I'm watching 30 Rock while blogging and here is one of my favorite lines from tonight's episode:
"What sells? Reality shows of mothers of hundreplets".... Jack Donegy.
So here's a wonderful Thursday evening out we just had that so reflects the cultural lifestyle afforded to New Yorkers. I pick up take out for Bob and meet him at the Morgan Stanley building in Times Square as he is getting off work so he can eat before we go to the new Catherine Denueve, Gerard Depardieu French film Potiche being previewed at the Museum of Modern Art. We get free entry because we have the film plus memebership. It's a delightful movie with several wonderful twists and a great story. We then walk home and stop in for a big slice of cheesy pizza deliciousness at a little Italian restaurant on our way home. We are home by 9:30 pm. It's all so easy and accessible, such is the beauty of living and working in Mid-town.
Had a great visit to the International Center of Photography (IPC) with Margaret on Wednesday. We first got lunch at Sullivan Street Bakery (which is really on West 47th), a bakery noted to be one of the top ten bakeries in the country (Bob thinks Amy's should be in that top ten--he wasn't that impressed with Sullivan's on our first visit there). Had a great mortadella panini with a wonderfully spicy aoili spread and I picked up an almond chocolate croissant for Bob to get him to rethink Sullivan's. We took our lunches to eat at the Clinton Community Garden in my neighborhood. The crocuses and snowdrop bulbs are blooming and daffodils and tulips are starting to come up. Lots of buds on the trees too. We ate at one of the little tables under the grapevine covered trellises, lots of stout little birds joined us for lunch. The garden is a really charming place, I look forward to when it is in full bloom. Pictures will definitely be posted as it comes into full blossom.
The IPC is a very unique museum and the gift shop is a photo lover's dream. The exhibits I liked best were the ones of the river baptisms and day to day life in Jasper, Texas on the African American side of town. There was a really strange modern art photography exhibit by a Wang Qingsong: When Worlds Collide, a Chinese artist--rather pessimistic themes of China's loss of it's own cultural richness in favor of Westernized materialism. It was good that there were interpretative descripters alongside the pictures because they were quite abstract and culturally bound. The major exhibit was the discovery of thousands of negatives of the Spanish Civil War that had been losts for decades. One of the photographers who died in the process of taking the photos was the brother of the founder of the ICP who created it in honor of his slain brother. Pictures published from the Spanish Civil War were the first to show pictures from the front lines showing the true horrors of war. Again it was in my consciousness to wonder if I would have had the courage to participate so actively in such a righteous cause without regard to my own safety and comfort. It was similar to when we saw Of Gods and Men. I would like to think that I would/could but when you see it up close, it's pretty daunting. I admire and pray for all those who are carrying on their struggle for freedom in the Middle East that they succeed in the face of all the sacrifices they are making.
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