Cute as a…

Monday mornings are, let’s be blunt, complete crap. Nobody likes them, nobody looks forward to them. Just ask Garfield or the coffee mug on your co-worker’s desk that screams “I hate Mondays!” at you ever time you walk by. So, what better way to ease into your work week than with something sublimely silly. When you have a spare 5 minutes, please allow Miranda July to show you “How to Make a Button.” Watch to the end, it’s worth it.

Something about that just made me smile. Silly. Simple. Surprisingly sweet. If you’re familiar with Miranda, you know the multi-hyphenate (writer-artist-musician-actress-director) is an oddball in the best sense of the word. She is also bisexual, which is really neither here nor there but might account for the cute tie she has on in the video. My exposure to her has been limited mostly to her 2005 debut film “Me and You and Everyone We Know.”

But watching her little instructional video reminded me how much I enjoyed the off-beat and original charm of that film. So I started to poke around and found a link to a website Miranda created last year for her collection of essays, “No One Belongs Here More Than You.” Again, I urge you to click and keep clicking (31 clicks in all) until the end. If you don’t enjoy it, I’ll buy you a ham sandwich.*

They say art, like obscenity, is in the eye of the beholder. Just ask Marcel Duchamp and the world’s most famous urinal. Miranda July makes art and there’s nothing subjective about that. It might not be up your alley, but it is always interesting. And, really, what more can you ask for from a Monday morning?

*Legal Note: Ms. Snarker more than likely won’t actually be able to buy you a ham sandwich. Why? 1) she has about $3 in her wallet and 2) ham sandwiches don’t mail well.