Thursday, March 29, 2007

Snippets:
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Music: Fri., 3/23/07(Late Show), 55 Bar, NYC: Brian Mitchell Trio: Brian Mitchell: Keyboards and Vocals. Far out funk and rock 'n roll. Blues.
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Art: Jeff Wall. Exhibition at the MoMA, NYC, Feb 15-May 25, 2007.
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Art: Octavio Ocampo: Paintings with optical illusions.

Octavio Ocampo: Buddha

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Monday, March 26, 2007

Snippets:
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NYC: Free NYC. Calendar of free events in the City.
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Restaurants: Restaurant Row. All over the U.S. Various search options. Hardly any reviews though.
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Music: List of live music venues in the NYC area.
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Literature: Franz Kafka: Die Verwandlung (in German; engl.: The Metamorphosis). HoerGut Klassik. One morning the traveling saleman Gregor wakes up being turned into a giant bug. While he does not seem affected much by this change, his family is first shocked, then tries to cope with the new situation, but finally neglects and abandons him. Bizarre, but full of metaphors. Kafkaesque: of, relating to, or suggestive of Franz Kafka or his writings; especially: having a nightmarishly complex, bizarre, or illogical quality.
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Snippets:
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Fort Apache (1948). B/W. 128 min. Directed by John Ford. w/ John Wayne (Capt. Kirby York), Henry Fonda (Lt. Col. Owen Thursday), Shirley Temple (Philadelphia Thursday), John Agar (2nd Lt. Michael Shannon O'Rourke). Colonel, unfamiliar with the West, is transferred to the frontier and gets into conflict with Indians, while his pretty daughter finds a husband. Simple story. Some funny elements. The DVD featurette 'Monument Valley: John Ford Country' explains how Ford came to shooting in Monument Valley, UT, and about the Monument Valley trader Harry Goulding, whose lodge and trading post provided housing for the crew, and who was a pivotal contact between Ford and the Navajo Indians. Overall rating 6 out of 10.
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Photography: Histroric Photo Archive maintained by Thomas Robinson, Portland, OR.

Elevated Railroad, NYC, 1890s

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Snippets:
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Music: 2/21/07, 10 PM: 55 Bar, NYC: Mike Stern, Contemporary Jazz Guitar (Mike Stern - Guitar, Kim Thompson - Drums, Janek Gwizdala - Bass). Funky jazz. Stern has played with Miles Davis in 1981-83 and 1985. Toured with Jaco Pastorious. Currentt album: 'Who Let the Cats Out'. Thompson is more of a rock drummer, but fits the band well. Always comes up with another new rhythm.
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DVD: Fight Club (1999). 139 min. w/ Edward Norton (The Narrator) Brad Pitt (Tyler Durden), Helena Bonham Carter (Marla Singer), Meat Loaf (Robert 'Bob' Paulson; as Meat Loaf Aday). Directed by David Fincher (Se7en). Insomniac meets anarchist. Together they start a fight club. Bizarre. Violent moments. Disturbing at times. Some good lines. Need to pay attention to detail. Explores the human psyche in full depth. Strange twist toward the end. Q's: How would a fight club ever start if the narrator has fought himself? How does the narrator know where to go, i.e. where Tyler 'lives' after his apartment is destroyed? Overall rating: 6 out of 10.
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Photography: Sally Mann (b. 1951): American photographer. Portraits. Often B/W photos of young women or children.
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Art: Hans Baldung Grien (c. 1480-1545). German (Alsatian) Renaissance painter and printer. Joined Albrecht Dürer's Nuremberg workshop in 1503. Many of his works.
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Music: The shenai is a double-reed, oboe-like instrument best known from the work of the great Indian virtuoso, Bismallah Khan. Also played by the jazz musician Yusef Lateef in the song 'Sister Mamie' on the album 'Live at Pep's'.
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