bloggy

Random

I’m lethargic. I have a sinus thingy, and the antibiotics make me sleepy. Random thoughts:

At what point did people with money start to look so much worse than many people described as “bums” did in the 40s?

cushman-bums.jpg

Three bums from South Ferry flophouses. At Battery Park N.Y.C.
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I found this image while browsing images from the Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection, thanks to Gothamist.

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What were they thinking when they made the movie Max? It’s painfully bad, but not in a good way. Why didn’t John Cusack just say, “You gotta be kidding me?” The history is bad, the characters seem underwritten and silly, and we’re subjected to dialog like:

Nina: You seem pensive.
Max: I’m just thinking.

Aaarrgh.

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On the extreme other end of quality of films I’ve seen lately is Godard’s Contempt (Le Mepris). It’s beautifully filmed, the sound design and score by George Delerue are eccentric and wonderful, and you get people like Brigitte Bardot playing the difficult, unfathomable French Woman, Jack Palance playing a crude American movie producer, and Fritz Lang playing himself, sort of. Feel free to go buy me the DVD.

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We watched one of the episodes of Art:21 after having bought it on DVD — the one with Collier Schorr. I’m glad I finally saw an interview with her, because I find her work interesting, but also troubling with its focus on voyeurism, particularly when the German youth/Nazi connection comes to the fore. It all makes a lot more sense to me now than it once did. We got a photograph by her at the recent New Festival benefit.

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One day before the Times Under $25 Review appeared for Bar Jamón, we shared a bottle of a nice Spanish rosé and some olives there with my college (and initial NYC) roommate Andrew and his wife Erin, visiting from Dallas. It’s beautiful. I just hope one will be able to get back in at some point. It plus the tapas restaurant next door, Casa Mono, are the latest project from Batali. I love that man. He spends a lot of time on restaurants affordable by “the masses”, and I’m grateful for it, not to mention for the existence of Esca.

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What was with having “God Bless The USA” be the song they played at midnight in Times Square? I hadn’t realized this country had invented New Year’s Eve, other than the commercial idea of it of course. It seems to contrast with the “Hope for Unity” theme of the 2003 crystals on the big ball.

Merry Christmas

And the youth, looking upon him (Jesus), loved him and beseeched that he might remain with him. And going out of the tomb, they went into the house of the youth, for he was rich. And after six days, Jesus instructed him and, at evening, the youth came to him wearing a linen cloth over his naked body. And he remained with him that night, for Jesus taught him the mystery of the Kingdom of God.

— from a fragment of a manuscript found at the Mar Saba monastery near Jerusalem in 1958. The fragment shows that the full text of St. Mark, Chapter 10 (between verses 34 and 35 in the standard version of the Bible) included this passage.

[via 365gay.com]

Take that, faggots!

I not a big fan of marriage – gay or otherwise. I would prefer a world where we Americans all get to have health insurance and a decent retirement and the ability to leave our estates to someone we love regardless of our domestic arrangements. However, if we’re going to provide lots of benefits to married people that single people can’t have, then damn it same sex couples should be able to have them too.

The NY Times “Weddings & Celebrations” page on Sunday made sure we remember who really counts. On a day when they reported on the marriage of Terrence McNally (a quite commercially if not always artistically successful playwright) and Thomas Kirdahy, they stick it down on the page without a photo, after the heteros. I would have expected that to be the featured event on the page, given that he lives in NYC and his plays are regularly produced in big theatres.

Which ceremony did they choose for the “Vows” feature? Senator John Warner’s third marriage, in DC, to an Alexandria, VA real estate agent.

Nice priorities.

Some transit statistics

From Ray Sanchez, Newsday’s MTA watchdog:

In approving its 2004 budget, the MTA cut the subway and bus workforce by 857 positions while increasing the workforces of Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road by 304. City subways and buses receive only 63 percent of state transit aid while moving 84 percent of the state’s riders. Metro-North and LIRR move just 5 percent of riders but get 23 percent of state transit funding.

9/11 Chair: Attack Was Preventable

Spread the word. I’m concerned that Thomas Kean, the Bush-chosen head of the 9/11 commission, can say these things and only one major network (CBS) has mentioned it so far.

For the first time, the chairman of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is saying publicly that 9/11 could have and should have been prevented, reports CBS News Correspondent Randall Pinkston.

“This is a very, very important part of history and we’ve got to tell it right,” said Thomas Kean.

“As you read the report, you’re going to have a pretty clear idea what wasn’t done and what should have been done,” he said. “This was not something that had to happen.”

Appointed by the Bush administration, Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey, is now pointing fingers inside the administration and laying blame.

“There are people that, if I was doing the job, would certainly not be in the position they were in at that time because they failed. They simply failed,” Kean said.



Asked whether we should at least know if people sitting in the decision-making spots on that critical day are still in those positions, Kean said, “Yes, the answer is yes. And we will.”

Kean promises major revelations in public testimony beginning next month from top officials in the FBI, CIA, Defense Department, National Security Agency and, maybe, President Bush and former President Clinton.

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Plus, a couple of statistics:

Amount spent on Whitewater investigation: $100 million
Amount spent on 9/11 investigation to date: $3 million

God works in mysterious ways

No More Mister Nice Blog has a nice post on the National Review’s David Frum telling us that

it’s becoming increasingy difficult to doubt that God wants President Bush re-elected.

Too bad God had to kill all of those people on 9/11 as part of the plan.

Ugh

I think it’s only a cold, but I’m a mess. Why else would I be awake to do a post at 6am?

Wingnut alert

I’m getting a wingnut posting on my Hussein post. Should I just delete him? I love the idea of people that think World Net Daily is a reliable news source and that there are obvious links between Iraq and Al Quaeda, but the BBC is a crazy thing to use for a news source.

Cool art, dreadful weather

We headed out to Williamsburg today for what we thought was the last day of K48 Klubhouse at Deitch, but it’s going to be up through next weekend. There was so much to see, but one of the things that really struck me was the Daniel Joseph installation. Here are some photos by Paul Laster from the opening.

We happened to meet up with Cory Arcangel there, who was with Superstar Artist Frankie Martin. She is beautiful, smart, and fabulous. I love her “mall tour” with downloadable poster for getting her autograph:

The other cool show we saw was the Team Lump show at Plus Ultra.

Cory and Frankie both highly recommended we check out Little Cakes in the East Village.