You might recall that awhile back a famed street artist drew Hillary Clinton's face on the sidewalk in front of Citibank. She looked stupendous, and our artist left in his wake promises of two additional portraits to come, namely those of Barack Obama and John McCain. Well Columbia, we are thrilled to report that for Mr. Obama, that time has come. Well, nearly -- the forehead might need some shading in. But oh, he is a masterpiece and a fine addition to sidewalk in front of the Citibank.

Bwog noticed the following masterpiece chalked into the sidewalk in front of the Citibank on Broadway. (It reminds us of the chilling day that Ron Paul supporters had somehow obtained and mastered chalk.) To ward off any devastating criticism of a possible political bias, the artist has assured us in a note written next to HRC's cheek, "McCain and Obama to follow." Check back later in the week for photographs of said Portraits of Straight Talk and Change/Hope, respectively.

(Hello, Politico!)

Playing the Building
May 31st - August 10th
Weekends, 12 PM - 6 PM
Free

Yesterday Bwog attended the opening of David Bryne's Playing the Building, an amazing, interactive art exhibit by the South Street Seaport. The installation is located in the Maritime Building, an expansive and beautiful abandoned space located right on the water. (Though Bwog found out from an intern that the space will soon become a gourmet food court as soon as this exhibit ends.) Bryne's piece itself isn't so much on the second floor, it is the second floor. Planted in the center of the room is an old wooden organ, and attached to the organ dozens and dozens of cables that are connected to different parts of the room. Cables extend from the organ to the pipes on the wall, the walls themselves, the windows, the ceiling, and the support beams.

There's a long line to actually sit and play the organ -- though yesterday Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson stepped right up to give it a shot. Each of the organ's keys and pedals corresponds to a cable, so when hit or pushed, a certain part of the building begins to boom, squeak, or moan. Hence, "playing the building." The organ's sounds are unforgiving to most non-piano players; most people Bwog listened to yesterday were only able to produce a few disjointed notes. But it's worth waiting to listen to an actual piano player give it a shot, as hearing the 9000 sq. ft. space moan and crescendo in unison is a really unusual and off-putting (in a good way) experience.

It's a far subway ride to be sure (take the 1 to 42nd and the N the R to Whitehall), but it's definitely worth the trip, especially considering that admission is free and posters of the exhibition are only $1.

Unsure of how to entertain your parents in New York this weekend? Bwog staffer Mariela Quintana suggests Casa Italiana, where you can put your Art Hum skills to use.

Between the dank Amsterdam overpass and SIPA's bleak backside, stands the alabaster Casa Italiana, home of the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America. With an imperious entryway articulating the ground floor and high arching windows coursing across the second level, Casa Italiana epitomizes the architecture of the Italian Renaissance.

Under the auspices of Michael I. Sovern and Francesco Cossiga, presidents of Columbia University and the Republic of Italy respectively, the Italian Academy was established in 1991 to ostensibly promote the study of Italian culture and society. Thanks to their courageous demands, the Italian Academy intends to promote the place of Dante, Boccaccio, Michelangelo, Verdi and other Italian masters in the academy. (Though it's been said that the palazzo was a gift of Mussolini, more affectionately known by scholars and party members alike as Il Duce.)

It's a sad day for artists and art enthusiasts: Today marks the final day of existence for the Triple Candie Art Gallery on 126th. Triple Candie was once—and still is, until 5 PM today—home to some of Harlem's most promising young artists.

To commemorate its 7-year history, the gallery is featuring a retrospective of its life in the main show space.

No word yet on what will be moving into the Triple Candie's old home, but Bwog's bets are on a mediocre, over-priced Italian restaurant or perhaps some refurbished apartments.

Michael Snyder, Bwog's resident off-campus theatre critic, serves up his thoughts on the Broadway rendition of Harold Pinter's The Homecoming.

