At the Museum of Modern Art is an exhibit of modern abstract painters, the first since an epochal show from l958. It's called The Forever Now. The title hints at the problem facing the painters in the show: what can be painted that hasn't been painted before? Or, as Peter Schdjeldahl puts it in TheContinue reading “A Cubist from California (with wit)”
Category Archives: art and humor
Climate change and football (not Deflategate)
Lee West tweets it best, on this hallowed national holiday: In a video for Funny or Die, Bill Nye takes on "Deflategate" with a proper lack of respect, and a focus on climate, while former fan Steve Almond cuts football's legs out from under it, with a passionate attack: In a great interview with Jon WeinerContinue reading “Climate change and football (not Deflategate)”
The power of Deportees: Lance Canales + the Flood
Sixty-eight years ago today Woody Guthrie wrote a poem about a plane crash, in which three dozen field workers died, but were not even named [Rui Brai] in media accounts (including the NYTimes). Ten years later Guthrie's words were put to music by school teacher Martin Hoffman. This became the song Deportee, surely one of the most powerfulContinue reading “The power of Deportees: Lance Canales + the Flood”
Rant of the Year (2014): Emma Stone in “Birdman”
You know what's painful? Meaninglessness is painful. It really is. Life is absurd, to have so much for such a long time, then nothing, and it's painful to know that none of us can escape that fate. Plus, here in the crowded 21st century, we cannot help but notice that the more there are ofContinue reading “Rant of the Year (2014): Emma Stone in “Birdman””
Falling oil prices and rising sea levels
Toles notes the irony :
A really dumb reason not to believe in climate change
From Congressman Jeff Miller of Florida, who doesn't believe in climate change, and somehow thinks this has something to do with the dinosaurs. Via a year-end wrap-up of dumbness by Steve Brodner at GQ: Yes, he really does believe that humans can't cause climate change, because the dinosaurs went extinct. Go figure.
How to make classic movies not sexist: McSweeney’s
This was one of the top ten columns on McSweeney's often hilarious Internet Tendencies site in 2014. Classic Movies changed to not be sexist My faves: Gone With The Wind Rhett kisses and grabs at Scarlett against her will. Scarlett informs Rhett that though they are married, she still has autonomy over her body andContinue reading “How to make classic movies not sexist: McSweeney’s”
The unsayable: Rilke (snow in the desert)
Give thanks to Kurt Harvey, for sharing this photo of mountains near Tucson this new year to Google+'s California and Western Landscapes community , and for the words that follow from Rilke: Things aren't all so tangible and sayable as people would usually have us believe; most experiences are unsayable, they happen in a spaceContinue reading “The unsayable: Rilke (snow in the desert)”
2014 Poem of the Year: “A Moment in a Room”
Of course yours truly "achange" has not read a thousandth of the poems published this year, and this poem I submit below as poem of the year doesn't even come from 2014. But it's great, it's by Tennessee Williams, and it's never been published before, I don't believe. It comes from a magisterial biography ofContinue reading “2014 Poem of the Year: “A Moment in a Room””
On the work of writing: Kent Haruf
A beautiful little essay/autobiography from the late Kent Haruf, which Granta generously makes available on-line. As the modest Haruf says, he devoted himself to writing like an acolyte, which no doubt has everything to do with the quality of his work: A couple of favorite passages: On inwardness: I learned to live completely inwardly in thoseContinue reading “On the work of writing: Kent Haruf”
Kit Stolz 