Yearly Archives: 2012

EARTH DAY 2012: MOBILIZE THE EARTH

The forty-second annual Earth Day, in which people around the world celebrate the planet and stress the importance of environmental wisdom, is taking place all weekend with a spate of activities throughout the metropolitan area. This year’s global theme is “Mobilize the Earth” with the express purpose to emphasize that “the Earth won’t wait,” and indeed it won’t. At Grand Central Terminal on Saturday, there will be storytelling, a food and nutrition panel, a special exhibit, and concerts by the Nightmare River Band, Conveyor, Annie and the Bee Keepers, FlyinFisch, the Whispering Tree, Push Method, and Kinetics & One Love. On Saturday night at 7:45, Rooftop Films will host a free screening of Sir David Attenborough’s widely acclaimed Planet Earth series, followed by the world premiere of the documentary The Making of Planet Earth, at Solar One; be sure to RSVP in advance here. And on the High Line on Sunday, performance artist Alison Knowles will invite visitors to help her make a huge salad at the West Sixteenth St. area from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm; the High Line will also host talks with gardeners, live music by the family-friendly On the Lam Brass Band, and interactive field stations.

NEW YORK KNICKS PLAYOFF TICKETS

Knicks are hoping Carmelo Anthony can lead team to first playoff victory in more than a decade

Madison Square Garden
31st to 33rd Sts. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
On sale Saturday, April 21, 12 noon, $140 – $4,335
www.thegarden.com
www.nba.com/knicks

Following nine losing seasons in which they made only one playoff appearance, falling in the first round in 2004 to the Nets, the Knicks made the postseason last year, when they were swept by the Celtics, and have clinched a spot this year while in the midst of a tumultuous campaign. The team was struggling when Linsanity took hold in March and April, as seldom-used point guard Jeremy Lin led the Knickerbockers on an impossible streak that put them back into contention. Meanwhile, coach Mike D’Antoni stepped aside on March 14 with the team a disappointing 18-24, but since then interim head coach Mike Woodson has guided the Knicks to a 15-6 record as he tries to find a balance between superstars Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire and searches for backcourt consistency among Baron Davis, Mike Bibby, Toney Douglas, Landry Fields, Iman Shumpert, and J. R. Smith. The storied franchise has won just two titles in its sixty-six-year history, in 1969-70 and 1972-73, and they’ve lost ten straight playoff contests, their last postseason victory coming in game three against the Raptors in 2001. Despite all the craziness the 2011-2012 season has seen ― beginning with a lockout that forced the Knicks to have to play 66 games in a mere 118 days, resulting in a spate of injuries ― they’re back in the playoffs, destined to go up against either Chicago or Miami on the road, with tickets on sale beginning today at 12 noon. Prices start at a mere $140 for three potential home games in round one and go up to $4,335, with service charges and fees on the latter only $115 each.

RECORD STORE DAY

Bruce Springsteen is among those artists releasing a special vinyl disc for Record Store Day

Multiple locations
Saturday, April 21
www.recordstoreday.com

There’s nothing quite like spinning that black circle, letting one side play, then getting up to turn it over and hearing the other side. Eight-track tapes and cassettes ran their course, with CDs to follow. But we’re not sure vinyl singles, EPs, and LPs will ever go away; what’s more fun than looking through aisles and aisles of records at indie music stores? You can get your fill on April 21 at the annual Record Store Day, where hundreds of exclusive vinyl discs will be available at stores across the country. In New York, participating shops include Big City Records, In Living Stereo, Good Records NYC, Rockit Scientist Records, Other Music, Fat Beats, Generation Records, rebel rebel, Academy LPs, Record Runner, turntable lab, Bleecker Street Records, Gimme Gimme Records, Rock and Soul Records, Deadly Dragon Sound, Village Music World, Kim’s Video & Music, J&R Music World, Black Star Music, Cake Shop, and Disc-O-Rama. Among the myriad new and old bands releasing special discs for the day are Abba, Afrika Bambaataa/MC5, Amanda Palmer & the Grand Theft Orchestra, Animal Collective, Arcade Fire, Aretha Franklin/Otis Redding, Battles, Bill Evans, Brendan Benson, Bruce Springsteen, Buddy Guy, Captain Beefheart, Carolina Chocolate Drops/Run DMC, Chocolate Watch Band, Coldplay, Common, Cursive, David Bowie, Death Cab for Cutie Death, Deerhoof / of Montreal, Devo, Disturbed, Eddie Vedder, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, and Esperanza Spalding — and that’s only some of the groups from the first part of the alphabet. Many of the records are limited editions that are not available at every store, so good luck finding that one disc you’re after.

