Vicky Christina Barcelona

Even though everybody and every scene was beautiful, I found Vicky Christina Barcelona barely watchable.

It is about two beautiful young women in Barcelona for the summer trying to figure out what they want in life, or rather, what they want in love.

I could have dealt with it a lot more if the actress who played Vicky (I can't remember her name) wasn't so bland and robotic and pretentious. I really hated her performance. Scarlett Johansen was almost too beautiful. It was just distracting. Then, also as always very beautiful but somehow less distractingly so was Penelope Cruz who gave a great performance and I was very happy to see her win at the Oscars. She was the spark of life in the film.

Also, I didn't find it funny. I don't think I laughed once.

When it comes down to it, even though he's done some movies that I loved (Crimes and Misdemeanors, Match Point, Zelig), I'm honestly not that crazy about Woody Allen. His sensibility grates on my nerves.

Amy Kupferberg at Nurture Art

Last night I went to an opening of a group show at Nurture Art in Williamsburg. My absolute favorite piece -- hands down -- was a dramatic and commanding installation by Amy Kupferberg. A series of beautifully damaged paper hexagons was evocative and surprisingly moving.

I can't say much about the process, but involves welding, among other things. The treatment of the paper brings out the loveliness of the materials. It is at once industrial and virile, at the same time that is almost intimate in its delicacy.

Antony and the Johnsons!

I saw Antony and the Johnsons at Town Hall last night! He was AMAZING.

So beautiful. Someone offering up their soul. Such an unusual, unworldly voice that conveys so much anguished compassion.

He is an extraordinary performer, moves easily between casual repartee with the audience and these haunting, emotional, draining pieces.

I most enjoyed hearing the songs I am familiar with from my CDs. I guess that's normal. I forgot the name of the song that was most powerfully rendered. But in addition to it, My Sister, and Cripple and the Starfish were my favorites.

Outliers

I just finished Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers. I very much enjoyed it. I bought it in hardcover because a) I'm really a fan of his work, and b) someone just recommended it to me (my brother had recommended it as well, but the timing wasn't right).

The thing about Gladwell is that he is such a smooth storyteller. He makes complex ideas appear deceptively simple. And, in truth I suppose he does oversimplify. But the ideas are quite elegant and rather important.

They are particularly important in this work, which is more sociological and gets a little bit more at inequality. In explaining all the socio-cultural factors that contribute to individual success, he makes a compelling counter-argument for why our society is stacked against so many people, and why achievement eludes so many marginalized groups.

Even if someone doesn't like the work -- is too aware of things lacking in his argument or see it as too superficial and easy -- I don't see how anyone could resent the read. It's fast, breezy and fun. And, as always, chock full of interesting conversation pieces.

Labapalooza

Last night I went with a friend to see a "Labapalooza!" performance. Labapalooza is the "mini festival of new puppet theater from the lab at St. Ann's Warehouse". I had been tremendously, tremendously excited about this performance, expecting moving, mind-blowing, imaginative pieces using puppets and manipulated objects. I've seen some things in this genre before and really enjoyed it.

Instead, I got pretentious, amateurish, over-thought, and somewhat cliched performance art. In all three of the pieces the puppetry was incidental, almost thrown in. The first piece, my favorite, called Polio Jitterbug, featured a long filmed segment where objects kind of romped together. It was so badly and cheesily filmed that I was uncomfortable (there was some well done filmed cut outs that I enjoyed, however). Eventually the puppets came out on the set and I was very, very moved. It was a dream sequence of a boy with polio and I very much appreciated the concept.

The second piece was basically a dance piece that had some manipulated object brought in here and there. The choreography was good but nothing new. The dancers were adequate at best. The opera vocalist who was on stage during most of the piece was very mediocre and seemed to be struggling. The puppetry, which was wheeled in a table, was quite interesting. But there wasn't enough of it.

The third and final piece was just horrendous and I'm not going to discuss it. It was supposed to be amusing in an old fashioned broad humored kind of way, but I found it thoroughly grating and tedious.

I love the venue, by the way. It was wonderful being in DUMBO on a brisk snowy night, and I want to see other things there in the future (although the rest of this season seems uninspired).

Wives & Daughters

I was so engrossed with the BBC four-part version of Elizabeth Gaskell's Wives and Daughters that I watched the final version right after I woke up this morning. It was kind of weird, watching a movie at 9:30 on a Monday morning, but I felt so involved with the characters that I knew I wouldn't be able to concentrate. And I'm glad I did, the fourth installment was definitely the best. The two fathers in the story were my favorite characters, particularly the father of the brothers, the Hamlins I think... The lead actress, pictured here, was so, so good. Wonderful the way her face registered emotions...

Stigma

Yesterday I read Goffman's Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity for what I believe was the fourth time. The first time in college, after having enjoyed Asylums. The second time preparing for my orals. The third time for a deviance class I was teaching, and now, to go through concepts I will specifically reference and work with in the dissertation.

It's a great little book. (Although after all these years my copy is rather worse for wear.)