Tired of doing the same old thing? The following is a list of interesting exhibits in New York City for the month of March
Gagosian Gallery
980 Madison Avenue
Tuesday–Saturday 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
212 744 2313
www.gagosian.com
Ongoing until March 7, 2009:
Warhol: From The Sonnabend Collection
Features paintings, sculptures and works on paper by Andy Warhol. The exhibition spans Warhol's career, from his earliest paintings of Campbell's soup cans to his later portraits of Mao Tse-tung.
Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue
Admission: $15
Saturday–Wednesday 10 a.m.–5:45 p.m. Friday 10 a.m.–7:45 p.m.Closed Thursdays General information: 212 423 3500www.guggenheim.com
A trip to the Guggenheim is an experience in itself and must be seen for the sheer architectural genius of Frank Lloyd Wright, if nothing else. The spiral design and gentle slope downward allows for visitors to enjoy a leisurely pace and view different levels of work simultaneously.
Ongoing:
Thannhauser Collection
This exhibition presents highlights from a significant portion of Justin Thannhauser's art collection—including masterpieces by Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Camille Pissarro, Pierre Auguste Renoir, and Vincent van Gogh—to the Guggenheim Museum.
Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street
Tuesday-Sunday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Admission: $9
www.mcny.org
Ongoing through April 12th:
Broken Glass – Photographs of the South Bronx by Ray Mortensen
Documenting the aftermath of the urban economic crisis of the 1970’s. The collection of photographs from the early 1980’s presents stark black and white portrayals of once sprawling cradles of the community.
Opening March, 18:
Stoops of Manhattan – Railings & Shadows: Paintings by Andrew Berrien Jones
Focusing on lower Manhattan’s ironwork railings dating from the mid 1830’s to 1840’s. Over 20 paintings on display capturing the beauty of the original artwork.
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West and 79th Street
Museum Open Daily 10 a.m – 5:45 p.m.
www.amnh.org
Exhibition running until May 25th:
Butterfly Conservatory: Tropical Butterflies Alive in Winter
Over 500 living butterflies are on display in this tropical rainforest environment re-creation. Admission $24.
IMAX: Wild Ocean
This captivating 40 minute film captures underwater migration and survival while examining the effects of global warming and overfishing. Produced by the creators of STOMP. Admission $24.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
OSCARS TOO SERIOUS FOR THEIR OWN GOOD
I watched this year's 81st Academy Awards show and I fully enjoyed the entertaining theatrical performances, big name celebrity presenters and laughs along the way. Noticeably, a lot of thought went into the production and the feeling you got was one of cherished tradition for the art form we all know and love called movie making. We are all fans of the classics, and each year the show provides a pleasant interweaving by bridging the old with the new to understand the history of what we see pass along the silver screen year in and year out.
This year had some new twists and inventive moments when past winners came up as a group to present the awards to new recipients, giving the feeling of intimacy that we haven’t seen much of in years past. We saw funny moments from Hugh Jackman in his numbers and Ben Stiller poking fun at Joaquin Phoenix. Also, a great Pineapple Express Oscar film short from Judd Apatow suggested what we already know - the Oscars need to change tradition and open up a best comedy award category. A production filled with laughs and yet no award for humor?
Jerry Lewis was awarded a humanitarian Oscar. Eddie Murphy, who starred in a remake of “The Nutty Professor”, presented the award. It was terrific to see the greatest comedians of the last two generations on the same stage together, but the irony is that not a single Oscar is held between the two of them. Their own art form is not even allowed a category in the show itself.
We watch celebrities, some funnier than others, splash bits of humor throughout the broadcast but the category is somehow not intelligent enough for the Academy to recognize. How is comic genius not awarded? In this day and age shouldn't we celebrate the talent it takes to make people laugh? Aren't the funny things we experience just as important as the serious? The sad fact is that they give out awards for documentaries, film shorts and foreign films and yet comedy isn't considered a reputable genre? Hopefully, the new president of the Academy will change this mistaken philosophy because sometimes traditions need to change and adapt or else we risk losing focus on the bigger picture.
I leave you with this question. When we go to a party, who is it that we want to be around? Do we want to be near the serious poet or deep thinking dweeb sipping his sad red wine and pondering the essence of his own existentialism? Or do we want to be around those individuals who make us laugh until our sides hurt? The answer is simple. Our society lavishes so much praise over Shakespeare’s brilliant tragic works, but it is the simple fact that he wrote many comedies that makes him a genius. You cannot have one without the other and with that being said we should allow the great comedies that grace our screens the chance to be noticed and applauded.
