This New England

"Movie Star Mania,'' at the Bert Gallery, in Providence, by Louise Marianetti (1916-2009)

She was a student at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1934-35.

From the Worcester Art Museum's new show "Rest Elsewhere: Netherlandish Mannerist Prints.''

Photo and comment by CHARLES PINNING

The day had been so unseasonably warm, it was only with the coolness of night coming in that fall asserted itself.

There, behind the garden in the light of October's full moon, the birch softly shone, a haunting white so appropriate, attended by russets and greens going to yellows in the inevitable sweet dying of summer, whispering down into the pattern of that first blanket.

"Rush,'' print by FRANK CURRAN, of rock formations on Monhegan Island, Maine.
Getting down to the basics, as in November.

"Microcell 2,'' by Kay Hartung, in the "Beyond the Surface: Biological Explorations in Wax; A group show in the encaustic medium,'' through Nov. 6, at Fountain Street Fine Art, Framingham.

From Bloomberg News:

October 12, 2011

Chanos, Gross Understand Wall Street Protest

Jim Chanos, founder of $6 billion hedge fund Kynikos Associates, and Bill Gross, who runs the world's biggest bond fund, joined top asset managers in voicing understanding for anti-Wall Street protests as they spread to Manhattan's Upper East Side, home to the city's financiers.

Chanos said New Yorkers don't appreciate the impact government bank bailouts have had on other U.S. citizens. Gross, who works at Pacific Investment Management Co., said that wage earners are fighting back after three decades of class warfare against them.

"New York is so finance-centric that people here underappreciate the reaction of the rest of the country," Chanos, who was born in Milwaukee, said yesterday in an interview in New York. "People are angry, they feel the game is rigged, that they didn't get their fair shake."

Demonstrators in New York marched to the upscale Upper East Side neighborhood as the Occupy Wall Street movement that started last month in New York's financial district spread to other U.S. cities. BlackRock Inc.'s Laurence D. Fink, who runs the world's biggest asset manager, and billionaire investor Warren Buffett have said they understand the protesters' frustration.

Commentary by WILLIAM MORGAN

In today's anything-goes-and-nothing-is-out-of-bounds media world, maybe we shouldn't be surprised to see ads (such as this in Boston Magazine) selling the idea that one's private reading time is now as glamorous and as public as your Facebook page.

The white cube in the center of the photo is a toilet. The siren with the come-hither look is implying that she'll make the old copy of Reader's Digest and the daily crossword unnecessary.

And all of this in a modern glass house, open to the world. Is this really the style that New Englanders want captured? Aren't there some senses that shouldn't be excited in certain contexts?

What a way to make a spash. What happened to New England reserve?

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