details below the fold:

making waves
a selection from the SABC art collection

A version of this exhibition, previously shown at the Johannesburg Art Gallery in 2004- 5 and at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown in 2006, is to be shown at the Iziko Good Hope Gallery at the Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town from September 6 th to October 28th 2007.
The exhibition which will feature approximately 100 works attempts what no South African collection, either public or corporate, has previously done, to provide both an interpretation of the development of South African art through the 20 th century and a selection of the best contemporary South African work.

The historical coverage traces the emergence of a local tradition distinguishable from the earlier indigenous and Europe-derived traditions. The latter is illustrated in the work of Kay, Laubser, Preller and Stern among others. The local tradition is seen as originating in the township painters from Sekoto among others in the 30s to Motjuoadi, Ngatane and Sihlali in the 60s and 70s and also in the very different hybrid products of the Rorke’s Drift and Polly Street art schools in the third quarter of the century. Of pivotal importance in this process is the unique work produced in the context of political struggle after Sharpville 1960 and Soweto 1976, seminally in the drawings of Dumile and Motau in the 60s, followed in the 70s and the 80s by the work of Kumalo, Legae, Alexander, Ractliffe and others in a range of media.

In addition distributed through the exhibition spaces are some of the finest examples of contemporary South African work in a range of media, including the sculptures of Hlungwane, Mabasa and Schütz, the drawings of Kentridge and Victor, the photographs of Mofokeng and Tillim, the prints of Rakgoathe and Shilakoe, the mixed media of Nhlengethwa and Rose and the paintings of Hodgins and Siopis. The work of several younger artists including Gush, Hlobo, Hugo and Madikida is also featured.

The works are hung in a series of numbered and labelled spaces forming a suite of themes from Struggle and Identity through Street to that which informs much of the exhibition – Predicament. The exhibition includes a number of exceptionally fine recently acquired works, both historical and contemporary. An illustrated catalogue with text and alphabetical list of artists will be available to viewers.

The exhibition, which received a BASA award in 2006, has been widely acclaimed in art journals and in the press. Among these, Art South Africa commented: “When it comes to corporate and public art collections, the SABC collection is one of the most potent assemblies of work this country has to offer.” And the Sunday Times wrote: “Making Waves shows a consistent sensitivity to artistic quality and social relevance…In quantity and quality [it] has the critical mass needed to give an illuminating overview of our troubled history,”

The exhibition which has been curated by Koulla Xinisteris, Collection curator, and Graham Neame, Collection art advisor, will be opened on 6 th September 2007 at 6.00pm by the Chief Financial Officer of the SABC, Robin Nicholson.

The Iziko Good Hope Gallery at the Castle is open from Tuesday to Sunday, 9.30am to 4.00pm. Safe parking is available in the grounds of the gallery.

For further information contact: Koulla Xinisteris
Curator: SABC art collection
Mobile: (082) 574 5568

PhotographySA.com || The Bag Factory

Reminder: This Saturday, 24 February 2007
First African photomarathon to be held in Johannesburg
Description: On 24 February 2007, PhotographySA.com, in collaboration with the Bag Factory’s About Art programme, will organize the first African photomarathon in Johannesburg.

24 February 2007 8am – 8pm
photomarathon starting at The Bag Factory

3 March 2007 3pm – 5pm
panel discussion by professional Johannesburg photographers

15 March 2007 5:30pm for 6pm
photomarathon exhibition and announcement of winners

Update on Prizes:

The Bag Factory will be sponsoring two ipod shuffles (http://www.zastore.co.za/ipodshuffle06.php) for the winners and Crumpler (http://www.crumpler.co.za) will be sponsoring bags for the winners and a gimmick for all the participants.

Please also read through our safety guidelines. All participants will be required to sign a copy of these guidelines stating they have read them so why not save yourself some time before the event and read them now: http://photographysa.com/blogger/2007/02/photomarathon-safety-guidelines.asp

Johannesburg, 26 January 2007 – On 24 February 2007, PhotographySA.com and the Bag Factory will organize the PhotographySA.com photomarathon 2007 :: Johannesburg. A photomarathon is an event, characterized by great length and concentrated effort and typically lasting 12 to 24 hours, where participants obtain a series of photographs on predefined subjects or themes. The city of Johannesburg has been selected for its unique dynamics and vibrancy and because of the large amount of active photographers and the relative lack of profiling opportunities for them.

