loveitallabove

Pacific Standard Time: MLK Weekend

2012-01-16T21:35:00.001-08:00

Pacific Standard Time: MLK Weekend, a set on Flickr.

What an amazing, long weekend!

How I Fell in Love with SF: Rest in Peace, John, I Never Knew You

2012-01-03T21:33:00.001-08:00

A Fashion Shoot at the Legion, originally uploaded by levenj.

A Lego Quarterback for Tony

2011-12-24T10:34:00.000-08:00

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

2011-10-08T20:19:00.001-07:00

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

Albany Hill

2011-09-03T19:27:00.001-07:00

Albany Hill, originally uploaded by levenj.

I had a vision as BART arrived at El Cerrito Plaza.

Getrude Stein Meets Simon Le Bon

2011-08-20T10:29:00.001-07:00

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

Richmond Y @ CJM

2011-08-13T09:41:00.001-07:00

Richmond Y @ CJM, originally uploaded by levenj.

love my job!!!

Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum & Planetarium

2011-06-25T23:45:00.001-07:00

Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum & Planetarium, originally uploaded by levenj.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesgleventhal/sets/72157626924127685/

Houston AAM2011: Museum People

2011-05-28T14:54:00.001-07:00

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...

2011-04-25T22:59:00.001-07:00

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

Learning of the Genius of Mary Lou Williams @jeweum #wildwome... on Twitpic

2011-03-13T16:00:00.000-07:00

Learning of the Genius of Mary Lou Williams @jeweum #wildwome... on Twitpic

Another Jewish Author: I'm Getting Older

2011-03-12T21:30:00.000-08:00

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

2011-03-12T20:56:00.001-08:00

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 life far from their big-dicked tormentors.

It's intense and beautiful. I'm sorry, I mean horrible. Or more as Shteyngart writes:

A look of such transcendent disbelief came over Timofey that I could only feel grief for him. And grief for me, too. There was enough grief on the plane for both of us. Good grief, as the Americans say.

Charles Schultz Museum (pic by Lil E!)

2011-02-21T23:20:00.001-08:00

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.

Shim's Pic of Me an' Lil E

2010-12-29T21:20:00.001-08:00

DSC_0067, originally uploaded by simone.roark.

I just love this picture -- maxxin' and relaxxin' with Lil E back in Boyds. Thanks, Simone!

Brilliant, Long Lecture by George McNeely at CJM that Tells the Whole Story...

2010-12-28T20:01:00.000-08:00

...of the restitution of Nazi-looted art. This program took place at the Museum on November 2, 2010, in conjunction with Reclaimed: Paintings from the Collection of Jacques Goudstikker.

Exile on Main Street: Robert Frank

2010-11-26T16:34:00.001-08:00

CJM Contemporaries Fisher Collection Visit, originally uploaded by levenj.

I learned at the CJM Contemporaries Fisher Collection Visit that the Stone's Exile on Main Street cover is a Robert Frank photograph?! How come I never knew this? Warhol and the Stones? Richard Hamilton and the White Album?

Old Slideshow and New Message

2010-11-23T03:52:00.000-08:00

Museums and I.C.V.

View more presentations from James Leventhal.

A colleague from many years ago was looking through old presentations I had up in slideshare and wrote the following:

Among the many charms and pithy paradoxes of your slideshare presentations, today I enjoyed responding in a new and, I hope, insightful way to your slide that says "The Poetry of Process / The Beauty of Bureaucracy." That's one I would like to have heard your witty words on in the moment you put the slide up.

Would I be right to take that as brightening the hue of Max Weber's sociological lament on the "iron cage" of bureacracy? As in, learn to work with it? Even, "Love it All?" Enjoy the art and craft in the human side of organizational life. Make a vigorous sport out of winding through mazes on tilting floors. Appreciate the complexity of forming alliances for shared and individual aims. Rather than whine about bureaucracy and "process", why not sing a soulful ballad -- an ode to human toil and striving in mission-rich organizations.

Is that kind of it?

After all, we're awfully lucky to get paid -- and paid nicely -- to work for such wonderful places. We spend our days tending to the bright side of life. And that's a big part of why we attract major donors who underwrite our museums with their money, their time, and their good names. So let's work inside our organizations with the same kind of care we direct outside: let's be discerning, be appreciative, and be strategic with museum colleagues as well as donors and volunteers.

Am I getting it?

Quite a slide there! The first time I saw it a few months ago, I laughed a bit. This time I stopped and thought more. I like the second viewing!

Genesis P-Orridge is better than the Beatles - XLR8R TV

2010-10-30T21:40:00.000-07:00

Now more Genesis P-Orridge! Now. More!

PSYCHIC TV - I.C. Water

2010-10-30T21:15:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I'd never heard this before. Shelley and Keats.

Ford Bell DVM and President AAM at the Portland Children's Museum

2010-10-19T10:16:00.001-07:00

Ford Bell DVM and President AAM at the Portland Children's Museum, originally uploaded by levenj.

Ford Bell, President of AAM and trained veterinarian at the Pet Hospital installation at the Portland Children's Museum as part of the Western Museums Association Annual Meeting 2010 in Portland, OR

Check out givezooks! - online fundraising for nonprofits and grassroots campaigns

2010-10-04T23:10:00.001-07:00

I want you to take a look at: givezooks! - online fundraising for nonprofits and grassroots campaigns

Tehiyah Board President Adam Mizock writes:

Marathon for Tehiyah

My goal is to run the California International Marathon on December 5, 2010 in Sacramento and to raise $10,000 for Tehiyah Day School. I hope to encourage friends, family and the East Bay community to join me in giving to Tehiyah.

Tehiyah has enriched my family's life through its education of our children and its impact on our community. I am currently in my fifth year as President of Tehiyah's Board of Trustees. I have been inspired by the way our students and graduates take the Tehiyah curriculum to heart as they engage in lifelong learning (l'midah), social justice and giving to those in need (tzedakah) and making the world a better place (tikkun olam). Tehiyah's curriculum is brought to life by our students and teachers through interactive experiential learning. This year I decided to stretch my own experience and endurance by aiming to run a marathon for the first time. Until this summer, I had never run more than six miles. But, with Tehiyah's mission in mind, I've been pushing myself to run farther and farther.

