Monday, June 09, 2003

I never thought Dennis Miller was that funny to begin with (via Doc Searls). 1:51:27 PM    comment []

Allan Gurganus provides a novelistic look at some certain part of the population of North Carolina and its attitudes and actions toward Eric Rudolph. The op-ed in yesterday's Times is a beautifully realized piece of work, but I wonder if readers across the country will understand the article that way, or if they will they take it at face value, not knowing that Hillsborough (Gurganus’ dateline) is far from the mountains in miles and mores, that Gurganus is gay, that the “we” of the title (“Why We Fed the Bomber”) isn’t meant to represent most of us, that the novelist is putting himself inside particular minds but not claiming to speak for the state with lines like, “Eric Rudolph's family might have been crazy, but it was a local kind of crazy,” and “To locals, it didn't matter if a neighbor had been named the most wanted and dangerous criminal in America.”   Then again, I figured it out, so maybe it’s not so hard. 1:46:21 PM    comment []

We saw three museum shows in NY this weekend – First Cities and Manet/Velázquez at the Met, and Matthew Barney at the Guggenheim.   Barney is pretty much indescribable, but it might help to think of him as something like David Lynch’s much weirder brother who was institutionalized after doing too much acid. People were laughing nervously as they watched his movies of tap-dancing goat-women Girl Scouts, a bloody-mouthed amputee cheetah-woman, undifferentiated proto-sex-organs forced out of the pockets of motorcycle racers, and so on. Along the spiral ramp to the very top of the museum were strewn his handmade props for the films, (beeswax coffers, pseudo-mechanical devices from Dr. Seuss’s nightmares, etc), photographs of himself as Gary Gilmore, and very beautiful photos of icy landscapes.   First Cities rocked. 5,000-year-old art, deep thoughts about continuity of human experience and expression. Should be mandatory viewing for Bush administration officials as they remap Mesopotamia.   Manet/Velázquez. Not really my thing, but our friend Andrew really liked it. So did the huge crowd, from what I could tell.   The Manet/Velázquez galleries were notable for a show seen with Andrew in that they contained no images of man-goat sexuality. Not that Andrew seeks this stuff out, but it crops up with alarming frequency when we go to art shows with him. A couple of years ago, he came with us to an exhibition of works by Paul McCarthy that featured a large installation depicting a man initiating his son into the world of goat love. This weekend we couldn’t help but notice a small image on one of the end panels of the Standard of Ur that showed a man and a goat seemingly preparing for an intimate moment. And Matthew Barney turns himself into a goatman in his bizarrely erotic films. What the hell is it with the goats? 9:16:04 AM    comment []

Camilo gave his presentation on corporate weblogs to his CIO. “I have managed to raise a few brows and dilate some pupils.” 8:25:40 AM    comment []

Ryan Irelan: “There should be yet another article on weblogging in the New York Times this week.” The story in the Circuits section is about bloggers who don’t attract much traffic. Irelan: “Despite my gleaming blue eyes and cascading charisma (heh) I do not have thousands of readers every day; and that's just okay by me. But the NYT writer wanted to know what I did or have done to try to increase my readership and why I think people do not visit my weblog.” 8:21:52 AM    comment []

The Independent on corporate media consolidation: “I'm convinced that The N&O's uncritical coverage of the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq is part of the result.” Via Mark Tosczak, who notes re The Independent itself: “Corporate-owned media aren't the only ones that can stifle alternative voices.” Tara Grubb: “The only time I know the date is when I blog.”   Monkey Media is all over the Meg Scott Phipps story: “Don't expect this scandal to go away; the details get more salacious by the minute.” 8:17:20 AM    comment []