Ruminatrix
...more recent posts
Saturday, Mar 08, 2003
Saw the Wooster Group's Brace Up the other night at St Anne's Workshop in Brooklyn w Joshua. It's lively, fast-paced and playful enough (the customary WG use of video, narration, telescoping of scenes) to keep one off-balance without obscurantism. The ur-text is Three Sisters, filtered thru' the medium of tv talkshows. It's odd how one still "reads" different actors' performances (some more caricaturish, some more introspective), despite all the alienation-effect stuff like having a sixty-something actress (Beatrice Roth) play the youngest sister Irina. Good stuff. Thru March 19th.
Afterwards went to (spurious Flash alert) Chez Es-Saada on First Street. The new executive chef is Paul Liebrandt, (ex- Atlas and Papillon). In brief: tasty anchovy-and-merguez app, but overpriced quail & lamb couscous ($25) and dry duck tagine, unadventurous wine list, spotty service -- disappointing overall from the dining POV tho' the basement was pretty full of lounging drinkers. What's the minimum time someone has to spend onsite to qualify as executive chef?
Thanks to Jim for recommending irfanview, a handy freeware image-editing and optimization utility for us darkside drones. Designed by Irfan Skiljan --- a Bosnian student at Vienna Tech -- the program lets you edit most popular image, sound and video formats. So far I'm just dabbling, but the look of this page may change as a result.
For the third time I have hit the Back key on my browser (IE) while in the middle of writing in the post window and whoosh, all gone -- an hour's effort evaporated into the ether! Next time I had better use Notepad rather than typing directly in the post window. Anyway I'm not going to rewrite it from scratch, dammit, not this time.
In brief: went to the Met today. The Leonardo drawings (thru March 30th) are interesting, but limited in scope. And it's so crowded it's hard to get close enough to really see the drawings. Favorite title: "Sketch of a bear drawn over (faintly visible) outline of a pregnant woman" or something like that. I can see why Bill Gates bought the Codex Leicester (with all its tiny handwriting in mirror-script and marginal doodles of hydrodynamic gizmos) but it doesn't really move me or makes me see the world in a a different way.
The Manet/Velazquez show (thru June 8th?) on the other hand, is really an eye-opener -- how realism in 17th century Spain profoundly influenced 19th century French (and some American) painters, notably Manet. The linking artist is Goya and there are wonderful things here, including examples from Tauromaquia, Desastros de la Guerra (how topical!) and the Caprichos, forerunner of Moreau and Dore and of surrealists too.
Does ambient bellicosity makes one crave art? Hmm, let's see, there's also the Picasso-Matisse show in Queens and the Matthew Barney's Cremaster at the Guggenheim...
Thought while sipping a pint of Hacke-Pschorr at the local biergarten: It could be that the Pakistani secret service has a whole passel of bad guys under its surveillance, ready to be handed over one or two at a time. I mean, they bankrolled the Taliban for years and still run the Kashmir Liberation Front, so they would have some contact with the Osama crew, wouldn't they? So what will be the quid pro quo for them to find more of them to hand over to our interrogators?
And along the same lines, what secret promises will be made to Turkey to change its mind over admitting GIs onto its soil for a "northern front"? Regional powers have always found ways to manipulate superpowers. One major drawback of the current "let's make a deal" diplomacy is its utter lack of transparency -- and lack of accountability to electorates here and abroad, all under the rubric of national security.
In the light of the latest statements from Washington that regime change (of some sort) in Baghdad is non-negotiable, I recommended reading the latest Chatham House Report (21pp, PDF) Iraq: the Regional Fallout analyzes the impact on the region, including neighboring states, considering three possible outcome in Iraq: i) an internal coup ii) a protracted war or iii) a rapid victory and occupation.
The bulk of the report deals with the impact on each state. As for Iraq, the authors predict that neither the Washington policy establishment nor American public opinion will have the patience to sort out its internal ethnic divisions and structural problems. A "minimalist" military administration is likely, (i.e. an authoritarian new regime rather than the democratization of Iraq promised by maximalists); meanwhile back here, the domestic economy and Presidential electoral cycle return to the fore. An early indicator of what policy will prevail will be the treatment of the Kurds and which insurgent faction gets the nod. Anyway, it's well-written as these things go.
It's the last day of the snowiest February in twenty years, we're still in the middle of the worst economy in at least ten, and no relief is in sight. This winter would have been much harder without dirt-cheap lunch-time Rx: The sinus-clearing $4 bowl of pho at Pho Bang, 3 Pike St, just above Canal. For shrimp pho, try the place on East Broadway (Pho 89?) just uptown of the Manhattan bridge. Neither is new, both are effective.
