Maya Lin: Systematic Genius

After our day at the Academy of Sciences (see below), we strolled across the plaza and kind of back-doored the de Young Museum, intending only to visit the cafeteria for an iced tea, or sumpin’, in the peace and quiet away from the throngs at the Acad. Wanting to take a look into what’s new in the gift shop we almost literally stumbled across Maya Lin’s installation “2 x 4 Landscape” which was essentially in place but not really open to the public, although how it could be hidden from view is another matter altogether. We spoke with one of the gentlemen working thereon who proved friendly and perfectly willing to chat about Ms. Lin’s work…we suspect he might have actually been the man-in-charge but he seemed more than happy to answer questions and provide personal anecdotes about the artist and her work. He was obviously proud of his connection and we provided plenty of suck-up interest to keep him talking.

Maya Lin will always be best known for her Vietnam War Memorial in DC but she has proved her subsequent worth, and genius, many times over since then. This particular installation was intriguing but to our untrained eye; probably for the wrong reason. Our main question was, holy cow, how the hell was this put together? One massive tinker toy of 2 x 4’s standing on end, it created a gorgeous wave of pungent cedar to examine and admire from a hundred angles, the natural light changing its mood and resonance. The fact that it smelled good too was just a part of the fascination. One surmises the lengths of wood are intricately measured and by some engineering feat cleverly glued together to form the overall undulating wave. Actually it’s hollow and was manufactured in various stand-alone pieces for easy transport and installation. Well, our worker-guy explained, not all that easy…but you get the gist.

This was one of three installations by Ms. Lin, called "Systematic Landscapes," at the museum but the only one visible to non-paying, tea-sipping, gift-shop-visiting passers-through. It was a nice little surprise and a privilege to be among the first to lay eyes on it.

October Funk

With the exception of 2007 (which included a fabulous party at the Beach Chalet in San Francisco), October has been an unkind month for me over the years and decades. I have no theory why that is so but it seems like too many negative vibes hit my own personal airwaves in October. Too many friends, family and acquaintances, or their pets, have met their maker (assuming there is one)…too much slips from my grasp with too many “postponements until a later date” and too many failures of resolve to get over it, and my descent into curmudgeon-hood accelerates.

One would think a winter month like February would be the bad month to bad mouth but I kind of welcome the cold toes and the crackly frosty moustache and even the anticipation of an “escape” week or two into a warmer climate during the winter season. Although fall weather can certainly be physically nice it really is the end of something rather than a beginning. The only gardening I do (physically taxing and joyfully satisfying), although nicely muddy and primordial, it is all in preparation for spring…the rest is just so much mulch.

Wandering the beach in the fall is bracing and sometimes exhilarating but in October it’s also lonely and the seagulls are just annoyed at my presence. They know I have no bread in my pockets. Just like my 401(k).

Something fishy this way comes...

This is the new California Academy of Sciences located in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco with its grassy roof. It’s the part of the building you should view first when you go. And you must go; it’s nothing short of spectacular. To give it its due allow at least four hours, which does not include any glitch you might encounter gaining entry. It is so popular right now nonmembers need to obtain timed tickets and go back when it’s their turn. Membership, an excellent buy, gives you access without waiting.

Not that you won’t encounter some lines within the structure. There are four distinct areas, three of the four deserving your undivided attention. There is an aquarium, a planetarium, a rain forest and a natural history museum. Only the latter is a matter of taste and depends on your attitude toward stuffed animals depicted in front of painted dioramas. To me this part just feels old, dusty and dated and, yes, sad since some of these species are destined for extinction within our lifetimes. If there are only 300 hartebeests left in the world is it a kindness to stuff two of them and display them in a museum?

The aquarium is spectacular, in no small part because it is so new. There are even “holding” ponds where less mobile sea creatures like anemones and coral are allowed to get acclimated before being transferred into the deeper and more visible environs of the tanks themselves. The large tanks are so clear, well lighted and unclouded the spectacle is almost unreal since, as any snorkeler and/or Scuba diver can attest, there is never perfection in the wild and visuals depend on natural vagaries, since clarity depends on climate, cloud cover, current, wind and tidal movement. An aquarium is a dance viewed up close and the denizens, especially here, are directed by calculated water movement so the fish and fauna are always ready for their close-ups. You can go nose to nose with some mighty exotic denizens of finland without breaking a sweat; and some people do just that.