The 2007 photomarathon will start at 8am on 24 February 2007 and will last for 12 hours. Each four hours, participants will receive four new themes at a new venue, moving throughout downtown Johannesburg. At the end of the event, at 8pm on the same day, participants have to submit exactly one photograph for each theme. In the week following, there will be a panel discussion by various prominent photographers working in Johannesburg and a professional jury will decide on a winning series and winning photographs from the photomarathon event. The winners will be announced at an exhibition of the works that will be hosted at the Bag Factory from 15 March.

To give every photographer the opportunity to participate, digital and analogue photographers can participate in separate categories. Participation costs 50 Rand, but early birds get a discount. Bronwyn Lace, the education officer for About Art, says “This is an enormous opportunity for both up-and-coming and established photographers to compete in a singular event in downtown Jo’burg.”

More information can be obtained straight from the website PhotographySA.com or by contacting Babak Fakhamzadeh at admin@photographysa.com or Bronwyn Lace at bronwyn@bagfactoryart.org.za. Participants can register through the website and in person at The Bag Factory.

About Art is the Bag Factory’s art education programme which focuses on stimulating, enriching and advancing the careers of professional practicing artists within its local community as well as its wider arts network. PhotographySA.com is a cooperative adventure of Ismail Farouk, and Rat Western, artists from Johannesburg and Babak Fakhamzadeh, traveling web guru from Iran. With the 2007 Johannesburg photomarathon, PhotographySA.com and About Art aim to bring together established and developing photographers in an adventurous and creative event which will truly cross boundaries.

PhotographySA.com
The Bag Factory
10 Mahlatini Street, Fordsburg, Johannesburg

Babak Fakhamzadeh
Bronwyn Lace (About Art Education Officer)

+27 76 5604079
+27 11 834 9181

admin@PhotographySA.com
bronwyn@bagfactoryart.org.za

http://PhotographySA.com

http://bagfactoryart.org.za

PhotographySA.com || The Bag Factory

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 2nd February 2007

First African photomarathon to be held in Johannesburg

Description: On 24 February 2007, PhotographySA.com, in collaboration with the Bag Factory’s About Art programme, will organize the first African photomarathon in Johannesburg. 

Johannesburg, 2nd February 2007 – On 24 February 2007, PhotographySA.com and the Bag Factory will organize the PhotographySA.com photomarathon 2007 :: Johannesburg. A photomarathon is an event, characterized by great length and concentrated effort and typically lasting 12 to 24 hours, where participants obtain a series of photographs on predefined subjects or themes. The city of Johannesburg has been selected for its unique dynamics and vibrancy and because of the large amount of active photographers and the relative lack of profiling opportunities for them.

The 2007 photomarathon will start at 8am on 24 February 2007 and will last for 12 hours. Each four hours, participants will receive four new themes at a new venue, moving throughout downtown Johannesburg. At the end of the event, at 8pm on the same day, participants have to submit exactly one photograph for each theme. In the week following, there will be a panel discussion by various prominent photographers working in Johannesburg and a professional jury will decide on a winning series and winning photographs from the photomarathon event.  The winners will be announced at an exhibition of the works that will be hosted at the Bag Factory from 15 March.

To give every photographer the opportunity to participate, digital and analogue photographers can participate in separate categories. Participation costs 50 Rand, but early birds get a discount. Bronwyn Lace, the education officer for About Art, says "This is an enormous opportunity for both up-and-coming and established photographers to compete in a singular event in downtown Jo’burg."

More information can be obtained straight from the website PhotographySA.com or by contacting Babak Fakhamzadeh at admin@photographysa.com or Bronwyn Lace at bronwyn@bagfactoryart.org.za. Participants can register through the website and in person at The Bag Factory.

About Art is the Bag Factory’s art education programme which focuses on stimulating, enriching and advancing the careers of professional practicing artists within its local community as well as its wider arts network. PhotographySA.com is a cooperative adventure of Ismail Farouk, and Rat Western, artists from Johannesburg and Babak Fakhamzadeh, traveling web guru from Iran. With the 2007 Johannesburg photomarathon, PhotographySA.com and About Art aim to bring together established and developing photographers in an adventurous and creative event which will truly cross boundaries.      