I have pledged to give $50 for every mile I run. If I complete the marathon, that will be $1300. The company I work for will match my gift, so I'll be more than 25% of the way toward my goal of $10,000.

Please join me with a per mile pledge of any amount!
$20 per mile = $520
$10 per mile = $260
$5 per mile = $130
$1 per mile = $26

Be a lead sponsor: Everyone will be recognized for their gift, but if anyone pledges more than $1,000 (at least $40 per mile), I will put your name on my shirt and wear it proudly for the entire marathon.

I am training for the marathon with Benjamin Marcus, a parent at Oakland Hebrew Day School. Ben is also fundraising for OHDS. Together, Ben and I hope to strengthen the East Bay's Jewish day schools. Thank you for your support!

Audience Feedback 2.0: Intrinsic Impact at the CJM

2010-09-28T09:44:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Theatre Bay Area, Alan Brown walked us through his study findings Stop Taking Attendance and Start Measuring the True Impacts of Your Programs Major University Presenters’ Value & Impact Study, Presentation by Alan Brown and Jennifer Novak at the Arts Presenters Conference (January 11, 2008) to download presentation click here.

One of the primary messages is that you have to balance readiness and impact. Marketing can help create that level of anticipation.

Captivation and Personal Involvement!

The Hypothesis:

“Readiness to Receive” + The Performance Experience = Intrinsic Impact

Alan Brown draws our attention to the University of Florida's Performing Arts annual report, which actually includes intrinsic value in its annual report:

UFPA INTRINSIC IMPACT RESEARCH
SUMMARY
Although our mission is not defined in terms of ticket sales and financial metrics, we previously reported only those figures to funders, foundations, university administrators, board members and staff. Anecdotal evidence of the transformative and non- economic impact is evident and reliable. During in-depth interviews conducted at the Philips Center during the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons, patrons frequently cited childhood experiences with the performing arts that they carried with them long into adulthood. The intrinsic impacts of the UFPA 2007-08 season include captivation, intellectual stimulation, emotional resonance, spiritual value, aesthetic growth and social bonding.

University of Florida Performing Arts ANNUAL REPORT 2007-08 p. 14

Robert Sweibel of the BerkeleyRep said it well, when he said that what they really want at the BerkeleyRep is a "take-home experience" where "the whole ride is a good ride," which I thought was a really good way to characterize Alan Brown's findings. And maybe why BerkeleyRep seems so successful.

Alan Brown mentioned that some organizations such as the Walker are bringing feedback into their overall program with the "SpeakEasy": "SpeakEasy Meet at the back of the Balcony Bar after every Saturday dance and Out There performance for an
informal dialogue with a Walker tour guide and a local choreographer or theater artist. Think book club, but with a performance. Jump into the discussion or just listen in as others hash it out after the show. Your questions. Your answers. Risk-free."

Collecting the Impossible

2010-09-23T21:42:00.001-07:00

Collecting the Impossible, originally uploaded by levenj.

I was at ybca, because I've come ot know and really respect Catharine Clark. I got to know Catharine, because Ken Goldberg is doing an installation at the CJM to be entitled Are We There Yet? And Catharine represents Ken's work through the Catharine Clark Gallery.

Initial funding for Are We There Yet? came in the form of one of those amazing collaborative grants from the Creative Work Fund. According to the Creative Work Fund web site, four principles guide the Fund:

Artists’ creativity merits philanthropic support.

Individual creativity is the source of cultural richness and diversity.

The arts can be a powerful vehicle for problem solving and community renewal.

Collaborative efforts among artists, organizations, and their constituents can generate a productive exchange of ideas and bring the arts to new audiences.

How fantastic is that?!

Well, anyhow, as part of getting to know Catharine Clark, she tells me she's going to be on a panel with collectors Jeff Dauber and Dennis Scholl about digital art, which I later discover is to be moderated by Richard Rinehart, Digital Media Director & Adjunct Curator at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive and that Lynn Hershman Leeson is going to be a part of it as well. Rounding out the participants is Jason Kaufman, Chief US Correspondent for The Art Newspaper.

The history of computer-based art practice goes back to at least the 1968 Cybernetic Serendipity exhibition at the ICA in London, yet digital art is only now starting to attract the attention of collectors in greater numbers. Digital art milestones such as; Listening Post by Ben Rubin and Mark Hansen, the thrilling public spectacles of Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, and the break-through LED works of Jim Campbell have been collected by a few pioneer institutions and brave individuals, but these works and others like them can be daunting to collectors. They present new and unusual technical, legal, and maintenance obstacles that can inhibit collectors and thus the market and thus support for a whole class of artists.

The collectors echoed beautifully the kind of thinking articulated in the Creative Work Fund's four guiding principles. Scholl talked about his support of the work of Paul Pfeiffer. Catharine Clark talked about Nina Katchadourian's Talking Popcorn, which apparently caught fire in one installation. What do you do about that? And Scholl went on to add how the Linda Pace Foundation, on whose Board he sits, is an essential sustainer of the work of Isaac Julien, and how essential that support is.

A really lively and beautiful dialogue ensued, especially to hear explorations into the heart of what digital art is -- how much it is or isn't like it's own documentation, or its own "liveness," as Lynn Hershman Leeson put it, or how much it needs remain part of its initial technical makeup, and whether it need have residual object value beyond the validity of the technology.

I kept thinking about all those lost-object black-and-whites from art history books, the lost Lorenzo Lotto, or others often lost to wars (now being reclaimed and repatriated in some cases rediscovered and redocumented, thanks to new digital inventories) and how much that work is so much no longer what it was when first made. Yet these predella panels, paintings or objects still hold an important historical and aesthetic position. With time, they have also taken on a conceptual stance well beyond original intentions, and maybe even quite contrary to the original context, being re-placed into a seemingly heretical world.

I also thought of the Maestà of Duccio, once heralded in Siena as unique and powerful, magically religious even, now many of the panels are distributed or lost. But each component piece, when you come across it talks back to its source.