This year had some new twists and inventive moments when past winners came up as a group to present the awards to new recipients, giving the feeling of intimacy that we haven’t seen much of in years past. We saw funny moments from Hugh Jackman in his numbers and Ben Stiller poking fun at Joaquin Phoenix. Also, a great Pineapple Express Oscar film short from Judd Apatow suggested what we already know - the Oscars need to change tradition and open up a best comedy award category. A production filled with laughs and yet no award for humor?
Jerry Lewis was awarded a humanitarian Oscar. Eddie Murphy, who starred in a remake of “The Nutty Professor”, presented the award. It was terrific to see the greatest comedians of the last two generations on the same stage together, but the irony is that not a single Oscar is held between the two of them. Their own art form is not even allowed a category in the show itself.
We watch celebrities, some funnier than others, splash bits of humor throughout the broadcast but the category is somehow not intelligent enough for the Academy to recognize. How is comic genius not awarded? In this day and age shouldn't we celebrate the talent it takes to make people laugh? Aren't the funny things we experience just as important as the serious? The sad fact is that they give out awards for documentaries, film shorts and foreign films and yet comedy isn't considered a reputable genre? Hopefully, the new president of the Academy will change this mistaken philosophy because sometimes traditions need to change and adapt or else we risk losing focus on the bigger picture.
I leave you with this question. When we go to a party, who is it that we want to be around? Do we want to be near the serious poet or deep thinking dweeb sipping his sad red wine and pondering the essence of his own existentialism? Or do we want to be around those individuals who make us laugh until our sides hurt? The answer is simple. Our society lavishes so much praise over Shakespeare’s brilliant tragic works, but it is the simple fact that he wrote many comedies that makes him a genius. You cannot have one without the other and with that being said we should allow the great comedies that grace our screens the chance to be noticed and applauded.
Friday, February 6, 2009
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
How do we judge and decide quality film making? Does a powerful movie shake us up inside and cause us to see things differently? If you judge a good film on how you connect to the characters and understand their pain then Revolutionary Road delivers. This movie, symbolic and methodical, makes you think harder and dig deeper to see underneath the surface. Suburban life with the house and the white picket fence is flipped on its head.
Revolutionary Road is about the lives of Frank and April Wheeler, played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. They are young, vibrant and full of promise. We see them meet at a party and instantly connect. She falls in love with him because he is a dreamer and wants to experience new things. He is full of ideas and, more importantly for her, he abounds with all of life’s possibilities.
Unfortunately, as their life goes on in marriage and a move to suburban Connecticut, an unhappy tension mounts. She feels stuck. Director Sam Mendes portrays this masterfully during an early scene when April is sad about the play she was in, another dream of her youth dismissed to a life of responsibilities. She gets trapped in this life of what the American dream is supposed to be, what most people think of “making it”. There is a realization of a hopeless, empty existence.
A change can be made and with that a dream of a better life in France. So they find happiness and develop a strong bond planning this trip and escaping suburbia. The trip was her idea and her chance to escape the empty future she saw coming. She wants to move to France to reverse their domestic roles and keep him home to decide his life while she goes out and works. They make grand plans but life happens to them. He traps her in by changing his mind, something he does often, and elects an easier, gutless path by not taking chances and doing the safe thing. He lowers his expectations and accepts the life in front of him, something she is simply not able to do. This was not the life she wanted.
He says early on “I want to feel things…I mean really feel them”. Well he feels life alright, but he didn’t receive what he thought life was going to deal out. Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it. She believed he would provide a wonderful and exciting life because he was so revolutionary, but he becomes a man that allows others to make his decisions for him by buying into the belief that dreams are unrealistic. She suffers because he gives up on the pursuit of that dream. He crushes her dream but he doesn’t understand or realize this until it is too late.
The performances of Winslet and DiCaprio are fantastic, and watching their world spin out of control is truly devastating. This is about the revolution of the American housewife. A sad and tragic tale of a woman realizing her life would not have any resemblance to the dream she had in mind.
This story mirrors life, unlocking a door to a spot in time that isn’t supposed to feel comfortable. And like life, there are many unhappy moments along the way. It is about dreams and the loss of those dreams. It is about individuality, freedom, and a revolt against the norm.
3-1/2 STARS
Revolutionary Road is about the lives of Frank and April Wheeler, played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. They are young, vibrant and full of promise. We see them meet at a party and instantly connect. She falls in love with him because he is a dreamer and wants to experience new things. He is full of ideas and, more importantly for her, he abounds with all of life’s possibilities.
Unfortunately, as their life goes on in marriage and a move to suburban Connecticut, an unhappy tension mounts. She feels stuck. Director Sam Mendes portrays this masterfully during an early scene when April is sad about the play she was in, another dream of her youth dismissed to a life of responsibilities. She gets trapped in this life of what the American dream is supposed to be, what most people think of “making it”. There is a realization of a hopeless, empty existence.
