First snow

Not a whole lot but wet and cold.  I love it when there are big soft flakes, but that's not it today.

It's the beginning of the Chinese New Year and I was planning a trip to Chinatown to watch the festivities, but not in this weather.  The festivities will be going on all week and I think next Saturday is the Dragon parade.  So I'll go then.
It is the year of the dragon which means those born this year will be powerful and lucky with lots of charisma.  I was born in the year of the monkey: a party animal, charming, craving fun and stimulation, sparkling wit, rapier-sharp mind, knowledgeable on a wide range of topics, accident prone, poor morals, unfaithful in relationships, self indulgence leading to problems with food, alcohol and other pleasures.  For balance they should learn to think more about others.  
I'm also an aquarian: sometimes shy and quiet and sometimes boisterous, eccentric and energetic, deep thinker, love helping others, very smart, independent, good at solving problems, imaginative and a strong need to be alone, runs from emotional expression, aloof, temperamental.
In Aztec astrology I'm the flint, Tecpatl: rigorous, brave, morally upright, disdaining whimsy,does not tolerate lying,  warm and generous, spontaneous, filled with adventure and diversity.

Went to the movies with Dottie and saw "A Separation" which I loved.  Dottie didn't care for it and thought it was too long.  An Iranian movie about a Husband and Wife at cross purposes.  During the movie I found myself analyzing what I thought to be the symbolism.
I am more conscious of artists use of symbols: objects and people used to represent something or someone else.  It was very common in paintings for an artist to tell a story or give a message in this way.  For example fruit was used to suggest many things, pomegranate= eternal life, fig=loss of innocence, pear=faithfulness, orange=free will, and the apple=sin & the Garden of Eden.  I've always resisted this type of analyses since the time a college professor  turned Faulkner's wonderful short story 'The Bear' into an anti-communist tract.  Modern use of symbols are not to my knowledge clearly and universally known as they were in Renaissance Europe.  So it might appear subjective.  But it can be increase the appreciation of a film.
In "a Separation" we are looking at life in Iran; a highly censored, closed and sectarian society.  Film makers have been imprisoned.  So the use of symbols in their films is quite likely. 
What fascinated me was trying to understand the symbolic presence of the grandfather; who is the reason for the husband's and wife's estrangement.  They are an affluent family and the wife wants to leave the country for her daughter's sake.  The husband feels obligated to take care of his father who has Alzheimer's.  At first I thought he was a symbol of the Iranian government; no memory of its history, not making sense but compelling adherence.  The grandfather doesn't know who any one is and has stopped talking.  Then I thought he is the symbol of Islam.  There is a lot to consider beyond the mise en scene.  Men fight, women negotiate in this patriarchy.   People go to jail if they don't pay their debts.  A woman telephones a hotline to ask if she can undress a man who has soiled himself.  The answer is 'no' it's a sin.  A young girl, maybe 12, is frightened of asking for her change because all the men are staring at her. 
It's worth seeing in a movie house.  There are a lot of subtitles which would be hard to follow on a TV screen.

Schjeldahl

I was reading Peter Schjeldahl in The New Yorker.  He was critiquing Damien Hirst's  'Complete Spot Paintings 1986-2011'.  They're being exhibited all over the world.  Hirst is part of "a cohort [of] Young British Artists.  When not milking death, Y.B.A. art savored sex and squalor, ideally in combination."  They were behind the show at The Brooklyn Museum in 1999 that Mayor Giuliani "made headlines by denouncing Chris Ofile's painting of the Virgin Mary festooned with lumps of elephant dung."  Yeah, Peter doesn't like them.  He says: "The result is art in the way some exotic financial dealings are legal: by a whisker."
So I went to Chelsea to see for myself.  Found one but couldn't shoot it.  It looked like this:

There a dozen of them around the world.

I prefer these by Will Kurtz, at the Mike Weiss Gallery.  It's called 'Extra Fucking Ordinary", unfortunate title, for fine work.  They are life size figural sculptures constructed of collaged torn sheets of newspaper, wood, wire, screws, tape and everyday objects.
He takes photos with his I-Phone then recreates them.

Ramblings

The internet today is "down" due to a protest about some government legislation to control copyright and 'intellectual ownership'.  The senate passed the bill but some of those who signed it now oppose it.  That alone indicates how crazy government has gotten.  Most of our elected officials are lawyers and they're signing bills, and making laws without first reading them.  I forget how big the Obamacare legislation actually was but it was enormous. 
Back to the internet or rather why I was looking for info.  There was a show on public TV about one of the Hollywood studios.  Some of it was how wonderful this head of studio was and how creative that other head of studio was, etc.  Which put me in mind of what my friend Frank said:  "Mario Puzo, author of The Godfather, was on Charlie Rose and said the bit about the horse's head in the producer's bed was a true story."  Puzo went on further to say:  "I've known a lot of Mafia guys and they could be ruthless but the worst SOB's were in Hollywood."  Not the only person to have said that.

One section of the doc. was called 'The Genius' and was about Stanley Kubrick.  He is probably most famous for "2001', 'How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb', 'Spartacus', 'Barry Lyndon'.  My personal favorite is 'Paths of Glory'.  Ever since I read 'The Guns of August' I have been fascinated by the First World War.  Also, when I was traveling around Mt. Athos in Greece I hooked up with some Brits, one of whom was senior at the British Museum.  When I voiced the impression that made on me, he pooh-poohed the thought..  He said someone like him would never be where he was if his country had not lost an entire generation in the First World War.

But I wasn't searching the internet for info about the War or Paths of Glory.  Two things struck me: Stanley Kubrick and Adolphe Menjou in 1957 making a movie together.  Kubrick is from New York City and politically very liberal.  I wondered if he had gone to England because of blacklisting by McCarthyism.  That's the info I was looking for.  Adolphe is most famous for testifying at the McCarthy hearings and naming names.  Menjou's famous line was: "I'd send all those commies to Texas.  They know how to deal with them."  It appears Kubrick did not leave America because of politics.  he left because he found film financing easier.        

The Renaissance Portrait

Went to the Metropolitan Museum to see their new exhibit.  You are not allowed to take photos of the works on display.  Probably some legal issues with loaned works of art.  It was the same at the Brooklyn Museum.  But I took a photo before they told me I couldn't and another that you're allowed to take.

I almost bought the book for $65, just for one portrait.  It is 'Portrait of a Young Man' by Antonello da Messina.  It had been known for a long time as 'Portrait of an Unknown Sailor' and now as the famous Cefalu' Portrait of a Young Man.  It is supposed to be in the National Gallery in London, but it's not listed at their site.
I may be turning into J. Alfred Prufrock.
"In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse."

But there's more
To do
To hear
To see
To put on
To take off.
More then I will ever own.

Subway/meet-up

That is the access shaft for the new 2nd Ave Subway.  The subway will run from 125th Street to the financial district.  Phase One, which will take 45 months, there are 4 phases, involves the "Q" line which will run from 93rd Street to 63rd Street and 2nd Ave.  It will then connect on Lexington Ave. with the "F" line where passengers can continue south through Manhattan and into Brooklyn.  The workmen told me that the shaft is 9 stories deep and there will be 16 ADA accessible stations.
On my way to a birthday party I happened to come upon what was in the 70's called a happening or a Be-in.  I found out later that it is now called a meet-up.  Some one twitters everyone to meet at a particular place at a particular time dressed in a particular way or for a particular reason.  If you happen to be walking around the city and see a bunch of people dressed as Santa or carrying pillows for a pillow fight, it's a meet-up.

 This meet-up was to come to Union Square in your underwear.