What's the technological biosphere that keeps all this going? Audience member Michael Naimark had the next to last word, thanks to Rick Rinehart, and he pointed out that he "wrote the report," and it's called "Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and Money:
Technology-Based Art and the Dynamics of Sustainability." (2003)

The whole talk was part of 01SJ Biennial: 01sj.org/2010/events/collecting-the-impossible/

Creative Commons Salon: Participatory Culture Offline

2010-09-23T10:28:00.001-07:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Creative Commons Salon: Participatory Culture Offline

View more presentations from Nina Simon.

JOY!

2010-09-21T12:28:00.001-07:00

Jumping at the Y, originally uploaded by levenj.

Jaron Lanier, Wild Thing

2010-09-13T21:46:00.001-07:00

by James G. Leventhal

Jaron Lanier came to speak at the Contemporary Jewish Museum as part of the Museum's LINK program,, a Jewish, Art, and Technology initiative at the CJM.

Jaron Lanier purposefully positions himself as archaistic. He wants you to read a book. He wants you to think before you "tweet." He is also sometimes credited with inventing virtual reality. That's right, inventing virtual reality. And he has helped to craft some of the finest future visioning in a Philip K. Dick film, yet, as a creative consultant on Minority Report. He has jammed with "Q," Ornette Coleman, and been on tour with Yoko Ono.

Jaron Lanier, Wild Thing, originally uploaded by levenj.

Hearing Jaron Lanier speak at the CJM was a thrill for me.

I'd been reading Lawrence Lessig and Chris Anderson, and was all excited about the 'wisdom of the crowds' and the potential of mass collaboration and social media's power to build networks and layers of meaning.

So I was excited to dig into You Are Not a Gadget, figuring it would be an apt counterpoint; but, instead found something of an indictment of this Clay Shirky Here Comes Everybody way of thinking:

The new twist in Silicon Valley is that some people -- very influential people -- believe they are hearing algorithms and crowds and other internet-supported non-human entities speak for themselves. I don't hear those voices, though -- and I believe those who do are fooling themselves.

Jaron Lanier, You Are Not a Gadget p. 39

Wow. it stopped me in my tracks and made me question a lot that had informed my now-and-future world view. Lanier's not really throwing out the baby with the bathwater, so to speak; but he is encouraging a consistent "turning off" or "tuning out." Go for the individuated longplay.

There's another important layer that has to do with ownership of knowledge and the fact that "the corporation" owns all this "sharing." Lanier is keenly attuned to this, even invested in it, as he points out. There is something chilling about who owns what we are creating and sharing so openly. A question, I think, as yet unresolved in its implications; especially as, in my opinion, these new sharing spaces being driven by corporations have added such tremendous good in the world so far. And it may be only in our quietest of moments that we truly own our own thoughts. Isn't value defined in exchange? How then do we determine value outside of those known channels? This blogging space is run by Google, for example.

And when it's all said and done, Lanier's really speaking about moderation. He's a champion of technology and it's sort of like the new book Hamlet's Blackberry, where the author reminds us that these are in fact age-old questions, finding the balance from the natural distraction from humanity that technology can offer.

Sit back, relax with your laptop, or smart phone. Play the video. And dig the opening instrumentation.

There's a lot up in there -- what do you think?

LINK, a Jewish, Art, and Technology initiative, opens the CJM as a laboratory to explore practical applications for forging new paths in Jewish education. LINK is a multidimensional initiative which brings together a monthly speaker series exploring the intersection of Judaism and new technologies, a year-long educator fellowship, and an innovative exhibition with web, gallery, and classroom components.

LINK is made possible by a generous grant from the Covenant Foundation. Additional support has been provided by the Koret Foundation and The David B. Gold Foundation.

Education and Youth Programs at the CJM are supported by Koret and Taube Foundations; Jim Joseph Foundation; Alexander M. and June L. Maisin Foundation; The Wallace Foundation; Bank of America; The Skirball Foundation; Target; The James Irvine Foundation; The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation; Pacific Gas and Electric Company; Wells Fargo Foundation; Citibank; The David B. Gold Foundation; Macy’s Foundation; Morris Stulsaft Foundation; and Union Bank of California Foundation.

Outside Berkeley Art Center

2010-08-22T15:37:00.001-07:00

Outside Berkeley Art Center, originally uploaded by levenj.

Matthew Barney at Schaulager/Basel, CH

2010-08-21T15:32:00.001-07:00

Basel Art, originally uploaded by levenj.

Eva and Franco Mattes aka 0100101110101101.org at plug.in gallery

2010-08-21T15:24:00.001-07:00

plug.in gallery, originally uploaded by levenj.

Fribourg: Find the Space Invader II

2010-08-21T14:32:00.001-07:00

Fribourg: Find the Space Invader II, originally uploaded by levenj.

space invaders in fribourg

Living Tableau at Impressionism Show: Degas

2010-08-03T16:26:00.001-07:00

Living Tableau at Impressionism Show: Degas, originally uploaded by levenj.

A Friday evening at the de Young with young dancers and gentleman as Degas and dancers as part of programs on Friday evening free public programs on July 30, 2010 for exhibition Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay (May 22, 2010 - September 6, 2010)

Danto Say Pic of Shoes Is/Are Portrait

2010-07-24T11:08:00.001-07:00

RSA Animate - Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

2010-07-11T09:20:00.000-07:00

Peter Samis (SFMoma) et les espaces critiques collaboratifs

2010-06-22T21:23:00.001-07:00

Peter Samis (SFMoma) et les espaces critiques collaboratifs, originally uploaded by dalbera.

rode the train this morning with Peter :) felt like being close to equilibrium.

SF Gay Men's Chorus Presentation

2010-06-12T10:19:00.001-07:00

SF Gay Men's Chorus Presentation, originally uploaded by levenj.

These guys seem to have had a transformational experience art #artslabsf from this to this pic above now, giving a persuasive and hilarious presentation about how Social Media's now working for them!

such a thrill....

@jewsweum sold out for Holy Rollers

2010-06-09T19:28:00.001-07:00

@jewsweum sold out for Holy Rollers

In Every Dream Home...

2010-06-08T00:36:00.001-07:00

Columbia, MD, originally uploaded by levenj.

