DADA

I went to the first North American exhibit on Dada this weekend at the National Gallery of art. I really enjoyed it. More so than any other featured art exhibition I've been to, the labels on the walls and the organization was great. And as part of the Smithsonian system, it was free. It was set up into separate rooms of the major cities involved in the post WWI movement. I had no idea that there were artistic ideas of anti-elitism and pretention as early as 1915 in places like Zurich. Here is an abstraction of Francis Picabia's I enjoyed.

Weather and Traffic

I'll admit, I wasn't the first to notice this, but there is a ridiculous advertisement around Philadelphia. Look at this picture. One of these women is clearly less attractive than the other, in fact, it's uncanny. It's really a horrible picture, but you'll never catch me watching the weather. Am I right? I'm not wrong.

Munch on This

There's a great article in The New York Times about a new show at the MOMA concerning Edward Munch's body of work. It's very good and informative. I've never seen anything beyond "the scream," so it was pretty eye-opening.

Panda Pictures!

I'll admit, this one's not mine, but it's sooooo cute. This was the front page of the Washington Post recently. Tai Shan is playing in the snow!

Bradley Whitford

Tonight I got to see my favorite West Wing star, Bradley Whitford, speak in American's Bender Arena. He wasn't really that great a speaker, but he seemed like a really nice guy and the West Wing material was pretty interesting and entertaining. Especially sincere and poignant was his answer to a question about co-star John Spencer's death. I can't imagine how he was able to film scenes about the death Leo (Spencer's character) that mirrored things he was going through in real life, like being a pallbearer. All in all, I enjoyed seeing him and I think I've got to make more of an effort to see the last few episodes of West Wing before it's off the air forever.

McSweeney's Issue 13

This lucky installment of my favorite publisher's quarterly is one I had been meaning to acquire for a long time. It features some of the best people in underground comics—Daniel Clowes, R. Crumb, etc.—with Chris Ware editing. It is a spectacular volume. Most of the pieces are really small and can be quickly read, but almost everything is enjoyable or interesting. Highly recommended.

Sudumbku

Sudoku is dumb. I don't understand why suddenly it's cropping up in every newspaper, even in ones that never had a crossword puzzle. Crossword puzzles are like the Jeopardy of published puzzles. Everyone can get a clue or two, but it takes a real understanding of things to be able to consistently perform (i.e. Ken Jennings and Bill Clinton, respectively). Nobody bothers with wordsearches or Wheel of Fortune because they're mostly for idiots and children—No offense if you are an idiot or a child. But really, the sudoku is a logic puzzle and it doesn't belong in newspapers. I think the back of science and math academic journals would do quite nicely. If the common man wants easy access to such ridiculousness, let him look on the internet.

Herzog Madness

What an amazing man. Look at these two articles, here and here. They are within a day of each other and are both awesome. This country needs more Herzogs. Here's a screenshot of "Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe."

NCOR this Weekend

Sorry for the missed posts this week. I've been really busy cutting out pictures of John Stamos, etc. This weekend is the National Conference on Organized Resistance, or NCOR. It's gonna be a big deal—over 2000 students coming from around the country to take seminars like Outlaws of America: The History, Politics, and Lessons of the Weather Underground. Check out the full schedule here. More info on Monday.