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New York and the Yale Graduating Class of 2001
New York:
Andreas Gursky was being exhibited at the MOMA. I caught the last day of the
exhibit. He's a "large-format" photographer, taking pictures using
4x5 inch negatives, optionally computer enhancing/modifying them and then enlarging
them to about eight feet across. The pictures aren't that compelling in and
of themselves (just check out his book where the photos are normal sized) but
blown up to huge proportions they look pretty impressive. The photos capture
large wide-angle scenes in great detail giving you a window into a soccer
stadium (look at the blades of grass), or a Siemens factory, or Montparnasse
(with an almost-Mondrian-like structure), or a crowded concert or the Hong Kong
Stock Exchange. There's even a 99 cent store photo that captures the detail
in the thousands of candy and sundry items lined up neatly for sale. Hmmm...
I wonder when he took that one... My camera couldn't resolve that kind of detail
on my 99
cent store field trip...
Bitstreams was at the Whitney Museum. A couple "neat" works, nothing
mind-blowing. Well, there was one that seemed mind-enhancing. There's
a single room and on each wall is a laser-etched plastic skull. Except these
skulls are skewed and distorted. Like looking at a picture obliquely, except
it's obvious the skulls are 3D objects. The artist scanned in a human skull
and just pulled and deformed the 3D model, then sent the new model to the laser-etching
device which created the skewed plastic models. When you walk into the room,
you feel like your eyes are broken, or the walls are swimming, or are
they pumping something into the air here?
Galapagos is a bar in Brooklyn, that looks like it's been carved out of what
used to be a garage. After entering, you cross a metal walkway that skirts over
what normally is a water filled shallow pool that the light dances off of. The
night we went the Galapagos was in drought.
The Apartment is a bar in the meat packing district that has no exterior sign
proclaiming it's existence. It's just an iffy looking door that leads to a non-descript
room with three other doors, one of which opens to the hostess -- "Can
I help you?" -- who requires a reservation if you want to sit upstairs.
They're not listed so the only way to get a reservation is to have gone there
before and gotten a card. The card lists cryptically, in plain white
text on a black background, the phone number digits followed immediately by
the digits in the address. That's it. Great place to hang out but the drinks
are watered down massively.
ICFF. I would write about it if I went, but someone told me it
was starting on Thursday when it was actually starting on Saturday... Friday
night I was already in New Haven.
New Haven:
16,000 fold-up chairs were laid out in the middle of Yale's main quad where
Hillary Rodham Clinton gave a commencement speech that emphasized the importance
of hair. The one thing she's learned in all her time after Yale is that "Hair
Matters." The crowd loved her except for the small minority of Yale protesters.
I must admit, her timing is impeccable.
The next day, there's a painful line to get into that same yard, where George
W. Bush is receiving an honorary degree in law (plenty of protests since Yale
voted 85% for Gore) and giving a speech. Most of the speech was self-deprecating
in nature -- "To all the C students... you too can someday be President!"
-- a real crowd pleaser. It was entertaining, but this constant riffing
on his inadequacies... is this the kind of President that we respect?
We get there late, the yard is at capacity, standing room only in the aisles.
We were lucky enough that a group of people vacated their seats right in front
of us in chairs with a perfect view of the one big screen that is "televising"
the event. Then a bunch of people stand right in front.of all the seats and
a fight nearly breaks out between the hundred people in chairs who "camped
out since early morning for these seats and this view!" and the people
who are standing, blocking this view. I stayed out of it, since 1) I came late
2) I feel lucky to be sitting 3) I can still hear the speech.
My sister graduates Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, with distinctions. I botch
up the photo of her receiving her diploma. It's all out of focus.
Footnote: Freeway exits are numbered on the East Coast, the music they
play on the radio is a little different, and all the streets and towns
have these quintessentially New England style names like Milford, or Trumbull.
Dress in layers and bring a jacket (I didn't...), even in May.
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