Maurice Ravel :
Oh, Poe, how I hate thee. You and your teletubbie alter ego...
Monday, October 31, 2011
200!
So I've made it to 200 posts. I wanted to do a photo blog, but instead I settled for a comic. It's actually 2 for the price of one (since one only makes sense with the other and since the second is more applicable than the first). Enjoy, and thanks for reading!
Monday, October 17, 2011
A Good Museum Is Hard To Find Pt. 2
On September 24th, the Smithsonian hosted an event, country wide, that would allow for free admission to any participating museum.
While this was an exciting opportunity, the problem of finding a good museum came up again. I started with a search of nearby participating museums, but eventually had to search in a larger radius from my home. Even though it would be a three hour ride, the South Carolina State Museum looked like the obvious choice. Surprise, surprise.
With four floors, thousands of artifacts and multiple exhibits, this museum was just begging for visitors.
The first floor we started on delved into the history of South Carolina, with a dated but interesting and unbiased video to begin the tour. It was a very refreshing and informative take on the history of the South unlike the stupid movie at the Savannah history museum. After the video, you tour the halls in chronological order, exploring South Carolina's vast history through colonization, wars and societal changes. The next floors were dedicated to science and technology, natural history, and art.
Some highlights:
They had an exhibit on dueling. Who isn't excited by that? Not only were there dueling pistols but there also were dueling rule books (like books about the rules for dueling). The only thing missing was a guy standing at the exhibit that would remove his glove and smack you with it.
There also was a replica Revolutionary War gun that you could hold. It was chained to the wall so I couldn't flee with it, but that doesn't mean I didn't try:
And last but not least, there was a giant tire. Unfortunately I got lost within its rubbery depths for about a half an hour, and then finally came back up for air just in time to go explore more of this massive museum.
The entire museum is housed in what it calls its "largest artifact", the former Columbia Mill, this massive museum left me with little to complain about. Although I do have at least one complaint. Since the museum is housed in the Columbia Mill, the history of the Mill is explored, and while the exhibit on milling has photographs of children, there is nothing about child labor discussed in the exhibit. It kind of felt like how Savannah avoided discussing slavery at their museum. It's probably a general oversight since SCSM didn't seem to be avoiding anything when relaying history but I was surprised to see it left out. I guess I'm always on the lookout for things that I think people want to avoid when relaying history, and I'm sure that there are other people who have been through SCSM and found things they thought were missing too.
Unfortunately we were unable, during our visit, to also see the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room which is attached to the museum. Hopefully we'll get a chance to see it next time.
While this was an exciting opportunity, the problem of finding a good museum came up again. I started with a search of nearby participating museums, but eventually had to search in a larger radius from my home. Even though it would be a three hour ride, the South Carolina State Museum looked like the obvious choice. Surprise, surprise.
With four floors, thousands of artifacts and multiple exhibits, this museum was just begging for visitors.
The first floor we started on delved into the history of South Carolina, with a dated but interesting and unbiased video to begin the tour. It was a very refreshing and informative take on the history of the South unlike the stupid movie at the Savannah history museum. After the video, you tour the halls in chronological order, exploring South Carolina's vast history through colonization, wars and societal changes. The next floors were dedicated to science and technology, natural history, and art.
Some highlights:
They had an exhibit on dueling. Who isn't excited by that? Not only were there dueling pistols but there also were dueling rule books (like books about the rules for dueling). The only thing missing was a guy standing at the exhibit that would remove his glove and smack you with it.
 |
| I challenge you to break the glass and take the historic pistols so we can have a duel! I don't want to break the glass, the alarm will sound. I don't want to either, I guess we should move along and duel some other day. |
 |
| Why yes, I am wearing my I heart History shirt from the Henry Ford Museum. Thank you for noticing. ;) |
And last but not least, there was a giant tire. Unfortunately I got lost within its rubbery depths for about a half an hour, and then finally came back up for air just in time to go explore more of this massive museum.
 |
| I wonder if I'll remember my life beyond this rubbery prison... |
The entire museum is housed in what it calls its "largest artifact", the former Columbia Mill, this massive museum left me with little to complain about. Although I do have at least one complaint. Since the museum is housed in the Columbia Mill, the history of the Mill is explored, and while the exhibit on milling has photographs of children, there is nothing about child labor discussed in the exhibit. It kind of felt like how Savannah avoided discussing slavery at their museum. It's probably a general oversight since SCSM didn't seem to be avoiding anything when relaying history but I was surprised to see it left out. I guess I'm always on the lookout for things that I think people want to avoid when relaying history, and I'm sure that there are other people who have been through SCSM and found things they thought were missing too.
Unfortunately we were unable, during our visit, to also see the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room which is attached to the museum. Hopefully we'll get a chance to see it next time.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
A Good Museum Is Hard To Find Pt. 1
So after visiting Savannah and being terribly disappointed in the Savannah History Museum, I wasn't sure where to go to find a good museum. Technically, I've been to Andersonville, and I think that's a good museum, but I wanted to find one closer and one I hadn't been to yet.
Upon a unplanned jaunt to South Carolina, our exit on the highway boasted of also being the exit for people who were interested in the John C. Calhoun house. Why yes and thank you (I said to myself and the sign I guess).