  ###

Hello everyone and welcome, from myself, Nathaniel Stern, Uber-digital blogger geek who has been told he puts too many photos of his daughter on the internet, from Simon Gush, the boy wonder who turned a downtown parking garage he’s squatting in into one of joburg’s most interesting contemporary galleries (if you ask me), from our newest member, Rat Western, a wonderful artist and winner at Sasol New Signatures this year, and an ass-saver when it comes to editing and designing so I don’t have to, and most of all, from Bronwyn Lace, the brains, beauty and powerhouse whose vision and determination made this show, and all its forthcoming events.Thank you all for coming, thanks to the Bag Factory, James and Koulla, their funders for the show: National Lottery Distribution Fund, Royal Netherlands Embassy, WK Kellogg Foundation, Ford Foundation – you guys, in your eternal wisdom, gave a bunch of 20-something South African some cash to make things happen, and I hope you are pleased with the results.
And of course, thank you to all f our artists – it’s a fantastic show. SAartsEmerging.org was dreamed up whilst Bronwyn, Simon and I were gallery-hopping the streets of Chelsea, NYC. The basic gist was that since ‘in-crowd’ politics governed art-scenes worldwide, we’d make our own in-crowd.

^{bronwyn lace describes rat western’s work. from left, Simon Gush, Bronwyn Lace, Koulla Xinisteris, some guy from the press}

We wanted something dedicated to creatively mediating, and critically engaging with, emerging and unknown South African artists and spaces. We never knew how successful a site SAarts would become; ironically, despite our intentions to make our own in-crowd and our tagline of “no pretense of objectivity,” we’ve actually wound up with a very open and “mixed bad” of a community. It’s obvious we’ve hit on a need, and I’m proud to say that we’ve managed to keep the level of quality of our artists, and texts, very high.

Basically, we team up unknown contemporary artists with writers, and promote their work through our site. SAartsEmerging.org, which is in the top 5% of most linked to blogs on the internet, is continually seeking powerful and thoughtful mediations for artists that are yet to have any in the public domain.

^{panel on spaces for emerging artists. clockwise from left: Storm Janse van Rensburg, Koulla Xinisteris, Gordon Froud, Bronwyn Lace, Dound Anwar Jahanageer, Nathaniel Stern}

All four of us firmly believe that the role of the artist in contemporary society goes beyond this notion of the renaissance genius in isolation; it includes teaching, mentorship, dialogue, curating and exhibiting, play, encouragement, writing, editing, re-mixing; artists are, themselves, dialectic images, in many respects, and their actions are as public figures, and established through continual giftings, of ideas, provocations, intercessions, and most of all, each other and themselves.

These are the activists, the creators, the transformationists and interventionists and their palettes take many forms.

Or so, as I said, we like to believe.

We ourselves have learned and gained a great deal through our engagements with national artists we knew nothing about before.

For example:

Doung Anwar Jahangeer turns his “work that is art” into socially productive walkabouts, teach-in sessions and empowerment projects. His piece here is only a sampling of his amazing body of work.

Colleen Alborough’s artist book invests us in the intimacies of distance, exploring the painterly roads of South Africa.

Simon Gush’s subtle but invasive interventionist fans, invoke a playfully dangerous sense of colonial habitation in Africa.

And Lester Adams’ wall sculpture, made up of fur from lamb fetuses, is an uncomfortable interrogation of flesh and machine.

^{colleen alborough’s artist book project}

Several of our artists, have gone on to get – we like to think, in part, thanks to our efforts – extended press and shows outside of SAarts, and more in the public domain.

By framing the framing the framing, and opening up to discussion and critique, SAartsEmering might just be, or even exceed, what we had hoped, but never knew.

I see many faces of artists and writers here tonight, and I further hope that you will be involved in this public project, sometime in the near future.

Thank you for coming, and enjoy the show and our many events over the coming weeks.

Check out these fantastic images taken by André SC on his website www.pixelplexus.co.za of my show that opened on Thursday the 22^nd. It’s at the Parking Gallery, 149 Pritchard, (www.parking-gallery.net) which is a fantastic new space initiated by Simon Gush and Lester Adams. If you missed the opening you can always call me for an appointment to view (0832844726). The next artist is our very own Nathaniel Stern for a one-night event on the 13th of July. There’s usually a bit of a party on the roof afterwards.

