2nd\NE Quadrant 11/12 '07

The Approval Matrix: Week of November 12, 2007

"From Here On Out''

Alastair Macauly's review of the ballet in the Times states, "...it seems to have learned lessons from numerous ballets, from Jerome Robbins’s “Glass Pieces” on (maybe even moments from “The Sleeping Beauty”), including the undeniably influential William Forsythe. Several of these lessons are good. Mr. Muhly’s score has, as the overture alone shows, a striking range of sonority and structure, and Mr. Millepied’s ballet has craft, discipline and a welcome energy."

However, another reviewer wrote in the Culture section of the Bloomberg News,"The duet's subject seems to be a cruel co-dependency that masquerades as love. Remarkably, the choreography conveys no human feeling, neither depicting nor eliciting empathy. Its extravagant shapes and ferocious energy are merely decorative."(Arts Journal)

The Fed on Hannah Montana Tickets

Soaring black market prices for tickets to see pop idol Hannah Montana have enraged parents and prompted probes by several states' attorney generals, but the Richmond Federal Reserve says don't blame market forces.

"Yes, it may be unfortunate that some little girls won't be able to see Miley Cyrus (the real name of the performer who plays teenybopper Hannah Montana) in concert," the Richmond branch of the U.S. central bank noted in an article on its Web site.

"The more fundamental issue is that promoters of the Hannah Montana series apparently haven't priced tickets commensurate with demand, opening the door to a secondary market with much higher prices," the Fed said.

This secondary market has sky-rocketed. Hannah Montana tickets officially priced at $25-$65 for a show on Monday in Seattle were for sale on one major private on-line ticket brokerage for between $163-$393. Seats near the stage for a Nov. 7 performance in Los Angeles were $2,427 each. (ABC News)

(Photo courtesy of Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

"Taxi"

Pete Hamill of the New York Times wrote in his review of "Taxi,""In this informative, solid history, Graham Russell Gao Hodges traces the story of the cabdrivers from 1907, when the first metered taxis appeared on New York streets, to the present. He writes with obvious sympathy, having driven a hack himself before moving on to academic labors as a historian at Peking University and Colgate. Loneliness is a running theme in “Taxi!”: if the title were not already taken, Hodges could have called his compact history “One Hundred Years of Solitude."

"Taxi! is not only lively and erudite social history, it is probably the best account of taximen that is ever to be written... The cabby is fortunate, however, to have found his sociological poet laureate in Graham Hodges. In the taxi trade, we would have called this fascinating trip in his gregarious company, 'a great fare.'" -- Wall Street Journal

The first chapter of the book can be read here.

A Tree for Anable Basin, NY

From the project's press release: A Tree for Anable Basin, NY is 24' high by 24' wide aluminum tree with wood birdhouses that sits on a floating island housing flora and fauna. The sculpture is designed to reflect the historical interplay between industrial and ecological activity that shaped Anable Basin, the transforming waterfront of Long Island City/ East River, where industrial structures give way to high-rise condominiums.

This metallic natural form functions as a "condominium for birds" set in a panoramic urban landscape. It is designed to emote the displacement of nature, specifically of migratory water birds by industrial activity and urban development.

This public art sculpture tells the story of NYC's waterfront past, present and future, giving the birds not just a sanctuary, but a place in history. Responding to the ceaseless tension between permanence and transition that informs urban landscapes, the tree is deliberately not grounded -- without roots it can float along the waterways, move with the ebb and flow of the tide, its metal branches softly blowing in the wind.

MUJI in NYC

Retrogurl posted on the blog Nitro:licious, "Looks like Muji is setting foot into New York very soon, not one but two locations [Soho, and the The New York Times Building]! I’m ecstatic! Muji means “no-logo products”, it is simple-yet-sophisticated products ranging from apparel and home furnishings to stationery and art supplies to food/snacks…its like a high-class version of IKEA! The prices aren’t that expensive neither, affordable."

The 5,000 square feet MUJI store in the Times building is set to open in time for the 2007 holiday season, and the MUJI SOHO store, which will be located at 455 Broadway, opens November 16 at 12:00 P.M.

MUJI is dedicated to reducing waste and conserving resources, so they will be giving away a free reusable "My Bag" during the first three days of the store's opening at the Soho location. (Racked)

"The Shock Doctrine"

The neo-liberal economic policies—privatization, free trade, slashed social spending—that the Chicago School and the economist Milton Friedman have foisted on the world are catastrophic in two senses, argues this vigorous polemic. Because their results are disastrous—depressions, mass poverty, private corporations looting public wealth, by the author's accounting—their means must be cataclysmic, dependent on political upheavals and natural disasters as coercive pretexts for free-market reforms the public would normally reject.

Journalist Klein (No Logo) chronicles decades of such disasters, including the Chicago School makeovers launched by South American coups; the corrupt sale of Russia's state economy to oligarchs following the collapse of the Soviet Union; the privatization of New Orleans's public schools after Katrina; and the seizure of wrecked fishing villages by resort developers after the Asian tsunami.

Klein's economic and political analyses are not always meticulous. Likening free-market shock therapies to electroshock torture, she conflates every misdeed of right-wing dictatorships with their economic programs and paints a too simplistic picture of the Iraq conflict as a struggle over American-imposed neo-liberalism. Still, much of her critique hits home, as she demonstrates how free-market ideologues welcome, and provoke, the collapse of other people's economies. The result is a powerful populist indictment of economic orthodoxy. (Publisher's Weekly)

"The Shock Doctrine" Trailer



"Kiku" Exhibit

Discover the exquisite beauty of kiku—meticulously cultivated chrysanthemums, a traditional Japanese art never before seen on this scale outside Japan.

This is the most elaborate flower show and cultural exhibition ever presented by the Garden in its 116-year history.

Marvel at the dramatic shapes, vibrant colors, and perfect blossoms that characterize the specialized styles of displaying kiku. This flower show culminates a five-year collaboration with Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden in Tokyo.

Kiku has been meticulously cultivated and expertly trained into exquisite shapes and arrays, advancing floriculture to such a degree that there are names for more than 10,000 styles. These techniques have been developed over 1,500 years. (NYBG)