So in the lovely little town of Anderson, SC (where we got off the highway), we were first treated by viewing the historic Calhoun lofts:
Upon a unplanned jaunt to South Carolina, our exit on the highway boasted of also being the exit for people who were interested in the John C. Calhoun house. Why yes and thank you (I said to myself and the sign I guess).
 |
| (Picture of a painting of John C. Calhoun) |
I wasn't aware that Calhoun owned, lived in or operated any lofts while he was alive, but they looked pretty fancy from the outside, and anything that says historic probably means it (because who would claim that if it weren't true?) Okay, so maybe the lofts actually used to be a hotel in the 1920s so they can be considered historic, but somehow I don't think they have any link to Calhoun (although I could be wrong).
Anyways, after our business was complete in Anderson, we made our way over to Clemson, SC. Apparently Clemson is a city built around a university, or maybe it's a university built inside of a city. Either way, Clemson is home to Calhoun's home (if that makes sense). So his house is the center of campus but unfortunately he had a son-in-law who started the college and now the place is much more well known for his son-in-law than it is for him. When we went through the walk through of the house they didn't share a whole lot about Calhoun as I expected, but that's okay, I probably know more about him than I'd care to admit anyways.
 |
| (Fort Hill: Calhoun's and later Clemson's Home) |
That brings me to my final point, so why seek out Calhoun's humble abode? Contrary to popular opinion, while Calhoun was a crazy mo-fo, I'm not really anti-Calhoun. Frankly, the enemy of my enemy should, in theory, be my friend, and since Calhoun and Jackson were enemies, Calhoun and I should be friends, but Calhoun had a lot of enemies, so it would be hard to say who I should be friends with or who my enemies are. Either way, history is wonderful to explore and historic homes always enchant me, so I was down with seeing Calhoun's digs even though I might not have agreed with all of his political and personal beliefs.
So this venture into South Carolina proved eventful and when it came time once again to search out a good museum, to South Carolina I went a callin'.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
What Can Happen In A Month?
Absolutely nothing.
It's true, I spent a month away, for no good reason other than it was hard coming up with things to write about and then as the time passed I felt even more awkward about coming back. It's like that friend you were supposed to call but then you wait too long and then you feel like a jerk and think maybe they're mad, maybe they don't want to talk anymore, how are you going to explain why it took you so long? And then you just keep sitting on it, knowing you're supposed to call but feeling worse and worse about not doing it and anxious about the conversation that will happen if you do call. And so you don't call and then years pass, lifetimes pass and then one day you're walking around the supermarket and you see them and they're all like: "Weren't you supposed to call me?" and you're all like: "Who are you? I'm 70 and I have dementia!" And then you try to run away as fast as possible with your bum knees and walker decked out with yellow tennis balls.
Well, my blog caught my elderly self at the supermarket, and I was too slow to run away so here I am, blogging again. Not that I would ever leave for that long, but it's hard showing up when you feel like you have nothing to talk about. So back to the title of this post, What Can Happen In A Month? Pretty much not a whole lot (if you're me). Got a few job interviews, got an awful, awful cold, had a couple of birthday celebrations (yes my birthday was in September - sorry you missed it ;p) and then did a whole lot of nothing. Well not nothing, I'm in school, job hunting, having visitors and holding down the fort but it feels like nothing because it's just the same old, same old.
I still don't think I've got a whole lot to share here, but the blog keeps haunting my dreams (and my supermarket visits) so I figured I had to come back. Even if we haven't chatted in a while, once I finally break the cycle of silence it's easier to get back to where things were and to see things into something better.
It's true, I spent a month away, for no good reason other than it was hard coming up with things to write about and then as the time passed I felt even more awkward about coming back. It's like that friend you were supposed to call but then you wait too long and then you feel like a jerk and think maybe they're mad, maybe they don't want to talk anymore, how are you going to explain why it took you so long? And then you just keep sitting on it, knowing you're supposed to call but feeling worse and worse about not doing it and anxious about the conversation that will happen if you do call. And so you don't call and then years pass, lifetimes pass and then one day you're walking around the supermarket and you see them and they're all like: "Weren't you supposed to call me?" and you're all like: "Who are you? I'm 70 and I have dementia!" And then you try to run away as fast as possible with your bum knees and walker decked out with yellow tennis balls.
Well, my blog caught my elderly self at the supermarket, and I was too slow to run away so here I am, blogging again. Not that I would ever leave for that long, but it's hard showing up when you feel like you have nothing to talk about. So back to the title of this post, What Can Happen In A Month? Pretty much not a whole lot (if you're me). Got a few job interviews, got an awful, awful cold, had a couple of birthday celebrations (yes my birthday was in September - sorry you missed it ;p) and then did a whole lot of nothing. Well not nothing, I'm in school, job hunting, having visitors and holding down the fort but it feels like nothing because it's just the same old, same old.
I still don't think I've got a whole lot to share here, but the blog keeps haunting my dreams (and my supermarket visits) so I figured I had to come back. Even if we haven't chatted in a while, once I finally break the cycle of silence it's easier to get back to where things were and to see things into something better.
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