^{Bronwyn Lace, 1.618 @ KZNSA}

Bronwyn Lace
77/21
Opening 22 June 7:30
Until 12 July

http://www.parking-gallery.net
149 Pritchard Street
Secure parking available in basement

For directions to gallery:
http://www.parking-gallery.net/images/map.jpg

Viewing by appointment only, For more information contact Bronwyn on 0832844726 or Lester on 0835158704

I’ll see how my access down there is, but in the meanwhile and for your viewing pleasure, Bronwyn Lace has tossed me some images from her two recent solo shows at Outlet and KZNSA (below, installation entitled 1.618)…

See more images here.

 ’Providing a free South African alternative to the gallery-driven, Cape Town-based, and mainstream media, SAartsEmerging.org is dedicated to featuring emerging South African artists, curators and arts personalities who are not generally, or have not yet been, written about – but who should be.’ (http://saartsemerging.org/about-saartsemerging/). Even though ArtThrob might be one of the media entities against which they position themselves, I believe that they are doing good work and provide an important alternative platform that many young artists could and should be making use of.

Go us. Thanks, Zaayman!

At its core, Hear and Now is worth seeing if only for Gerhard’s trademark brilliant set design, and Lionel Newton’s performance as the lead.  The latter sometimes over-acts, admittedly, but from my perspective this has more to do with the workshopped script than his own abilities.  The details of character throughout are very strong but, as alluded to, the plot is heavily overdone (given its relatively light premise), and it turns too easily towards an/the end. I have to say that I also found some of the third person narrative structure a little condescending – I think we could figure a lot of it out, guys…

In all, tho, the piece makes me miss writing, makes me slightly jealous, makes me again want to beg Gerhard to collaborate with me. Only one day left for the show!

Nice interview. Edited by Simon Gush and myself….

http://www.saartsemerging.org
9 February 2006
Berlin Bar
18:30ish til whenev
Features detail / site-specific installation by Bronwyn Lace
in Berlin Bar window

SAartsEmerging.org is dedicated to featuring emerging South African artists, curators and arts personalities who are not generally, or have not yet been, written about – but who should be. SAartsEmerging lacks any pretense of objectivity, and preference is not only given to Gauteng locals and friends, but also to early-career non-stars working conceptually, and across disciplines. More information on us, or on contributing? Visit the site!

Hope to see you at the party!
Simon Gush, Bronwyn Lace & Nathaniel Stern

http://www.saartsemerging.org
SAartsEmerging features a new producer every third Friday of the month. 17 February will see our next feature, Bronwyn Lace, a Johannesburg based, installation artist, just before her YAP solo show in Durban.

9 February, 2006
Berlin Bar in Johannesburg, South Africa
7th street, Melville (across and down from Xai Xai)
18:30ish til whenev
Features a site-specific installation by our own Bronwyn Lace!

SAartsEmerging.org is dedicated to featuring emerging South African artists, curators and arts personalities who are not generally, or have not yet been, written about – but who should be. SAartsEmerging lacks any pretense of objectivity, and preference is not only given to Gauteng locals and friends, but also to early-career non-stars working conceptually, and across disciplines. We’re always looking for writers who want to feature burgeoning artists… More information on us or contributing? Visit the site!

SAartsEmerging features a new producer every third Friday of the month. 17 February will see our next feature, Bronwyn Lace, a Johannesburg-based, installation artist, just before her YAP solo show in Durban.

Hope to see you at the party!
Simon Gush, Bronwyn Lace & Nathaniel Stern
http://www.saartsemerging.org

But in more serious news (does that qualify as satire? just kidding….), the new artthrob is out, and has some great stuff. First up, good buddy, and amazingly talented teacher and artist, Ralph Borland stars in the artbio this month. We love him. Let’s see, there is also a review of Marina Abramovic at Performa05, which starts off OK, makes a really great argument, then ends up pretty wishy washy. Oh, and I wrote it (please ignore the typos and grammatical errors that mysteriously appeared between when I hit the send button, and when they published; oh, and note that self-deprecation is meant to get you to like me more, cuz they cut out all my jokes, which were meant to accomplish that feat for me, but obviously failed miserably; insert more deprecation here). Other great reviews include (all shows I did not see, as I was not here) Aggenbach, Kentridge, Siopis and Botha, among others.

