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.

House of Worship

 Archbishop Dolan has been elevated to Cardinal Dolan.  So I thought I would visit St. Patrick's Cathedral.  The Cathedral opened in 1879, and was designed by American architect James Renwick Jr., who was considered the most successful architect of his time.  His first commission was Grace Church in NYC which he took on at the age of 25.

 'The Lady Chapel', at the rear of the Cathedral, is the most sacred part of the Church.  This is where the Eucharist is kept.  It was built between 1901 and 1908 and designed by Charles T. Mathews.

The Cathedral has a 'Pieta' sculpted by William Ordway Partridge.  Instead it says that St. Patrick's 'Pieta' is 3 times larger than Michelangelo's.  

Onassis Cultural center of NY

Did not know there was such a place until it advertised in the NY Times.  The exhibit is entitled Transition to Christianity: Art of Late Antiquity, 3rd-7th Century AD.  I love classic works of art: tile, painting, and statuary, especially the Paul Newman lookalikes.  I was looking forward to the show but The Met has more interesting objects and when you've been to Greece, Athens, Delos, Mycenae, Crete, Istanbul, Ephesus, and the British Museum it's pretty hard to be impressed.  The lobby entrance had copies of the Elgin Marbles: four images hanging about 15 feet on a wall.  They did not allow photos so all I have is the brochure cover to show.
I did learn something new.  I have read that a lot of statuary from the classic age was decapitated by the Muslims.  They were cleaning the land of Idolatry.  Today, I found out that the early christians disfigured a great deal of statues by carving crosses on them and defacing the eyes and mouth, in the belief that the image of pagan gods were sources of evil.  
The Center is at 51st Street and 5th Ave.
I walked.  It's cold.  They said it was 11degrees.  I don't know what the wind chill factor was but it was a brisk walk.  I have this down coat with hood that covers almost my entire body.  I got it out of storage and will be wearing it.  I don't even care if it makes me look like the green Pillsbury Dough Boy.

Library

The main branch of the New York Public Library is celebrating it's 100th birthday this year.  Actually it is 42nd street building that is 100 years old.  The library itself was established in 1895 when the Astor and Lenox Libraries with the Tilden Trust were consolidated.

 Often referred to as the Main branch, it is the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.  Mr. Schwarzman, 2/14/1947, is the Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of the Blackstone Investment Group.  Worth $5.9 billion, he has compared President Obama's plan to raise carried interest taxes, share of profits paid to an investment manager, as equal to Hitler's invasion of Poland in 1939.  He gave the Library $100 million, hence the name change.
Designed and constructed  by Carrere and Hastings, the Beaux-Arts building is the largest marble structure ever attempted in the U.S.  It stands on what used to be the Croton Reservoir.  500 workers spent 2 years dismantling the reservoir and preparing the site.

 More than 15 million items are in the library and they include the Gutenberg Bible and Thomas Jefferson's copy of the Declaration of Independence.  While it is called the public library and is open to the public it is funded by private contributions.

Happy Birthday!

Maurizio Cattelan: All

 That's the artist, in bed with himself, talking to himself.  Witty man.

 The show is at the Guggenheim through January.
 He's retiring and has decided to hang it all up at the Museum.

 There are life size horses, mules, the pope, etc.  He does taxidermy, no not to the pope, the animals.  His first show at a gallery consisted of locking the front door and hanging the sign: "Be back soon".
 

My favorite piece is called La Nona Ora [The Ninth Hour] and it depicts Pope John Paul ll being felled by a meteor.
Cattelan was born in Padova, Italy on 9/21/60 and is now based in New York.  Jonathan P. Binstock curator of contemporary art at the Corcoran Gallery says Cattelan is "one of the great post-Duchampian artists and a smart ass, too."
Duchamp is fascinating.  Would like to see more of his work and read a good biography.  He renounced making art in the 1920's when he was about 40.  Cattelan says he is 'retiring' from making art at around 50.  Is this exhibit an homage to Duchamp?

Cymbeline

Went to the Barrow Street Theater to see the Fiasco Company's production of Shakespeare's "Cymbeline".
The critics are right.  This is a complicated and strange play but the Company does a great job making it fun and interesting.  I agree with everything the critics say about it.  The actors include their own music, sometimes a cappella, and sometimes accompanying themselves on their instruments.  Very talented actors and remarkable work by the two actors who also directed.
 Barrow Street Theater is a small, intimate space that has shown some great work.  A couple of years ago I saw "Orson's Shadow" and "Our Town", both excellent.

Afterwards we went to a local Greenwich Village bar.  Nancy had wine; Sandra had bourbon. Frank had a Martini.  I had a Manhattan.

