On Friday I went to NY Comic Con, like everyone else, I guess, with the idea of having fun, of experiencing first hand one of the “major events” that a true nerdy geek can attend. I also wanted to meet Cory Doctorow (although we actually ended up not meeting). It has been years since I last met him, and it was the perfect “excuse” to attend the conference.
When I arrived, I was really surprised to see the size of it.
I can`t seem to be able to keep up. Too much going on at all levels. So my “done this and that” posts are going to be reduced to the minimum expression.
September 5th I went to this event I already talked about.
September 7th I was invited to attend the premiere of a documentary about Gerhard Richter at the New Museum. It was very revealing and sad to see how Richters art critic/historian proposed an interpretation of one of his paintings that Richter did not seem to agree on, but after a few minutes of conversation, he "accepted".
On Thursday I was invited to the New Musuem for the screening of “Graffiti – PostGraffiti” documentary and panel discussion.
Your usual suspects were there. Besides the panelist (Pattie Astor, Fab Five Freddy, Lady Pink, and Lee Quinones), there were many old glories and a couple of aspiring bomber kids in the audience that I am sure were tagging walls late that night.
What started as a celebration, a remembrance, and a comunion, as the liturgy advanced ended up becoming a hurtful vindication and even a flat out purist attack.
I`m the man that fears rejection
Im the man that cant sleep because of problems
I`m the man that will fight and defend the castle
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.
