“Let’s just skip over the customary jokes about 40-year-old virgins who still live in their parents’ basements. Klingon speakers have heard them all. But the insults don’t bother them, because they know … that Klingon is a sophisticated, extremely complex language that very few can master … Klingon is difficult but not impossible, weird yet totally believable [linguistically].”
Tag: 05.07.09
Stop Calling Alan Bennett A National Treasure
“It makes him sound like a theatrical Queen Mum radiating beneficence over a grateful populace. He’s not nearly as cuddly as the term implies. I see him as a sharp-eyed analyst of contemporary England and a genuinely complex writer…. His talent has always been for satirical nostalgia; and by treating him like a warm tea cosy, we ignore what he has to say.”
Who’ll Fill The Void In British Arts-TV Programming?
“Melvyn Bragg’s retirement is the moment ITV has long been waiting for to dump this hugely expensive flagship, and replace it with an enthralling new reality/talent show plumbing a new depth of public taste. … Melvyn’s departure leaves the BBC nowhere to hide. It’s constantly claiming that it wants and needs to improve its arts coverage, so here is a golden opportunity….”
An Utterly Dispensable Mies? Go Ahead, Knock It Down.
An Illinois Institute of Technology building by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe “will soon be demolished…. And you know what? That’s perfectly fine. Mediocre buildings by world-class architects sometimes have to make way for pieces of civic infrastructure that uplift the community as a whole. As you might suppose, a cadre of historic preservationists doesn’t see it that way.”
Take That, Canaletto! Fueled By Ego, Turner Fights Back.
“JMW Turner was one of the most egotistical of all the 19th-century artists, with a firm belief that he was a match for any of his contemporaries – or indeed any painter who had gone before him. Now that lofty self-assessment is to be put to the test on an unprecedented scale. The Tate announced today that for its big autumn show this year it would hang Turner’s responses to some of the greatest paintings side by side with the originals.”
A Gauguin Painting From Boston Draws Throngs In Japan
“Though the enormous painting is set in Tahiti and has never been seen before in Asia, the Japanese embraced it with a kind of fanaticism usually reserved for their baseball players. Gauguin’s work is much loved in Japan, where it has a special resonance, with its subtle references to Buddhism, its embrace of the natural world, and the deep Zen-like riddle of its title.”
Actors’ Inspiration: Carl Jung
“In the last decade, dream work, as it is known, has spread into actors studios and classrooms across the country, taking its place among the ever expanding techniques of actor training and in the long-running debate over what leads to the most authentic performances.”
Domingo Bows Out Mid-Performance At Met
“Plácido Domingo … withdrew in midperformance at the Metropolitan Opera’s production of ‘Die Walküre’ on Tuesday evening and was replaced by Gary Lehman in the role of Siegmund, the Met said.”
What Makes Opera So Pricey (Hint: Look Backstage, Too)
“If you have never understood why an old saying calls opera ‘the most expensive human endeavor, with the possible exception of war,’ a day at the Metropolitan Opera explains it. The divas, maestro, managers and orchestra are just part of the equation. So much else goes into the productions, made more complicated by the Met’s tradition of staging operas in repertory. The Met is often a 24-hour operation. Make that a 24/6 operation, and occasionally 24/7.”
Kindle DX, Newspapers’ Savior — Or So It’s Hoped
“It’s not even 10 inches tall, it’s just one-third of an inch thick, and it costs nearly $500. But Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle DX, unveiled Wednesday, has already been assigned a huge job: reversing the fortunes of the struggling newspaper industry.”