“I’ve poked around online to find “best of” lists or other recommendations, but it soon became clear that there wasn’t even a provisional consensus on which books were the best or essential romance novels.”
Tag: 04.21.14
Robert Moses Vs. Jane Jacobs: The Opera
The great primal battle of modern urbanism is coming to the lyric stage. courtesy of composer Judd Greenstein, librettist Tracy K. Smith (a Pulitzer-winning poet), and director Joshua Frankel.
Why Aren’t There More Studies On Cats’ Intelligence?
After all, it seems like some new research on cognition in dogs comes out every month or so. Why don’t cats get the same attention in the lab? As one of the world’s top animal cognition scientists put it, “We did one study on cats – and that was enough!”
Should Theatre Have Ratings Like The Movies Do?
For the most part, live theater — even that mass audience magnet, the Broadway musical — has managed to escape such labeling, with presenters convinced theater audiences tend to be sophisticated enough to do whatever “pre-screening” they might think necessary on their own, especially if they’re planning to “take the kids.”
There’s a Lost Generation of ’90s Indie Filmmakers
Richard Brody: “The paradox of independent filmmaking is that it often replicates, on a low budget and a small scale, the commercial mainstream’s production process and approach to acting. On the one hand, that’s why many independent filmmakers of that time turned out to be Hollywood-ready when things worked out right. On the other, that’s why, for some, it was tough to come up with a cinematic Plan B when they didn’t.”
Thomas Piketty’s Economic Argument Applies To Art, Too (And How)
“The French economist’s new book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, is a historic survey of wealth concentration that has quickly become a go-to text for the gathering debate on income inequality. … It is worth considering how the unprecedented amounts of money the wealthy have recently been spending on trophy artworks might be a natural extension of his argument.”
Artist Accuses Turkish Government of Deliberately Dumbing Down Populace
Ali Kazma: “Statistically, educated Turks do not vote for AKP … It seems like the interest of AKP lies in mobilizing the regressive parts of the society financially upwards while maintaining their low education levels, gender inequality and intellectual curiosity.”
‘He Was The Greatest Of Us All’: Salman Rushdie on Gabriel García Márquez
“I knew García Márquez’s colonels and generals, or at least their Indian and Pakistani counterparts; his bishops were my mullahs; his market streets were my bazaars. His world was mine, translated into Spanish. It’s little wonder I fell in love with it – not for its magic (although, as a writer reared on the fabulous ‘wonder tales’ of the East, that was appealing too) but for its realism.”
NY Times Architecture Critic Dives Into Transit Policy: Build A Brooklyn-Queens Streetcar!
Michael Kimmelman: “So while Mayor Bill de Blasio continues to refine his agenda, including that promise of 200,000 units of affordable housing, he might consider a streetcar connecting Red Hook to Astoria. … I’m not talking Ye Olde Trolley. This is transit for New Yorkers who can’t wait another half-century for the next subway station.”
$50,000 Jackson Poetry Prize Goes To Claudia Rankine
She said of the award, “Often a division is made between politics and poetry, and I like to think this is a moment when the intersection is recognized.”