NYC Day 66: Oh, No. It's Groundhog Day!

Oh, gawd. Not Sonny and Cher again! And again. And again...

...

The Museum of Modern Art: Groundhog Day
1993. Directed by Harold Ramis. With Bill Murray, Andie McDowell, and Chris Elliott.

The Museum of Modern Art: Her
2013. Written and directed by Spike Jonze. With Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Pratt, and Rooney Mara.

Okay, okay. I know what you are thinking, Who goes to the expense of flying to New York City all the way from Australia, and then makes his principle activity for the day watching movies? To make matters worse, you might add, One of which goes back almost 25 years!

Well, for one, I do, although I hasten to add that I have not come to New York just for the movies, as even a cursory look through my blog posts for the past two months will show. But as I have written before, there is only so much high culture (and for that matter, couture) that one can absorb before one's eyes begin to glaze over and even the most priceless works of art and music are at risk of causing a long, drawn out yawn.

So, off to the movies I went.

Above and Below: Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams in scenes from, Her. 

...

To recap; in preparation for this trip I became an associate Member of the Metropolitan Museum, and a Global Member of the Museum of Modern Art. These designations apply to members who live well outside the city limits of New York City, whether you live in America or internationally. Regarding MoMA membership, not only does this include unlimited visits to the museum, along with many other benefits, but membership also includes unlimited participation in the museum's film screenings.

The current film calendar for August includes 70 movies from 22 countries built around the theme, Future Imperfect: The Uncanny in Science Fiction.

This exhibition of 70 science-fiction films from all over the world--22 countries including the US, the Soviet Union, China, India, Cameroon, and Mexico--explores our humanity in all its miraculous, uncanny, and perhaps ultimately unknowable aspects.

The series looks beyond space travel, aliens and all the other well-known tropes we come to expect from this genre, and focusses instead "on alternate visions of Earth in the present or very near future."

Among the many great English language films screened this month were/are Ex Machina, Donnie Darko, Under The Skin, Shivers/They Came From within, Dark City, Minority Report, Videodrome, Gattaca, and Children of Men. The international films include the timely Days of Eclipse, (from Russia), The Year of The Plague (Mexico), and Pathetic Fallacy (India). Oh, and of course the two films that I saw on this my 66th day in New York.

Above: Bill Murray and leading lady Andie MacDowell in a scene from Groundhog Day.

Above: Punxsutawney Phil is about to come to an explosive end!

...

I had missed the Spike Jonze film, Her when it was first released, and being a fan of Jonze, and his principle actors Scarlett Johansson, and Joaquin Phoenix, as well as Amy Adams and Rooney Mara, this was a good opportunity to make up for my initial loss. As for Groundhog Day, I had seen this way back in the day, but had largely forgotten most of the details. Bill Murray is always good in whatever movie he chooses to participate in, and the delightful and delectable Andie MacDowell always brightens up any film she appears in, so I was keen to see the film again. Having done so, I was reminded of just how funny the film was and still is. This is a film that has aged well, and I suspect that film-goers will still be laughing throughout Groundhog Day in another 25 years.

Quite frankly, if you are reading this, and you live in New York City, and you are a keen film-goer and/or cineaste, then you would be crazy not to become a member of MoMA, if only to have access to the hundreds of film screenings that take place throughout the year. While non-members can also attend screenings, they have to pay $12.00 each visit. Individual membership on the other hand costs just $85.00 -- the equivalent of seeing seven movies at twelve bucks a throw. However, do the math, if you attended just one film screening per week for twelve months, you would have saved a massive $540.00 (52x12=$624 -$85 =$540.00). And this does not take into account all the other benefits that come with your membership.

Dual membership is even cheaper per person ($70.00 each). Personally, I think it's a 'No brainer'.

====================================

Sunday 20, August | Expenses $26.30 ($33.15)

====================================

Any questions, comments or suggestions? How about complaints or compliments? Let me know via the comments box below.

