Last year, Peter and I got on a Eugene O’Neill kick, mostly because I thought it would be cool to check out the playwright’s local former home, which is now part of the National Parks Service. To that end, I thought it would be wise to check out a few of O’Neill plays, especially considering…
Category: art & fashion
The Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum
Last week, we took advantage of a special extra benefit of our San Jose Museum of Art membership and took Peter to the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. I’ve been there a few times before, but I really enjoyed it this year, when Neil was happy to show off his knowledge of Egyptian history, and I could…
Buying a New Car
It’s been nearly 10 years since Peter and I bought a car. He and I come from two different classes of people. I come from the debt-averse group that scrapes together some money and buys whatever can be had for that: which usually means a used car. Peter comes from the class that buys a…
California Black Tie
My favorite fashionista, Manolo the Shoeblogger, has expressed his confusion about what “California black tie” means on an invitation. I can tell you exactly what it means, because Peter and I have worn it, but I’m not sure it’s exactly a good thing anywhere east of the Mississippi. A few years ago, my friend Kyra…
Richard Avedon at the Cantor Museum
The Cantor Art Museum on the Stanford University campus is one of my favorite art museums. It’s not as big or as prestigious as the de Young Museum or the Legion of Honor, but unlike the other museums, it has the feel of being curated by an enthusiastic art professor, hoping to get his students…
M. C. Escher and Op Art at the San Jose Museum of Art
I’ve been looking for an excuse to renew my membership in the San Jose Museum of Art (SJMA), and I found it today in the Escher exhibit they currently have on. Just as context, about a year ago, the SJMA, formerly featuring free admission to all, had to start charging for admission when they lost…
The Giant Diaper Pin
One of the pieces of art I have always looked forward to seeing at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco is a sculpture I dubbed “The Giant Diaper Pin” the first time I saw it. I encountered it first at the Legion of Honor, right outside the cafe, while the new de Young Museum…
The Turban Fashion Trend in Historical Context
The Spring/Summer 2007 collections for several designers included turbans on the models’ heads. Here’s a turban from the Ralph Lauren collection: and another turban from Prada’s show: Celebrities, including Jennifer Lopez and Prince (at the Superbowl) have donned turbans recently, and a minor English designer, Fashion East, went all out and put some of their…
Jordan versus Jordan
England has two scary female celebrities who go by the single name of Jordan. The first Jordan is heads and shoulders cooler than the modern Jordan. I only learned about the first Jordan, or Punk Jordan, at the Vivienne Westwood exhibit. She was a clerk at Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood’s Sex boutique, and became…
Foreigners’ Self-Segregating Art Preferences
The large majority of visitors to San Francisco’s major art museums are local, or at least American. But I’ll often overhear the accent or language of a foreign visitor, which is no surprise, since I’d be visiting their art museums in their country. What I do find surprising is that certain nationalities tend towards certain…