Now that Harold Pinter has been awarded the Nobel prize, his plays have officially entered the canon, and yet a play like The Homecoming, now in a wonderful revival at the Cort Theatre on 48th Street, in many ways feels far more modern than most new plays you're likely to see on Broadway.

The story of The Homecoming is simple: the curtain opens on an ordinarily unpleasant day in the blue-collar, north London home of Max, his two sons Lenny and Joey, and his brother Sam. The drama really begins when Max's oldest son Teddy returns for a surprise visit from America where has been a philosophy professor for nine years. He brings with him his wife Ruth, about whom he has told his family nothing.

Needless to say, Pinter did not become famous as a master storyteller. Eschewing exposition, Pinter allows us only the most vital details of his characters lives, presented intermittently throughout the play's spare two hours. Thanks to Pinter's brilliant and meticulous craftsmanship, it is in piecing things together after the play ends that you realize just how much information he has given you and in so few words.

This past Thursday the Columbia art crowd was abuzz at the opening of "The Leisure Suite," a new group show curated by 2008 MFA student Martin Basher. High-minded conversation, M.F.A. gossip and Bud Light flowed readily as visitors ate cheese cubes and made their way around the small space of the LeRoy Neiman Gallery, taking in work by featured artists Colby Bird, Divya Mehra, and Ben Turner, among others.

Despite a wide array of media, low-culture seems to be the theme of the hour at "Leisure Suite." Striking, large-format photographs depict bedroom corners and closet contents; a hamburger with the works and then some is feted in bright, bold paint; masquerading as back-up refreshments, a mini-fridge full of 40s steams away in the middle of the gallery floor. The tennis court is the subject of two other pieces in the show. As a whole, "Leisure Suite" doesn't engender a whole lot of serious contemplation, which may explain the laid-back feel of the opening, not to mention the exhibition title.

But if you're hoping to drop by Dodge to check out the work, do it soon. There's nothing leisurely about the wall-life of these pieces. By the February 14th closing, its likely all the work will be snapped up by prescient collectors. One long-haired young man, already in possession of an unassuming, carefully framed sheet of recycled paper, gestured towards a piece composed of wall-mounted text: "I'm trying to buy that," he expressed, with some consternation. I'm betting that when the 40s go, it won't be for $1.99.

- Merrell Hambleton

Merry Christmas and happy holidays from all of us at Bwog! Were your presents not intellectually-stimulating enough? No worries! As our gift to you, we give you Bwog film connoisseur Christian Kamongi's cinematic picks of 2007, just a little something something to casually reference in 2008.

10. The Wayward Cloud
Tsai-Ming Liang's visceral sing-along porno was not just a moralistic polemic against a sex-ravaged culture, but also a lustrously beautiful collage of post-modern romance.

9. Zodiac
Harris Savides' camerawork and David Fincher's showmanship combine to illustrate an era and provide a narrative that perfectly mirrors the film's incapacitation of traditional filmic indexicality in favor of digital analog. Unarguably the most important and influential film of the year.

8. The Boss of It All
On the outside Lars von Trier produces an office comedy filled with peculiar and off-putting Scandinavian humor. However, a closer analysis reveals a stunning testament to subjectivity even in the unfriendly realms of genre, predatory capitalism, and automatic digital editing.

With all the ballots in and the numbers thoroughly crunched, Bwog proudly presents its second annual Music Critics(ish) Poll. Like last year, we've collected lists of favorite albums and singles from various on campus critics, musicians, and radio programmers. Unlike last year, we've devised a formula (not a very complicated one) in order to create a composite list, awarding 100 points to the first album or song on the list, 90 to the second, 85 to the third, 80 to fourth, etc. It sounds simple, but it took a while, believe you me. Thanks to all those who submitted lists (all of which can be read and thoroughly criticized after the jump).

UPDATE: After it was brought to my attention that a certain Bwogger's list was not posted and thus not included in the composite album listing, we have a new number one album. It was close, but Radiohead wins. My sincerest apologies to Armin Rosen, whose list is now visible after the jump.

