Tumblrstagram

I know that this blog has turned into mostly just pictures I take or make accompanied by very little text over the past few years. That style may be better suited for a Tumblr or Instagram type o' thing, but I refuse to emigrate from Blogger. Tumblr seems to be wildly popular, but what bugs me is that it seems to be less about original content and more about single-serve topics, or people reposting other pictures to build their identity.  Sure, maybe one of my almost funny MS Paint pictures would be seen by more people looking for almost funny MS Paint pictures (as opposed to people Google image searching for "Centaurs Fucking Lisa Marie Presley"), but... actually, I don't know what the "but" is--I just wanted to get more hits by mentioning centaurs.

I do have a Tumblr site for my Leopardactyl Podcast, which hardly belongs on Tumblr and can hardly be called a podcast (yeah, the Internet--I'm doing it wrong). But rest assured, as long as I have a Blogger T-shirt that fits me (I do), Beauty and the RoBeast will stay here in whatever form it desires.

Oh, while I'm promoting other things, have you checked out Guts Guts Guts Guts yet? Me and three friends put together a film for a 21-day film challenge and that page chronicles the project's progress.

And now I'm going to post a picture of myself that really has no business being in this blog, and would in fact, probably make more sense on Instagram or Facebook or something. But it's going here instead. Here's the picture:

Nothing special, I know. No pop culture references or silly MS Paint edits. Just me and some shadows on a rusty sculpture. It's a self portrait that I spent about a half hour trying to perfect for really no good reason other than I was inspired at the time and had nothing else to do.

The next image deconstructs the perspective:

The camera was resting on the thing on the left. I had to set the timer for 10 seconds, then run over to the silver thing in the background, climb up, then hold a pose. Then repeat seventeen hundred thousand times. If I could do it over again, I'd have a better camera. And I'd be a nude girl. Genius.

The Bored Statues of Newark, NJ

Last Friday the 13th, I found myself at the Essex County Hall of Records. Outside, I spotted the two most bored looking statues I'd ever seen--a lion and a lioness.

I guess in reality, chillaxing is what lions are usually up to most of the time anyway (according to various internet sources, they sleep 16-24 hours a day), so kudos to the sculptor for keeping it in real up in the field. 

Little did I know that just a block away is Gutzon Borglum's tribute to Abraham Lincoln's downtime: "Seated Lincoln." C'mon Abe, the War's over. Look alive!

Behind Thinkin' Lincoln is another pensive statue. This is one of two bronze guards to the Essex County Courthouse, designed by Cass Gilbert:

From what I've read, that statue is the allegorical representation of Truth, Power, and Hangin' Out. I think they captured it well. 

After this mini-walking tour of Newark's sculptures, I felt myself quickly growing tired and headed back to NYC early. Next time I hope to catch some more of the best artwork Newark has to offer, like "Washington Crossing the Delaware Whenever He Gets Around To It," "Mount Rush-Less," and "Venus De Milo Before She Lost Her Arms From Playing Too Much Nintendo."