Now that my colleague has introduced US President Barack Obama to the blog, it seems an opportune moment to point you toward a special issue of The Nation published last month. Its theme: Wikileaks and Latin America. Click through to be taken to the Table of Contents, which features articles on such subjects as how the document dump revitalized Brazil’s media, the US involvement in Mexico’s war on drugs, and a discussion of the region-wide effects of the leak.
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Wikileaks and Latin America
Outeast Gallery
If you’re visiting Montuak to take advantage of the September swells, don’t miss the show at Outeast Gallery, a beautiful space with lovely photos by MTK local James Katsipis and San Diego photographer Luiza de Moraes.
Obama’s Way
From Michael Lewis’s recent article in Vanity Fair:
Aboard Air Force One, I’d asked him what he would do if granted a day when no one knew who he was and he could do whatever he pleased. How would he spend it? He didn’t even have to think about it:
When I lived in Hawaii, I’d take a drive from Waikiki to where my grandmother lived—up along the coast heading east, and it takes you past Hanauma Bay. When my mother was pregnant with me she’d take a walk along the beach. . . . You park your car. If the waves are good you sit and watch and ponder it for a while. You grab your car keys in the towel. And you jump in the ocean. And you have to wait until there is a break in the waves. . . . And you put on a fin—and you only have one fin—and if you catch the right wave you cut left because left is west. . . . Then you cut down into the tube there. You might see the crest rolling and you might see the sun glittering. You might see a sea turtle in profile, sideways, like a hieroglyph in the water. . . . And you spend an hour out there. And if you’ve had a good day you’ve caught six or seven good waves and six or seven not so good waves. And you go back to your car. With a soda or a can of juice. And you sit. And you can watch the sun go down …
California’s Central Coast
Apropos my last post about surfing in California, T, the New York Times style magazine, released its fall travel issue this weekend, and it features an extended look at California’s central coast. The tips—perfect for surfers passing through the region—are slowly being made available online. I travel for food as much as for anything else, so part four of the magazine’s recommendations suits me; but those into farming and wine might be interested in the featurette on the region’s young and experimental vintners. Click here for the whole series.
A Weekend Surfing “The Wedge”
Hawaiian pro surfer Jamie O’Brien keeps up with National Weather Service reports. A few weekends ago, when he saw an alert that Orange County, California, had a high surf advisory, he did the opposite of what most people would do: he packed his bags and headed straight there. A gallery of pictures and a story about his weekend surfing “The Wedge” can be found on Wired.com.
Warhol’s Surf Film to Premiere at MoMA in October
Andy Warhol, San Diego Surf, 1968/1996, ©2012 The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA,
Artdaily brings us some good news via the Andy Warhol Museum: Warhol’s film San Diego Surf will have its world premiere screening at The Museum of Modern Art on Tuesday, October 16, 2012.
San Diego Surf was filmed in La Jolla, California, about 30 miles down the coast from Los Angeles, in May, 1968. It was filmed in color on 16mm with two cameras, manned by Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey, and featured Superstars Viva, Taylor Mead, Louis Waldon, Joe Dallesandro, Tom Hompertz, Ingrid Superstar, and Eric Emerson, as well as Nawana Davis and others. Its loose narrative concerns an unhappily married couple (Taylor Mead and Viva) with a baby who rent their beach house to a group of surfers. After it was shot, it was only partially edited and never released. In 1995-96, the Andy Warhol Foundation commissioned Paul Morrissey, under the supervision of Foundation curator Dara Meyers-Kingsley, to complete the editing, based on existing notes and the rough cut.
The Annual New York Times Latin America Travel Section
Last weekend the New York Times published its annual issue featuring Latin American getaways. It includes stories on Managua, Nicaragua; Bogotá, Colombia; food destinations in Mexico City—not in Latin America, I know!—and Buenos Aires; and more. Most relevant to readers of this site, however, is an article on Chile’s surf coast. From that last story:
About an hour west from Santa Cruz, which is generally considered the epicenter of Chile’s wine production, Pichilemu is a small but sprawling beach town fronting a seemingly never-ending series of sandy coves and rocky headlands, all backed by miles of pine forest. It is also, I soon learned, a surf magnet. Huge, long, rolling waves break here, attracting surfers from all over the country; the town of Punta de Lobos, about five miles to the south, has become the site of an international surf competition each June.
To read the rest, click here.
Robert Adams, On Any Given Day in Spring (I)
Robert Adams, On Any Given Day in Spring (I) 2007, Gelatin-silver print Image: 5 7/8 x 8 7/8 inches; 15 x 23 cm
Don’t miss this show at Matthew Marks Gallery, which is on view until November 3. Adams’s traveling retrospective is also currently at the Yale University Art Gallery, until October 28.
From a recent interview:
I’ve been asked why I didn’t keep making pictures in the suburbs. I think the answer is that, at some level, I hoped early on that showing what was wrong, what was inhumane, might facilitate improvement. I think I’ve lost that hope. But having said that, I would add that in many ways the whole landscape still seems beautiful. It is inexplicably invulnerable to our bad behavior. Though I also believe that it will punish us for our disrespect. Or maybe a better way to say this is that we will punish ourselves.
