The WONDER WOMAN Trivia Game

Wonder Woman has been an ongoing cultural icon and pop superstar for years. She is a true character for the ages ranking among the best known characters of fiction including Laura Croft, Sherlock Homes, Huck Finn and Mother Goose. I wrote about Wonder Woman; her cultural importance and her mystery in a blog last year.“WONDER WOMAN & the Endurance of the Modern Myth.”  She continues to thrive in our hearts and minds as a figure of high regard, reverence and great influence.

A single blog should never hold all the history of an idea like Wonder Woman so I am revisiting her with a trivia quiz I created to amuse my friends. Take a look and see how well you are acquainted with the original…Wonder Woman!

1. Wonder Woman’s plane:

A-IS INVISIBLE

B-CAN ONLY FLY SHORT DISTANCES

C-WAS A GIFT FROM ZEUS

D-IS A CONVERTED P-51 MUSTANG

2. Wonder Woman was created in an effort to:

        A. HELP YOUNG BOYS GET THROUGH PUBERTY

        B. INSPIRE THE US MILITARY TROOPS

         C. BECOME A ROLE MODEL FOR YOUNG GIRLS

         D. HELP SELL LADIES UNDERWARE

3. Wonder Woman’s origin story tells us she was:

            A. A CLAY SCULPTURE BROUGHT TO LIFE 

      B. TELE-PORTED FROM MT. OLYMPUS

      C. FOUND BY HER MOTHER; QUEEN HIPPOLYTA, AS AN ORPHAN

      D. A YOUNG GIRL THAT DRANK A MAGIC POITION

4. Wonder Woman‘s creator; Charles Moulton also:

    A.  WAS A WWII FIGHTER PILOT

    B. INVENTED THE LIE DETECTOR MACHINE

    C. RAN FOR PRESIDENT

    D. DEVELOPED THE MEDICATION BEN-GAY

5. Wonder Woman was portrayed on TV by:

A. LINDA LYNDA

B. LINDA HAMILTON

C. LINDSIE GRAHAM

D. LYNDA CARTER

6. Wonder Woman has been romantically linked to:

    A. THE ELONGATED MAN

    B. WONDERMAN

    C. SUPERMAN

    D. MIDNIGHTER

Ian Cheng: Emissary in the Squat of Gods

One measure of good art is that it engages you into becoming part of a conversation that began with a given creator speaking through a particular medium of choice. Such a piece then grows with comprehension and involvement as we become engrossed. The work often takes on a life of it’s own and we are in turn transformed within the process.  Ian Cheng is an artist who does all of the for-mentioned as he welcomes the viewer into his universe and goes beyond to uncharted places.

Cheng began his artistic journey as a video story teller but wanted to take his work to a place not yet quite charted. He focused on a new video language that depended not on narrative but on something more akin to artificial intelligence.  Ian Cheng’s Animation Simulations are mutating, evolving algorithms that act, interact and exist within worlds that constantly and unpredictably change as they flow in real time with elements playing in unison and against each other.    

It was as a portion of an exhibition “Suspended Animation” at The Hirshhorn in Washington DC that was my introduction to this artist whose work I would come to revere; Ian Cheng. Other artists were featured including Helen Martin, Ed Atkins and Josh Kline; all impressive. Cheng was the stand out. His revolutionary piece “Emissary in the Squat of Gods” was on view where I stopped to take it in and to see just what was going on with this wall projection complete with sound, light, nuance and intrigue. 

The characters seemed to be villagers in a minimally technological society placed on a rugged hill top and viewed from a distance giving the impression of looking through the eyes of an anthropological perspective. The scene; even though it seemed sedentary at the onset was actually slowly rotating as if on an axis. The characters were definitely responding in an unscripted manner and there was a (What will happen next?) feel to the visible actions.  There was also; after an extended amount of viewing time, a changing of the light from twilight into night and greater darkness. This was an amazing something to witness. I could easily imagine the figures of the simulation becoming sentient if indeed they weren’t at this time already.

Ian Cheng’s work lies eerily at the intersection between art, technology, the fantastic and myth. Cheng; an artist squarely in his formative years promises an unlimited foray into the visible and the invisible. We’ll take the journey with him. Where does he emerge? Time… is our only teller.  

Zaha Hadid: Architect for the Ages

1950 - 2016

Very recently the visionary architect Zaha Hadid passed into eternity. Her works have already resided in hearts, minds and physically in an earthly space of an eternal admiration. Her buildings bend, twist and elegantly flow like no others. These compelling, masterful achievements attest to her strength, purpose and love of process and humanity. She will be missed as her works stand; surely, the test of time.

                                    

                                   “I find industrial cities exciting. I like their toughness.”

                                                                                                                  Zaha Hadid

Yes; MS Hadid was an architect carrying the respect and acknowledgement of her peers. The honor of being the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize was hers; the pinnacle of success in her field.  She was also awarded the Stirling Prize and the RIBA Gold Medal. She remains much admired and loved by all who experience and enjoy her buildings.

Hadid was equally a fabulous designer of furniture, shoes and cars. Her flair for style was great and original. Her drawings and paintings were works of beauty, intrigue and High Art. I was able to see several of her pieces at Design Miami as part of Art Basel Miami. This was a personal high-light. 

“I'm into fashion because it contains the mood of the day, of the moment - like music, literature, and art.”                                                                                                                                        Zaha Hadid

                                                                                                                                             

   

                                                                                                                                       

There was greatness in Zaha Hadid; we saw it in her life and works. Everything she touched became a treasure. She will be missed. In times future those who speak of Eiffel, Wright, Koolhaas and Gehry will speak too of Hadid.