Lying on the carpet, poetry book and pencil in hand, U2 in the background.
October
October
And the trees are stripped bare
Of all they wear
What do I care
October
And kingdoms rise
And kingdoms fall
But you go on…and on…
So many literal meanings: the fear of wearing-out (The Edge was considering leaving the band like his brother did before they were even called U2), the false sense of security arising from self-defeat (“What do I care”), moving on after a loss (both Bono and Larry had just lost their mothers), the high hopes and expectations arising from new democracies in Eastern Europe only to become despair and dissapointment, and eventually resilience, surviving, going on…
Last Sunday I went to see Searching for Sugar Man bio/docu/pic at Lincoln Plaza Theaters.
Two South Africans set out to discover what happened to their unlikely musical hero, the mysterious 1970s rock ‘n` roller, Rodriguez.
While the movie is a very good one, and the story quite powerful (not only a human story about an incredible musician called Rodriguez, better than Bob Dylan if you allow me the heresy), there are two aspects that go well beyond the typical in this kind of documentary:
September 5th (I know, I have really fallen behind my posts; bear with me, there is just too much going on to keep up) I attended a very interesting and enlightening round table at the New York City Bar Association titled “How Will Recent Developments in the Law Influence the 2012 Elections”?
Moderated by Nan Aron (lecturer, author, and President of Alliance for Justice), the panel consisted of:
Angelo Falcón: President and Founder of the National Institute for Latino Policy Keesha Gaskins: Senior Counsel in the Brennan Center`s Democracy Program Lawrence Lessig: Professor of Law at Harvard University (and much more) John Samples: Director of the Cato Institute Center for Representative Government The discussion was quite interesting.
August is over. What did the second half bring?
August 17th, after a lovely walk on the HighLine, Lytro organized a photowalk on the Lower East Side (LES).
August 18th I had a nice talk about Russian art with the former Artistic Director of the State Russian Theater of Estonia, who is now working at the Lincoln Center in New York.
August 19th morning I had another very interesting conversation with an NYU Philosophy professor regarding learning, engagement… and reality, while having a delicious coconut ice cream.
Before more days go by and I forget the things I have been doing, here is a quick run-down for the first half of August (the last day of July I went to a Sigur Rós concert in Prospect Park):
August 1st I went to the MoMA to watch Hitchcock`s “To catch a thief” and eat at the nearby Le Pain Quotidien.
August 2nd, instead of taking advantage of the invitation to the Park Avenue Armory for the opening night party for Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller: “The Murder of Crows”, I went to AlphaOne Labs for a 3D printing session.
The first one was the archiving and preservation of film. While an interesting debate by itself, it is not as important as it seemed to them, since, as I see it, technology will catch up and surpass the needs and expectations in a matter of very few years. Although a lot could be said about culture, preservation, archiving, formats, etc. Which leads us to… The second one: it was a very brief moment, when upon the comment “somebody has to be the taste maker” by one of the producers being interviewed, Keanu, as interviewer said “wow”.
Hugo sends me this amazing song/video made in Minecraft. Of course, that leads to 10 more, 14 more… there are so many!
When you make the tools available to the people, and allow them to create (in this case under the safe harbor of “parody”) wonderful things happen. Its NOT all about the money, profit, control... Its about imagination, art, creativity, culture. Thats how it happens: copying, re-using, mixing, adjusting, modifying.
