Peter Plagens: “If I had it to do over again, I don’t think I’d want to be an actual subatomic-particle physicist or a bona fide neurosurgeon. But I sure would like to be an abstract painter and art critic who’s fluently bilingual, can comprehend the pages with the funny little symbols on them in the popular science books, is able to rattle off soliloquies by Shakespeare….”
Tag: 03.06.10
Why Critics Seem To Miss The Boat On Vegas Shows
“When it comes to Vegas and Elvis, the prejudice toward stereotype and mockery and the expectations of banal schlock are so intense that anything even remotely elevated seemed to the out-of-towners like brilliance incarnate.”
The Oscar Favorite That No One’s Watching
“The Hurt Locker” has taken in only $14 million domestically so far. That’s less than 2% of what “Avatar” has made in domestic ticket sales. If “The Hurt Locker” wins on Sunday, it will be the lowest-grossing film to take home the best-picture statuette in modern history–and maybe ever.
The Doubts Of Great Artists
Few artists, no matter how celebrated they may be, are strangers to fear and uncertainty. No less a giant than John Keats died sure that “I have left no immortal work behind me–nothing to make my friends proud of my memory,” and requested that the sentence “Here lies one whose name was writ in water” be engraved on his tombstone.
The True Cultural Meaning Of An Oscar
“Cynics will tell you that these coveted statuettes are nothing more than a marketing tool, a way to drive up box office and stars’ salaries, while jaded insiders will mention careerism, egomania and the cult of celebrity. But none of this does justice to the ridiculously prominent — indeed mythic — role these awards play in our cultural life.”