MOMA

I was asked tonight what I thought of the MOMA renovation. I am witholding comment until I actually see the thing, which will probably not be for awhile, as I do not have any plans to go to New York soon, unfortunately. I am long overdue for a trip, but, you know how these things go...

Anyway, I am not as opposed to the $20 entrance fee as I thought that I was to begin with. First, crappy Hollywood movies cost over half of that, and you don't get to spend time with any Matisses (I won't even mention what folks pay per month for cable television). Second, for those who really are into art, you will get a membership anyway, which is good for a number of reasons: one, if you have the membership you will be more inclined towards casual visits, two, you get the newsletter so you can keep up on events, and three, you get invited to cool stuff that the nonmembers won't even hear about. Third, if you spend $20 to get in, you are going to be more inclined to make the most of your visit.

Museum memberships are about the best entertainment/educations value there is. Amalia and I go to museums all the time, and a membership makes an avec toddler trip much more enticing (if she only wants to search for horses and the color purple for an hour, so be it. We spend an hour. If she is in crazy art mood and wants to sit in front of a William Keith painting and talk about it for half and hour before returning to the California Impressionists and then another visit to the Hudson sculpture, followed by another half hour looking at the horse statue, that is fine, too).

For those of you in the Bay Area, be sure to take your toddler to the Oakland Museum of California. You may never get out of the Natural History section, but it is not every day that you get to see a wolverine fighting with a coyote over a dead marmot. The gardens are also great for running around (and you can climb a three ton piece of jade), and the art department is full of horses, particularly in the 19th century section. Just watch out for the museum gift shop, as it is full of cool toys for the toddler and cool books for the Babbo, all of which can lighten the wallet.

Speaking of local museums, I just realized that it has been way too long since we went to SFMOMA, which is a great space to look at art in. I have yet to see the rehang of the permanent collection, which is pathetic. Must be less Oaklandcentric.

Of course it is fun to be a little Oaklandcentric, since we have almost no tourists, and some cool stuff that is rarely crowded. There is a There there, but it is scattered around. You just have to know where to go and what to look for.