I missed seeing Fernando Botero’s Abu Ghraib paintings when they were in New York last year, and just learned about them in the current issue of GQ Magazine (sorry, there is not an article on their own site about this; how odd). Wow, they are strong. Amazing how the pain in the normally playful figures central to his work is depicted, and after reading about the struggles he had early in life in the violent Colombia of his youth, I can see how the depiction of the prisoners in the Iraqi prision moved him to represent this through his art. The juxtaposition of his style and this subject matter is disturbing, just as are the photos of the soldiers humiliating the prisoners themselves. I find it interesting that the painter has chosen not to sell any of the fifty or so works in this set; quite telling of how he views torture and those who profit through it.
I wrote about how much I liked the production of Verdi’s Macbeth I saw Monday night at the Metropolitan Opera, and I am glad that the Times shared in my asessment. The voices, the acting, the costumes, scenery, and interpretation of Verdi were wonderful. Even the scene when the army was being armed, loosely set in Post World War II Scotland amidst poverty and mass fleeing the nation due to its war mongering leader (Macbeth), I could not help but recalling Myanmar, Iraq, Rwanda, and so many other places around the world where the simple citizens would rather flee their homeland than live with the constant threat of terror.
The Times especially loved the conductor, James Levine, as they saluted his work within Verdi’s masterpiece:
It was hard to resist the overall production and variable vocal performances when Mr. Levine was conducting the work so splendidly.
Leave it to Beth Kantor, the innovative web guru of nonprofit social media and low-cost technological wizardry to raise enough money online to send not one, but now almost two students in Cambodia to college. Beth has long been involved with working with the needy in Cambodia, and with her large network of admirers and colleagues and associates, she has raised thousands of dollars in a day or so, all through small donations and via word of mouth (with some Twitter and Facebook support). Keep up the good work, Beth, and glad I could pitch in at least a little bit!
I saw the new production of Verdi’s Macbeth at the Metropolitan Opera, and have to confess that I was blown away by Maria Gugleghina, the soprano who dominated the opera as Lady Macbeth. She sand standing still, walking, laying down in bed, and even nearly face-down on stage–all without any decrease in vocal delivery or richness of sound. As I have only recently started to attend the opera, I have not seen more than a handful of performances over the past three years, but last night was the first time I heard a performer fill the full house with her voice. The Met’s blog has some great pictures of the opening night, and I am eager to read about what the NY Times will say tomorrow about this.
The Chronicle had an interesting article on the increasing number of books that are written by philosophers for ordinary folks. While this is anathema in the discipline that often focuses so inwardly that those outside it have no idea what they are talking about (who else considers if perception and emotion can be cognitive attributes?), it is refreshing to see ery smart people writing about cultural phenomena that are often more complex than at first noticed. I hope Bill Irwin continues with his almost all-consuming commitment to this.
After writing about the Matrix and Philosophy, how about George / Rudy / Hillary / Barack and Philosophy? What, not enough substance for takers?
While I am a visual learner, I do not find myself spending much time on YouTube unless a colleague or friend recommends something, as I don’t have the patience or the wherewithal to look around for hours until I find something. I don’t remember hwen I first stumbled across Noah’s video, but has had a great affect on me–the haunting music, the passing time, the changing sameness–take a look for yourself.
Is this autoethnography? Art? Research? Therapy? Expressive in some way that I cannot easily characterize. Let me watch it again.
When I migrated to WordPress after using MovableType for several years, I could not at first seem to get trackbacks to work properly. I was never able to get them to work with Movable Type, so it was not at first a big deal, but it frustrates me when other people can get somewhat simple, installed technology to work and I cannot.
With some tweaks, and the use of a really handy free trackback testing website, Test Track, my trackbacks seem to be working properly. See it work both ways here.
Anybody see today’s New York Times, where Biz Stone (co-founder of Twitter) was interviewed and stated that they are not focused on making money. According to the Times:
Twitter, a company in San Francisco that lets users alert friends to what they are doing at any given moment over their mobile phones, recently raised an undisclosed amount of financing. Its co-founder and creative director, Biz Stone, says that the company was not currently focused on making money and that no one in the company was even working on how to do so.
Did we learn nothing from the last dot.com boom when investors threw money at anything new and flashy? I use and like Twitter, though have never seen an ad, paid a fee, or even seen a way to buy a Twitter hat or t-shirt (which I will be happy to buy!).
According to Stone:
“At the moment, we’re focused on growing our network and our user experience,” he said. “When you have a lot of traffic, there’s always a clear business model.”
So, they have a business model, but it is not involved with making money, or at least none in the near future. Of course, he is the one getting interviewed by the Times, and not me. I am sure there is something to be said about that, though I am not quite sure what . . .
I went hiking last week for the first time. Bought new Merrell hiking boots and even rented Leki trekking poles. Had a wonderful time. Great changes in scenery over the 3.2 miles, which gave me a workout in nature without filtered air nor with an iPod. What a nifty idea. I loaded some other pictures on Flickr.
Keep this up, and I just may lose weight and get into shape. Once again, what a nifty idea!
On the other hand, there is no better place to clean the mind while studying Kant’s Third Critique. Where better place to see art than in the woods? Not quite like Thoreau, but I did come out of them.
I missed seeing Fernando Botero’s Abu Ghraib paintings when they were in 
I saw the new production of Verdi’s Macbeth at the Metropolitan Opera, and have to confess that I was blown away by 