Ai Weiwei

2010-06-07T21:49:00.000-07:00

Wolf-Brown's Findings

2010-06-01T19:52:00.001-07:00

Wolf-Brown's Findings, originally uploaded by levenj.

As a culmination of the Fund for Artists' grant program administered by The San Francisco Foundation and the East Bay Community Foundation, Wolf-Brown presented their findings on reasons for giving -- value statements on donor motivations!

Kickin' It

2010-05-31T16:32:00.001-07:00

Kickin' It, originally uploaded by levenj.

OK. now we are off-and-running...from here on out it's all, "I can't believe he has reached this stage.." Woohoo!

AAM10 Slideshow Flickr Set View

2010-05-28T00:15:00.000-07:00

WMA Board Meeting at AAM10, Los Angeles

2010-05-27T23:03:00.001-07:00

CIMG0134

CIMG0133

@rossparry and James Lin of www.npm.gov.tw

2010-05-24T07:53:00.001-07:00

@rossparry and James Lin of www.npm.gov.tw #djump #aam10

CIMG0013

2010-05-22T07:39:00.001-07:00

@oaklandmuseumca opening

2010-05-02T02:33:00.000-07:00

Photographer I

2010-04-29T23:38:00.001-07:00

Photographer I, originally uploaded by levenj.

High Schoolers in "Our Struggle"

2010-04-29T00:09:00.001-07:00

High Schoolers in Our Struggle, originally uploaded by levenj.

Here at the CJM...this is one of those "I frickin' love my job" moments...glad my cell phone got a perfect, blurry pic so I could get the feel for the kids in the galleries without any real faces without permission.

WSB

2010-04-19T22:18:00.001-07:00

WSB, originally uploaded by levenj.

More on Rocco

2010-04-18T20:56:00.001-07:00

To follow up on an earlier post -- excited about being a part of Rocco Landesman's visit to SF, The New York Times ran a great article about Landesman's work. One of the pix is of Landesman and crew looking at the CJM...squint, you can seem it gleam in their eyes :)

(Image: Jim Wilson/The New York Times "In San Francisco with his wife, Debby (behind him) and James Canales of the James Irvine Foundation."

Was jazzed when he was first appointed...

In the Kunstmuseum Basel

2010-04-18T20:49:00.001-07:00

Photo_072308_001, originally uploaded by levenj.

"The Kunstmuseum Basel, the world’s first public museum, began with the city’s purchase of a private collection in 1661...."

http://www.apollo-magazine.com/features/5861208/part_3/the-evolution-of-the-kunstmuseum-basel.thtml

Jews on Vinyl: The Parvarim

2010-04-18T20:25:00.001-07:00

Jews on Vinyl, originally uploaded by levenj.

Known as Israel’s Simon and Garfunkel, the duo split up like their American role models when one of them become Ultra-orthodox

Thanks for EVERYTHING, John!

2010-04-13T20:05:00.000-07:00

Goodbye, John.

John Killacky has been an important mentor for me during my time out here in the Bay Area. He has been an important mentor for SO MANY people and had a really profound impact on the arts in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Burlington, VT is a very lucky place!

Robert Janes and the Center for the Future of Museums

2010-04-11T23:14:00.000-07:00

Heard Robert Janes speak at JFKU and will be guest blogging for the Center for the Future of Museums. Here's Dr. Janes from December 2009.

Gay Men's Chorus at Leveraging Social Media @jewseum #artslabsf

2010-04-03T21:54:00.001-07:00

Gay Men's Chorus, originally uploaded by cambodia4kidsorg.

this are the guys from my earlier post, as pictured by Beth Kanter in her photostream on the event..what a great day!

#artslabsf

At Natural History (Passover 2010)

2010-04-03T21:38:00.001-07:00

At Natural History (Passover 2010), originally uploaded by levenj.

life is beautiful.

The Whole Group at Leveraging Social Media with Beth Kanter

2010-04-03T21:22:00.001-07:00

Spectra Gram Session, originally uploaded by levenj.

This was part of the Spectra Gram portion where Beth Kanter asked the participants to place themselves along a line from Social Media "Flyer" to "Crawler" then the group engaged and presented across the spectrum. It was a great activity.

What an amazing day...To see Beth Kanter's slides click here.

To view the twitterstream click here -> #artslabsf

Hewlett Foundation Artslab Slides

2010-04-02T14:36:00.001-07:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Hewlett Foundation Artslab Slides

View more presentations from Beth Kanter.

#artslabsf

Magic Moment Working with Beth Kanter #artslabsf

2010-04-02T10:32:00.000-07:00

I just had this totally amazing experience. Working with Beth Kanter and a host of others (esp. -- SF Foundation! Hewlett! Grants for the Arts! Wallace! Theatre Bay Area! Koret!), we've got this great program Leveraging Social Media (READ MORE HERE) going @jewseum.

I am sharing a table with two men from the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, the oldest Gay Men's Chorus in the country.

And as we went around with introductions, one of the men representing the SFGMC said something like - we are still not sure if there's value in using Twitter.

I did a quick search for "gay mens chorus" on Twitter - part of the "listening" Beth Kanter encourages as Stage 1. The results early on included the "tweets" below for Gay Men's Choruses around the country.

WOW! Read: "Beth's Work Has Impact."

Thank you, Beth.

...and it's not so much about the money, right? it's actually about 'influencers' and meaningful messages around your mission. Things like this, right?:

Rocco Landesman @ ybca (after visit to CJM)

2010-03-21T21:45:00.001-07:00

Rocco Landesman @ ybca, originally uploaded by levenj.

Leah Garchik writes about it here

"A tour of the Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Contemporary Jewish Museum was, Landesman affirmed, an object lesson in that kind of urban revitalization.

Read more: here.

Noelle, Merritt and Deborah in the Galleries

2010-03-21T21:10:00.001-07:00

Noelle, Merritt and Deborah in the Galleries, originally uploaded by levenj.

I may have just had one of the best weekends of my life at the meeting of the Western Museums Association's Program Committee at the Getty Center (March 19-20, 2010) thanks to co-chairs Merritt Price and Jacqueline Cabrera, preparing for WMA Portland75.

