NEW: Continuous Compression CPR

How Animals learn Language:

New York: October 20-27,2009
This trip was built around a Richard Thompson concert at City Winery on October 23rd. It was an "all-requests" show and for some odd reason people in the audience asked Thompson to sing songs written by other people. Some highlights were "I agree with Pat Methany" and "Oops I did it again" as well as so many others from his long career.
Other things I did:
Monday Night Magic show
A Boy and his Soul
Americana Kamikaze
The Brooklyn Flea
The Highline Park
Metropolitan Museum of Art: Vermeer's Masterpiece and The Art of the Samurai

What I saw at the Festival du nouveau cinema:

Unmade Beds

Alexis Dos Santos/ United Kingdom/2009 /92 min./English, French, Spanish

An Education

Lone Scherfig/ United Kingdom/2009/ 95 min./ English

Katalin Varga

Peter Strickland/ Romania, United Kingdom, Hungary/ 2009/ 82 min./ Romanian, Hungarian (s.t.English)

Precious

Lee Daniels/ USA/2008/105 min. /English

Barbe Bleue/Bluebeard

Catherine Breillat/France/2009/80 min / French (s.t.English)

Still Walking

Hirokazu Kore-Eda /Japon /2008 /115 min /Japanese (S.T. English)

August 20-27, 2009

The Clark Institute

Williamstown, MA

I had promised my mother that I would take her on a trip after I retired. At first we planned to go to Washington DC and visit my sister in Philadelphia along the way. However, it's been many years since I drove longer than three hours and I realized I needed to start with a closer destination. My mother had wanted to visit the Clark Institute for years but her husband would not take her. So Williamstown MA, five hours from her town, seemed ideal.

I found a cozy room at The Maples Terrace. It was a short drive to The Clark (http://www.clarkart.edu/), restaurants and the Williams College Museum of Art (http://www.wcma.org/).

We arrived in Williamstown on Monday, checked into our B&B, then perused a binder of menus before deciding on Hobson's Choice for dinner.

On Tuesday we were at The Clark at 10:30am and left at 5:30pm: seven hours later! There were so many wonderful paintings and objects, as well as a special exhibition on Georgia O'Keefe and Arthur Dove. Among the American paintings were many by Winslow Homer and a few by Edward Hopper. One of my favorite paintings in the permanent collection was: Smoke of Ambergris by John Singer Sargent.

On Wednesday we visited the Williams College Museum of Art and were very pleased with the extent and variety it collection. There was even a wonderful special exhibition of Maurice Prendergast in Italy!

Do not miss either of these museums if you are in the Williamstown, Massachusetts area.

The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York is showing 130 of O'Keefe's abstract works until January 17, 2010.
http://whitney.org/www/exhibition/okeeffe.jsp

Just for Laughs Comedy Festival July 23, 2009
"EAT MY SHORTS" Short films
Acting for the Camera
Justin Nowell/USA
Pal/Secam
Dmitry Povolotsky/Russia
Instead of Abracadabra
Patrick Eklund/Sweden
Naglin/The Nail
Benedikt Erlingsson/Norway
OK, Now What?
Jeff Bruyère/Canada
One of Those Days
Hattie Dalton/UK
One Thousand Characters SMSing
Ignacia Ferras/Denmark
Santa: The Fascist Years
Bill Plympton/USA
The Deposition of Lou Bagetta
Tommy Smeltzer/USA
Touching The Stairs
Michael Wright/UK

NYC: March 6-12

Chattauqua! at PS122 http://www.ps122.org/performances/chautauqua.html
Now and at the Hour http://www.frigidnewyork.info/shows03/Nowand.html
Heather Nova at Joe's Pub http://www.heathernova.com/
http://www.joespub.com/
Gomorrah at IFC http://www.ifccenter.com/film?filmid=66355
This Beautiful City at Vineyard Theater http://www.thecivilians.org/thisbeautifulcity.html

March 01,2009

New Books on my shelf:

• The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
  
• Remembering the Bones by Frances Itani
• The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie
• The Counterlife by Philip Roth
• People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
• Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin
• The Secret of Scent by Luca Turin
  

February 28, 2009

Oscar Nominated Short Films 2009
http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-oscarnominated-short-films-2009,23758/

At Cinema du Parc

Best Animated Short Nominees:

LAVATORY--LOVESTORY

Russia 2007. Dir.: Konstantin Bronzit, 10 min.

A lonely toilet attendant attempts to uncover the identity of her secret admirer.

LA MAISON EN PETITES CUBES (PIECES OF LOVE, VOL.1)

Japan 2008. Dir.:Kunio Kato 12 minutes

An old man battles to save his house in an attempt to be the rising tide.

OKTAPODI

France 2007. Dir.: Julien Bocabeille, et al. 3 min.

Two Octopi fight for their lives in a comical secape through the streets of a small Greek village.

THIS WAY UP

UK 2008. Dir.: Smith & Foulkes. 9 min.

Laying the dead to rest has never been so much trouble.

PRESTO

USA 2008. Dir.: Doug Sweetland. 5 min.

A stage magician's rabbit gets into a magical onstage brawl against his neglectful guardian with two magic hats.

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT NOMINEES:

AUF DER STRECKE (ON THE LINE)

Germany, Switzerland. 2007. Dir.: Reto Caffi. 30 min.

A department store security guard is secretly infatuated with a clerk in the store's bookshop. When he witnesses a love rival being attacked on a train, he abamdons him, a decision that carries with it devastating consequences.

GRISEN (THE PIG)

Denmark. 2008. Dir.: Dorte Hogh. 22 min.

When Asbjorn is admitted to hospital, he finds comfort in a painting of a whimsical pig--until it is removed at the request of another patient.

MANON SUR LE BITUME (MANON ON THE ASPHALT)

France. 2007. Dir.: Elizabeth Marre, Olivier Pont. 15 min.

What really flashes before your eyes at the end? It's a lovely spring day and Manon is on her way to a rendezvous with her boyfriend when an unexpected bump in the road makes her see life from an entirely fresh perspective.

NEW BOY

Ireland. 2007. Sir.: Steph Green. 11 min.

Based on a Roddy Doyle short story, a young African immigrant struggles to find a place for himself during his first day at an Irish school.

SPIELZEUGLAND (TOYLAND)

Germany. 2007. Dir.: Jochen ALexander Freydank. 14 min.

Germany 1942, a mother convinces her son that the Jewish neighbors are going on a journey to "Toyland".

Books I read over my Christmas vacation: 

Mr. Pip by Lloyd Jones

The Outlander by Gil Anderson

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga 

The Pest House by Jim Crace

The Inner Circle by T.C. Boyle

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

Get a Life! by WIlliam Shatner