In an essay that makes actual sense of phrases like “the ethics of awesomeness” and “[the] existential disposition to suck,” philosopher Nick Riggle explains why being awesome doesn’t simply mean excellence and someone or something isn’t merely bad when it sucks.
Tag: 02.09.16
In Defence Of Pretentiousness
“Pretentiousness is always someone else’s crime. It’s never a felony in the first person. … The pretentious flaws of others affirm your own intellectual or aesthetic expertise. Simultaneously, their fakery highlights the contours of your down-to-earth character and virtuous ordinariness. … It is axiomatic that pretentiousness makes no one look good. But pretension is measured using prejudiced metrics.”
‘The Only Thing We Know Is That We Have No Clue’: Eight Oscar Nominees On Awards Season
“From an upstart ingenue like Alicia Vikander, tapped for Best Supporting Actress for The Danish Girl, to a veteran producer like Steve Golin, who has two films (Spotlight and The Revenant) competing for Best Picture; from a writer like Andrea Berloff, who co-scripted the unexpected blockbuster Straight Outta Compton, to documentary director Liz Garbus, nominated for her defiant and heartbreaking What Happened, Miss Simone?, all the assembled were equally eager to share their insights about the craziness (and necessity) of Oscar campaigning.”
Ballerina Violette Verdy, 82
“Prized for her vivacious charm, instinctive musicality and sparkling, light-footed technique, Miss Verdy danced in the works of more than 50 choreographers. But she is most closely linked with George Balanchine, with whom she worked from 1958 to 1976, in the heyday of his New York City Ballet.”
Staging A Comeback: How The Nonprofit Arts Sector Has Evolved Since The Great Recession
“Our purpose here is to consider preexisting conditions that made the arts sector particularly vulnerable to the recession, as well as to evaluate actions taken by arts leaders – first to stabilize their organizations, then to experiment with new approaches to delivering their missions.”
Reviving Alwin Nikolais, The First Multimedia Master Of 20th-Century Dance
“Before Pilobolus, before Momix, before Mummenschantz, there was Alwin Nikolais, … [who] created shape-shifting, otherworldly visual wonders through original experiments with bodies, space, light and sound, and his work was hugely popular and influential from the 1950s until the 1990s. Today, however, it’s not well known to general audiences.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 02.09.16
Engagement Is a Means, Not an End
So much interesting stuff has been written recently about engagement and related topics, I barely know where to begin. The Irvine Foundation has published a series of mini-essays responding questions about engagement. … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2016-02-09
Black History Month (1) — Roland Hayes
I thought I’d do a few blog posts to honor Black History Month. Which I don’t think is honored enough in the classical music world. And where better to start than with Roland Hayes, … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2016-02-09
A Milwaukee Walk: Photo Companion for My WSJ Review of the Milwaukee Art Museum
As promised in my last post, below is my illustrated companion for In Wisconsin, a Museum Reborn – my review in today’s Wall Street Journal of the reinvented Milwaukee Art Museum, which gave me a very warm welcome … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-02-09
Short and to the point
I love aphorisms and epigrams, perhaps because I have no gift for coining them. The brilliantly precise concision that allows writers like La Rochefoucauld, Chamfort, and Karl Kraus to say big things on the smallest possible scale, … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2016-02-09
[ssba_hide]