NYC Day 65: I Return to The Met Museum in Search of The Arts of Mexico

 Above: A collection of tin-glazed earthenware dating from around 1660 to 1800
...

With exactly three weeks left of my twelve week New York stay remaining, it was time to shake myself out of my stupor and get back out among it. After all, I can sleep all day every day for a week, once I get back home. I may never return to this amazing city again, and now is not the time to be sleeping the days away. With that refreshed attitude in mind I made my way back to the Metropolitan Museum on Fifth Avenue. I decided to focus my visit on the exhibition, Collecting the Arts of Mexico, on view in the Joyce B. Cowin Gallery (Room 749) on the second floor of the American Wing.

There are two major parts to this small but important exhibition. The first, highlights a number of pieces of Mexican pottery donated by Emily Johnston De Forest and her husband Robert, and includes works by Nicolás Enríquez, and others.

Above: Tin-glazed Basin attributed to Damian Hernandez (active 1607-1670 

Above and detail below: Pair of Jars (17th Century Earthenware)

...

Collecting The Arts of Mexico: Exhibition Overview

In 1911, Emily Johnston de Forest gave her collection of pottery from Mexico to The Met. Calling it "Mexican maiolica," she highlighted its importance as a North American artistic achievement. De Forest was the daughter of the Museum's first president and, with her husband, Robert, a founder of The American Wing. The De Forests envisioned building a collection of Mexican art, and, even though their ambitions were frustrated at the time, the foundational gift of more than one hundred pieces of pottery anchors The Met's holdings. Today, more than a century later, their vision resonates as the Museum commits to collecting and exhibiting not just the arts of Mexico, but all of Latin America..

Above: One of an identical pair of iron Rowel Spurs, from Mexico or Spain, 1738.
...

Above and detail below: The Entombment of Christ, 

Ca. 1702, by Juan Rodriguez Juarez (Mexico, 1675-1728)  

...

The Paintings of Nicolás Enríquez

In 1783, Juan Bautista Echeverría wrote his last will and testament in preparation for the perilous journey from Mexico City to his native Navarre in northern Spain. Echeverría, who had gone to Mexico as a youth in the mid-1750s, returned to Spain nearly thirty years later, having amassed a considerable fortune. Among the prized possessions he took with him was a suite of five paintings on copper by Nicolás Enríquez, who signed each of them "made in Mexico in the year 1773." The set, which was recently acquired by the Museum, is preserved intact, a rare occurrence that illuminates not only the artistic accomplishment of the painter who made them but the spiritual aspirations of the person who owned them.

The paintings were intended for Echeverría's private devotional use and the choice of subject matter is highly personal. Nicolás Enríquez lavished special attention on the painting of Echeverría's namesake, Saint John the Baptist, detailing the crystalline drops of water poured over Christ's head and the gentle current of the river that flows around his submerged feet. Another painting borrows a composition from Rubens to represent the Holy Family as an earthly Trinity.

Above and Detail below: The Virgin of El Camino with St. Fermin and St. Saturnino

By Nicolas Enriquez (Mexico, 1704-1790)

...

Three of the five paintings depict miraculous images that reflect Echeverría's Spanish roots as well as his extended residence in Mexico. The Virgin of El Camino is especially venerated in Pamplona, the principal city of Navarre. The painting copies a print that was used to solicit funds for the building of a new chapel for the image. Another painting represents the appearance of the Virgin to Saint James atop a stone pillar near the city of Zaragoza. The Virgin of El Pilar is venerated throughout the Spanish world, but in Mexico City the devotion is associated with the convent church known as the Enseñanza, whose founder was, like Echeverría, of Navarrese descent. The third painting depicts the Mexican Virgin of Guadalupe, which is encircled by four scenes that corroborate the divine origin of the image. They record the Virgin Mary's appearances to the Indian Juan Diego at Tepeyac, near Mexico City, and culminate in the revelation of her image, miraculously imprinted on his cloak. Echeverría apparently was not satisfied to own a mere representation of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and he soon shipped it back to Mexico to be touched by the original image, an act certified by an inscription added to the painting in 1789. 