You’ve never seen a planetarium like this one. There is no longer the monster-projector-from-a-mad-scientist’s laboratory creating the stars and moons for your viewing pleasure. This is the first planetarium in the world that is totally digital and, as such, can fly you to galaxies far far away without worrying about a case of the flickers or burned out bulbs, or imperfections in the arching dome. The current, and inaugural, show is spectacular and if you feel your place in the universe is puny, well, this makes you feel so insignificant it’s almost embarrassing. It’s like that storage locker from Men in Black II: the Milky Way of which we are a part is not even a blip in the cosmos that we see on the ceiling from our comfortable recliners. Interestingly, the narration is by Sigourney Weaver who, I’m sure, was deliberately hired to conjure up (at least it did in me) the movie Alien, with its ugly-beautiful space artifacts and incubating creatures that scared us/me out of our wits. (If you recall, Ms. Weaver looked pretty spiffy in her bra and panties, and snuggle-cat, as she prepared herself for warp-sleep--or something--before the terrifying denouement. But that’s another blog article altogether.)

The 4-story rainforest sphere is also, like the aquarium, a work-in-progress but it is easy to conjure up what it will become once the trees, plants and vines take over and the flora becomes lush and plush and mysterious, as it is in the wild. There are already birds and butterflies flitting about that catch your eye and a great deal of pointing and sharing from viewers as they trudge up the ramps to the top of the all-encompassing globe. As you look down into what will, in time, become a swamp of sorts you can, oh those clever architects, see through the water…down into the aquarium below; including people, who look like so many distorted crustaceans far below. Although the aquarium seems to be easily approachable without any interference, both the planetarium and the rainforest might cost you some queue time or, at least, you can receive a “future viewing” ticket and come back at your designated hour.

Although the dusty deserts of the natural history museum might leave you saddened and wondering just why this stuff continues to be displayed, some consolation can be gained by watching a bunch of penguins frolic in and above their pond of tranquility at the far end of the African hall. I’m not all that impressed by their enclosure, which seems small and cramped, but who am I to say they aren’t well fed and kempt and free from predators.

Oh yeah, three other things absolutely need to be mentioned. 1.) Serving seafood at the restaurant near the aquarium seems somehow wrong; but my Shrimp Louie was quite tasty (and expensive). I do recall that the last time I went to the New York aquarium and took a break in the cafeteria my choice of sandwich was tuna salad. So maybe it’s my own fault that I’m influenced by my surroundings, thereby choosing creatures from the sea to assuage hunger while exacting revenge from sore-footed tramping around, seeing them on the hoof. 2.) Some of the stuff in the shops is interesting (there are two…one aimed at the kiddies) but I’m sure, as suppliers discover what sells, more items will accrue that someone might actually want to take home. 3.) The hand dryers in the bathrooms are state-of-the-art and, although looking dangerously like toasters, they sure do an amazing job.

A day well spent! And many happy returns will be enjoyed in the future. Remember to start on the roof…it gives you terrific perspective as to what you are about to see and it’s truly amazing in itself; so innovative and now, I’m told, there have been beehives installed (didn’t see ‘em myself) which will insure the propagation of all the native flora thereon. It also gives you a different perspective of the ugly pile of brown architecture that is the new deYoung Museum across the plaza. What the hell happened there? Modernism gone berserk maybe.

Uh, Oh...

TKTS

Oops, I’ve had this item sitting in draft-form for weeks. I have no idea how this happened but I guess it’s still of some interest.

The TKTS booth in Times Square reopened on October 16th. It has returned to Duffy Square (Broadway and Seventh Ave. at 46th St.) from its exile outside of the Marquis Hotel. The booth, which sells same-day discount tickets to on-and-off Broadway shows (and certain special events), was originally in what looked like a Home Security-provided disaster-trailer but is now a permanent fiberglass shell encased by an all-glass structure that sits under a glowing red glass staircase. It is kind-of strange and goofy but seems appropriate to the location. It has also doubled in size which will presumably make the lines move faster and, hooray and bravo! now accepts credit cards. I have been known to get boisterously annoyed when confronted with the previous cash-only policy.

Vote No on Say What?

I have my little cheat-sheet all ready to go. There’s not much stuff to vote on this year and, other than the presidential race, not a very interesting ballot. Most of the political attention in New York doesn’t even involve a vote but is focused on our mayor who, in a blatant power grab, got himself and other city officials in line to be able to run for a third term in office, which is completely against two referendums voted on by the citizens of NYC. It will be interesting in 2009 to see whether or not we will remember that we got trampled in 2008 and if we can ignore major big-buck campaigning and throw the bastids out on their (r)ear(s) next year.

