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Is the Obama any better than dealing with North Korea than Bush?

The Bush Administration, bless its secure and undisclosed heart, wasn’t good at much. But it was awesomely awesome at one thing.

No one, and I mean NO ONE, could needlessly insult foreign nations as skillfully as the Bush Administration.

The all-time classic, of course, was when Bush responded to the 9/11 attacks by calling Iran, Iraq and North Korea an “Axis of Evil” that needed to be stopped before it threatened “the peace of the world.”

Nevermind that neither of the three countries had anything to do with 9/11, much less one another. It was a great put-down, and, gosh dangit, Bush wasn’t gonna cut such a zingy zinger out of a speech because of something as silly as factual accuracy.

Axis of Evil wasn’t the Bush team’s  only quality put-down. Who can forget the time Rummy dissed European leaders who opposed the Iraq war as “Old Europe.” Aww, snap! Nevermind that the U.S. has spent every day since then begging “Old Europe” to commit more money and more troops to U.S.-led missions around the world.

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Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg are individually Neo-Dadaist icons of the 20^th Century. The Columbia Museum of Art will present “JJ/RR Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg: 20^th Century Masters in the Collection” through October 4, an installation that will highlight the mutual influence each artists had on the other. 

Jasper Johns is best known for his flag and target paintings. Inspired by icons and symbols, Johns and his friend Rauschenberg were part of the so-called Neo-Dadaist movement, which was closely related to Dadaism of the early 20^th Century. While the earlier Dadaist works of Duchamp intended to ridicule traditional art, Johns’ style relied more on well-known symbols or icons, such as the American flag and often used commercial objects borrowed from mass-culture. 

Johns, who grew up in Allendale, South Carolina, discovered his penchant for art at a very early age and soon after dedicated his life to visual art. 

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Countenance is a word which gradually has fallen by the usage wayside, but Columbia theater veteran and emerging playwright Dean Poynor has a spritely countenance—a comic gleam in his eye that reminds one of Charlie Chaplin, or at least Robert Downey, Jr. playing Chaplin.  During an interview, one might mistake Poynor’s playfulness as fidgety rudeness, but closer inspection reveals he is always innocently tinkering, discovering secondary and tertiary meanings and uses for the world at-hand.  Thus, the dramatic arts seem a natural vocation for someone of his spark and imagination.

Poynor, 33, spent part of his childhood in Indonesia before moving to South Carolina with his family and eventually attending Irmo High School.  Over the years, he has left the Midlands for stints in Chicago, Alabama and New York. Everywhere he goes, he plies his passion for theater.  Local theater enthusiasts will recognize him from dozens of Columbia productions, including “Macbeth,” (SC Shakespeare), “Julius Caesar” (SC Shakespeare), “California Suite” (Workshop), “Take Me Out” (Trustus) and “Bug” (Trustus).

Poynor is currently pursuing an MFA in Dramatic Writing at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.  Several years ago, he began taking stabs at dramatic storytelling.  His connections with the Columbia theater community enabled him to conduct constructive workshop readings, and his hard work eventually resulted in his winning the 2008 Jacksonville University Helford Prize, as well as this year’s Trustus Theatre Playwrights Festival for his play “Paradise Key.”

This interview with Poynor was pieced together from several sessions.  The first session was held in the little known Turkish baths beneath the Vista’s Manhattan martini bar, over a bottle of ouzo.

SM Baleen:  You know they have towels…if you want one.

Dean Poynor:  Thanks.  But I think I’ll keep my trunks on. 

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Is oil or religion more to blame for Iran’s ills?
 

Relax.
 
I’m not gonna hate you for not hating the things I hate. But I want you to know, I hate oil.
 
Not all oil. Just some.
 
I’m actually a big fan of canola oil. I’m not sure what a canola is, or how one extracts oil from a canola, but the hash browns my father fried for me in canola oil this morning tasted great. Thanks, dad. And thanks, canola, whatever/whoever you are.
 
I love grape seed oil, too. It’s not an erotic love. I wouldn’t fly to Argentina to fondle a bottle of it. But it’s great for stir-frying vegetables.
 
A fragrant extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and a drop of lime oil make a top-notch salad dressing. Lime oil classes up nearly anything.
 
And my favorite sport depends so heavily on the presence of oil for its spectator appeal, they put oil in the name. I’m referring, of course, to topless hot oil wrestling.
 
The oil I hate is petroleum.

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South Carolina native, Tyler Blanton, will show her new work as part of a group exhibition at the Gallery at DuPre through July 23. Blanton joins fellow painters Lori Starnes, Byers Greer, Mike Inman, Thomas Crouch and Lee A. Monts.

This group exhibition provides great paintings in various styles.  Starnes generally paints figures and life scenes mostly about the African American community.  Greer exhibits his abstract paintings together with Inman, who also represents a more non-figurative painting style, and of course, Tyler Blanton features her new collages and oil paintings.

Blanton has been a very successful painter as she continues to earn awards at the Annual Spoleto Festival. Blanton’s new collages have been heavily influenced by fashion, as her large piece titled “Eight and a Half” demonstrates. The red shoe (size eight and a half) could mean many things, but for sure makes a fashion statement about an age-old classic: red high heels. 

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Summer 2009 is a wonderful time for any youth aspiring to a comparative literature degree, for just on the heels of the Columbia Marionette Theatre’s wonderful production of the traditional “Beauty and the Beast” tale comes Town Theatre’s rendition of the Disney Broadway version—which of course is inspired by the 1991 Disney animated classic.

People often accuse Mickey Mouse & Co. of watering down many a great nursery narrative.  However, Walt may have done this bedtime story justice, adding singing household utensils and borrowing plot elements from “Frankenstein” films to create the greatest fantasy love story of the past two decades.  So one can hardly blame Town Theatre for restaging “Beauty and the Beast” after its successful 2005 production.

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Walter Graham is a local actor, singer and
director.  His previous local directing
projects include “Seussical,” “Urinetown” and “High School Musical.”  His current production, “High School Musical
2” opens July 10 at Workshop Theatre.
 

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