Stephen Asma finds striking similarities between “green living” and traditional religion: orthodoxy (recycling, using paper or cloth grocery bags), spiritual practice (reducing one’s carbon footprint), sin (plastic grocery bags, driving an SUV), enemy infidels (oil company execs, anti-regulation politicians), a coming apocalypse (climate change), high priests and prophets (the “Goracle”), and so on.
Tag: 01.10.10
Met Museum Removes Ancient Images Of Muhammad
“The Metropolitan Museum of Art quietly pulled images of the Prophet Mohammed from its Islamic collection and may not include them in a renovated exhibition area slated to open in 2011.” A spokesperson says that the three images, which date from before visual representations of the Prophet were forbidden, are “under review.”
What’s ‘Whim W’Him’? It’s Seattle’s New Ballet Company
Founded by choreographer and former Pacific Northwest Ballet principal Olivier Wevers, “Whim W’Him is a family-and-friends affair. Its lineup includes Wevers’ husband, Lucien Postlewaite, and his best friend/former wife, [Kaori] Nakamura, along with friends made over the years at PNB and through his recent work with Spectrum [Dance Theater].”
Jonathan Lethem Shows The Guardian His Brooklyn Nabe
“This whole neighbourhood has become centred on the kind of middle-class families that were just one very small minority element then [in the ’70s]. So many of these houses were – it wasn’t just that there were families of different races in them; there were different uses for them. There were boarding houses and boarded-up houses – abandoned ones. And there were also communes. Not just my parents’.”
In Opera, A Spare Production Can Be A Good Thing
At a time when opera companies’ formerly lavish production budgets are out of reach, it’s worth noting that “many of the greatest moments in stage directing for opera have involved bare-bones approaches that got out of the way and allowed the music and its drama to take center stage.”
Examining The Boys’ Club Of Late-Night Comedy Writing
“[I]f aliens landed tomorrow and analyzed the writing staffs of late-night comedy shows — Earth’s daily dose of mainstream humor — they might draw the conclusion that laughter is almost exclusively the domain of the human male.” What’s up with that?
More Frida Kahlo Fakes In Mexico
A court battle is raging in Mexico over a batch of “new” works discovered in 2004. Now a second trove has turned up in Mexico City.
Composer Elected President Of Croatia
“The 52-year old law expert and classical music composer won Sunday’s runoff presidential vote in this former Yugoslav country, beating popular Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic.”
A Surprise Pick To Head LA’s MoCA?
“The Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art appears ready to name New York art dealer Jeffrey Deitch its new director, according to multiple art world sources. An official announcement will be made on Monday morning; reached via email, Deitch admitted he was in “discussion” with MOCA.”
Mark Morris Talks About Music In Dance
“Creating more than 120 dances since the early 1980s — for the barefoot artists of his Mark Morris Dance Group as well as pointe shoe-clad primas — Morris has brought the scores of composers in virtually every style vividly to life onstage.”