I think it will only take me a few minutes to vote and it should be a fairly easy process compared to other states, especially California. California is certainly in a state this year with so much to vote on it’s mind boggling. There are 12 State Propositions, some of major importance not only to California but to the rest of the U.S./continent/world. The hot button is Proposition 8 (same-sex marriage) but there are many more that are proving contentious and divisive. Watching television in San Francisco is almost impossible with the barrage of exhortations to vote Yes, No, or Get Outta Here! When the phone rings it is usually a special-interest robo-recording with no chance for a response other than slamming down the receiver. Walking down any given street is almost hazardous with face-to-face appeals from one party or another, or one faction or another; but one thing they all have in common is the hand out, palm up, begging for silver and/or green to pay for their cause(s).

Okay, 12 Propositions doesn’t sound too bad; the average person can make an educated decision without much trouble and vote his/her conscience and/or pocketbook. However, and this is the mind numbing part, there is also a list of County/City Propositions, numbering A through V! That’s right, THIRTY TWO more. Some are important, some are frivolous (naming a local sewage plant after George W. Bush) but, overall, too much to deal with all at once. The voter guide, including two supplements, is almost an inch thick! And this is all on top of voting for various candidates: local, state and presidential. Talk about needing a cheat sheet! Talk about awkward and discouragingly long lines at voting precincts. The smart folks who could, voted early. It will be interesting to be able to observe from an east coast birds eye view without having to participate. I don’t know whether to be relieved or jealous not to have to attend this particular curiouser and curiouser tea party.

Throughout the U.S. a record numbers of citizens have registered to vote this year but that doesn’t mean they will. In the past voter turnout has been a measly 54% and I just wonder how much the current Obama/McCain carnival will turn from interest into apathy when a voter has to face standing in line for hours. Tonight will be interesting…if I don’t sleep through it. Is Family Guy on Channel 11?

Update November 5, 2008: Well, that was cool and worth staying up for. O's speech was inspiring, hey, wot? Being allowed to be cautiously optimistic is certainly refreshing. At the same time I'm FURIOUS at the 52% of voters in California who crushed Proposition 8. Bummer.

Dumping on Vera

I know, I know, I can be quoted as saying that I wouldn’t blog about this because my opinions are so negative but now that I’ve done some research I don’t want it to go to waste so, sorry, folks. Also, I apologize in advance to the Shotgun Players at the Ashby Stage in Berkeley, Calif. for my taking the time, while sinking to a new low, to say they shot themselves in the foot by their staging of Vera Wilde, a fairly new play-with-music by Chris Jeffries.

In 1880 Oscar Wilde wrote a play called Vera; or, The Nihilist which was based on the life, and trial, of Vera Zasulich who, in revolutionary zeal, had the temerity to shoot the chief of police of St. Petersburg, Russia (the one in Florida is safe). The play opened in 1881 and got decent reviews in London but closed quickly, ostensibly because in real life both Czar Alexander II and U.S. President Garfield were assassinated in a bit of bad timing for this type of melodrama. In 1883 Wilde made it to Broadway where Vera flopped miserably (the NY Times called it “valueless”) and Oscar slunk back to London and subsequently couldn’t get a dime novel published for ten years or so.

In 2002 Chris Jeffries thought it would be a good idea to combine the stories of Zasulich and Wilde, perhaps because both were involved in “trials of the century” (albeit for wildly divergent reasons) and both had been jailed for two years. This germ came to fruition in a production called Vera Wilde and has been produced at Seattle’s Empty Space Theater and now by Shotgun in Berkeley.

In 2008 I bought into the local hype and, unfortunately, some fairly decent reviews in the San Francisco Bay Area gazettes. I’m not trying to be some snobbish New Yorker here, really I’m not, but these critics really need to get out more.

The play, frankly, doesn’t work. Perhaps only Tom Stoppard can make this kind of thing sing, mixing history with music and modern ideas, as he has proven over and over. Mr. Jeffries is not up to the task and, even if he were, this production does him a disservice. The director should not be fired as much as being put in front of a firing squad. Even the set was confining and just, well, wrong…a bare stage with a few props would have been more serviceable. The acting was uneven; the singing more so, but that doesn’t mean anybody was actually any good; it was just different levels of amateurism.

As I said (see above) I apologize about writing anything at all but it was a very long evening in Palookaville for me and the pews used for seating became noticeably uncomfortable as the evening wore on and, well, my butt just needs some revenge. To be fair, some of the audience seemed to be enjoying themselves (occasionally too much so…hello, moms and dads) but, again, they too need to get a bit closer to off-off-off Broadway professionalism than this theater provides.

The highlight of the evening was the best shrimp and garlic pizza I’ve ever had (at Jupiter’s in downtown Berkeley). Oh, yeah, lest I forget, my little foursome had a great, and probably mean-spirited, time dumping on Vera Wilde on the drive home. That’s always fun to do, at the expense of others of course, and also hones the vocabulary.

Nothing is carved in stone