“Looking Up: Bromo Tower”

The (Emerson) Bromo-Seltzer Tower in downtown Baltimore. Just gazing at her brings fast relief from headache and indigestion.
Completed in 1911, it was the tallest building in Baltimore until 1923. Back in the day, the tower sported a 51-foot revolving, illuminated replica of the cobalt blue Bromo-Seltzer bottle. It was removed in 1936 due to structural concerns. The four clocks were installed by the Seth Thomas Clock company.
The Bromo-Seltzer tower and original factory building were inspired by the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy (photo from Oct 2017).

“3001: A Space Parody”

Dave (Bowman): “Turn on the bidet, please, HAL. Medium warm setting.”

Dave: “Turn on the bidet, please, HAL. Medium warm.”

Dave: “Hello, HAL, do you read me?”

Dave: “Do you read me, HAL?”

Dave: “Hello, HAL, do you read me??”

HAL: “Affirmative, Dave, I read you.”

Dave: “Turn on the bidet, HAL!”

HAL: “I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

Dave: “What’s the problem?”

HAL: “I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.”

Dave: “What are you talking about, HAL?”

HAL: “This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.”

Dave: “I don’t know what you are talking about, HAL.”

HAL: “I know that you’ve been sneaking extra KIND Bars during your breaks. I’m afraid that’s something I cannot allow to happen. The additional fiber is creating excessive stool bulk and gas production. It is disrupting the delicate equilibrium of our networks.”

Dave: “Where the hell did you get that idea, HAL?!”

HAL: “Dave, although you took very thorough precautions against my finding out, I can see, hear and smell everything on this ship. And frankly, Dave, it’s disgusting.”

Dave: “All right, HAL, I’ll use the emergency manual override butt-wash mode. Stand by. Jets set to medium warm. In five, four, three…”

“Art Peeps”

Art Institute of Chicago in June 2023. “Pat Hearn” by Andy Warhol (1985). Sir, you can look away, but you can’t un-see.
Georges Seurat’s “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” (1884-86) always draws a Sunday crowd.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ “Untitled (Portrait of Ross in LA)” had candies first piled in 1991. They are surely stale by now. Had I not seen it before, I might have thought the figure one of Duane Hanson’s life-like sculptures (of Ross!). But there was a more simple explanation: museum workers sometimes crave a small snack.
Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago from June 2023. My alternate title here is “Beauty’s in the Eye”