February 16, 2004
PORK, FORK, NEW YORK
Adam Harrison-Friday:
Here is a 1998 article by John Simon on David Lehman and the New York School poets. It rips apart Lehman, though is as unkind to the poets he loves. Hope it adds to ongoing dialogue.
SFJ:
Bought a used copy of Ashbery's As We Know yesterday at Housing Works. Tucked into the front pages are a press release and a B&W glossy of Ashbery from the 'Stachic Age. It is the photo you see reproduced so often.
The heat's been off for three days but we don't care: we had a kid-free Valentine's weekend. It was bliss. Got to actually read the paper at Le Zinc. (Staff: lovely. Food: terrible.) We saw Fog of War. (Good website, worth clicking on.) I didn't like Morris' intrusive enhancements (numbers falling from the sky like bombs! cold, calculating numbers!) and I hate the lazy documentary trick of flashing stills to create "motion." And I hate Philip Glass when he is being The Score Composer Who Wears Out His Welcome Long Before He Grabs His Hat. (Here, it took an hour before the score bugged me. In The Hours, I was gripping the armrest within 16 bars.) Interviews with secondary characters would have helped, but Morris got this devil to speak. The movie's hook is a question: Does McNamara understand the consequences of his decisions? Can he really do the math? McNamara admits that "people die in war" and he even points to the abyss once or twice. "Is it moral just because we won?," he wonders, somewhat rhetorically. He won't answer the question. The discussion of the fire-bombing of Japan alone make the film required viewing. (This link is to one of the many pro-military accounts of the bombing and US "victory" online.)
If a huge fireball rolled across the United States, God would yawn and say "What took you so long?"
Blue Ribbon Bakery gets pricey in the entrees, so go for the steak tartare appetizer and you will see God for a reasonable price. Super-friendly staff.
Posted by Sasha at February 16, 2004 01:47 PM | TrackBack