Critics' Choice:

Albums

1. Radiohead—In Rainbows
2. M.I.A.—Kala
3. Animal Collective—Strawberry Jam
4. Battles—Mirrored
5. The Field—From Here We Go Sublime
6. Kanye West—Graduation
6. Panda Bear—Person Pitch
8. The National—Boxer
9. Justice—Cross
10. Liars—Liars
11. Deerhoof—Friend Opportunity
12. Dirty Projectors—Rise Above
13. Om—Pilgrimage
14. Of Montreal—Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
15. LCD Soundsystem—Sound of Silver

Singles

1. Rihanna feat. Jay-Z—"Umbrella"
2. LCD Soundsystem—"All My Friends"
3. UGK feat. Outkast—"Int'l Players Anthem (I Choose You) "
4. M.I.A.— "Paper Planes"
5. Sean Kingston—"Beautiful Girls"
6. DJ Khaled feat. Akon, T.I., Fat Joe, Rick Ross, Birdman, and Lil Wayne—"We Takin' Over"
7. Fabolous feat. Ne-Yo—"Make Me Better"
8. Kanye West—"Stronger"
9. Panda Bear—"Bros."
10. Swizz Beatz—"Money in the Bank"

In Rainbows--a frequenter on this year's top ten lists--is now complete with the release of Disc 2 about a week ago. Bwog's newest music critic Michael Molina provides his assessment.

As of December 10th, Radiohead's In Rainbows is no longer available to download online, but will be sold on CD and vinyl starting January 1st - a good way to spend all of your holiday Barnes & Nobles gift cards. However, you might also want to consider buying the discbox from the w.a.s.t.e. site or just illegally downloading the two discs online (a second disc comes in the box set). Whatever you do, just be sure to get both albums.

Disc 2, leaked onto the internet after the discbox was delivered to honest shoppers on December 4th, is a collection of eight songs that are either completely new or have only been played in concerts. Because the first song, "MK 1", begins with the final chords of "Videotape" (the last track off of the first CD), it's hard not to separate the two albums from each other. The choice to create a second CD that is more of a continuation of the first raises the question of why Radiohead chose the songs they did for either album. The 10 tracks of the first disc seem to be the best rep-resentation of the idea behind In Rainbows whereas the eight tracks of the other are songs that fit into the style of the album as well but are not necessary for a collective understanding of the album. None of these songs are stylistically unsuitable for the album, different/mediocre versions, live versions, covers nor any other type of song that tends to appear on the B-side of an album. If anything, the eight songs on disc 2 are the complete opposite.

While you were celebrating the last day of classes in Butler or 1020, Bwog theatre critic Ginia Sweeney attended the late viewing of XMAS 2: The Secular Spectacular. Although the show's run began and ended last night, Ginia shares her thoughts. Photos by Lydia DePillis.

I've been so wrapped up in the end of the semester that I almost forgot how quickly Christmas is creeping up on us. You can bet that the cast and crew of XMAS 2: The Secular Spectacular, which showed twice last night in Roone Arledge Auditorium, haven't forgotten. The student-written, directed, and produced musical seeks to reveal the origins of that blockbuster holiday, as Judy Maccabee (Madeleine Stokes C'08) tells her children the story of a shake-up back in her teen years at Polar High School.

I went to the later showing and considering it was 11pm on the day classes ended, it was unsurprising that much of the audience members had already commenced their Monday night drinking. This would explain the loud guffaws at almost every attempted joke.

Some amount of kitsch is always appreciated, but XMAS was campy to a fault. It was filled with too many lackluster performance and musical numbers. It's clear a lot of work went into this production, and some of it paid off: there were several hilarious lines and well performed characters. Overall, though, the show was no where near as clever as it thought it was, and was irritating and uneven.

Looking for an intellectually rigorous way to procrastinate during reading week? Scrabulous isn't doing it for you? Bwog film expert Christian Kamongi shares his picks for the Pasolini, Ophuls, and Sembene retrospectives.

