Kaleidoscope

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Published: Nov 3, 2009

There aren't enough black male nudes in the art world. Even today. Yet in 1970, Philly-born Barkley Hendricks thumbed his nose at this white-bred precedent, stripped down to his ski hat and aviators, and painted a charming, honest self-portrait. He did another, somewhat sarcastically titled Brilliantly Endowed, in 1977. They're both life-size, beautiful and sitting in the back corner of the "Birth of the Cool" exhibit, a retrospective of Barkley's career, at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

You can't read Tracy Morgan: I Am the New Black  (Spiegel & Grau, Oct. 20) without imagining him stabbing Conan O'Brien or selling meat machines. You just can't. The book goes from sweet ("I've got a girlfriend who is good to me") to typical Tray ("and there is no shortage of women I'd like to get pregnant") in the span of a sentence, and touches on topics from ghetto life to the greatness of Richard Pryor. Through it all, he's got no regrets. "Would I do it all again? Stupid question!"

 

HBO's Bored to Death is a strange show. It's not paced like any other half-hour HBO comedy, but it's not a drama, either. Jonathan Ames (Jason Schwartzman) is a blocked writer who moonlights as a private dick, with cartoonist BFF Ray (an understated Zach Galifianakis) and herpes-infected, weed-smoking boss George (an amazing Ted Danson) in tow. Schwartzman hasn't felt more comfortable in a role since he saved Latin. The season's only eight episodes long, so you can catch up before Sunday's season finale.

Robert Zemeckis haters say the director, who releases A Christmas Carol this week (see Movie Shorts on p. 36), values special effects over all else. But I'm always amazed by the way he uses them. Re-watch 1988's Who Framed Roger Rabbit? , in which the great Bob Hoskins interacts with cartoons as if they're tangible beings; it still looks awesome in the era of CGI. (Plus, it's considerably dirtier than I remember it.) Not impressed? As Roger asks, "Is there nothing that can permeate that impervious puss?"

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