Earth Rat eats Fire Pig

2007 is over, yet according to the Chinese zodiac, we're still in the Year of the Boar. A "Fire Boar," actually, followed by the "Earth Rat." I imagine some gargantuan, muck-covered rodent devouring one very unhappy piggy. On fire.

Hoping to check out The Contemporary sometime this week for the winter film series: documentaries on the New York Abstract Expressionists, Francis Bacon, and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Emerging from a period of low activity (both online and off) with only a couple of highlights from last month. Winter Soulstice was a heartening success: I've forgotten the numbers, but Groove Muse not only broke even, they raised a respectable chunk of cash for those foster kids. Not bad for a first event.

I dropped by Push Push for a screening and short discussion of the documentary, ¡Salud!, a fairly even-handed look at Cuban medicine. Unlike Michael Moore's film, the documentary tries to assess just what is good about one system (Cuba) instead of focusing on all the negatives of another (The United States). It's amazing that the Cubans were actually willing to give full scholarships to Americans - so long as they went back to the States to practice medicine in poverty-stricken areas. One of the academics on the film called it either a brilliant piece of Machiavellian diplomacy or an inspiring show of genuine compassion.

With Castro readying to step down officially and with the financial controversy surrounding Grady Hospital in Atlanta, the screening couldn't have been timed better. It was nice to sit in a room with a dozen or so well-informed people seriously talking out the issues (although admittedly still a bit above my head...).