A change can be made and with that a dream of a better life in France. So they find happiness and develop a strong bond planning this trip and escaping suburbia. The trip was her idea and her chance to escape the empty future she saw coming. She wants to move to France to reverse their domestic roles and keep him home to decide his life while she goes out and works. They make grand plans but life happens to them. He traps her in by changing his mind, something he does often, and elects an easier, gutless path by not taking chances and doing the safe thing. He lowers his expectations and accepts the life in front of him, something she is simply not able to do. This was not the life she wanted.
He says early on “I want to feel things…I mean really feel them”. Well he feels life alright, but he didn’t receive what he thought life was going to deal out. Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it. She believed he would provide a wonderful and exciting life because he was so revolutionary, but he becomes a man that allows others to make his decisions for him by buying into the belief that dreams are unrealistic. She suffers because he gives up on the pursuit of that dream. He crushes her dream but he doesn’t understand or realize this until it is too late.
The performances of Winslet and DiCaprio are fantastic, and watching their world spin out of control is truly devastating. This is about the revolution of the American housewife. A sad and tragic tale of a woman realizing her life would not have any resemblance to the dream she had in mind.
This story mirrors life, unlocking a door to a spot in time that isn’t supposed to feel comfortable. And like life, there are many unhappy moments along the way. It is about dreams and the loss of those dreams. It is about individuality, freedom, and a revolt against the norm.
3-1/2 STARS
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
MUSIC'S FIRST KISS
On a muggy, sticky and heavy aired morning in August, my friends and I cruised up and parked our car in a large gravel and sand laden parking lot. We had no tickets but we had a plan and we were intent on making the best of our opportunities. We didn’t follow the crowd to the main gates, but instead made our way into a densely covered thicket of brush and trees of a forest and climbed up a hill. We argued about how we were to pull off this scam. It seemed hopeless once we got to the top of the hill because we could see through the trees that security guards were milling around in yellow shirts on the edge of the tree line at the bottom of the other side. We hung out for a while and various people entered the woods for natural reasons and after a while we noticed an older guy come up the hill towards us. He said hi to me and sparked a joint and asked when we were coming down. We all voiced that we were worried of getting caught but he coughed out a laugh and said to act cool and follow him. He was about 6” 6’ and he knew that nobody would fuck around with us as long as we were with him.
We made our way down the hill and walked into the park like we belonged among the throng of paying customers. To our surprise, a second look was never given and we were psyched. A half an hour later we were 30 yards from the stage and “crackerman” electrified the crowd with its high-octane opening. Energized jumping, mosh pits and crowd surfing ensued through the next hour or so during their set. We had a great time. Stone Temple Pilots charged through numerous songs and Scott Weiland impressed with his charismatic antics and pinpoint vocals. They were flawless and sounded better than they had on their album. That was at a time just after their first album had taken over the country and gripped our young lives. The fact that we were lucky enough to see our favorite band for free was the ultimate for us in those days. And for me, I look back now and remember that day as a personal transcendence towards a higher appreciation for music.
I’ve heard many stories from people at various times through the years about their first concerts. Almost all of them depict a memoir of a large venue. Maybe it was the meadowlands, and maybe they were dragged by an older sister to see a pop band, or even worse they might have gone with their parents to see an act from a past generation. Fortunately, luck gave me four friends and a band we really loved at a small outdoor venue on a great summer day. We had no money or tickets but we found a way because it was all about the music and how it moved you, and it still is today.
We made our way down the hill and walked into the park like we belonged among the throng of paying customers. To our surprise, a second look was never given and we were psyched. A half an hour later we were 30 yards from the stage and “crackerman” electrified the crowd with its high-octane opening. Energized jumping, mosh pits and crowd surfing ensued through the next hour or so during their set. We had a great time. Stone Temple Pilots charged through numerous songs and Scott Weiland impressed with his charismatic antics and pinpoint vocals. They were flawless and sounded better than they had on their album. That was at a time just after their first album had taken over the country and gripped our young lives. The fact that we were lucky enough to see our favorite band for free was the ultimate for us in those days. And for me, I look back now and remember that day as a personal transcendence towards a higher appreciation for music.
I’ve heard many stories from people at various times through the years about their first concerts. Almost all of them depict a memoir of a large venue. Maybe it was the meadowlands, and maybe they were dragged by an older sister to see a pop band, or even worse they might have gone with their parents to see an act from a past generation. Fortunately, luck gave me four friends and a band we really loved at a small outdoor venue on a great summer day. We had no money or tickets but we found a way because it was all about the music and how it moved you, and it still is today.
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