We went to a couple of openings on Wednesday night. James has the details.
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Culture mongers
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Categories: Culture -
New full RSS feed
For the people out there that read me using an RSS reader (I recommend bloglines), I have added a feed that gives my full posts plus any comments. I did the same for James.
RSS 1.0 full feed for jameswagner.com
I got the template for the feed here, via Nicole/The Go Fish.
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Categories: Technology -
Writing discrimination into the Constitution
Aargh. It’s bad enough that Bush wants to “protect” marriage:
Marriage cannot be severed from its cultural, religious and natural roots without weakening the good influence of society. Government, by recognizing and protecting marriage, serves the interests of all. Today I call upon the Congress to promptly pass, and to send to the states for ratification, an amendment to our Constitution defining and protecting marriage as a union of man and woman as husband and wife. The amendment should fully protect marriage, while leaving the state legislatures free to make their own choices in defining legal arrangements other than marriage.
America is a free society, which limits the role of government in the lives of our citizens. This commitment of freedom, however, does not require the redefinition of one of our most basic social institutions. Our government should respect every person, and protect the institution of marriage. There is no contradiction between these responsibilities. We should also conduct this difficult debate in a manner worthy of our country, without bitterness or anger.
In all that lies ahead, let us match strong convictions with kindness and goodwill and decency.
But we also have to listen to the press lying about what the amendment would do:
Mr. Bush was not specific today about the wording he would like to see Congress adopt in beginning the constitutional-amendment process. He did not, for instance, mention legislation proposed by Representative Marilyn Musgrave, Republican of Colorado.
The amendment that Ms. Musgrave and other lawmakers are backing in the House says: “Neither this Constitution or the constitution of any state, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups.” The White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, said just before the president’s announcement that Mr. Bush believed the Musgrave measure “meets his principles.”
Most reasonable analyses of the Musgrave language state that it would ban civil unions as well, overturning even existing law. Here is a writeup from Yale Law professor Jack Balkin, and one from FAIR.
Do not trust the mainstream media to tell you the truth about this.
One last thought. The Democrats’ (including Kerry and Edwards but not Kucinich) position on this, one of “we don’t support gay marriage but we don’t support the amendment either” is bullshit. This kind of splitting hairs is revolting when we’re talking about civil rights, and they’re going to be painted as homo-loving liberals by the GOP no matter what they do. Why not take a principled position rather than some stupid focus group-created one? I will hold my nose and vote for the Democratic candidate, but I can’t say I’m excited about it, unless a miracle happens and we get Kucinich.
[A couple of links in this post are via Atrios/Eschaton.]
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Categories: Queer -
Rod Paige strikes again
The last time I posted about the Education Secretary, he was praising “Christian Values” in the schools. Now he says the teachers union is a terrorist organization:
Education Secretary Rod Paige called the nationÂ’s largest teachers union a “terrorist organization” during a private White House meeting with governors on Monday.
Democratic and Republican governors confirmed the educationÂ’s secretaryÂ’s remarks about the National Education Association.
“These were the words, ‘The NEA is a terrorist organization,’” said Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle of Wisconsin.
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Categories: Politics -
Time Warner DVR
Is anyone else using Time Warner’s DVR (Digital Video Recorder), kind of like Tivo?
Ours is having trouble telling time. It keeps starting things a little early and cutting off the last couple of minutes. I’ve taken to recording the thing right after a program if it really matters to me, just in case.
Is anyone else seeing this? I fear entering the maze of Time Warner Cable support again.
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Categories: Technology -
Barry, while trying to write code
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Categories: Technology -
Chelsea gallery crawl
We visited several things of note today. One closed today (Barbara Pollack at Sara Meltzer), but the others are still up.
First, Barbara Pollack, from the press release:
Video Wall: Sara Meltzer Gallery is proud to present Barbara Pollack’s AIM. In this 3-channel video, four teenagers converse via AOL Instant Messenger. The monitors show the faces of the four participants—two boys and two girls—as they react and respond to this digital conversation. This video stems from an off-handed remark, “We donÂ’t flirt at school, we wait until we get home and then IM each other,” made by the son of the artist. In order to capture the humor, spontaneity and frankness of these conversations about sex and dating, Pollack used micro-cameras, a type of surveillance equipment now readily available and frequently used by parents to keep an eye on their children. The work demonstrates the impenetrability of the adolescent experience, even in this era when all forms of privacy seem to have been eliminated.
The gallery’s next show looks quite interesting: Andrea Bowers’s ” Nonviolent Civil Disobedience Training” and “Damage” from Type A. We have a few videos of Type A, plus a diptych from the Twins Project.