It also happens we sold our house on Friday, and found a great place we put an offer down on. Karen and Lil E did Disney.

Sunday, America's Healthcare Bill passed. Dad's latest operation seemed to have been a great success.

All around a great, great weekend. I feel fortunate and ever grateful.

Thank you, Jim Tharp!

2010-03-14T11:04:00.000-07:00

Jim Tharp sent me The Fran Lebowitz Reader and it was such a relaxing, well-crafted distraction. Both classic and nostalgic, a few quotes leapt out for sharing and as tribute to Jim:

On Communism – “The common good is not my cup of tea – it is the uncommon good in which I am interested…” (35)

On Popular Music – "We attired ourselves in shiny garments so as to accurately reflect the hopes and dreams of the general public. We entered elevators, cars, planes, telephones, and just about every place you couldn’t think of. We were an inescapable influence on the culture and inspired a fanatical devotion, for we made a joyful noise unto the bored." (122)

On Nature – “Now, nature, as I am only too well aware, has her enthusiasts, but on the whole, I am not to be counted among them. To put it rather bluntly, I am not the type who wants to go back to the land – I am the type who wants to go back to the hotel.” (233)

On Apartment Hunting in Downtown New York – “Tuesday: Let desperation get the best of me and went to see an apartment described as “interesting.” “Interesting” generally means that it has a skylight, no elevator and they’ll throw in the glassine envelopes for free. This one was even more interesting than usual because, the broker informed me, Jack Kerouac had once lived here. Someone’s pulling your leg, I told him; Jack Kerouac’s still living here.” (276)

Purim 2010: Rabbi Bloom Doing a Really Good Kurt Cobain

2010-02-28T15:03:00.001-08:00

Purim 2010: Rabbi Bloom Doing a Really Good Kurt Cobain, originally uploaded by levenj.

...in fact, it's right after the Purim Spiele at Lil E's school. The Rabbi had just done his part as Queen Esther -- always a crowd pleaser. Heading over to pick up his guitar and keep the kids singing, he looked just too much like Kurt Cobain. To round it out, he actually did a Purim song to the tune of Green Day's "21 Guns."

Vos makht a yíd?

2010-02-21T22:34:00.000-08:00

Click here to download a copy of Dovid Katz, Grammar of the Yiddish Language, 290 pp. Gerald Duckworth and Co: London 1987.

Coffee before Inside the Activists Studio

2010-02-21T21:05:00.001-08:00

Coffee before Inside the Activists Studio, originally uploaded by levenj.

Michael Krasny and Panel at Inside the Activists Studio

2010-02-21T20:57:00.001-08:00

Michael Krasny and Panel at Inside the Activists Studio, originally uploaded by levenj.

Great Frickin' Day!

Right before I start for-real and full-time at the CJM I went to Inside the Activists' Studio with panelists including:

- Caitlin Sislin, Advocacy Director for Women's Earth Alliance
- Erin Potts who created the Tibetan Freedom Concerts with the Beastie Boys and is now www.atctower.net
- Daniel Kaufman, Founder and Director of the One Percent Foundation
- Jon Gilgoff, L.C.S.W., Founder and Executive Director of Brothers on the Rise

It ends up Erin Potts (who gave a serious shout out to Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat [please see #7 here], well Fugazi actually) is married to Jon Voss of Look Back Maps, so we finally met, because he was there, too.

There's so much more to say in terms of how this is EXACTLY what museums are to be encouraged to do right now. And all kinds of other things about motivations; what Erin Potts had to say about "culture" and "change"; how the up-and-coming generation has been so positively impacted by media that they are sometimes fresh-of-face and really ready to believe in the innate interconnectedness of us all...

Had to run before the workshops started, but it was just a great frickin' way to get things started.

Oh, and before I got there, I went to the brand new Grove and got coffee. Go check it out!

Not (Just) Another Marketing Workshop

2010-02-21T20:15:00.001-08:00

Pat Gallagher at San Francisco Foundation, originally uploaded by levenj.

Thanks to the San Francisco Foundation "...on Thursday, February 18th...a panel of distinguished experts from the worlds of sports, healthcare, and tourism...Patrick J. Gallagher...[very recently retired] president of the San Francisco Giants; Bernard J. Tyson...executive vice president of health plan and hospital operations at Kaiser Permanente; Lisa Hasenbalg...recently joined the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau as director of arts & culture marketing."

It was a very interesting set of presentations. Tyson was just fantastic and very humble, despite having a profound impact for the better through KP's thrive campaign

Tyson's message emphasized the importance of: "Reinventing Language, Championing a Cause and Redefining the system," noting KP "Changed from health care to health."

To download Tyson's slides click here.

Tyson was compelling and wonderful. He tried to make it clear that he was NOT a marketing person. "I run things. I make things happen through a wonderful cadre of people who are committed to the mission of the organization."

When considering marketing efforts, Tyson reminded the audience to "think about tapping onto the aspiration of what people want," and looking at how Starbucks redefined how people ordered coffee. "Starbucks as the 3rd place, the place between work and home – the 21st century bar”

Gallagher was great. In talking about parallels between sports marketing and art marketing he noted -- none of us ever enough money to do what you need to do; nobody has enough time; and the reality is nobody needs any of this stuff. Art and sports are not necessarily staples. Even though people don’t need it they all want it. When you read obits – boils life down to a paragraph. Things about what they say they want to do – “huge Giants fan” or Patron of the arts" are always there.

What else did Gallagher say?:

- People are looking at the whole show, not just what’s on stage…spend some time thinking about these things – parking, etc…

- One of the resources that you have is the people who are the front lines with your customers

- Listen to your customers. They will tell you what you want.

Lisa Hasenbalg was also good, but the two "non-arts" presenters were the real show in a way. Hasenbalg seems to be a strong asset for SF. It was so refreshing to listen to her talking about arts in SF and to know I was now to be working at an SF Arts organization again, though. And she did make note that Pow Wow will be in SF in 2011.

To download Hasenbalg's slides, click here.

