I have an annoying habit of having several books, magazines and other articles on-the-go, in an ever ready stream of information to engage a dull and hungry mind . If I was adept at multi tasking this would not be a problem, but I'm not. Perhaps it is just a sign of the times....our teeny tiny attention spans drive us to seek out sound bites and tid bits of information from many sources (lest I get too bored and need to take up knitting). I recently read an article from June 2010 in the the New York Times online, titled
'The Defense of Computers, the Internet and Our Brains' which stated -
'There is a lively discussion and some concern that computers, the Internet and multitasking are extracting a mental price.' -Nick Bilton.
I would probably agree in that I am incapable of reciting anything of value that I have read (apart from the above quote!) in the past week. I get cantankerous with my inability to retain information and be able to spit it out at will. I have a friend whose party trick it is to recite lines from obscure movies. You throw a movie at him and you can see the screenplay roll across his eyes. I tested him with 1985's 'Breakfast Club' to which he replied - "You just bought yourself another Saturday, spoken by Principal Richard Vernon."
I'd be lucky to save my relationship by remembering my partners birthday and our anniversary.
Self deprecating aside, I would like to put in my blog from time to time, the books, magazines and articles I am reading, so that in the future I will be able to trawl the archive of my blog and remember what I was reading so as to not make the mistake of re-reading something I forgot I had already read!! @#$&*
For my birthday in August, Maxx bought me a beautifully presented volume on Fred Williams published by Murdoch Books. I had purchased a similar volume, from Murdoch, a month before on the painter Ian Fairweather. They are treasures which I would hastily grab in the event of a fire, well before my diaries of several years ago!
Last week I spent a night discussing future exhibition plans at Penrith Regional with fellow artist Peter Williamson. On his coffee table lay a book titled 'The Artist's Lunch' by Alice McCormick and Sarah Rhodes. I found a copy on the Readings website where I also found a copy of 'Defining moments in Art' by Mike Evans.
Concurrently, the magazines; 'Dumbo Feather', 'Artist Profile' and 'Australian Art Collector'have torn off pieces of paper locating the articles I am up to. Don't get me started on the podcasts I need to catch up on!
There's just not enough time in the day....
