True Art is Timeless

Brian seemed somewhat amused as the guys were getting themselves into place on the floor of the loft to gaze at their fake fireplace. Justin was not amused – not in the least. That was obvious.

“Gee whiz, Brian,” Justin complained. “This is a problem all right. Like – I have my principles….”

“Yep,” Brian agreed. “This is your classic dilemma, like being between a rock and a hard place – a regular Scylla and Charybdis….”

“I think you’re just trying to be funny, Kinney,” Justin groused. “You know I’m boycotting the Pirates – and you know why too…..”

“17 losing seasons in a row, Baby,” Brian reasoned. “The lowest payroll in major league baseball – trading off your favorite players - and you don’t boycott but….”

“This is a question of principle, BK,” Justin insisted. “Which is probably why you don’t understand. How can I just sit here and do nothing?”

“Geez, Kiddo,” Brian replied. “Those guys must know something about marketing. There has to be a reason why they decided not to give away any bobble-head dolls this season. Maybe they’ve already given out bobble-heads for all the players….”

“They have not either, Kinney,” Justin disagreed. “They’re just like – anti-art…..”

“Well they replaced the bobble-heads with ‘action figurines’ this season,” Brian pointed out. “Actually the action figurines look better to me than those silly old bobble-heads. They really look like the players. I like – never saw a real player whose head bobbled. They managed to bobble a lot of grounders – but not their heads….”

“All art does not have to be slavishly representative, Brian,” Justin maintained. “True art never is. Bobble-head dolls were like – a manifestation of artistic consciousness….”

“Works of twenty-first century Michaelangelos and daVincis, eh?” Brian wondered. “I guess in three hundred years or so, all the big art museums will be displaying bobble-heads….”

“We’ll just have to wait and see about that, won’t we?” Justin maintained. “But I can tell you this for sure – action figurines are just a passing fad….”

“Well, I think bobble-head dolls are kinda new too, Sweetheart,” Brian maintained back. “I don’t even remember them when I was a kid. Maybe they’re just passing fads too – if they’re like – dying out already….”

“I can see there’s no hope of getting through to you, Bri,” Justin had to smile, “but if we’re sitting here in the summer of 2310, I bet you’ll have to admit I was right.”

“There might be a lot of things I’ll be willing to admit in the summer of 2310,” Brian laughed back at him, “that I’m not willing to admit right now.”

“Don’t I already know that?” Justin whispered as he snuggled himself closer to the Philistine on his left.

And despite the seriousness of the discussion, it trailed off at this point– while the guys thought more about the situation – or maybe they did get a little bit sidetracked too. Nevertheless…..

“Well, Baby,” Brian resumed the conversation after the pause because it was not yet over. “They are giving away the action figurine of Gus’ new favorite Pirate player next week – and he wants to go really bad – and we like - always take him….”

“I bet you could get him the stupid action figurine without our even going to the game, Brian,” Justin suggested. “You like – have a lot of contacts….”

“I’m sure I could, Honey,” Brian assured him. “That wouldn’t be a problem. And I will if worst comes to worst – but he wants to go to the game. It’s not just the statue. Kids like to go to games. Johnny and Peter want to go too – and if we’re getting them the figurines anyhow – aren’t we already compromising principle? So going to the game might not be so bad after all….”

“Well maybe you could take the kids yourself, Brian,” Justin suggested, “since you have no artistic objections to the figurines – and I could stay away…..”

“I guess we could do that, Baby,” Brian confirmed, “but then it might seem like you’re boycotting Gus and Johnny and Peter – and me. The Pirates wouldn’t notice – or even care probably if they knew….”

“You’re not making this any easier for me, Kinney,” Justin told him. “Maybe I could like – go under protest. I could maybe wear a sweat shirt that had ‘Bring back the bobble-heads’ on it….”

“The other fans might think you were advocating bringing back some of the former losers the Pirates had on their roster, JT,” Brian grinned at him. “But you can wear whatever you want to wear. I’d never tell you what to wear…..”

“Yeah you would, Kinney,” Justin smiled at him. “I seem to recall….”

There was another pause in the discussion here – not as long as the previous one – but long enough anyhow.

“Well, you’re gonna have to decide what you want to do about the game, Baby,” Brian told him as the discussion resumed. “And you’re gonna have to explain to the kids why you’re not going – if you don’t go. I’m sure they’ll understand though – maybe better than I do…. You know what though? I think I saw in the P-G last week that some Picasso painting sold for like a hundred-million dollars. That’s because there aren’t that many Picassos around. Maybe it would be better off for us in the long run if bobble-head dolls went out of style. There would be fewer of them and our collection would be more valuable….”

“Our collection, Brian?” Justin had to laugh. “Our collection? That I have to keep over at Mikey’s comic book store because you won’t even allow them in this loft. Our collection?”

“Yep,” Brian confirmed. “If those dolls are going to pull in a million or so apiece, they’re half mine….”

“So maybe we should bring a few over and display them here?” Justin teased. “To like – show off ‘our’ collection.”

“Just as soon as we sell off the first one for some big bucks, Taylor,” Brian told him. “Maybe we should stockpile some of the action figurines too, Baby. It might be good to hedge our bets as rich art collectors….”

“You must not have any faith in my artistic intuition, Mr. Kinney,” Justin pouted. “I told you they were just a passing fad…..”

“Yeah – but if Mikey has a place to store them….” Brian maintained. “But whatever you say – I bow to your superior artistic expertise…. So are you going to the game next week – or not?”

“Yeah,” Justin relented. “I’ll go. I don’t want the kids to be disappointed or anything…..”

“But like – what about your artistic principles?” Brian wondered. “What about those?”

”I have till next week to figure that out, Bri,” Justin assured him. “I’ll think of something.”

Brian knew he would.

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