Bullock and the Bandits

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Kangagirl Productions presented Bullock and the Bandits at the Orlando International Fringe Festival. A $10, reusable button is required to enter each performance. You may purchase online or in person at the box office. This show is at the Abbey, 100 S. Eola Drive
Orlando, FL.

Step inside the haunted saloon at the World Famous Bullock Hotel for a rhythm and blues, country, and rock fueled ghost rider romp across the Wild West! Orlando Fringe Festival Lifetime Achievement Award recipient David Lee’s new band performs with special guest stars Tymisha Harris and Eddie Cooper.

“I’ve always been fascinated with Deadwood, South Dakota, which is a world-famous destination for ghost hunters. Sheriff Bullock built a hotel there in 1894. It still stands and is known to be haunted with all types of bandits and heroes of the Wild West”, explained David Lee. The talented Bandits band: David Lee, Eddie Cooper, Tymisha Harris, Tanner Kasier, Bryce Hayes, Matt Lyinx, Tom O’Hern, and Randall Scandal.

Tickets are $15. The remaining show dates are today, Saturday 28 May 2022 at 4:15PM and Sunday 29 May 2022 at Noon.

Complacency Waves

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Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla warned Wednesday of “constant waves” of COVID-19 caused by complacency around the virus, politicization of the pandemic, and waning immunity.

Cases are rising in the U.S., and the rate at which people are getting vaccinated is falling. In the week that ended May 22, 2022, the US reported 790,000 new cases, more than three times as many as were reported in the last week of March. Of course these numbers are a fraction of how many are becoming infected since testing sites are closed and people test at home if at all.

People are also growing tired of COVID-19 safety regulations, said Bourla, who was speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where world leaders and members of the business elite are gathered for an annual summit.

“What worries me is the complacency,” Bourla said in Davos, adding that fewer people were wearing masks and that even people who have already been vaccinated were less likely to get booster shots. The consequences will likely be seen in three to six months, he said.

Bourla said Pfizer believed that antiviral drugs would replace vaccines as the key weapon in fighting the coronavirus, at least until shots providing a longer period of immunity are developed. Pfizer is “doubling down” on producing its antiviral pill Paxlovid, he added.

COVID-19 Dating Game

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Your COVID-19 vaccination status is now a deal breaker for many singles. Your vaccination status can determine moral compatibility.

If you are dating a shlub who hadn’t gotten around to making a vaccination appointment, then that person cares only for themselves and isn’t very empathetic to the  health risks to people around them. It is a sure sign of moral ineptitude.

Across the country, about 41% of daters say they would not consider dating someone who is unvaccinated, while just over half say it wouldn’t matter to them, according to a Pew Research poll released in early April 2022. Only 2% report that they would only date an unvaccinated person.

About half of singles in their 20s and 30s are vaccinated, with some requiring that of potential partners and others having a more laissez-faire attitude. On the other hand most singles above 40 have gotten their shots, and they definitely want that in a match, too. OK Cupid, Bumble, and Tinder have added functionality where you can put your vaccination status onto your dating profile. The sites will even boost your exposure as a perk of getting the shot. Dating.com said 86% of its users list the vaccine as a deal breaker – no shot, no date. If someone is unvaccinated, then swipe left.

 

Naso Vax

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Only about 30% of Americans are fully vaccinated and boosted. That means about 70% of Americans are frightened of needles, or they are anti vax lunatics. People are tired of COVID-19. They are done with the virus although the virus is not done with us. The virus is becoming more transmissible with each new variant.

The vaccines that are available have turned the deadly COVID virus into something more akin to the common cold for the fully  vaccinated people who get infected. While these vaccines are great at protecting against severe illness and death, they cannot stop vaccinated people from contracting the virus and experiencing mild symptoms and possibly spreading the virus to others.

To help prevent mild COVID infections, what is needed are vaccines that protect us where infections start: in the mucus membranes of the nose, mouth, and throat. And for that, we are likely going to need nasal vaccines.

More than a dozen clinical trials with nasal sprays are under way, The Guardian reported, but the development process is tricky. Nasal vaccines must create an immune response but not be potent enough to make people sick. If the dose it too weak then the vaccine will not work. This sweet spot becomes even harder to find when some people already have some immunity to COVID from past infections.

A nasal vaccine could be more easily manufactured and distributed because it’s stored in a regular refrigerator rather than ultra-cold temperatures like the Moderna and Pfizer mRNA vaccines. A nasal dose could be produced for about 30 cents compared to $30 for a Moderna or Pfizer dose. Needle pansies might be more inclined to get vaccinated if they can just spray it up their nose.

Crealde First Class

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On Sundays I teach an Urban Sketching Class at Crealde School of Art. From the very first class I encourage the students to explore the beautiful campus with their sketchbooks.

In each class I press a particular point and rather quickly get the students to apply the concept in their sketches for the day.

I sketch while they work and share each stage of my sketch to show how long I take on each step of the process. As I walk around I give each student individual attention usually doing thumbnail sketches on the back of my sketch to express how I might tackle the scene they are working on.

This sketch was done back when masks were required at Crealde. That requirement has been dropped, but I remain masked in public at all times. When sketching people will often approach to see the work in progress. They never seem to stop when the line work is being done, but once color hits the page, people become curious.

My last series of classes was canceled because not enough students signed up. That should give me a breather as COVID cases are rising in Florida again. I haven’t experienced a classroom full of unmasked students yet.

Swan Boats

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On Sunday I met an advanced Urban Sketching student at Lake Eola. Out mission was to sketch the swan boats.

Fencing has been added to this area making it impossible to sketch from nearby benches. Grass areas around the swan boats were also blocked of with yellow tape probably because new seed was added.

