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Showing posts from 2011

A Lego Quarterback for Tony

Me and Christian Marclay (We Look Like We Are Singing...)

Me and Christian Marclay (We Look Like We Are Signing...) , originally uploaded by levenj .

Albany Hill

Albany Hill , originally uploaded by levenj . I had a vision as BART arrived at El Cerrito Plaza.

Getrude Stein Meets Simon Le Bon

Getrude Stein Meets Simon Le Bon , a set on Flickr.

Richmond Y @ CJM

Richmond Y @ CJM , originally uploaded by levenj . love my job!!!

Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum & Planetarium

Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum & Planetarium , originally uploaded by levenj . http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesgleventhal/sets/72157626924127685/

Houston AAM2011: Museum People

Houston AAM2011: Met Ladies , originally uploaded by levenj . AAM Houston 2011. Ladies from the Met, winning gold MUSE awards for connections: http://www.metmuseum.org/connections/ Here they languish in the Carlos Cruz-Diez: http://www.mfah.org/exhibitions/carlos-cruz-diez-color-space/ Good old friends like Mark Wright and newer ones like Darren Milligan .

Today's a Carnival...

Today's a Carnival... , originally uploaded by levenj .

Another Jewish Author: I'm Getting Older

My friend Adam got me to read The Ask by Sam Lipsyte , because it was about a guy who works in a Development office. It's pretty well written, really well written. It lead me to Shteyngart . Both works and authors are battling with satire and winning, but the work can be pretty depressing as a result, albeit truthful. Am I now stuck on this Jewish author trend for a while? I remember after reading Goodbye, Columbus in high school, I said I'd never do it again....at least 'til I was older. fin.

Absurdistan

I just finished reading Gary Shteyngart's Absurdistan . The book will stay with me for a long time, its truth and American English lyricism. The New York Times Review of Books was thrilled and emphatic about the book Why praise it first? Just quote from it — at random. Just unbutton its shirt and let it bare its chest. Like a victorious wrestler, this novel is so immodestly vigorous, so burstingly sure of its barbaric excellence, that simply by breathing, sweating and standing upright it exalts itself. And so: As depressed and immobile as a twenty-first-century Oblomov , I lay on my bed scrolling through the darkest corners of the Internet, the laptop whizzing and bleating atop the mound of my stomach. I watched all kinds of unfortunate women being degraded and humiliated, tied up, spat upon, forced to swallow gigantic penises, and I wished I could wipe off their dripping faces, whisk them away to some Minneapolis or Toronto, and teach them to take pleasure in a simple linear li

Charles Schultz Museum (pic by Lil E!)

Charles Schultz Museum (pic by Lil E!) , originally uploaded by levenj . We went up to Santa Rosa last weekend. I was giving a talk about the CJM at synagogue Shomrei Torah, for their Friday night service. It was great. The shul's new and beautiful. We stayed the night at the Hilton Garden Inn near the Sonoma County Airport then went to the Charles M Schultz on the way home -- first time I'd been. Lil E really didn't know Peanuts and it was sweet to watch Karen explain it to him, like it was part of now inactive cultural history. A lot started with Peanuts, and it was interesting to see it all in that context.