This Week with Barbara

1. 2. 3.
Photos taken from the Internet.

My revised budget philosophy: go for what's free, but of course looks good.

1. We Barbarians will be performing a string of Monday nights at the Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa for free. I've just discovered these men, but I really like what I hear. I recommend listening to their grungy/edgy "Yesmen and Bumsukers." Whatever that title means, I'm not sure. The lyrics are equally ambiguous. Still like it.

2. Anaïs Nin, ooh! Erotic, poetic and woman. The Hammer Museum will be celebrating this writer on Tuesday. It's a free event with Nin's friends as the speakers, actually.

3. "Atonement" is the most beautiful movie in theaters right now. I am going to indulge replaying my favorite YouTube clip and you should, too. James McAvoy is the most beautiful man in England.

What's your budget philosophy when it comes to going out?

New Details on Jewish Film Festival

For those of you who plan to attend the Jewish Film Festival on campus this weekend, I've got new details about Sunday's line-up. The program’s continuation on Sunday will include one special 18-minute short by Tiffany Shlain called “The Tribe.” This insightful short gained her a "Women Shaping the 21st Century" honor by Newsweek. "The Tribe," a movie that studies the historical relation between Barbie and Jewish people, was the most-downloaded film on iTunes at one point. See her on YouTube: She discusses her filmmaking on a Sundance program; here's the trailer for "The Tribe" (a lot of Barbie dolls); and Shlain found the Webby Award, so watch her here.

Celebrating Film and Culture

A two-day Jewish Film Festival will go underway this weekend at the University Theater. The event, which is co-sponsored by a number of Jewish cultural groups in the Long Beach community along with the school’s Jewish Studies Program, does not have a theme, but will focus on films of intimate personal dramas.

The line-up includes a range of independent films that are otherwise hard to miss, commented the festival organizer Jeffrey Blutinger, who is also the co-director of Cal State Long Beach’s Jewish Studies Program. The films have more to do with dynamic family relationships and have “very little engagement with politics,” he said.



This is the third year the Jewish Film Festival returns to CSULB by popular demand, Blutinger said. “These are terrific films. This is a chance for community, faculty and students to see modern Jewish life in vibrant and exciting ways.”

The first film, “Three Mothers,” will show Saturday evening at 7. The film is about Egyptian-Jewish triplet sisters who are in the midst of beginning their new lives in a modern Israel society.

“Souvenirs,” “Sweet Mud,” and Paul Verhoeven’s “Black Book” will conclude the festival on Sunday; the films will screen at 10a.m., 2p.m. and 6p.m., respectively.

Admission is $10 to attend an individual film or $36 for a festival pass to all the films.

The Considered Connoisseur of the moment said...
“Exploring the world through the eyes of another, especially in this medium, is invaluable. This film festival will offer me a cinematic look into part of my own heritage.” (Said Melissa Tanney, the Arts Commissioner for ASI, of the festival.)

Flyer images courtesy of Jeffrey Blutinger, from the CSULB Jewish Studies Program.

Coming Attraction: Collecting Collections

While I realize that none of the art pieces from MOCA's upcoming "Collecting Collections" exhibit come from one of my favorite exhibits in recent years ("WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution"), I know they'll have plenty of great pieces to show off, especially with the competing BCAM $56-million gallery opening across town at LACMA.

Here's a photomontage from "Wack!":

Photomontage by Martha Rosler, Nature Girls (Jumping Janes), from the series Body Beautiful or Body Knows No Pain, 1966-72. Courtesy of the artist via MOCA.

Please be sure to read today's review in the Daily Forty-Niner on the retiring exhibit at MOCA Contemporary, © MURAKAMI, by clicking here. (It's writer Steven Sabetti's observation on Takashi Murakami's wearable, and rather ostentatious, art.)

What's been your favorite exhibit at MOCA?

47O6: Year of the Rat

The Year of the Rat has come! In places all over the world today people are celebrating the Lunar New Year (better known as the Chinese New Year) in several exciting ways. From Kuala Lumpur, to Beijing, to London and Los Angeles, there will be red envelopes passed out, dumplings served and tangerines at the table.


Image taken from the Internet.

Locally...

One vibrant Vietnamese community, Westminster's Little Saigon, is known for its elaborate celebrations during this time—dragon parades and all.

• Go to their Tet Parade 2008 on Saturday.
• Capture their culinary spirit here anytime.

One Art

Bigger picture: Installation view of Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas at MOCA Pacific Design Center, 2007, photo by Brian Forrest . Small Picture: Please click on pictures for credits.

Some people thwart the election process altogether. Their excuse is that politics are boring or whatever. But once upon a time there were everyday people who included style into everything they did, including their participation with politics, and they were, consequently, certainly getting noticed. That trend followed an ideal of being “one with the rest of them.” But it also gave people something to stand for and a way to have a voice. It wasn’t about whether they were doing it all wrong or doing it all right. It was a matter of whether they were doing it at all.

One man put his focus on the art and the messages he was sending out. It was his one main tool for communicating then, and today it’s the center of appreciation at the MOCA Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood.

It was during the 60s and 70s when Emory Douglas came to the forefront of dramatic, revolutionary politics with the Black Panther Party. Douglas was appointed the minister of culture and prolifically strung together collection after collection of collages that were equally explosive in their verbal arguments as in their visual themes.

Douglas was, to put it simply, a sort of Bertrand Langeron of his crew. Employing image-recycling, cartooning and his colorfully distinct illustration style, he contributed to a bigger vision.

I find this kind of artwork conveniently inspiring for this Super Tuesday. Douglas’s work, more specifically, provokes some kind of dialogue within me that I’m not sure I’ve experienced before.
We’re living in a generation that’s perpetually stimulated by what the eye sees, but I’ve concluded that there isn’t so much of an awareness or interest to details.

There is no emotion or spirit or excitement in the major political campaigns running for office today. “Image” or identity is not anything more than just a name; they are brands.

When will there be another Emory Douglas in our world of politics today?

Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas is showing through Feb. 24 at the MOCA Pacific Design Center.

Museum Guide

Marta Minujín (Argentina, b.1943), "Plataia," 1988 Painted plaster and styrofoam, 96 x 84 x 84 in. (7 pieces)

My guide to local museums is coming soon!

Super Women at the Super Bowl XLII!

Videos by Barbara Navarro.

Oh, no audio, but just imagine a soulful medley by Alicia Keys and an acrobatic performance by Paula Abdul accomplished only through lipsynching. Both women rocked the pre-show, however.

What are you most excited about for Super Bowl XLII?

It's the Time of the Season: Strawberry Cupcakes!

Photos by Barbara Navarro. Yum!

Visit Long Beach's best cupcakery, Frosted Cupcakery, for all these sweet cupcakes and more. ;)