We settled on this view down a ramp to the water. I did this sketch as a demo to explain what I include in a sketch and why.

The first five minutes of a sketch are often the most important because the entire scene will be blocked in on the page and the rest is all about detail. I did the preliminary work in pencil and then let my student get to work as well.

The excitement of working on location is that different actors keep entering the scene while the sketch is in progress. At first a guy stood with his cell phone. Then a couple came by with a bag of seed and they fed the swans. Three Italian men held up a cell phone and spoke to relatives back home. I finally settled on this mother swan and her offspring. Dog owners kept walking by and the mother swan would lunge forward and hiss at the dogs. People are clueless. These swans have to be on the defensive every minute of their lives. Swan boats were loaded and returned in quick order as we sketched. Only one swan boat had a canopy, so I bet it got hot out there on the water.

A pug owner was walking his dog and the pup lay down next to my student and refused to move. She is a pug owner and he must have sniffed out his new friend. The pug leaned into all the pets and pretty much had to be dragged off to continue huffing along on his walk. We got to learn all about the owners history with pets. Sadly his last dog did not live long since it got cancer. These sorts of exchanges are what makes sketching on location such a pleasure.

Students Working

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At Crealde I almost always sketch while my students are working on their sketches. I am fascinated by the gestures artists take as they create. One class of each of my 6 classes is held in the classroom and sometimes it is impossible to keep students 6 feet apart.

The more students I have, the harder it is to keep them safe. I always leave the classroom door open hoping to get a cross breeze.

I am certain this class would have been about perspective and fitting several fellow students into a sketch. As students sketch I pay attention to how much they look at the world around them as opposed to looking at the page. Part of my challenge to get them to accept what they produce without judgement. I am always delighted by the variety of work produced.

My next series of Crealde Urban Sketching classes starts up June 19, 2022.

Required Supplies include but are not limited to…

#2 pencil with an eraser, 05 and 08 micron pens, Stillman and Birn 9 x 12 inch spiral bound sketchbook (Alpha or Epsion series), Travel sized watercolor pallet (mine is a Windsor Newton with 14 color pans), Pentel water brush (water goes in the handle), Black Prismacolor pencil, Compact artist stool

North Korea Superspreader

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North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un held a huge North Korean military parade April 25, 2022 to showcase his military and nuclear might. That event has been identified as a Covid-19 super-spreader event. More than 20,000 soldiers marked in the parade and were part of the  a weapons display. Soldiers who marched in the event tested positive for Covid-19, Radio Free Asia reported.

The country has now topped 1.2 million cases of “fever,” state media KCNA reported May 16, 2022.

State media-released photos showed huge crowds at Pyongyang‘s Kim Il Sung Square unmasked and not socially distanced.

At the time, North Korea still had yet to report a single Covid-19 case since the pandemic began, although experts have expressed doubt over the accuracy of its Covid reporting.

After reporting its first-ever Covid case on May 12, 2022 the country is now experiencing a massive outbreak of a “fever” with at least 1.2 million cases, state media KCNA said on May 16, 2022. The country has not clarified how many of the “fever” cases tested positive for COVID-19. At least 50 people have died and more than half a million people are receiving medical treatment, the outlet added.

The current outbreak is “closely linked to the April 25, parade,” said Hong Min, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul.

Judge Retreat Superspreader Event

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Have you heard this one? 70 judges enter a swanky Hampton’s Yacht club and…

Twenty out of those 70 New York City judges who attended tested positive for COVID-19 in the days that followed. All the infected judges were vaccinated.

The judges retreat or conference took place at Gurney’s Star Island on Long Island in New York, which is sometimes referred to by its former name, the Montauk Yacht Club, according to the New York Times.

The three-night retreat was sponsored by the New York City Criminal Court Judges Association.

One of the activities at the event was a karaoke session, according to an unnamed source who spoke with the New York Times. The New York Times noted that singing has been linked to spread of the virus. It is kind of reassuring that these high heeled judges are a dumb as most other Americans who think the pandemic is over. It ain’t over till the fat lady sings.

One Million and Counting

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Over one million Americans have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began in March of 2020. Of each of those deaths about 9 people are left to morn the loss. COVID-19 has left an estimated 199,000 children in the U.S. without one or both of their parents. Lovers lost a partner. Some partners died within hour of each other unable to see one anoter in the final moments. The toll is incalculable.

Each wave has brought about an endless ticking of loses as people choose to go about life as normal assuming it can never happen to them.

The basic mitigation measure have not changed since the start of the pandemic, masking, washing hands, vaccination and social distancing. Yet this seems too much for many. Masking became a political flash point rather than a simple 50 cent tool to avoid infection. Misinformation convinced so many to avoid vaccines. Since the advent of the vaccines every other life lost could have been saved by that simple shot. It is an absolute tragedy. Over 300.000 could have lived if they only got the primary series of vaccinations.

ABC reported that as of March 25, 2022 about three quarters of the dead, or around 730,000, have been people 65 and older. Many of them were otherwise healthy and, statistically, would have lived many more years, said Jennifer Dowd, a demographer at the University of Oxford. About 240,000 Americans between the ages of 18 and 64 have died, nearly a quarter of the total toll.

As the next wave slowly rolls in, ignorance persists and large indoor gatherings are the norm all over the country. Using my art to keep track of super spreading events has become an exhausting endeavor. It is impossible to keep up. Against this backdrop, testing sites are being closed and it has become impossible to keep track of the rising numbers of aces since people test at home or don’t bother testing since they want to avoid isolating at home. Such devastation has not been seen since World War II, when about 418,000 Americans died. This war is not over.