Insight Guides Barcelona

“… (see page 170); t features in Woody Allen’s latest novie, Vicky Cristina Barcelona (due )ut at the end of 2008). …”

Every blue moon, I’ll see a film that I think everyone should see. In this case, the film is Woody Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” It’s a MUST see … especially if you’re the creative type. More on that in a few seconds.

First off, NO ONE weaves a tale like Woody Allen. I cannot think of another director whose storytelling is so beautifully intricate and seamless, yet at the same time, you can almost see the wheels turning inside his head. I’m going to tell you about this film without actually telling you about it. Woody Allen is not in the film, nor is he the narrator, nor is it based in New York City, yet this is the quintessential Woody Allen film. Woody Allen in Barcelona.

Second, he uses narration to move the pace along pretty quickly and keep us attentive. It totally works. The film is a delightful basket full of wine, Spanish guitar,
laziness, craziness, profound purpose and sexual intrigue. The cast is like a musical ensemble featuring Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem, the fantastic Penelope Cruz, Rebecca Hall and Patricia Clarkson, among others.

Third, this is a film strictly for ADULTS. Thank God. How often do we see “thinking” films for adults? Nothing gets blown up and there aren’t any magical, animated characters that do Disney-esque things (nothing against them). What we have here are people who are dreaming of and seeking better lives. Doesn’t that describe us all?

Four, what really impressed me about this film was … drum roll please … ART. The way Allen uses art in this film is masterful. It’s not just about the painting, photography, music or writing, but also the way he captures the feelings and thoughts of the artists/characters. Every major character in the film takes a chance and gets creative with varying results. Every character struggles to be free. I guess you can’t put a price on creative freedom.

This film reminds us that when you bank on artistic vision, you’re on the track to happiness. That’s unless something not so great happens. Penelope Cruz’s character brings this home. As usual, Allen ties up the loose ends with great skill. It totally satisfies that childlike, “Tell me a story!” urge in you. One more quick thing … the film is roughly about an hour and a half long. Fantastic. I’m going back out now to run some errands.

In short, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” is the perfect film for a lazy August day … or any day. It’s a matinee for creative, thinking adults, but I’m no film critic. Don’t take my word for it. See it for yourself.

Art In King Size Beds: A Collector’s Journal by Michael, K. Corbin

Do you like art, but find it intimidating? Does the thought of visiting an art museum or gallery make you uneasy? Would you like to own original art? Well, here’s the book for you! “Art In King Size Beds: A Collector’s Journal,” is a glorious walk through the world of contemporary art. Finally, an artbook for real people! It’s a surprisingly new and refreshing look at art. Come along with art collector Michael Corbin on his journey and enjoy great stories and fantastic color photos of some of the hottest work from living artists today. Spectacular art is emerging all around you. It’s a powerful force that inspires and enriches your life. With his warm, witty and engaging style, Corbin will leave you wishing that you had become an art lover much sooner. An enlightening and fun ride.

Rhetoric in Postmodern America: Conversations with Michael Calvin McGee by Carol Corbin

Michael Calvin McGee died last month after one of those maddeningly cruel lengthy illnesses that prematurely forced him out of the classroom he so dearly loved. “Rhetoric in Postmodern America: Conversations with Michael Calvin McGee” is a cherished reminder of McGee as a mentor to those of us who studied under him at the University of Iowa and elsewhere, and an introduction to his approach to the study of rhetoric for the rest of the world. The conversations themselves are based on a series of seminars in which McGee developed with complex web of ideas. Those who studied with McGee will quickly find themselves in familiar territory as they read these five conversations (for me it was the Todd Willey anecdote about why English Departments consider rhetoricians bastard stepchildren unworthy of entry into the ivory towers of academia):

The volume begins with what amounts to an introductory first chapter entitled “McGee Unplugged,” written by John Louis Lucaites, who was the first American born student to complete his doctorate under McGee. Lucaites reminds us that stylistically, conversations were McGee’s forum of choice and that the conversations included in this volume do not have to be read sequentially. You can just as easily get from Isocrates as an example of “phronimos” in Chapter 2 to the notion of collectivity in Chapter 5 as you can the importance of representation to rhetoric. From the materialist conception of rhetoric to the need to remodel liberalism, the topics McGee talks about dance in and around the pivotal relationship between rhetoric and social theory, which was on one level simply the conventional name given at Iowa to McGee’s work.

Chapter 2, Formal Discursive Theories reconsiders the relationship between rhetoric and dialectic and then the notion of wisdom, for which Isocrates and not Plato is the Dead Greek of choice. This leads to representations as the key way of characterizing our study of human action.

Chapter 3, The Postmodern Condition follows the lead of Walter Ong and Marshall McLuhan in considering orality to be humanity’s state of nature. Ironically technology has allowed us to return to a more oral view of the world and creates new problems for looking at a “text,” which can no longer be considered a single, finite entity.