Ronda Kasl (Curator, The American Wing)

Above and detail below: The Virgin of Guadalupe and the Four Apparitions 

Nicolas Enriquez (Mexico, 1704-1790) 

...

More Information
At The Metropolitan Museum
Now through September 4, 2017
Learn More Here...

I also made a visit to another small but important exhibition, Frederick Remington at The Met, but that's a story for another day.

From the Metropolitan Museum I made way to the Museum of Modern Art to catch a screening of the Alex Proyas movie, Dark City. The film, made in 1998, is part of MoMA's current season of Sci-Fi movies called Future Imperfect: The Uncanny in Science Fiction. The season winds up at the end of the August and features some seventy movies. But that's a story for another day as well.

WEEK NINE EXPENSES*
===================================
ONGOING WEEKLY EXPENSES
===================================
Museum Memberships $19.15 ($25.15)
AT&T SIM card $17.69 ($23.33)
MTA Pass $30.25 ($39.85)
Accommodation $152.00 ($200.00)
===================================
Total Ongoing: US$219.09 (AU$288.33)
===================================

ADDITIONAL DAILY EXPENSES
===================================
Sunday 13, August | Expenses $39.70 ($50.21)
Monday 14, August | Expenses $77.25 ($107.85)
Tuesday 15, August | Expenses $00.00 ($00.00)
Wednesday 16, August | Expenses $49.00 ($61.75)
Thursday 17, August | Expenses $31.72 ($40.10)
Friday 18, August | Expenses $47.53 ($59.95)
Saturday 19, August | Expenses $38.70 ($48.80)
===================================
TOTAL: US$283.90 | AU$368.65
==================================

Total Expenses Week Nine: US$503.00 (AU$657.00)
*Figures in brackets are Australian dollar amounts

Any questions, comments or suggestions? How about complaints or compliments? Let me know via the comments box below.

NYC Day 64: Move On. Nothing To See Here, Folks.

 ...

A second day in this week, although I did head out to my local supermarket to stock up on grocery items to see me through the next week or so of breakfasts and the occasional evening meal in. Today's expenses are entirely grocery shopping related. Since I need to write about something, I have included my shopping list below. I will almost certainly supplement this shopping expedition with a few other items during the week when my current supply of olives, eggs, and avocados run out.

The most unusual and unexpected item on this list for me is the SPAM. I have a vague recollection of having bought Spam only once before in my life, and I don't think I liked it much at all. So why buy it now? I don't rightly know. It was one of those spur of the moment purchases, and I thought it might be interesting to see whether fried up slices of the stuff with eggs might actually be okay. Oh, c'mon. Where's your sense of adventure? Besides, it's 'Hickory Smoke Flavored' so it can't be all bad, can it? Can it? [No pun intended]

From Wikipedia we learn:

Spam (stylized SPAM) is a brand of canned cooked meat made by Hormel Foods Corporation. It was first introduced in 1937 and gained popularity worldwide after its use during World War II. By 2003, Spam was sold in 41 countries on six continents and trademarked in over 100 countries (except in the Middle East and North Africa). In 2007, the seven billionth can of Spam was sold.

And further:

Hormel claims that the meaning of the name "is known by only a small circle of former Hormel Foods executives", but popular beliefs are that the name is an abbreviation of "spiced ham", "spare meat", or "shoulders of pork and ham". Another popular explanation is that Spam is an acronym standing for "Specially Processed American Meat" or "Specially Processed Army Meat".

The difficulty of delivering fresh meat to the front during World War II saw Spam become a ubiquitous part of the U.S. soldier's diet. It became variously referred to as "ham that didn't pass its physical", "meatloaf without basic training", and "Special Army Meat". Over 150 million pounds of Spam were purchased by the military before the war's end.

Okay. That's more than enough information about SPAM.

Today's shopping list 

...

===================================

Friday 18, August | Expenses $47.53 ($59.95)

===================================

Any questions, comments or suggestions? How about complaints or compliments? Let me know via the comments box below.