UrbanEye

February 05, 2010

By JULIE BLOOM 

Asia's Aesthetic Crossroads The exhibition "Arts of Ancient Vietnam: From River Plain to Open Sea," now on view at the Asia Society Museum, took over 20 years to produce. Is the show worth the wait? It is, according to Holland Cotter. "From the moment you enter the galleries you're seeing things you won't find anywhere else and certainly not in this combination: a bronze drum as hefty as a hot tub; a wooden Buddha, tall, dark, and Giacometti-thin. Avid-eyed Hindu deities keep company with contortionist dancers. A tiny serpent of beaten gold basks in a spotlight. Ceramic plates and bowls crowd a room just as they had once filled the hold of a ship that went down in the South China Sea." As a trade hub, Vietnam absorbed cultural influences from China, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and more, and these disparate influences are reflected in the show. "Once you've made your way through the society's suave installation, you've seen treasures from 10 Vietnamese museums. You've time-traveled from the first millennium B.C. to the 17th century A.D. And you've style-traveled through dozens of cultures both inside and outside Vietnam itself." Super Elegant Bowl Tired of spending the Super Bowl slipping on beer-soaked floors and fighting over congealed seven-layer dip? City Winery is offering a slightly more elegant way to watch the pigskins fly with its first Super Bowl party on Sunday. Watch the game on a projector and 150-inch screen or on one of the multiple 50-inch HD flat screens. Entry is free, and the Winery is offering an all-day happy hour with $5 glasses of wine and $15 carafes, as well as discounts on beer and alcohol. Wings, slow-braised ribs, burgers and more are on the menu, and the best part - especially for those nonfootball fans - everyone who attends will be entered into a raffle to win two V.I.P. tickets to the Music of the Who tribute at Carnegie Hall on March 2. The festivities kick off at 4 p.m.