The news of Nathi Gumede as KZNSA Gallery’s new curator has hit, as has Gavin Jantjes’ as Artistic Director for the Proposed Cape Biennale. The highlight, tho, is Linda Stupart’s cover of sessions eKapa, a fair and provocative piece on the non-foregrounding of the upcoming ‘non-Bienalle.’

Sue Williamson’s diary also assures us that Ed Young is doing OK after being mugged while overseas, and links us to some nice coverage of his show in ArtForum. It sounds a pretty dreadful experience, and props to Ed for his high spirits.

If you don’t already know, Simon Gush and I have been in New York for the last three and a bit weeks, and for most of that time we’ve been staying with Nathaniel and his folks. ( An expereince that needs to be blogged all on its own.) Our main mission while here has been to see as much art as possible, when you spend so much time moving from one gallery/museum to another your memory tends to blur many of the works, names and concepts into one another. However there are some artists that have completely blown me away. Walter De Maria is my new idol. I’m embarrassed to say that until yesterday I did not know his work, Simon says he’s extremely well known, but then again all art is extremely well known to Simon, the walking ‘Encyclopedia of the Arts’. So yesterday we hit the larny side of Soho where two of De Maria’s more well known installations are situated. Images, titles and dimensions of the two works are below, all I’d like to add is that standing in front of the works is an incredible experience, the smell of the earth, the silence of the space, the scale of both works all come together to form installations that are difficult to imagine in any other form. Lastly, De Maria made these pieces before I was born… ( and I think my parents don’t get me!)

the new york earth room, 1977
250 cubic yards of earth
3,600 square feet of floor space
127300 kilos

the broken kilometer, 1979
500 solid brass rods
spaces between rods increase by 5 millimeters with each consecutive space

But…

Just upstairs on the second floor, is a whole lot of contemporary art by some of the most talented artists in the country; just ’round the corner are politically savvy dramas by the likes of Mike van Graan; down the block is one of the best restaurants in the country; even in the Cango Caves, a national treasure, there’s a beautiful, considered and projected artwork by our most prolific video artist (Minnette Vari), for tourists and art appreciators alike….

Something for everyone, then?

Like my buddy Franci Cronje said, this festival is more bipolar than our misdiagnosed youth! Maybe later in the week, some of my would-be frat-brothers might go and check out some art?

Our story beings with 4 young artists (myself, Hannes Olivier, Bronwyn Lace and Simon Gush) on a flight to said festival (KKNK). We first encounter lots of meat covered with cheese sauce in George (pretty much the whole menu), and think, ‘this is going to be a long trip.’ I wonder if there are any vegans in the Eastern Cape(?).

That afternoon, after we arrive at our actual destination, we make a plan to work all of the following day on my installation and Hannes’ sculpture. (Check out the brand new text and video documentation of the updated enter: hektor! It’s hot, and Hannes says his favorite work of mine.) We make sure the wood is there, the fabric, our supplies, etc – bloody hell, it’s hot…. And, oh sh!t, Hannes’ huge packaged sculpture, made of metal, glass and granite, needs to find its way to the second floor – but won’t fit up the stairs. D’oh!

The highlight of the next day was when Ruline Spies, the coordinator, had to call in the army. I sh!t you not. This guy in full gear and beret drives up in a crane, takes the railing off the back entrance of the Principia College (our makeshift contemporary gallery) and lifts his art up and onto the second floor. The procedure took hours, and I’ve got a whole roll of great photos. Afterwards, the crew stood around and gaped at Olivier’s artwork, not sure what they had just put all that effort into.

I told them it was an abstract of the Virgin Mary, and they seemed to be OK with it (tho I’m still not sure whether or not they believed me).

That night we were up until around 2 in the morning setting up the space for enter: hektor, and back again early the next day for more. This is when the rest of our curators arrived, including Khwezi Gule, Andrew Lamprecht, Virginia MacKenny, Liese van der Watt and Churchill Madikida (the lattermost two actually did not come themselves, but their work was installed by Simon Gush, and presented by Ralph Borland and Lucia Burger, respectively).

The man above seems really, really nice when he buys you things, but he is actually an evil, evil duckling. He pretends it’s a good thing to buy you lots of tequila, and then when you are not looking, casts a spell that makes your tolerance levels slightly lower than the average, oh, 10 shots + 4 beers.