From the Everyman Library collection Poems of New York:
- Whitman in Black
For my sins I live in the city of New York
Whitman's city lived in Melville's senses, urban inferno
Where love can stay only for a minute
Then has to go, to get some work done
Here the detective and the small-time criminal are one
& tho the cases get solved the machine continues to run
Big Town will wear you down
But it's only here you can turn around 360 degrees
And everything is clear from here at the center
To every point along the circle of horizon
Here you can see for miles & miles & miles
Be born again daily, die nightly for a change of style
Hear clearly here; see with affection; bleakly cultivate compassion
Whitman's walk unchanged after its fashion
-- Ted Berrigan (1994)
Thursday, Feb 27, 2003
So the Studio Daniel Libeskind beats out the Think Group for the wtc redevelopment project. It's a victory if not for kitsch then at least for easy symbolism (Tour guide: "Yup, that spire is exactly 1776 feet high...") over Think's airy latticework, which will now remain merely a concept.
On the other hand: SDL's idea of exposing part of the original towers' foundation is pretty cool, adding an unusual (for New York) archaeological dimension to the design. New Yorkers -- as befits the denizens of any great city -- weren't shy about expressing their opinions about the plans, even if we had no say in the final choice. ("Woah, whaddaya think of this new Parthenon thing that's going up on the rock?" "Not much.")
Then again, Gotham doesn't dwell much on its past and it never has done so. And I have yet to hear anyone say that they really loved the old towers, as opposed perhaps to finding them impressive or handy landmarks, even during the two years when I worked down there in the financial district. So perhaps aesthetics are slightly beside the point.
Coincidentally perhaps, the New York Times today has two other unrelated large-scale architecture stories:
Albert Speer, (son of his namesake) is building a gigantic axis for Beijing's 2008 Olympic City. And Indonesia is planning a shopping mall by the massive eighth-century Buddhist temple at Borobudur in Java, a World Heritage site.
Frickin A
Went to Frick Collection yesterday with Paul & Bob (visitors from Maine) for a couple of hours. Bob has worked as a historian of Venetian art and knows his stuff. I just like looking at some of it.
My gut feeling: the steel magnate and plutocrat Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919) probably didn't enjoy art very much, though he sure collected a lot of big names. Some attributions have been withdrawn or downgraded to "school of" status (though frame of the dubious, incomplete "Polish Rider" is still labelled Rembrandt); other works aren't particularly good (a weak Manet, butt-ugly Degas dancers), some just bad-to-mediocre (de la Tour, Piero). I hear the buyer cabling Frick "What you need to buy next is..." and the first thing on the market by, let's say, Tiepolo would be crated for the next steamer over. Have times changed? Perhaps today's magnates are less in awe of Old Masters.
There's little in the way of Impressionists (an unimpressive Monet) to lighten the Golden-Age formality. God, what a relief a few Cezannes would be among all this brown and black! (For example, there's a proto-Cubist sunlit view of Roman Forum at dawn by Corot). Frick bought lots of fomal portraiture (Gainsborough, Ingres), a lot of of fat old men (by Hals and Van Dyck) as well as bucolic/fleshy (Boucher, Fragonard) scenes. He had, for unknown reasons, several views (one an early Turner) of the gloomy ferry port of Dieppe on the English Channel. Did he have business interests there perhaps?
Would dinner chez Frick have been fun? No, I would prefer to party with Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner, even if her Vermeer is still being held being held for ransom somewhere.
But the Frick does indeed house honest-to-god masterpieces: two late Rembrandt self-portraits, two Vermeers, a fabulous Velazquez (a dour Philip IV), a couple of El Grecos (St Jerome), a pair of Holbeins (Thomas More and the pig-eyed chancellor Thomas Cromwell), two Titians, a Bellini (St Francis), a lovely van Eyck and a Bronzino. All worth an extended look, even if admission is a bit pricey at $12.
Reading: The current New Yorker has a long profile of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan by Philip Gourevitch and a profile of the awesome actress Frances McDormand by Joan Acocella. Neither article, unfortunately, is online -- why not do put 'em up as a civic service, Mr Newhouse? At the very end, McDormand recommends my favorite movie of the past several months: Rivers and Tides.
Note to self: If brevity is the soul of wit, future entries to this page will have to be much shorter.
Critics say that the United Nations it will lose "credibility" if the pseudo-Adolf Saddam is not removed forthwith. If not, we are told, the UN will suffer the same fate as the League of Nations (born Geneva 1919, died 946).
Of course, the US never joined the League at all, despite its being the brainchild of Woodrow Wilson. Key dates: Germany left the League in 1933; Expulsions: Italy, for its invasion of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1935; USSR for its war on Finland in 1939. Successes: International Court in the Hague founded; crises averted over Vilna (1920) Corfu (1923) and Mosul (1924 and that's yes its the same Mosul in northern Iraq). Signal failures: disarmament conferences, failure to prevent Japanese invasion of Manchuria (1931). By the time of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) the League was all but irrelevant
So which other countries never joined the League?
