Andy Warhol at Vassar
Region: New York
At the Loeb Art Center of Vassar College are four silkscreens by Andy Warhol. (Three are in the "Project Room," where professors choose artworks for their students to examine.) One, very prominent in the "Recent Acquisitions: Works on Paper" show, is a purple cow. Unexpectedly, it holds its own against Rembrandt and Matisse. Warhol's greatest works have a finality, as if they were the last works of art ever made. The c... more
Views: 526TAU (by Tony Smith)
Region: New York
Tony Smith's sculpture TAU is on an extremely busy streetcorner outside Hunter College. During the afternoon (around 2:15 PM), when I was there, pedestrians walked under it almost ceaselessly. The sculpture is designed so that it seems to be opening a door for walkers, the way a courtly English professor might hold a door for a flustered student. People walk through the sculpture, in a sense, which makes them look smal... more
Views: 414Comedy As a Second Language
Region: New York
Twice now I have attended "Comedy As a Second Language" (an awful phrase) at an uncategorizable -- and almost invisible -- Manhattan bar on Second Avenue called Kabin (whose name itself is almost invisible). It's a free event on Thursdays, starting at 9:30 PM -- or rather claiming to start at 9:30 PM, but actually beginning a bit later. At first, loud and unpleasant rock music plays, which seems to be a traditi... more
Views: 500"The Myth of the Eternal Return or, Cosmos and History" by Mircea Eliade
Region: New York
Eliade is an excellent excerpter. Turning (arbitrarily) to page 79: The Vedic altar, to employ Paul Mus' formula, is time materialized. "That fire-altar also is the Year, -- the nights are its enclosing stones, and there are three hundred and sixty of these, because there are three hundred and sixty nights of the year; and the days are its yagushmati bricks, for there are three hundred and sixty of these, and ... more
Views: 453Assuming North Korea Actually Attacks South Korea
Region: New York
Assuming that North Korea actually attacks South Korea, it will damage South Korean infrastructure and create panic amongst the civilian population. Disrupting South Korean output, in turn, -- even if it is a trivial as no one showing up to work for a month -- will severely and immediately impact on the world economy and trigger a worldwide recession. South Korean hits way above its weight class in the high tech suppl... more
Views: 1453The Two Planets (Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook)
Region: New York
As part of "the endless renaissance: six solo artist projects" at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami, I saw Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook's video from "The Two Planets Series." A group of farmers in rural Thailand sit on the ground before a bamboo grove on which is hanging a reproduction of Le déjeuner sur l'herbe by Edouard Manet. A video camera records the peasants' reactions, translated below in subtitles. W... more
Views: 423"The Adventures of High John the Conqueror" by Steve Sanfield, illustrated by John Ward
Region: New York
I found this book for free at the thrift shop in Phoenicia, New York (the hamlet where I live); it's for children, but every American should read it. I'd heard of High John the Conqueror in the Muddy Waters song, "Mannish Boy": I think I'll go down, To Old Kansas Stu; I'm gonna bring back my second cousin, High John the Conqueroo -- but I never knew who he was. In fact, he's a folk hero, l... more
Views: 390Is this how the dead get our attention?
Region: New York
While visiting my friend Sara, I picked up a novel called Carry the One in her bathroom and read the first chapter, in which a 10-year-old girl dies when she runs in front of a car. The next morning, I opened another book, Half a Life, on Sara’s kitchen table. It was a memoir by a man who accidentally killed a teenaged girl on a bicycle when she veered in front of his car. He was 17. At this point, I ... more
Views: 341Jewdayo: A Daily Blast of Knowledge and Pride by Lawrence Bush
Region: New York
Lawrence Bush first compiled a list of events from Jewish history for a calendar of the Society for Humanistic Judaism in the late 1970s. The calendar was never published, however, and thirty years later Bush rediscovered the manuscript in his office in Accord, New York. By now, he was editor of the magazine Jewish Currents, and decided to transform the calendar into a series of daily e-mails. Though Jewdayo comprises ... more
Views: 395Samsung Galaxy S4 GT-I9500: Specifications, Features & Release Dates
Region: New YorkSamsung Galaxy S4 has reached its day for release. Yes, Samsung is going to launch the Galaxy S4 in the Samsung Unpacked Event which is going to happen on March 14th, in New York. Samsung Galaxy S4 is said to have some extraordinary features and specifications like Exynos Octa Processor, 13MP Camera, Smart Scroll and etc etc . Also the Galaxy S4 is said to be the most powerful smartphone ... more
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