Then as we moved into the Q&A segment a few more jewels were dropped:

Gallagher shared that once, around the Giants office, they "flipped the org. chart," so that instead of being top-heavy with a few execs, the support staff -- the widest part of the pyramid was on top, noting that "the people at the 'top' have the closest interaction with the customer." He went on to add, "If people are happy where they are working, it’s contagious." And when asked about Capital Campaigns he observed, "The element in the Capital Campaign is not about levels of donors – but find the magic in what you do."

Toward the end Tyson proclaimed, "HAVE FUN – the sweet spot for Kaiser Permanente is to create art from people…life is complicated, say [your message] from an aspirational stand point…"

This event was sponsored by the Wallace Foundation in partnership with The San Francisco Foundation and Grants for the Arts. It is one of a series of community events comprising the four-year, $7.7 million Wallace Foundation Bay Area Initiative.

Karen at MacArthur Place, Sonoma

2010-02-20T07:36:00.001-08:00

Karen at MacArthur Place, Sonoma, originally uploaded by levenj.

New Press on New Job

2010-02-20T07:15:00.001-08:00

The Contemporary Jewish Museum sent out a release last week on the new job...and I got a couple of nice mentions including: Art Daily and Philanthropy Journal.

Brewter Kahle Touring the Scanning Lab

2010-02-17T08:46:00.001-08:00

Brewter Kahle Touring the Scanning Lab, originally uploaded by levenj.

Brewster Kahle, Internet Archive; and others include Eric Saund, PARC; Gary Wright, FamilySearch; Susan Thomas, Digital Archivist/Project Manager, Bodleian Library; Gordon Bell, Microsoft Research

Brewster Kahle

2010-02-16T21:18:00.001-08:00

Brewster Kahle, originally uploaded by levenj.

MemoryMiner Promo Vid @magnes

2010-02-16T21:05:00.000-08:00

jellyfishes

2010-02-11T22:11:00.001-08:00

jellyfishes, originally uploaded by levenj.

Lil E at BAMSpace

2010-02-11T19:54:00.001-08:00

Had a great day today. First CJM Board meeting -- so great; followed by an afternoon with the fam at BAM/PFA's Bamscape -- so, so great. Grateful for a life, counting blessings.

Emil at BAMSpace, originally uploaded by levenj.

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/exhibiti on/faulders_bamscape

Summer of Love

2010-02-03T15:07:00.001-08:00

The Snake's Been a Big Hit, originally uploaded by levenj.

In memoriam: Larry Sultan (1946-2009)

2010-01-25T21:03:00.001-08:00

In memorium: Larry Sultan (1946-2009), originally uploaded by levenj.

Proud to be an M.B.A.?

2010-01-17T22:29:00.000-08:00

I have to say that my sweet, little program at JFKU was really sorta all over this kinda theory.

Multicultural Critical Theory. At B-School?
by Lane Wallace
NY Times: January 9, 2010

"...the value of managers who could think more nimbly across multiple frameworks, cultures and disciplines. The financial crisis underscored those concerns — at business schools and in the business world itself. As a result, a number of prominent business schools have re-evaluated and, in some cases, redesigned their M.B.A. programs in the last few years...moving business schools into territory more traditionally associated with the liberal arts: multidisciplinary approaches, an understanding of global and historical context and perspectives, a greater focus on leadership and social responsibility and, yes, learning how to think critically."

Read more here

...and I think it's super-smart Susie Wise strolling the Stanford think-tank dSchool studio [stage left]

The Olive Game

2010-01-13T21:09:00.001-08:00

The Olive Game, originally uploaded by levenj.

Shahrokh Yadegari Performance in Ann Hamilton’s Tower at the Oliver Ranch

2010-01-09T04:54:00.000-08:00

To read more about this Magnes event from last summer click here for the opensource blog post or here for the 7x7 pix and write up.

James and Emil at Zoo Lights 12/2009

2010-01-03T19:49:00.001-08:00

James and Emil at Zoo Lights 12/2009, originally uploaded by levenj.

PHYSICIAN, HEAL THYSELF

2010-01-01T17:34:00.000-08:00

Check the new blog post at the westmuse here:
http://westmuse.wordpress.com/2010/01/01/physician-heal-thyself/

Good Friends on the Radio

2010-01-01T10:50:00.001-08:00

Into The Void | The New Republic

2009-12-27T08:42:00.000-08:00

Into The Void | The New Republic
this old article popped into my Google Alert...bookmarking here for later!

NYC Dept of Sanitation ID

2009-12-13T21:51:00.001-08:00

NYC Dept of Sanitation ID, originally uploaded by levenj.

There are some things that never found a home in an album or garbage bin over the years. Flickr's the stream of them in my life now.

Odd to think they're then the property of Microsoft, right?

toogoodtobe

2009-12-13T02:16:00.001-08:00

toogoodtobe, originally uploaded by levenj.

...loaded some old drawings on to flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesgleventhal/sets/72157622990368798/with/4180462375/

, before pads when into boxes.

Magnes Goes to U.C. Berkeley

2009-11-21T23:40:00.000-08:00

Magnes Collection to U.C. Berkeley | j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California

After decades as an independent Berkeley institution, the Judah L. Magnes Museum is currently negotiating with U.C. Berkeley to donate its entire collection to the university some time next year.

Many details about the future of Magnes’ finances, board of trustees, staff and location remain undetermined.

What is certain, however, is that a long-planned move from the Magnes’ stately home on Russell Street in the Elmwood District to a new location in the heart of Berkeley has been scrapped, as Magnes has sold the downtown property at 2222 Harold Way.

The negotiations with U.C. Berkeley coincide with Magnes chief curator, Alla Efimova, being named the museum’s new director. Efimova said the pending U.C. Berkeley deal should prove to be a net plus for the Magnes.

In an interview with j., Efimova said the move would make the collections “accessible to a much broader community of scholars worldwide.”

Magnes board president Frances Dinkelspiel expects the changes to benefit both institutions. “This was more a question of what was in the best interest of the Magnes in the long term,” she said. “We thought having a partnership with U.C. Berkeley was the best way to have the Magnes continue for the next 50 to 100 years.”

Negotiations between the Magnes and U.C. Berkeley are expected to wrap up by year’s end.

To read more click here.