Chapter 4, American Liberalism is more about the Whig-Liberal tradition that harkens back to Edmund Burke than it does to contemporary left-wing politics. With the shift from the Aristotlean rhetoric of persuasion to the Burkean rhetoric of identification, McGee posits the goal of scholarly endeavor to be political effectiveness in general and remodeling liberalism in particular. Within this context McGee looks at property and capital (i.e., how to tell the difference between liberals and communists), and how morality creates the space between law and liberty that establishes a code of conduct. Multicultrualism raises the issue of heterogeneity in our society while McGee returns to a favorite topic when he talks about the dynamic between “male” sovereignty and “female” solidarity.”

Chapter 5, The People reconsiders the key elements of McGee’s first seminal QJS essay by contrasting the spectatorship created by a world dominated by television with the collectivity that television can create in crisis. This returns us to the intellectual problem of subjectivity and ontology, which is what gets McGee to his friends Jose Ortega y Gasset and Jurgen Habermas.

Chapter 6, Materialism is established as a coherent philosophical position that is a variant of realism, which historical materialism (a pivotal term) as coded human practice. The idea of objectivity merely reminds us that human discourse is both referential and subjective at the same time. McGee uses the term instantiation to help us tell how materialism is different from the word as used by Communists and Wall Street types. A materialist’s morality takes a more political turn that the Christian morality that serves as an idealistic exemplar.

As an example of McGee’s “performance criticism,” the volume concludes with a previously unpublished work “Fragments of Winter: Racial Discontent in America, 1992,” in which McGee finds an extension of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech in Spike Lee’s film, “Do the Right Thing.” Without getting into the particulars of this compelling essay, I would point out that McGee considers Lee’s film on a cultural par with Picasso’s painting “Guernica.”

After reading this book the comparison between McGee and Kenneth Burke is perhaps the most relevant (flashback: McGee escorting the elderly Burke, who was about half McGee’s size, at an SCA convention), for the simple reason that their public arguments display the same astounding breadth and depth of sources. For McGee reading Burke alone provided a superficial understanding; the only appropriate alternative was to read everything Burke had read (a premise fated to stay the heart of many a graduate student). For this reason you will find McGee talking about everything from Louis Althusser’s understanding of the relationship between aesthetics and power to Thomas Szasz’s study of the myth of mental illness (and that is just the names “dropped” over the course of these five conversations and one essay).

It must be noted that both of the reviewer comments by colleagues of McGee on the back of this volume use the word “exasperating” to describe these conversation, the term being contrasted with “stimulating” and “intriguing” respectively. The explanation for such exasperation, dear friends, lies within the cognitive realm of the receiver. I would advance this brief example of exorcism by appropriating a political slogan McGee would have found unsettling in his younger days: in your heart, you know he’s right.

Lawrance M. Bernabo, “The Scopes Myth: The Scopes Trial in Rhetorical Perspective,” Disseration, University of Iowa, 1990, directed by Michael Calvin McGee.

The Art Of Everyday Joe: A Collector’s Journal by Michael K. Corbin

“… Michael Corbin Blank Space 8.5 X 11 Nothing on Paper …”

When I saw this book, my thoughts echoed a phrase on the back cover exactly, “Finally, It’s Here!” A book that would explain the ins and outs of art collecting. What type of art should I collect? Who are the up-and-coming new artists? Where do I find the best art? What should I be looking for to make my art collection shine?

In “The Art of Everyday Joe: A Collector’s Journal” I found the answers I needed, without finding the answers to any of these questions. There is no right and wrong when looking at art, you go with what moves you. I should have known that. It was nice to have this book remind me in a subtle, easy manner.

As an artist myself, I was also drawn to this book to find out how others view art. What is an art collector looking for? What does an art collector look like? Where do I find them? Again, I was expecting hard and fast answers. I got a reminder in simplicity. The art collectors are looking for the artists to create from their hearts so that they can buy from their hearts. Art collectors are anyone and everyone. The “Everyday Joe!”

Michael Corbin’s “The Art of Everyday Joe” is the second in a series of “Collector’s Journals.” A writer by profession and lover of art, Michael uses essays on all topics to make the reader realize that art is all around us. In his essays he talks about a varied range of topics such as rudeness, airports, and bubblewrap. Some essays are about specific artists or art forms. Others barely mention art at all. But all have the same purpose — to show us that collecting art is not stuffy and only for the rich. Cover your walls from floor to ceiling with art from living, working artists. Tear that Picasso image out of that magazine and frame it. Revel in the beauty of the oatmeal box!

In “The Art of Everyday Joe: A Collector’s Journal,” author Michael K. Corbin uses images from his art collection to enhance the book and complement the essays. He did a great job of matching art with essays and showed a variety of art styles. It was a pleasure flipping through and looking at the art, and I am sure quite a thrill for the author to show off his art collection to so many people. Corbin’s