Mark Bittman’s No. 90 recipe doesn’t fail.
Makes me look like a good cook.

101 Head Starts on the Day

No. 90
Baked Apples: Combine chopped pecans and chopped dried fruit (raisins, dates, figs, cranberries all work) and toss with maple syrup and a sprinkle of cinnamon, allspice or nutmeg or all three. Fill the cavities of cored apples with the fruits and nuts, dot each with butter, put into a baking dish and roast about 30 minutes, until tender. Better with vanilla ice cream.

Saturday, September 12, 2009
7:00pm – 8:00pm
X Initiative
548 West 22nd Street
New York, NY

Dan Graham joins avant-garde composer and musician Glenn Branca for a conversation about past collaborations, rock music, and shared interests working in New York City. This evening also includes a screening of Westkunst (Modern Period): Dan Graham Segment (1980) by Dan Graham and Ernst Mitzka.

This program will take place at X Initiative, 548 West 22nd Street. This is a free event. No reservations. Space is limited; first-come, first-seated.

This event is part of “My Turn,” a series of public programs held in conjunction with the exhibition “Dan Graham: Beyond.”

“My Turn” expands the definition of a museum program by inviting a guest artist to interpret another artist’s work. This unique public program series is organized by guest curator and artist Howie Chen. Taking the exhibition as a point of departure, Chen approaches Dan Graham’s work through musicians, filmmakers, and performers to provide a new and insightful look at an artist who has been influential since the 1960s.

Kayli spent September 3th through September 8th chalking Balsley Park on 57th and 9th. She was there everyday, all day. It was fun stopping by and seeing her progress and vision. Thanks Kayli.

Roxy Paine on the Roof: Maelstrom
April 28, 2009–November 29, 2009
American artist Roxy Paine (b. 1966) has created a 130-foot-long by 45-foot-wide stainless-steel sculpture, especially for the MET’s Roof Garden. Giving viewers the sense of being immersed in the midst of a cataclysmic force of nature, Maelstrom (2009) is Paine’s largest and most ambitious work to date. Set against Central Park and its architectural backdrop, the installation explores the interplay between the natural world and the built environment amid nature’s inherently chaotic processes.

Luckily caught a glimpse of the first known painting by Michelangelo Buonarroti, The Torment of Saint Anthony, ca. 1487–88. FINAL viewing is at the MET tomorrow- Labor Day.

Podcast: Curator Keith Christiansen and conservator Michael Gallagher discuss The Torment of Saint Anthony

“The Feast” is a cross-disciplinary series of programs addressing social innovation and new ways to make the world a better place. Last night alldaybuffet.org hosted their second Feast Salon including leaders in the field of social change, high-impact entrepreneurship, and social product development.

Ami Dar // Idealist
Ami Dar is the founder and executive director of Action Without Borders, the organization that maintains Idealist.org. Launched in 1996, Idealist is one of the most popular nonprofit resources on the Web, with information posted by 55,000 organizations around the world, and over 40,000 visitors every day. Ami was born in Jerusalem, grew up in Peru and Mexico, and worked as a waiter, translator, and marketing manager at a software company before starting AWB.

Ari’s presentation focused on the idea of realizing the gap between our ‘good intentions’ and ‘our actions’. He referenced the ease of commercial ventures that have successfully closed the loop between having money and buying something. For example Amazon closes this loop with it’s one click purchases. So why can’t we do that? Especially with all that is available to us today, we should be able to do more. Sometimes we have a conflict between our gut and our head. His advice is to trust your gut – define a goal, agree on the goal, and work together. We need to align ‘what we feel is possible’ closer to ‘what we think is possible’. In order to do this he suggests changing the terms of our debates, “don’t focus on issues, focus on closing the gap (between our ‘good intentions’ and ‘our actions’).” He mentioned Freud’s narcissism of small differences where people tend to take pride from the “small differences” that distinguish us from others that closely resemble us. He used an example of a group of women rights advocates who come together and might get distracted on the differences among their particular missions. Our problems are connected but we aren’t connected and we need to change this.

Elmira Bayrasli // Endeavor
Elmira Bayrasli is the Director of Corporate Partnerships and Outreach at Endeavor, a New York-based non-profit supporting high-impact entrepreneurship in emerging markets. Before joining Endeavor, Elmira was the Chief Spokesperson and Director of Press and Public Information at the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo. In 1994 she joined the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, working for then Ambassador Madeleine K. Albright.

Elmira started her talk with a simple request. When meeting someone for the first time don’t ask, “what do you do.” Instead ask “what do you like to do or what do you care about?” She challenged the group and said, “What do you do to make people happy? If you don’t – do something else!” She gave a personal talk about her efforts in trying to do good. She recounted stories about her days in Sarajevo where she found herself discovering a divide between what she thought was helpful and what the people of Sarajevo considered helpful. We think we are helping, but are we really? Her solution to this was to listen to the people you want to help.

Ben Kaufman // Quirky
Ben Kaufman is the 22 year old founder of Quirky, a newly launched web-based collaboration and decision-making platform. Born of simpler roots – Mophie, an iPod accessory company relying heavily on its customer base in the design and development process – and Kluster. He seeks to foster the same principals in these projects by engaging consumers to conceive, design, brand, and launch new products.

Ben Kaufman began his presentation with the statement that Quirky is the result of five years of failure. He pushed the idea that a lot of good things can come out of failure. One good thing he realized was that collaborative decision making was key to his new idea, Quirky.

5 lessons
Lesson 1: You need a lot of eyeballs. Consult as many people as you can with your idea/product development.
Lesson 2: Do what you want not what your investors want.
Lesson 3: People have ideas.
Lesson 4: People will pay for good ideas.
Lesson 5: Influence comes from a lot of places.

photo credit: copenhagen.unlike.net

Over Memorial Day weekend we saw the Dan Graham: Beyond exhibit at
MOCA Los Angeles. This morning I am happy to learn the show arrives to the Whitney later this month: opening June 25, 2009.

Its a powerful show with work that is inclusive and displacing all at once. My favorite pieces in this retrospective are the transparent, two-way mirrored glass installations. Viewers see reflections of themselves and their surrounds as well as views through the glass. The audience becomes part of the sculpture.

Dan Graham interview

Last month I got a lovely Jorge Colombo print, iSketch098, through 20×200. So I was thrilled to see this week’s cover of The New Yorker featuring a Jorge Colombo iSketch cityscape. Looks amazing.

Check out The New Yorker Cover Story

Check out Jen Bekman’s 20×200

Check out Jorge Colombo

Walking over to the Whitney Museum after work to see the Claes Oldenburg / Coosje Van Bruggen exhibit.

NYT Review: A Low-Cost Show Reinflates a Big Bag

Thanks marichelle for the heads up on michele maule’s work. I think I’ll put this in my office.