Bhilar, a strawberry-farming mountain town of some 5,000 people about 150 miles southeast of Mumbai, has a particularly rich collection of rare books in the Marathi language (as well as works in Hindi and English), and the plan of the Maharashtra state government is to promote literary tourism and host book festivals in Bhilar along the lines of those in the Welsh town of Hay-on-Wye.
Tag: 05.05.17
George R. R. Martin Does *Not* Need To Finish Writing The ‘Game Of Thrones’ Books, Thank You
Since HBO’s Game of Thrones started in 2011, Martin has finished only one more book in the series of novels on which the series is based, and the TV scripts have now outrun the storylines Martin himself created. Fans are not happy: “The internet’s favorite joke since around 2012 has been to yell at Martin whenever he’s found to be doing something other than furiously typing. The animating theory of the joke is that it’s his duty – his imperative – to finish the story he began. Guess what? It’s not.”
Why We’re Now In A “Post-Star” Movie World
“We are in the middle of a major transition. One of the great allures of stars, the reason for their success, is their mystery. One person among millions gets to make their dreams come true. You are fascinated by them, yet oddly envious. That is why people throng outside Salman Khan’s house. They want to be him. Or rather, they want the possibility of that dream. They want to win that lottery. But with the advent of social media, winning that lottery has suddenly become so much more accessible! Today, anyone can be a star, truly. You can be an Instagram star, a Twitter star, a Youtube star, a Pinterest star, whatever! Put in enough work, be smart about it, and, in today’s world, you could easily be a star. So why put in so much time and energy into adulating someone else?”
Enough With The Non-Review Reviews! Critics, If You’re Gonna Break A Review Embargo, Do It Openly
Comparing the London Times‘s outrage-inducing review of Benedict Cumberbatch’s first preview performance as Hamlet with The Telegraph‘s “news reports” on early previews of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Angels in America, Time Out London theatre editor Andrzej Lukowski declares, “If you’re going to be a dick about it, do it in style.”
At La Scala Ballet, Meet The New Boss, Same As The Old Boss (Three Bosses Ago)
Frédéric Olivieri had been director of the Milan opera house’s ballet company from 2002 to 2007. His successor, Makhar Vaziev, left in late 2015 to bring order to the wildly-troubled Bolshoi Ballet; his successor, modern-dance choreographer Mauro Bigonzetti, was a poor fit with Italy’s most august classical ballet company and resigned after eight months. So the return of a familiar face with a steady hand was greeted by La Scala’s dancers with applause.
Here’s A First Look At Designs For The Obama Library
The Obama Presidential Center, which the president unveiled at a talk on Wednesday in Chicago, comprises a campus designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects. Based on the preliminary sketches and an architectural model, the vision for the center is modern but unfussy, featuring a vertical lantern-shaped museum and a low-slung library and forum building with landscaped rooftop gardens.
This Is What Your Career As An Architect Is When Hitler’s Architect Albert Speer Was Your Father
Speer, Jr., has made his name as a proponent of the “intelligent” city—a flexible concept based on socially progressive values—and has become a vocal opponent of “statement” architecture. Although Speer, Jr., has defended his father’s work—he told Süddeutsche Zeitung that Speer, Sr., “was a good architect, much more modern than people think today”—it’s hard not to see his own work as a conscious corrective to the crimes of his father.
Author Claims JK Rowling’s Incessant Tweeting Is Hurting Literature
Joanna Trollope described artists who air their opinions over platforms such as Twitter as being unduly influenced by their ego and claimed that this posed a threat to the entire literary industry.
Whatever Happened To That Big Miró Tapestry That Used To Hang At The Entrance To The National Gallery’s East Wing In DC?
The 20-by-35-foot fabric work, titled Woman, was one of four that the National Gallery commissioned for its new extension in 1978. But not everyone loved it (certain critics in particular had harsh words for it), and it was replaced in 2003. But quite a few visitors were very fond of it, and one, a fledgling journalist, tried to find out where the piece went and why. Peggy McGlone writes about what her young colleague found.
Those Amazing Wildlife Pictures You Love? Many Of Them Are Staged
“A well-executed game farm photograph can be nearly indistinguishable from a real wildlife photo, one reason critics consider such images problematic. Traditional wildlife photographers can spend days researching conditions of the field environment before heading out to shoot. They may camp out for weeks, or return to the same spot many times over the years looking for the same animal before getting the shot of a lifetime. But game farms allow both pros and hobbyists to produce in a few hours what otherwise takes weeks to achieve in the wild.”