 

The Village Vanguard

Went to the Village Vanguard with Sandra to hear Bill Frisell, one of Sandra's favorite guitarists.  Performing with him was Jenny Scheinman on electric violin, and Brian Blade on drums.  Mr. Frisell, unfortunately took a back seat to Ms. Scheinman who gave a mixed performance.  Two early pieces, one of which was written by Mr. Frisell called 'Rag', were very good.  She played it in what I would call a Celtic style.  Building to a very quick raised finish with all three players.  The last piece, 'Embraceable You' was so slow people were nodding off.  $25 admission, $16 for one drink [tip included] so so value.
The Village Vanguard was opened on 7th Ave. South 2/22/35 by Max Gordon.  At first it included folk music and beat poetry.  It became an all jazz venue in 1957.  Over 100 live jazz albums have been recorded there.  The first one in 1957 was Sonny Rollins.  Some other artists who have performed there: Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Wynton Marsalis, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Art Pepper, Chris Connor, Gerry Mulligan and Barbra Streisand.

Hide/Seek

Yesterday, Sunday, I went to the Brooklyn Museum.  The Museum has an exhibit from the portraiture galleries of the Smithsonian.  David C. Ward and Jonathan Katz are the original curators and Tricia Laughlin Bloom coordinated the project for the museum.  It is called 'Hide/Seek Difference and Desire in American Portraiture'.  The exhibit has had some controversy.  A piece depicting a crucifix with ants walking over it stirred up some "christians" [no spell check, I meant a small 'c'].  There are some wonderful sites, The Brooklyn Museum, The Smithsonian, and You Tube that will give you a very good view of the exhibit.  The theme is gay and lesbian artists as subjects of gay and lesbian artists.
Then  refurbished subway station at the Museum.

 and then the Museum

 Minor White's 'Tom Murphy' and the exhibit's image.
When you first walk into the room you hear Ma Rainey singing: "Prove it on Me Blues".  When she was arrested in 1925 for hosting a lesbian orgy she released that song.  She also made more than 100 other recordings between 1925 and 1928.   She is the premier blues singer in music history.
The exhibit is divided into 7 periods:
1.  Before Difference ...  Thomas Eakins' "Salutat"  "the male body as object of admiration by a male audience."
2.  Modernism ... "Portrait of Marcel Duchamp" by Florine Stettheimer,  and Berenice Abbott's photo of Janet Flanner in which she has two masks on her top hat.
3.  1930's ...Photo of Lincoln Kirstein by Walker Evans.  Kirstein was about 18 and in college.
4.  Consensus and conflict ... Rauschenberg's and Jasper Johns' pieces as a response to the breakup of their relationship, Alice Neal's portrait of Frank O'Hara.  O'Hara's poem 'In memory of my feelings' is the title of Jasper Johns painting.  Rauschenberg's is titled 'Canto xiv' from Dante's poem.  It's the canto of the placing of the 'Sodomites'.
5.  Stonewall and after ... Warhol's 'Camouflage Self-Portrait' 
6.  Aids ... A.A. Bronson's  'Felix June 5 1994'
7.  New Beginnings ... Annie Leibovitz's photo of Ellen Degeneres.
Many great artists were gay; celebrated being gay; formed relationships with other gay artists, sexual and otherwise.  It was through their work and open lives that has helped move society's attitudes and brought us to where we are today.

Man and Boy

Went to the Roundabout Theatre Company's proiduction of Terence Rattigan,s 'Man and Boy'.  It's at the American Airlines theater on 42nd Street.  Frank Langella gives a great performance.  I also enjoyed the actor who played his son, Adam Driver.  It is directed by Maria Aitken who did 'The 39 Steps' on broadway and a lot of other work in New York and London.
Terence Rattigan, [6/10/11-11/30/77] who was gay and out only to his close friends, has also written 'The Winslow Boy', 'Separate Tables', 'The Browning Version', 'The Deep Blue Sea', and the screenplays for 'The Prince and the Showgirl', 'The VIPs', 'The Yellow Rolls Royce' and 'Goodbye Mr. Chips'. 

At the movies I saw 'Tree of Life', not my cup of tea.  I watched one hour and it was like watching clips from the TV show NOVA without dialogue.  One scene has Sean Penn walking through the corridor of a large corporation in a big city like Chicago.  Then next time you see him he's walking through the desert.  No dialogue, no explanation.  Maybe it was supposed to be an homage to Michelangelo Antonioni. 
Also not for me is Clint Eastwood's 'J. Edgar'.  Too long, too slow and most importantly it's dishonest.  He makes him sympathetic.  No way that the man who kept secrets and who used those those secrets to destroy innocent people like Jean Seberg is a sympathetic character.
What I did like very much was 'The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill'.  It's a documentary about a homeless man who becomes interested in a group of wild parrots.  He befriends the parrots, feeding and caring for them, and they give his life purpose.

Saw and heard Christine Ebersole and the Aaron Weinstein trio at Birdland.  Wonderful!!  He plays the violin to accompany her as she sings.  First time I've heard them together.  He's 26 and remarkable.  Bought Ebersole's new CD of Noel Coward songs.  She has 2 tony awards for 'Grey Gardens' and '42nd Street'.  
I'm feeling much better the last couple of days.  Finally, after weeks, I got around to cleaning the house.  Really gave the bathroom a good scrubbing.  When I finished both boys went to their kitty litter and then laid down on the bathroom floor and stared at me.  I guess they were relieved in more ways then one.

