The Digest. 12.05.08.

The Fun Finder: Spotted in front of LACMA, Nov. 19, 2008. (Photo by C-M.)

• Art industry condolence cards.
• From the Basel Frazzle: The economic downturn is forcing some dealers to actually use their manners: “We can’t be as rude [to clients] as we’ve been for the past three years.” Plus: AFC has photos from the 30 Americans show at the Rubell Collection. (Review here.) And the Herald has a cheat sheet on the best booths.
• The best Basel-related photo I’ve seen so far: Marilyn Manson and his paintings. Plus: Paper pieces at Design Miami.
• The NYT weighs in on the L.A. MOCA mess. Says former trustee Susan Nimoy: “My main complaint to the board was that none of you would run your household budget the way this institution is run. I think every one of those trustees should resign and [director] Jeremy [Strick] should resign.” Related: NPR reports on Eli Broad’s rescue effort. (Interesting fact: Koons’ balloon bunny makes him “smile.”)
• Art museum toilets.
• Following third quarter losses, Sotheby’s has laid people off.
• Roger Ebert Rants! The Associated Press sucks.
• Lots of Bush.
• Drink like Lebowski. Don’t miss the video. (Thanks, Erik!)
• Tyler Green at the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, talking about all the stuff he hates. Interesting fact: he doesn’t like Jackson Pollock—or Brooklyn (the nerve). And he admits to being a “museum slut.” Juicy!
• Knitted art draws the attention of Stephen Colbert … and the Border Patrol.
• Art titles.
• The God of Spring, a new novel based on the painting of Gericault’s The Raft of the Medusa. (holartbooks’ Twitter.)
• The Day in Art Merch: A shower curtain by Sam Flores. The staff here at C-Monster is waiting for an artist to make a fluffy toilet lid cover. Our pooper is cold. (Juxtapoz.)
• Today’s Graff: Graphic Surgery in Amsterdam. More here.
• A picture preview of a Faile show in London.
• Andrés Duany, designer of Seaside, Fla. (one of the creepiest places I’ve ever been to), spanks British architecture for being ego-driven and “heedless of technical and social dysfunction.”
• Why architects wear black.
• How to build an igloo. (ackackack.)
• Your moment of aerobic poodles.