Heretical Epiphanies: The Cinematic Pilgrimages of Pier Paolo Pasolini

Marxist, poet, homosexual, pious Catholic, and renowned intellectual Pier Paolo Pasolini is one of the landmark figures of postwar European cinema. Whether it's his adaptations of classical texts (Canterbury Tales, Decameron, Arabian Nights), an extraordinarily orthodox depiction of Jesus, or neo-realist influenced explorations of the Roman underworld his films share spontaneity and intellectual virtuosity. Lincoln Center will be presenting a retrospective which will include Salo, one of the most controversial works in cinematic history as well as one of the most difficult to retain (don't bother trying for the Criterion version of it, it's literally out of print).

Must See: The Gospel According to St. Matthew

November 28th-December 4th, Walter Reade Theater, 65th St. and Lincoln Center (Above Alice Tully Hall)

Too old for fairly tales, eh? The Columbia Musical Theatre Society presents Into the Woods' long, jaunty ride through Mother Goose's canon. Bwog's theatre correspondent Ginia Sweeney reviews the play and wonders how much shorter it could've been.

I'm going to try to keep this review short because I've just had to sit through an absurdly long musical and I don't want to subject you to the same tedium. Someone should have told Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine that a mash-up of classic fairytales with a few extra plot twists can only sustain an audience's attention for so long. I'm not sure how long that is, but it's something less that two hours and forty-five minutes.

Perhaps I'm being too harsh. The Columbia Musical Theatre Society has pulled together a rather impressive and large scale production of Into the Woods, and Thursday night's performance will be followed by two more—at 3 and 8 p.m.—on Friday, in Roone Arledge Auditorium. I have few complaints besides the sheer length of the show.

What's new in the world of dance? Bwog's resident dance specialist, Siobhan Burke, returns to answer the question.

Dancers, non-dancers, musicians, people who dance/make music alone in their rooms/cars/the shower: All are invited to come out and play—with movement, with sound, and most importantly, with each other—at Sunday night's no-experience-necessary contact improv jam session, 7—9 p.m. in Barnard's Streng Studio.

A contact improvisation jam—at least the one I attended last weekend, my first ever—is, for a dancer, like recess for a restless first-grader or playtime for one of those puppies that gets hauled to the grocery store in a purse. Next to the daily rituals of dance class, in which you basically move as you're told, or academic work, in which your mind churns but your body stays still, an improv jam is magnificently freeing. Quite simply, your body can do what it wants, without the pressure to master, comply, or perform in any particular way. The one guiding principle—which puts the "contact" in "contact improv"—is to let movement grow out of physical touch with the people around you, to lift, nudge, embrace, and support your way through a fluid give-and-take of bodily weight.

Bwog's not sure what it thinks about noise music. After all, what separates it from, well, normal noise? Music correspondent Jamie Johns tries to get at the mystery in this e-mail exchange with Carlos Giffoni.

Since the early 2000s, Carlos Giffoni has been at the center of a burgeoning noise scene in New York as a musician, festival curator, collaborator and label owner. He's released numerous solo recordings as well as collaborations with legendary Japanese noise master Merzbow, Sonic Youth members Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore, and renaissance man Jim O'Rourke to name a few. Oh yeah, and Giffoni's also in two noise supergroups: Monotract and Death Unit, featuring members of Mouthus and Hair Police.

In most of his solo work and collaborations, Giffoni uses a mixture of computers and analog synths to create music that can be aggressive or gentle, throbbing or static. In 2004, he started No Fun Fest, a three day festival of noise musicians and sound makers which just celebrated its third year. On top of all this, Giffoni runs his own record label, No Fun. Is Carlos Giffoni an over achiever? Probably, but he would never let you know it. Whether or not noise music is your thing, Giffoni is definitely someone to admire. I spoke with him via e-mail over the past week and asked him about his music and extra-curricular activities in anticipation of his show at WBAR tomorrow, November 15th.

Full interview after the jump!