Town Hall and OWS

 
Town Hall in NYC is a broadway theater.  Not the kind of town hall in some cities where they actually have town meetings.  Last night our town hall had a show: 'Broadway Unplugged'.  Great voices singing without the use of amplification.  It was excellent, especially the duet 'All the Things You Are'.  The program did not list the performers but I know Terri White from 'Follies' and Bill Daugherty and Nancy Anderson from other shows.  The artists who did the duet I do not know.  I am sure I will be seeing them again, soon.

Today's walk took me to Chinatown.  Then across the Brooklyn Bridge to my pension office.  I went to change banks for my direct deposit.  On the way back I decided to walk by Occupy Wall Street.  I heard the police had emptied it and arrested a couple of hundred people.  There were a lot of TV News people hanging around, waiting.  Maybe, because a number of OWS demonstrators were talking about taking back the park.  Does OWS mean to stay until every goal is met?  I support their goals of accountability for the fiscal collapse, but the odds are against it.  Getting the park emptied was a lot easier. 

Iphigenia in Tauris

A production under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs is playing at the Lion Theater on Theater Row.
The good news:  they have cut Euripides 4 hour play down to 1 hour.  My seat was on the aisle with lots of leg room. It costs $20.  Iphigenia and Orestes have a moment of reunion that is moving.
But, the acting is over the top which is OK for something that is the inspiration for Opera but the actors aren't consistent.  The actor playing Orestes does it as though he had Turret's Syndrome.  Being pursued and driven from every town by the Furies would cause some physical and psychic reaction but how he has chosen to play it is too distracting.  I'm glad that I went because it brought me back to my Freshman Lit. class with Mr. Christ.  He was an exceptional teacher and the best I've ever had.  It was a great course and reading classic literature with Mr. Christ is still one of my most cherished memories.

The Bridge

We called it the 59th Street bridge but it was actually the Queensboro Bridge, which has since been named the Ed Koch bridge.  But everyone calls it the 59th Street bridge.  When I and my friends in Queens were teenagers this was our bridge.  We, who rushed with adolescent excitement into the "city" called it the 59th Street bridge because that's where it left us off.  The 'City" was Manhattan and specifically downtown.  The village, Greenwich Village.  This was the early 1960's.  You could get served as a  17 y/o  in bars.  The beats were reading their poetry that spoke of sex, straight and gay.  The music was just as free form, be bopping  off cafe walls all for the price of a cup of coffee.  Streisand, Dylan, and Peter, Paul and Mary might be in a club performing .  Tomorrow's star might be in Washington Square Park strumming and singing for spare change.  Maybe Lanford Wilson's new one act would be at a club or we could go see Jason Robards, directed by Jose Quintero, in 'The Iceman Cometh'.  So what part of that great art did I get to.  We went to whatever bar would serve us.  Hey, I was 17, but I'm making up for it now.

Fashion

New York is ranked with Paris and Milan as one of the fashion capitals of the world.  I don't know anything about fashion, but it is indicative of the importance of fashion in our society that I can probably name as many designers as I can current movie directors, and I love movies.  We used to have a garment district and during the day on 7th Ave. there would be men pushing racks of clothes up and down the avenue.  I don't know what happens in regards to fashion on 7th Ave today but those racks are being pushed on other streets.  We do have a lot of schools of fashion, many of them prestigious: FIT, Parsons, Pratt Institute, NY School of Design, Art Institute of NY, Berkeley College, and LIM which is the only school in the country solely focused on fashion.

Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street which began 9/17/2011 has been criticized for not proposing an agenda.  It has been reported that the man who gave the movement its name and has been instrumental in its organization is an English professor and an anarchist.  So some believe there is a lack of organization and an agenda.  However,  Occupy Wall Street, Dallas has called for a general strike for 11/30/2011 from 12:01 AM to 11:59 PM.
1.  Refrain from buying any goods or services including but not limited to petroleum products, consumer goods or bank transactions.
2.  Refrain from working for a wage excluding those who provide emergency and necessary functions.
3.  Join or form local groups to peacefully protest.

House of Worship

 The Cathedral of St. Sava, on West 25th Street, is the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of NYC.  Designed in 1851 by Richard M. Upjohn it was initially Trinity Chapel, the uptown branch of Trinity Church on Wall Street.  At that time it was the church of Edith Wharton who wrote about the church and its congregants in The Age Of Innocence.  In 1944 it was consecrated as the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral.
St. Sava [1174-1236] is the patron saint of Serbia.  He was born a Serbian Prince and became a monk.  He was the country's first Archbishop and also wrote the first Serbian constitution.

More Photos from the Met