That's Entertainment

2009-11-15T15:19:00.000-08:00

A police car
and a screaming siren -
A pneumatic drill and ripped up concrete -
A baby wailing and stray dog howling -
The screech of brakes and lamp light blinking -

That's Entertainment.

A smash of glass and a rumble of boots -
An electric train and a ripped up 'phone booth -
Paint splattered walls and the cry of a tomcat -
Lights going out and a kick in the balls -

That's Entertainment.

Days of speed and slow time Mondays -
Pissing down with rain on a boring Wednesday -
Watching the news and not eating your tea -
A freezing cold flat and damp on the walls -

That's Entertainment.

Waking up at 6 a.m. on a cool warm morning -
Opening the windows and breathing in petrol -
An amateur band rehearsing in a nearby yard -
Watching the tele and thinking about your holidays -

That's Entertainment.

Waking up from bad dreams and smoking cigarettes -
Cuddling a warm girl and smelling stale perfume -
A hot summer's day and sticky black tarmac -
Fedding ducks in the park and wishing you were far away -

That's Entertainment.

Two lovers kissing amongst the scream of midnight -
Two lovers missing the tranquility of solitude -
Getting a cab and travelling on buses -
Reading the graffiti about slashed seat affairs -

That's Entertainment.

Glenn Somnab!tch ?

2009-11-13T00:02:00.001-08:00

Photo_110809_001, originally uploaded by levenj.

Is this guy really dressed as a Nazi? Can this be real?! Is it actually in my Barnes & Nobles??

Innovation #wma09

2009-11-12T23:59:00.001-08:00

Innovation #wma09, originally uploaded by levenj.

Lori Fogarty, Director, Oakland Museum of California; Douglas Fogle, Chief Curator and Deputy Director of Exhibitions and Public Programs at the Hammer; Ted Russell, Senior Program Officer for the Arts, James Irvine Foundation; and Angelina Russo, Associate Professor, Faculty of Design, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia

Somehow I Felt A Lot of Upside Here for America's Future

2009-11-02T10:51:00.000-08:00

Two articles in my Sunday New York Times made me feel very postive about America's future for some reason. And so I wanted to paste them here for exploration later.

Harry MacAvoy lauds the merits of having been born specifically in 1957 here.

And RoseLee Godlberg who I studied with briefly at NYU "When asked her age, Ms. Goldberg said:

'I’m old enough to have gone to my first Bienniale and Documenta in 1972 and to have a 28-year-old daughter.')" Adding about the creation of PERFORMA: “I really wanted New York to have that feeling again,” she said. “The sense that creative people own the city, and that everything is possible.”

makes you feel like anything's possible and us Gen Xers, the DIYers ain't even where they're at yet...nice to be 40.

His new show at the National Museum of the American Indian, called "Brian Jungen: Strange Comfort"

2009-10-31T07:42:00.000-07:00

Brian Jungen, Prototype for New Understanding #1, 1998. Image: curatedobject.us

I remember seeing Brian Jungen work in Canada when Karen and I were in Montreal many years ago, and was TOTALLY taken by it, like a totem, right? I mean all he need do is make one and have that one magick item have a lingering, magical, even transformative effect.

To view some elegant pix in a gallery by the Washington Post, click here. Gopnik writes on DC show here:

When Jungen made "People's Flag," a huge scarlet banner sewn together from red clothing, red umbrella skins and other mass-produced red textiles, it was to show at the Tate in 2006. The piece paid homage to the long history of popular protest and to England's left. "It seemed awkward for me to make some sort of statement about the native condition in London," Jungen recalls.

But as it hangs in his show at the NMAI, Jungen has discovered that "People's Flag" is being interpreted as the flag of a united Red Nation of Indian peoples -- a concept that doesn't really exist in Canada, he says, where native groups tend to retain their separate identities. (Here in the United States, we've got such things as Rednation.net, a Web site for Indian issues, and the Red Nation Film Festival in Los Angeles.)

And there's a great dialogue on this blog here, View on Canadian Art, check the comment space:

as a member of the peanut gallery, I think one can and should reconsider Jungen’s work, especially the more recent pieces. Some of it is amazingly terrible. The golf bag totem pole’s demonstrate how the “critique” is back-firing into exactly this bad faith “party-line” that Gopnik sees as problematic to the critic’s missteps. These more recent works are totally formulaic, predictable and devoid of any nuance which could be found in the Prototypes for a new understanding and lawn furniture whale skeleton pieces.

I would like to be surprised and stimulated by him again, but it feels to me like the current work is more about the symptom of a vampiric art market.

Another One of These -- "I KNOW These People?!..." Moments

2009-10-30T14:48:00.001-07:00

Using Natural Language Processing and Social Network Analysis to study ancient Babylonian society

By Patrick Schmitz, IST–Data Services

March 10, 2009

In Near Eastern Studies, as in other areas of Humanities, researchers often study corpora of administrative and legal texts to understand economic, administrative, and societal structure, considering the activities of individuals and their interactions with each other. This is often painstaking work, as, for example, in studying ancient Babylonian texts where scholars must first be able to read Akkadian, and then must assemble all the references to people and activities by hand. This process is formally known as prosopography, and is used by many scholars across a range of Humanities research. Now, Professor Niek Veldhuis and Dr. Laurie Pearce are working with IST–Data Services' Patrick Schmitz to apply some more modern approaches to the problem. They are applying techniques from the fields of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Social Network Analysis (SNA) to extract the names and basic familial relationships of people mentioned in texts, and then to assemble the social network of the people based upon the activities described....

I had a meeting with Patrick a couple of weeks ago and Dr. Laurie Pearce told me about this project as it was developing a while ago. It's an amazing concept. You gotta read more and to read more click here.

Lil E in The Rain House at The New Children's Museum

2009-10-26T08:19:00.000-07:00

The New Children's Museum, San Deigo ROCKS!

