Culture For The Non-Cultured

I finally saw the movie version of Defiance yesterday. The story touched me profoundly: Polish Jewish people who hid from the Nazis by living in the forest, led primarily by the three Bielski brothers. The community mainly was just that — a community — with shelter and organized division of labor and, eventually, [...]

[Read more →]

Alright, it’s October, and time for a 3/4 Year Resolution:
I will now try to drink good, clean New York City tap water rather than convenient, but Earth-destroying and money-devouring bottled water.
Why? Because bottled water companies use more than 47 billion fossil fuels annually to deliver their product. And according [...]

[Read more →]

Dear Tourists,
God bless you.
Tourists, even in a good economy, you are vital. In an economy such as this, you may just be the arms that pull New York out of financial hell.
Please, treat yourself and a busload of your best buddies to Four Seasons. Pay full price for Broadway shows. Buy a [...]

[Read more →]

So, we live in New York City, where it is not so unusual to see celebrities walkin’ down the street, just like the rest of us slobs
Once upon a time, about 6 or 7 years ago, I was walking across the street in midtown, with two women behind me.  All of a sudden [...]

[Read more →]

Ah, just came back from visiting P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, the museum in Long Island City, and I loved it! My favorite exhibits are interactive and whimsical and I had a ball.
There was James Turrell’s Meeting, a serene room with benches all around it and a perfect square cut through the ceiling. [...]

[Read more →]

James De La Vega is an artist that tags New York’s sidewalks, doors, even the discarded mattresses you see below –with whimsical, inspiring little pics and murals.  He often signs his art with a fish and his name.
New York is a gritty city; De La Vega brightens it up.  (Picture thanks to the wonderful Dave [...]

[Read more →]

So, every year for a very long time, I have asked myself which season is best, or the least tortourus for me: winter, with its cold, dark days and colder darker nights, or summer, with its oppressive, wilt-inducing, pee-smelling but bright ‘n shiny days?
Well, I am self-absorbed enough to test it once and for all.  [...]

[Read more →]

As many readers of this blog know, I organize Culture for the Non-Cultured Meetup, a large social group that attends various cultural events — theater, museums, movies, ballet, baseball games, etc. — in groups of 20-60 people.  After each event, we eat.
Below are events in our future.  (many have not been officially announced on the [...]

[Read more →]

For obvious reasons, Fridays rock my world.  Even more than Saturdays, methinks.  There’s something about the anticipation of a free day to plan for that thrills me to no end. 
Tomorrow, a large group of Culture Vultures is going to see Metropolitan Museum of Art.  There’s a sculpture of a balloon animal on the roof!
Oh, and [...]

[Read more →]

During walks around this quaint little city of ours, I have noticed that there are many signs proclaiming various #1s — stores proclaim to have the BEST, the MOST FAMOUS, the CHEAPEST of whatever they are selling — without documenting an objective source.
There are 2 signs below: The first picture was taken at a street [...]

[Read more →]