Saturday, August 08, 2009

Out of Commission

I am internet-less. At least on my computer I can't get on the internet. How do these things happen. I went to bed on Wednesday night and I had the internet and when I got up on Thursday morning....no internet. The technician came about 5:00 PM on Friday but he couldn't repair the problem because he only works inside and this is some transmission problem. It will be sometime on Monday before it is repaired. Talk about withdrawal.....I'm there. Fortunately, I have not had to go cold turkey. Ned's laptop can pick up a wireless network. He is very kind and is sharing but it isn't the same as having my very own computer on the internet.

But in the meantime I'm trying to stay busy. Thursday I finally went to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. This is the light tunnel that goes under the street from one building of the Museum to the other. It is one of the few places that the Museum says it is okay to photograph.
I don't know why almost everywhere in the Museum is restricted for photography. I can remember 25 years ago being able to take photographs in the MOMA and the Metropolitan in NYC. Now I'm sure photography would be restricted there as well.

So what did I see. First of all I went to see Amy Blakemore's exhibition, Photographs 1988-2008 The Diana camera has been her camera of choice since the 1980's. The Diana is kind of like my Holga but maybe with more blur and distortion. I've seen some of Blakemore's images before but seeing this retrospective of 20 years helped me see her vision much better. Amy is a Houstonian who received recognition in the 2006 Whitney Biennial.
The other thing that I noticed in the Museum is that more and more of the exhibition rooms are using deep color on the walls. Before you ask.....this was a restricted area. Right after I took this picture, the guard was by my side. I was nicely lectured and given a map noting the spaces where you can photograph.

Friday we met friends for dinner and then went to the Main Street Theater to see the world premiere of Ps and Qs: the ABCs of Manners. I love small theaters like the Main Street. So intimate. And the play was fun.

Tonight we'll have dinner with our friends and former neighbors. A pretty good weekend. And we are one week closer to going home.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Have you been to the Whitney?

Billie Mercer said...

It has been a long time since I've been there.

1st Mate said...

Billie - I took pictures all over the MOMA when we were there three years ago. Of course, it was Free Friday and mobbed, so probably the guards had better things to do than hassle photographers.

Love the dark blue walls, I think they really set off the art.

Billie Mercer said...

Bliss, I'm glad to hear that about MOMA. I can understand no tripod, no flash but no photos at all just doesn't make sense to me. Another gallery was a brilliant rosy-pink colored, that gallery housed gold jewelry and other gold items from thailand. The color set off the gold beautifully.

Heather said...

So sorry to hear that you are having Internet issues. I think I'd lose my mind. I was so happy when I figured out how to use the in room Internet access when I was in the hospital. I really wished they just had Wifi and I could use my own laptop.

Great post on art museums. It reminds me that I need to plan some outings for Phoebe to the Philly and NYC art museums. I don't know if I ever mentioned our daughter has an interest in photography. She's 8 years old now and she's been taking pictures since she was four years old. We have some great pics she took in NYC when she was four. On our trip to Knoxville, TN last week, she took some pics of the clouds over the Smoky Mountains. I have to download them to my laptop and see how they came out.

Howard Grill said...

Love the purple tunnel shot....hope you are back on-line. isn't it amazing how out of touch we feel without the internet. Amazing, considering that 10 years ago we barely knew about it!