IT’S THE POLITICAL ECONOMY, STUPID

Institute for Wishful Thinking, “Post-Fordist Variations,” detail, mixed media, 2011 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Austrian Cultural Forum
11 East 52nd St. between Madison & Fifth Aves.
Daily through April 22, free, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
212-319-5300
www.acfny.org

During his 1992 presidential campaign, Bill Clinton famously declared, “It’s the economy, stupid.” Austrian-American curators Oliver Ressler and Gregory Sholette have taken that statement and added a slight twist for “It’s the Political Economy, Stupid,” a group show running through Sunday at the Austrian Cultural Forum in Midtown. Through sculpture, installation, drawing, video, and photography, the artists fight back against the growing economic crisis encircling the globe as governments do nothing to prevent it ― or in fact make it worse. In the lobby, Dread Scott continually calls out, “Money to Burn,” in a video depicting him in the Financial District burning actual money while asking passersby to help. The Institute for Wishful Thinking goes back to 1975 in their multimedia display focusing on the iconic Daily News headline “Ford to City: Drop Dead,” supplementing it with cards that make such proclamations as “Paulson to City: Banks First” and “Blankfein to City: No Worries.” Linda Bilda’s “Labor and Capital” sculpture projects the two performing a ghostly dance on a wall, while flo6x8’s “Body Versus Capital” documents Spanish flashmobs dancing inside banks. Julie Christensen’s slide show, “How Communities Are Reusing the Big Box,” reveals how big box stores that have gone out of business are being repurposed by local neighborhoods. Zanny Begg and Ressler’s “The Bull Laid Bear” video does an excellent job of explaining the economic crisis, using cartoon bears as talking heads. Ira Rosenberger’s “Espiral ― A Dance of Death in 8 Scenes” harkens back to Kurt Jooss’s 1932 ballet, “The Green Table,” as a woman in black-and-white face paint moves ominously behind quotes detailing the history of Austrian finance. And Bilda’s large wall mural, “The Future and End of the Golden World,” features male and female prolls, rightist perverts, unprincipled media, bureaucrats, political activists, Bill Gates, Sam Walton, Warren Buffet, Henry Paulson, NGOs, and others, with politicians being tempted by lobbyists at the center. “It’s the Political Economy, Stupid” offers an intriguing, varied look at how artists are dealing with the financial crisis, employing a creative blend of humor and anger to make their salient points.

GOODBYE FIRST LOVE

Sullivan (Sebastian Urzendowsky) and Camille (Lola Créton) experience the pleasure and pain of young romance in GOODBYE FIRST LOVE

GOODBYE FIRST LOVE (Mia Hansen-Løve, 2011)
IFC Center, 323 Sixth Ave. at Third St., 212-924-7771
Lincoln Plaza Cinema, 1886 Broadway at 63rd St., 212-757-2280
Opens Friday, April 20
www.ifcfilms.com

French filmmaker Mia Hansen-Løve’s third film is an infuriating yet captivating tale that runs hot and cold. Goodbye First Love begins in Paris in 1999, as fifteen-year-old Camille (Lola Créton) frolics naked with Sullivan (Sebastian Urzendowsky), her slightly older boyfriend. While she professes her deep, undying lover for him, he refuses to declare his total dedication to her, instead preparing to leave her and France for a long sojourn through South America. When Camille goes home and starts sobbing, her mother (Valérie Bonneton), who is not a big fan of Sullivan’s, asks why. “I cry because I’m melancholic,” Camille answers, as only a fifteen-year-old character in a French film would. As the years pass, Camille grows into a fine young woman, studying architecture and dating a much older man (Magne-Håvard Brekke), but she can’t forget Sullivan, and when he eventually reenters her life, she has some hard choices to make. Créton (Bluebeard) evokes a young Isabelle Huppert as Camille, while Urzendowsky (The Way Back) is somewhat distant as the distant Sullivan. There is never any real passion between them; Hansen-Løve (All Is Forgiven, The Father of My Children) often skips over the more emotional, pivotal moments, instead concentrating on the after-effects and discussions. While that works at times, at others it feels as if something crucial was left out, and not necessarily with good reason. Still, Créton carries the film with her puppy-dog eyes, lithe body, and a graceful demeanor that will make you forgive her character’s increasingly frustrating decisions.

THE DAY HE ARRIVES

Boram (Song Sun-mi), Youngho (Kim Sang-joong), and Seongjun (Yu Jun-sang) examine their lives in fascinating ways in Hong Sang-soo’s THE DAY HE ARRIVES

THE DAY HE ARRIVES (Hong Sang-soo, 2011)
Lincoln Plaza Cinema
1886 Broadway at 63rd St.
Opens Friday, April 20
212-757-2280
www.cinemaguild.com
www.lincolnplazacinema.com