Ernest Silva, The Rain House, 1994/2008

The Rain House

As a long-standing component of NCM’s programming, and a carryover from the Museum’s previous facility, Silva’s Rain House, is both playhouse and home to projects key to NCM’s bi-national programming. For Animal Art, Silva has created new foam puzzle-piece furniture to augment the way young children love to play house in The Rain House’s soothing interior. And, in the “back yard” Silva has created a new interactive felt mural. Children are invited to create their own flying creatures and use Silva’s templates to add birds to his avian menagerie that flies freely blithely ignoring the physical and political ramifications of our border region.

From Bloomingdales to G-dcast!

2009-10-10T03:00:00.000-07:00

With Magnes as an institutional lender, I went to the opening of As It Is Written: Project 304,805 at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, or the "CJM," a somewhat new museum on the SF cityscape designed by Daniel Liebeskind.
For me and my host, after grabbing a bite at 'wichcraft, the evening started at Bloomingdales, and it's astounding how much the retail space of the Westfield Mall related to the lines of sight and kinda of empty signifiers in Liebeskind's architecture.

And, in fact, I think Liebeskind is quite purposeful to this end, reaching for a lingua franca of the spaces we share in -- malls and museums. I cannot get out of my mind the clips from Warhol where he would talk about how wonderful the synergies between shopping malls and museums were. "I just love it," I think he said in some T.V. clip I saw once. I wish I could find the video. And that kind of Warholian euphoria informed the evening as well.

Below is the description of this "living exhibition" from the Museum's web site. I will try to write more about that later. I did "take in the show," but am writing more about the opening public program and its speakers.

...an exhibition centered around a soferet (a professionally trained female scribe) who while on public view will write out the entire text of the Torah over the course of a full year. She will be one of the few known women to complete an entire Torah scroll, an accomplishment traditionally exclusive to men. As the soferet works within the gallery, she will actively engage in dialogue during a scheduled time each day, answer questions, and share the mysteries and tools of her trade. In this groundbreaking, living exhibition, the Museum will be the first public institution to reveal this traditionally private process unchanged by time for thousands of years. Visitors will have an unprecedented opportunity to learn about one of the world’s foundational religious texts and the spiritual and ritual essence of an enduring scribal art.

The soferet Julie Seltzer was the first to speak at the program. She dedicated her talk to her mother, whose birthday it was on that day. Then she moved through a discussion of eish dat, noting it's an example of "kri-and-ksiv" -- a word that is pronounced (kri) one way, but written (ksiv) in the Torah scroll a different way. These two ways of reading the word also imply different shades of meaning. And she went on to quote Rashi, "Before the creation of the world, the Torah was written with black fire on white fire." She gave a sweet, informed a poignant talk about male dominance in summation, creating her own 'kri-and-ksiv' and connecting "control" and "heart." This was some pretty heavy "drash" delivered in this context openly, effectively and in a slow -- almost petite -- and moving manner.

The next speaker was David Henkin, a UC professor of U.S. History and regular Torah reader at the Mission Minyan. Professor Henkin was introduced as the author of City Reading: Written Words and Public Spaces in Antebellum New York, Columbia University Press, 1998. Henkin spoke boldly about the relationship between reading and performance. His book is available on Google books here. And I have to think that the relationship between his concepts and the potential popularization of scholarship of his sort through Google books, might make ample fodder for more books. My favorite part of his talk was when he said how important that performative nature of the collective Torah reading is, namely it was not about walking up to the bima, looking of the text silently, nodding, scanning then going, "OK. Got it..." It was funny. Henkin went on to point out that both the Hebrew word for reading and the English word read have derivations related to performing speech, not a solo act, per se.

Following Henkin came the most earnest speaker. She sang. Elana Jagoda, performed in a skirt and knit tights. I couldn't get her outfit out of my mind. It just so reminded me of things my sister usta wear. And I think that's OK. She has this really sweet tune about creation, with this "...And it was good" refrain. It felt so sexual. I am not so sure that was OK, at least on my part. It was all supposed to be so pure.

Then she did this song she'd written for G-dcast on the Parsha Kedoshim and that was fantastic, because it brought together the popular tone of the presentation over all, still it was strident, but you couldn't overlook the innately arcane and essential nature of the pursuit of Torah.

Lastly came Matthue Roth and Sarah Lefton, co-founders of G-dcast, a real Jewish response to popular Christian videos...or, more, a Jewish response to real Christian videos..or, maybe, a Christian response to Jewish real videos? I dunno. You decide. Nonetheless, they're good, the videos...or little flash movie things, or whatever they are.

And Matthue and Sarah seem real good, too. Matthue's got payos and his tzitzit was showin' and was so energized it was amazing. And Sarah seemed real together and real pregnant. He's written several books and been included in a bunch of anthologies. And he's young. And to learn about her go to what she calls leftonia, where she describes herself as having "...a wicked head for stuff that gets attention in social networks, TV and the real world," adding "I can work the networks you care about and get the word out fast." Matthue and Sarah, they needed this show not so much I don't think. They're successful on their own. And Jewish, too.

And I guess that was sort of my "take away," is that people involved in Torah don't really need this show. So it's for those who don't "have Torah," in a way, I guess. But if you weren't Jewish, why would you go to a museum called the Contemporary Jewish Museum. It's for contemporary Jews, right? or is it about contemporary Jews?

The message kinda seemed to be that in the end everyone's a cartoon, a pastiche...maybe even Torah. And, with a three-year old at home, and a world being instructed by Dora the Explorer, I don't know if that's bad in this particular context, or not.

P.S. Then I just read my newspaper this morning to find that Marge Simpson will be on the November cover of Playboy...

Swimming Lessons

2009-10-02T05:48:00.001-07:00

How great is this?!...

Nick Cave @ybca

2009-10-02T05:40:00.000-07:00

The Nick Cave show at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts was a real sleeper/hit...this vid of a buncha guys strolling what looked like Central Park in whacked out African suits was just TOO MUCH!

Ruth Eis

2009-10-02T05:38:00.001-07:00

Hangin' with Gran'Pa

2009-10-02T05:35:00.000-07:00

June 2009

3-D Movies: All the Rage

2009-10-02T05:19:00.001-07:00

So far we have seen Ice Age 3D and last night it was Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

This pix's from earlier this summer and Ice Age 3D viewing.

Love My Life: Thaknfulness

2009-10-02T05:12:00.000-07:00