Much of Lem’s work has roots in earlier Polish writers, now all of them in process of urgent revaluation. They include Cyprian Norwid, the 19th-century poet and thinker who anticipated most of the pressing concerns of the 20th century, and who ought to be as internationally famous as Baudelaire or Carlyle; the mystical Tadeusz Micinsky; and, above all, the incomparable “Witkacy”, Stanislaw Witkiewicz (1885-1939), author of the incomparable novel Insatiability.

It was in this extraordinary tradition that Lem wrote, for all that he chose the science-fiction form — and he was a prime examplar of it. He was a true polymath and at the same time a virtuoso storyteller. He was truly described as “one of the deep spirits of the age”.

Stanislaw Lem

What's going down inside Manhattan Trust's Wall Street branch may or may not be the usual bank robbery, but "Inside Man," the crime drama that details those nefarious doings, is careful to keep its distance from your standard heist movie.

Smartly plotted by newcomer Russell Gewirtz and smoothly directed by, of all people, Spike Lee, "Inside Man" is a deft and satisfying entertainment, an elegant, expertly acted puzzler that is just off-base and out-of-the-ordinary enough to keep us consistently involved.

Inside Man

Once, great movie houses drew us together. Now they're gone -- and the decline of the big screen diminishes us all.

Moving Away From the Movie Theater

I asked to purchase some Sadrist CDs, and Fatah took me to a shop nearby decorated with posters of the first and second martyrs, Muqtada, and Ayatollah Khomeini. One CD I bought was dedicated to Muqtada. “The candles are tall,” a man sang. “The Shias are greeting Muqtada . . . We are in your light our lord . . . All the young men are behind you . . . These are the people of the opposition.” It was sung to popular Iraqi music and contained images from Sadr’s uprisings as well as Iraqis dancing on the occasion of Muqtada’s birthday, although his age is never revealed. Voices sang “God help us win against the nation of unbelievers” as a rocket-propelled grenade hit an American tank.

On The Ground in Iraq

Even at the height of his fame, Armstrong remained unpretentious and unassuming, and his worldview would always be that of a successful working-class black man who believed devoutly in the pedestrian virtues of hard work and persistence. “I think I had a beautiful life,” he said not long before his death in 1971. “I didn’t wish for anything I couldn’t get, and I got pretty near everything I wanted because I worked for it.” Accordingly, he had no patience with blacks who were unwilling to do as he had done, regarding them not with sympathy but contempt. “The Negroes always wanted pity,” he recalled in a 1969 reminiscence of New Orleans life. “They did that in place of going to work.”

Satchmo and the Scholars

Fallout: Cold War Culture

Mitchell-Innes and Nash Chelsea
534 W 26th St., New York, NY 10001
near Tenth Ave.
212-744-7400
Type of Show

Postwar/Contemporary, Gallery Exhibits
Schedule
3/30/06 thru 4/29/06 Tue-Sat, 10am-5pm
Profile

Opening Soon

Works by Sam Durant, Adam McEwen, Jane and Louise Wilson, and other artists inspired by Cold War themes of surveillance, intimidation, and rumor.

Fallout: Cold War Culture

What I admire most about these shows, and most deplore about contemporary movies, is the quality of the scripts. The TV series are devised and written by smart people who seem to be allowed to let their intelligence show.

Are you watching the new season of The Sopranos?

My Favorite Wasteland

This week, Synapse Films is re-releasing in a slightly upgraded version its edition of Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will," by far the most notorious Nazi propaganda film.

On a completely different note:

It is striking in any case how filmmakers, separated by a war and an ocean, began working simultaneously on ideas that had lain fallow since the end of the silent era. Does form trump borders that content cannot cross?

New DVDs

"This is making all of America say 'Why is there a law against polygamy?'"

"Viagra is not part of our culture," Linda said.

'Big Love': Real Polygamists Look at HBO Polygamists and Find Sex

Speaking by phone from India, Anoushka Shankar talked about what she has been listening to.

David Gilmour
Karsh Kale
Bluetech
The Crystal Method
Tripswitch
Afro Celt Sound System

Global Beats With a Sanskrit Prayer or a British Flair