Bastille Day: Peskine at MoCADA + Phillies' Folly + 10 Years of Blogs

Since it's Bastille Day, here's info about something French--at the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA), in Brooklyn, from a press release I received (I'll get over there one of these days soon):

The French Evolution: Race, Politics & the French Riots
Works by Alexis Peskine
Curated by Kimberli E. Gant
May 25-September 9, 2007

The Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA) is pleased to present The French Evolution: Race, Politics & Riots. The museum premier of this provocative exhibition features approximately fifteen multimedia images informed and inspired by the 2005 riots that rocked Peskine’s native Paris, and explores the social and political climate sustained by the uneasy truce that continues today. The exhibition will open with a reception on May 25th, and be on view through September 9th. Several educational programs have been created to complement the exhibition.

The twenty-seven-year-old Peskine, a Howard University and Maryland Institute College of Art alum and Fulbright scholar, is an emerging artist who has gained considerable recognition with his provocative interpretations on social inequality. Set against the backdrop of a global consciousness with strong influences of the worldwide hip-hop movement, Peskine’s work is informed by his experiences growing up with his peers of African, Arab and Caribbean descent in Paris, where random ID checks, joblessness, and racial and religious discrimination are an everyday reality. His images in video, photography and mixed media using wood, nails, canvas and installations reflect his graphic and bold approach to social, religious and political commentary through art.

Take that, Sarko!

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I have complained at times about the Saint Louis Cardinals, who're having a lackluster 2007 season (though they're not at the bottom of their weak division). At the same time, I'm quite aware that historically speaking, they have had their share of successes, to the extent that they're second only to the New York Yankees in total World Series wins, and managed to pull off a shocker last year after dragging themselves across the finish line into the playoffs.

Tonight, the Cardinals had their hand in a bit of infamy: they helped the Philadelphia Phillies notch their 10,000th loss. That is the most in Major League Baseball. Not even the Chicago Cubs, a study in futility, have as many losses. Nor do the Boston Red Sox, the Baltimore Orioles (once the hapless Saint Louis Browns), the Chicago White Sox...you get the picture.

I only know the Phillies as having middling teams, sometimes good ones. Their roster included the nutty Hall of Famer Steve Carlton and the great Mike Schmidt, a prototypical third baseman, and they won the World Series in 1980, when I was in high school. That counts for something--the win, I mean. People with longer memories or a better handle on stats, however, know that they have had many, many bad seasons, from 1883 on. Some were awful, or worse. 1964 is particularly notorious, in that they fell out of first place with a 10-game losing streak or something to that effect, permitting the Cardinals--oh the ignominy!--to leap in, win the pennant, and defeat the Yankees, in the process showcasing several future Hall of Famers, including Bob Gibson and Lou Brock.

So my thoughts are with Phillies fans tonight. At least for a little while. Just think, it's a record, even if a humiliating one, and no other team will be able to say they got there first.

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It's also the 10th anniversary of the blogosphere. The Wall Street Journal's Tunku Vadarajan writes an article about this rather unheralded birthday, "Happy Blogiversary." For some reason I thought they were around a little bit longer, but then I can recall when cell phones were uncommon and C and another friend were among the very few people I knew who had them. But then that was before Craigslist, social networking sites, or Netscape's apogee and disappearance....

Anyways, Vadarajan asks some NOT VERY DIVERSE notables about their favorite blogs and gets an array of responses, including this one from that conservative bombast Tom Wolfe:

And there you have blogs. The universe of blogs is a universe of rumors, and the tribe likes it that way.

Blogs are an advance guard to the rear. For example, only a primitive would believe a word of Wikipedia (which, though not strictly a blog, shares the characteristics of the genre). The entry under my name says that in 2003 "major news media" broadcast reports of my death and that I telephoned Larry King and said, "I ain't dead yet, give me a little more time and no doubt it will become true."

And people actually thought this man had even a passable grasp on today's undergraduates? At least he did label his last volume of claptrap fiction....