I have mentioned Hiraki Sawa in the past.
HIRAKI SAWA Migration
2003 Digital video on DVD 7 minute 10 second loopHe has three new videos at James Cohan. I will probably go back to see them again. They are quite wonderful.
Francis Cape’s new show opens tonight at Murray Guy. I love his architecturally-inspired art, and I’m not even that into architecture.
Slater Bradley, You’re In High School Again, 2003-04, chromogenic print, 40 x 60 inches
Slater Bradley’s “STONED & DETHRONED”, his homage to Kurt Cobain show, opens tonight at Team Gallery. I found it really moving, and not just because I lived in Seattle in 1992. The press release/essay is brilliant. Also, Mr. Bradley curated a group show at Wallspace gallery that should be worth a visit. I haven’t been yet.
Finally, the site hasn’t been updated for the current show, but Axis Gallery has a group show of photography from South Africa. I love the gallery, and it’s a great show. Go!
[Updated: a helpful person gave me the link to the Slater Bradley press release.]
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Categories: Culture -
Other blogs – various posts
Some interesting things I’ve read today:
Michael Bierut on The Final Decline and Total Collapse of the American Magazine Cover — with a discussion of classic George Lois Esquire covers from the 60s, like the one with Muhammad Ali as St. Sebastian.
Tyler Green with tips and suggestions for galleries, inspired by this discussion at one of my new favorite weblogs, art.blogging.la.
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Categories: Culture -
On Governor Perry of Texas
Betty Bowers on the Governor Perry homo rumors.
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Categories: Queer -
My favorite NYC restaurants – Manhattan
My friend Lisa will be visiting Gotham with her mother and sister soon, and since I volunteered to make some restaurant recommendations, I thought I would post them here for public consumption/future reference. Comments welcome. I will update this occasionally, and probably make it into something more filter/search-able eventually. As you can see, I have a bias towards restaurants south of 23rd Street, as do all reasonable people.
In somewhat random order, with favorites closer to the top
Lupa [Village]
Moderately-priced, excellent Italian
170 Thompson Street (between Houston and Bleecker)
212-982-5089Bistrot Margot [NoLiTa/East Soho]
Inexpensive, casual French
26 Prince St (between Mott and Elizabeth)
212-274-1027Fleur de Sel [Flatiron]
Excellent creative French with moderate prices at lunch, expensive at dinner. The owner, Cyril, is one of my favorite restaurant people in New York, and the restaurant is quite comfortable and unstuffy.
5 East 20th (between Fifth Ave and Broadway)
212-460-9100The Odeon [Tribeca]
One of our reliable restaurants for years, especially for late-night or mid-afternoon dining. Great fries and chocolate pudding.
145 West Broadway (between Thomas and Duane)
212-233-0507Wallsé [West Village]
Brilliant nouvelle Austrian restaurant. Expensive, but worth visiting when you can afford it. The best time to go is when they are having an Austrian Wine Dinner on Monday nights. $80 for a five-course/five-wine meal here is an incredible bargain. Dinner only.
344 West 11th Street (at Washinton Street)
212-352-2300Union Square Cafe
A NYC classic. Expensive, but with an excellent mix of casualness and attentive service with great food.
21 East 16th St. (between Fifth Ave and Union Square)
212-243-4020Esca [Theatre District]
Southern Italian/Seafood. Brilliant, a bit expensive, but a great wine list and fabulous fish.
402 West 43rd St. (at Ninth Ave)
212-564-7272Savoy [Soho]
Creative cooking with an emphasis on seasonal ingredients. Excellent, inobstrusive service and a casual environment. You can eat here for a moderate bill or spend a lot of money.
70 Prince St. (between Crosby and Lafayette)
212-219-8570Raga [East Village]
Indian/French/American fusion. Good food, and moderately priced with a wine list that works with the food.
433 East 6th Street (between Ave A and First Ave)
212-388-0957Florent [West Village/Meat Packing]
It’s open 24 hours again! My backup restaurant in the meat packing district, easily reachable by cab when you can’t think of another place, or they’re all closed because it’s late. Cash only!
69 Gansevoort St.
Between Greenwich and Washington
(Two blocks south of 14th Street)
212-989-5779Bar Jamon/Casa Mono [Gramercy Park]
Two places: a “ham bar” with great snacks including Spanish ham and wines by the glass, plus a more tapas-y restaurant. Like Lupa and Esca, part of the Batali/Bastianich empire. Moderate prices, great wine lists.
17th Street and Irving Place
212-253-2773[Update: I added info about Wallsé’s wine dinners.]
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