PART I: THE GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM/MUSEUM MILE
Don't you just love Museum Mile?
Always a beautiful springtime evening in New York City.
5th Avenue is closed from 84th to 104th street.
10 Museums are of free admission and include internationally renowned museums such as The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Neue Gallery.
There is live music, chalk drawings, and free activities all along the mile.
The main museum I wanted to visit was the Guggenheim. However, I did not know what I would be getting myself into. I knew that the main exhibit featured in the rotunda was called "haunted" but I thought it would be works that had to do with people who were haunted by something. For example, the pictures n the pamphlet featured an original Andy Warhol and a Princess Diana portrait. However, I was very wrong. Little did I realize that the Rotunda would have quite gruesome and disturbing images. Example #1: collages of photographs which each had an eerie/creepy theme. Example #2: An x-ray shot of the oral sodomization of a DOG! Example 3: There were some photographs of naked children. Nothing sexual, but the lighting of the exhibit and photos around made them seem a little out of place. Example 4: The top rotunda level featured about 5 or 6 different angles of one continuous shot of an old man sitting in the chair. Nothing happened to him but they put the explanation of the film at the end of the exhibit. I did not like this because I thought something bad or disturbing was going to happen to the old man.
If you are interested in this "modern art" you still have the chance to see "Haunted" until the beginning of September.
On the other hand, the annex levels of the Guggenheim featured amazing original peices from the likes of Claude Monet and Pablo Picasso. Another special exhibit on one of the annex levels was artwork created by NYC elementry school children. I recommend these exhibits, but you should wait until the Haunted exhibit is gone so the general admission of $18 is worth it.Other museums on the mile I recommend include The Museum of the City of New York and the Cooper–Hewitt, National Design Museum which is affiliated with the Smithsonain.
PART II: BOOK REVIEW: ANDROMEDA KLEIN
Title: Andromeda Klein
Author: Frank Portman
Genre: Dark Comedy
Summary: Andromeda Klein focuses on high school occultist, Andromeda, who simultaneously tries to save her beloved local library from modernization and solve the various mysteries surrounding: her missing much-older boyfriend; the strange signs seemingly being sent to her from her recently deceased best friend Daisy; and her ever more prophetic tarot readings. (From Wikipedia)
Review: Andromeda Klein is the second novel by Frank Portman (the first being King Dork, an excellent read, I might add.) and has a similar style of writing and themes. I've noticed Portman tends to write about teenage misfits and let's face it, we've all been there. He also tends to write in stereotypic high school figure. Ex: a geek, the hot popular girl, etc, etc. Even though in the grand scheme of things Portman's writing has sunken to a lower level since King Dork. Maybe I feel this way because King Dork had a male lead and Andromeda just wasn't there for me. In fact, Portman made me feel like I was there for Andromeda. At least Tom from King Dork was loveable whereas, Andromeda was just weird and not developed enough. Sure, Portman included daily rituals and specific things about Andi's life but they just kind of felt like minor details that were just there. But, I did like that Andromeda Klein was a quick and easy read that was, for the most part, entertaining.
Grade: B-