For most of his career, South Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo has been making films about filmmakers, although not always about the filmmaking process itself. In such works as Woman on the Beach, Like You Know It All, Tale of Cinema, and Oki’s Movie, he’s delved into the more personal side of lead characters who are established or emerging directors. Hong reaches a career peek with his latest, The Day He Arrives, a deeply intuitive, vastly intelligent, and surprisingly existential exploration of a young man at a crossroads in his life. After having made four little-seen films and deciding to become a country teacher instead, director Seongjun (Yu Jun-sang) returns to his hometown in Seoul to visit his friend Youngho (Kim Sang-joong), a film critic who has just left his wife and is hanging out with a film teacher named Boram (Song Sun-mi). Seongjun stops by to visit his old girlfriend, Kyungjin (Kim Bok-yung), keeps bumping into an actress who appeared in one of his films, goes drinking with a trio of fans, and meets Yejeon (also played by Kim Bok-yung), the owner of a local bar where Youngho and Boram take him. As all of the main characters examine their lives, each one lacking something important, Hong has several scenes repeat multiple times with slight differences, as if they are alternate takes imbued with new meaning as the audience continues to learn more about the protagonists. Each revised scene contributes more insight and develops the characters further, even if the story seems to have backtracked in time. The nonlinear narrative and beautiful black-and-white cinematography evoke aspects of Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories, Harold Ramis’s Groundhog Day, and François Truffaut’s Day for Night, exceptional films that, like The Day He Arrives, carefully balance fantasy and reality, fiction and nonfiction while depicting the inherent dual nature of cinema and humanity. Earlier in his career, Hong seemed to have trouble ending his films, which would linger on well past the two-hour mark, but with the outstanding, poetic Oki’s Movie and its follow-up, The Day He Arrives, both of which run approximately eighty minutes, he has found an excellent length for his work — one that now almost feels too short, as he clearly has so much to say.

GORE VIDAL’S THE BEST MAN

Dirty politics is the name of the game in Broadway revival of Gore Vidal’s THE BEST MAN

Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre
236 West 45th St. between Broadway & Eighth Aves.
Through July 8, $66.50-$226.50
thebestmanonbroadway.com

The second revival of Gore Vidal’s 1960 Tony-nominated The Best Man arrives in an election year that has witnessed a bizarre race for the Republican presidential nomination, as a series of candidates kept leap-frogging one another for the opportunity to take on an incumbent president whose popularity is highly tenuous and whose grasp on the White House might be extremely vulnerable. Inspired by Adlai Stevenson and the Kennedy-Nixon campaign of 1960, Vidal’s drama is still filled with relevance more than fifty years later as a Clintonesque figure battles a Santorum-like up-and-comer for the presidential nomination at an unnamed party convention in Philadelphia in 1960. John Larroquette is phenomenal as William Russell, a former secretary of state who is intelligent, charismatic, and honest to a fault, as well as a womanizer who recently suffered a secret nervous breakdown. His main competition is Senator Joseph Cantwell (Eric McCormack), a firebrand who is ready, willing, and able to play as dirty as is necessary in order to win.

John Larroquette, Angela Lansbury, and Candice Bergen get down to business in THE BEST MAN

Although not as acerbic and darkly cynical as one might expect, The Best Man is a well-acted, splendidly paced, thoroughly entertaining evening of theater and politics. Built for a star-studded cast — past versions have featured such stalwarts as Melvyn Douglas and Frank Lovejoy in the original 1960 production, Elizabeth Ashley, Charles Durning, Christine Ebersole, Spalding Gray, and Chris Noth in the 2000 revival, and Henry Fonda, Cliff Robertson, Ann Sothern, and Shelley Berman in the 1964 film — the 2012 edition too is jam-packed with big names. In addition to Emmy and Tony winner Larroquette and Emmy winner McCormack, the show boasts five-time Tony winner Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Sue-Ellen Gamadge, who controls the female vote and so is courted by Alice Russell (a wry Candice Bergen, who also teamed up with Larroquette on Boston Legal) and Mabel Cantwell (a bubbly Kerry Butler); an appropriately blustery James Earl Jones, who played the first black president in the 1972 film The Man, as former president Arthur Hockstader, whose endorsement both candidates are after; Grammy winner and Oscar nominee Michael McKean as Russell’s press secretary, Dick Jensen; and Tony winner Jefferson Mays, who is wonderfully jumpy as Sheldon Marcus, a quirky man who claims to have some interesting information about Cantwell’s past. Director Michael Wilson and set designer Derek McLane have turned the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre into a bustling convention, with banners hanging from the rafters and old-fashioned black-and-white monitors following the action inside the main hall as the backroom wheeling and dealing unfolds onstage in Cantwell’s and Russell’s hotel rooms. And at a mere two and a half hours with two intermissions, The Best Man goes down a lot more easily than the ridiculously prolonged campaigns and conventions of the current era. (On Monday, April 30, at 8:00, Jones, Larroquette, McCormack, McKean, Mays, and Wilson will convene at the 92nd St. Y for a panel discussion moderated by Caryn James about the play and the state of contemporary American politics.)