This is what the majority of the artists present did that next night.

And the next day was hell. Let’s skip it.

The following day consisted mostly of peops running around helping out with the group shows, as curated by the above folks. Solo artists were also pretty much all there by this time, and working on their own. These were:

Sanell Aggenbach: Hoogwater – flying books, sunset tapestries and windows on the sea, a beautiful and fantastic show whose statement I could not understand (it was in Afrikaans), but whose physical presence was more than enough.

Ryan Arenson: Pierneef Too – obsessed with paint, the show felt like Impressionism revisited. His brush strokes look almost like embroidery, or lanyard, and the elegance of light on light, dark on dark, made for a contemporary formalism.

Phillip Rikhotso: Mitsheketo (“mites” in Tsonga) – do I have to say anything about this guy? Shame, he had even more trouble with language than I did, but his sculptures are so rich with stories that he needn’t say a word. He and Cathy (his friend / dealer / translator of sorts) are sweet.

Hannes Olivier: unclaimed, indefi nite … – above.

Nathaniel Stern: enter: hektor – say you love me. go on. say it.

And the invited artists (tho it’s unclear to me what the difference is between these and the solo installation artists) were:
Elmarie Costandius: speech bubbles (body + text: yay!) and Andries Gouws: Bepeinsinge oor die alledaagse (very talented traditional painter: for the less contemporary)….

The next morning started with our own bubbles – champagne and relaxation, followed by a walk-about session with the public. Not too many people came, but also not too few – an intimate session with the curators and artists.

We started with Virgina MaKenny’s show (above far right, followed leftward by Lucia Burger). She began by talking about young and up-coming artist Mikhael Subotzky. He makes beautiful 360-degree images that flip the dynamic between artist and subject. The work shown is in Pollsmoor Prison, and as you can see, since he must stand in one spot in order to accomplish the all-round feat, he is framed by the eyes of those in the image (rather than the other way around), and becomes observer and observed all at once. The white male gaze becomes a guilty voyeur…. ;)

She carried on by talking about Greg Streak’s bronzes, and finally, Carol-Anne Gainer’s installation (pictured, artist in middle). I only briefly covered Gainer’s show at Franchise a few months ago (here), but I did spend some time there, and got to know her and her work a little better this time around. It’s like a rupture in the home, a bleeding out and suffocation, but with what feels subtle because of the materials used – even tho her installations are far from subtle. There’s a discomfort in her choice to build a public home, and not just destroy it, but have it eat itself in front of our eyes….

Following this was Ralphy B talking about Liese van der Watt’s show (which also included Pieter Hugo) and Khwezi Gule’s show (which was very smart, and well curated, including black south african artists exploring gender issues – Nicholas Hlobo’s work is of special note). Lamprecht chatted about BB, toys that take over the world, and James Hertz (sp?), who all did ironic work about consumerism, design, and ownership. Unfortunately, no one stood in for Churchill to speak about his show, but I should mention that Cape Town sweetheart Mustafa Maluka was amongst his selected artists….

Our solo and invited artists talked about their stuff, and then we went our separate ways. Most went on to see the festival artist’s work: two projections rooms at Principia, one (with 5 screens!) up the block, and, as you might have heard, an installation in the Cango Caves.

I can’t stress enough what a prolific artist Minnette is. Absolutely comfortable in her media, and someone willing to take risks in exploring subject matter, space, and conception, her art deserves the widest possible exposure, and a lot of time. It demands us to “look again”.

For a change, I’m finding myself at a loss of words. The juxtapositions are that of flesh and bone, cold stone and warm fire. The morphing and mixing alludes to a formalistic approach, but bear the signs of struggle, discomfort, anger. These videos feature the artist, but don’t feel personal, as if she were the protagonist. She acts like more of a guide through an exploration of our own exploitations of self; she simultaneously reveals and conceals an inside that is morbid, and outside that manifests an out-of-the-norm beauty.

I like her.

One more dinner with the kids, a struggle with the AV guys the following morning (always), then hit the beach in George for 5 mins before hopping on a plane – ah, the Indian Ocean!

And finally, homeward bound. If you have time, check out the second floor at KKNK! Otherwise, quote me and pretend you were there, but please try to make me sound smarter than I am. Or at least you should sound smarter than I am.

Wow, that was a blog.