...Saudi Arabia, Mongolia, Tibet, Nepal, And Bhutan.
Source Atlas of World History (Kinder & Hilgemann 1978).
Have a nice day.
Had a wonderful dinner at Alias last night with Paul, an erstwhile housemate of mine back in Cambridge Mass in the late seventies. (I think "erstwhile" is okay when to refer to events over twenty years ago). Paul and his long-time companion Bob, who now live on island in Maine, are in town for a few days to attend a wedding and do some sight-seeing. I may go with them to the Frick later this week as Bob is an art-history enthusiast (Renaissance Venice a specialty)
It was a pleasure to see them: Paul has had to retire early due to a conjunction of disabilities, but is still very active in their small town by Casco Bay. I would love to sail in Maine again someday and drop anchor in their bay.
Also baked chocolate-chip cookies with Theo Sunday. They were a little dry but I will have another try soon and use fresher chips.
Collateral Damage?
A couple of interesting articles in the NYT over the past couple of day. Monday's piece US Approach on North Korea Is Straining Alliances in Asia suggests that South Korea might be questioning the benefits of its fifty-year alliance. I did not know for instance that the Yongsan base, a major US facility, sits in the middle of downtown Seoul. How is placing a large base in the midst of a capital city and within artillery range of the DMZ a good idea?
And today Tuesday, the Times has a pair of articles on the risk posed to archaeological and religious sites in Iraq by war and/or bombing. I am not comparing the costs of damage to sites or shrines with the deaths of non-combatants, but there is a cultural issue here. And it will matter to many people whether such places are damaged or contaminated with depleted uranium rounds.
For it bears remembering that Mesopotamia and indeed all of of Iraq east of the Euphrates -- unlike the empty deserts of Kuwait -- is a cradle of Western civilization, riddled with sites of great historical importance. We deplored it when Saddam vandalized Shi'a shrines in Najaf and Karbala in 1991 in retaliation for the uprisings against him. We condemned the destruction of Bosnian mosques and libraries by Serb forces. Damage to such sites in Iraq would be a black mark on Western civilization itself.
I don't have good explanations for a three-month silence -- or none that would constitute a valid excuse. Yet I can't simply ignore it either. So for now I'll just say that this has been a very hard winter indeed, perhaps the hardest of my life. My overall mood has been at best saturnine (OED: "1 of sluggish gloomy temperament; 2 of, or affected, by lead-poisoning") and frequently much worse than that. This has not been conducive to the practice of regular logging. Or regular anything except sleep and broodiness.
The causes have been both internal (i.e. personal) and external (political). Somewhere in between these meet in the realm of the economic. Here's the rub: long-term unemployment doesn't seem to suit me any better than it does anyone else. I have found the slope from having some time off to having too much on my mind to leave the house a very slippery one. But I'll save the more personal stuff for another time; there will be opportunities.
As for today: attending the big anti-war non-march with several hundred thousand others in New York City on Feb 15th pulled me out (somewhat) of my blues. It felt good to be there to show dissent despite the freezing temperature. Even if we didn't stem the tidal drift to war.
Because a week later it's clear that the day of world-wide marches (millions from Melbourne to California) has altered policy neither in Washington nor in London. Mr Blair is apparently not for turning, even if the Labour Party and the British public is overwhelmingly opposed to his war. If memory serves, the main UK contribution in to the 1991 war (which I supported) was a series of low-level daylight ground attacks which led to the loss of several RAF pilots and failed to destroy Iraqi Scuds. Very spectacular and glorious but ineffective. Britain's participation in this adventure is more important for its diplomatic or symbolic value than for its "assets".
France, after its Security Council proposal to increase the scale of the UN inspection regime in Iraq drew applause, won't follow through with any particulars. Perhaps it has concluded that in any case the US is unlikely to tell the UN whatever ingredients it provided to Iraq back in the days when it was arming it to invade Iran. We can be pretty sure that those stocks won't survive any invasion and occupation.
Putin isn't saying much about what Russia's position is, but then they know who's gonna win the argument. They will, it appears, simply wait until Washington does what it intends to and reluctantly settle for whatever they can get out of it.
There's a glimmer of hope in Turkey's refusal to allow a northern front from its territory for invasion -- not much however since the difference of opinion is more about dollars in aid than an actual oposition to the policy.
I have gone on much too long here. But still I think one needs to say so even if one can't prevent it: this war is wrong and it is also wrong-headed. In 1804 Napoleon, not yet emperor, had an inconvenient opponent, the Duc d' Enghein, executed for treason. He was shot at night-time in the moat of Vincennes after a very brief court-martial. Napoleon's future minister of Police, the cynical Fouche, quipped that the shooting was "worse than a crime, it was an error." This impending war is a error in ways that will only become more apparent after it's over.
I'll log sporadically not daily but that's enough for one day.