A Bolivian Artist Who Created An Image Of The Virgin Mary Wearing A Thong Is Getting Massive Threats

While Bolivia’s cultural minister says “”A criminal proceeding will be initiated to obtain the sanction that corresponds to those who have dared to discredit our most holy virgin of the Socavon and to whom intends to destroy the patrimonialism and intangibility of the Oruro Carnival,” the artist is quick to point out that she created the image exactly because of the drinking, carousing, and disrespect of women at the carnical.

There Are Plenty Of Great Roles For Women, So They Should ‘Get Their Mitts Off Male Actors’ Parts!’ Says The Telegraph

Dominic Cavendish on the current trend in London of prominent actresses playing the male leads in great classic plays: “Redress the balance? Fine. Let in some fresh air? Great. But the entrenchment of this tendency may also be stifling and oppressive.” It’s also, argues Cavendish, lazy: “Why bother finding new-minted female correlatives to Willy Loman or Jimmy Porter when you can just boot out the bloke, stick a woman in his place and defy anyone to raise an eyebrow?”

How Monet Became The Jeff Koons Of His Day: Impressionism As Financial Asset

Well, okay, Monet did all his own painting. But by his final years, he had become the world’s most expensive living artist – and his work was already viewed by some as a solid investment. Art historian Ross King recounts how American wealth, social aspiration, and showmanship (art auctions as theatrical events!) made Water Lilies more valuable than bullion.

One Oxford Degree Program Provides A Stream Of UK And World Leaders (And Maybe That’s A Problem)

“In the new age of populism, of revolts against elites and “professional politicians”, Oxford’s courses in Philosophy Politics and Economics no longer fits into public life as smoothly as it once did. With corporate capitalism misfiring, mainstream politicians blundering, and much of the traditional media seemingly bewildered by the upheavals, PPE, the supplier of supposedly highly trained talent to all three fields, has lost its unquestioned authority. More than that, it has become easier to doubt whether a single university course, and its graduates, should have such influence in the first place. To its proliferating critics, PPE is not a solution to Britain’s problems; it is a cause of them.”

A Brief History Of In-Flight Movies (Which Once Seemed Totally Awesome)

“There was a time when in-flight entertainment was better than anything you could actually bring onto a plane.” (And that time goes back, believe it or not, back to the 1920s.) “That time has long passed, and some airlines are looking to get rid of seat-back screens, in favor of letting you use whatever screen you have with you … But, nonetheless, it got [Ernie Smith] thinking – about the technology that allows you to entertain yourself on a plane.”

The Hero Monk Who Saves Ancient Manuscripts From ISIS

The “badass librarians of Timbuktu” aren’t the only ones rescuing irreplaceable old documents from violent destruction. “Soft-spoken, dressed in flowing black robes, [Father Columba Stewart] has spent the past 13 years roaming from the Balkans to the Middle East in an effort to save Christian and Islamic manuscripts threatened by wars, theft, weather – and, lately, the Islamic State.”

India’s Film Censor Board Bans Movie For Being ‘Lady Oriented’

From the Central Board of Film Certification’s letter denying permission to screen Lipstick Under My Burkha in India: “The story is lady oriented, their fantasy above life. There are contanious [sic] sexual scenes, abusive words, audio pornography and a bit sensitive touch about one particular section of society.” Naturally, director Alankrita Shrivastava had some choice words about the decision, as did the Twitterverse.

Thirty Years After He Died, Andy Warhol Still Has The Measure Of American Culture

“How much responsibility does Warhol bear for our culture’s shift from substance to flash, human interest to spectacle? How much responsibility does a mirror bear for whatever beauty or ugliness it beholds? Warhol loved both the heights and depths of American culture, and reflected it back at us through his work, which remains resonant to this day.”