“Religions are often built around this heartache for certainty. In the face of sickness, loss and grief, a thousand dogmas with a thousand names have risen. … [Yet the] world’s history of spiritual endeavor contains many beautiful descriptions of authentic encounters with uncertainty. Ironically these often serve as gateways to the most compassionate experience of what can be called sacred in human life.”
Tag: 05.15.12
The New Yorker Launches Beefed-Up Books Blog Called ‘Page-Turner’
“We’ll debate about books under-noticed or too much noticed, and celebrate writers we’ve … We’ll recommend and we’ll theorize. Daily essays will be the blog’s mainstay, with books as an anchor for wide-ranging cultural comment.”
LA Times Magazine Closing Down
The monthly’s editor, Nancie Clare, says, “I think it’s fair to say there were revenue issues … I don’t think they got rid of us because they don’t like us.” The magazine’s seven staffers may or may not be offered jobs elsewhere at the newspaper.
What A Difference Some Props Make
“We get that Shakespeare wouldn’t be Shakespeare – and unimaginative programme designers the world over would be up the proverbial creek – without Desdemona’s handkerchief or Macbeth’s dagger. … But what about the impact prop choice can have within a production? What creative freedoms, extended by the playwright to the props person, can affect the outcome of a show?
Carlos Fuentes, 83
“[The] politically engaged Mexican novelist and irrepressible bon vivant … stood at the forefront of Latin American letters for more than half a century … In addition to his career as a novelist, Mr. Fuentes led an intellectually restless life as a political provocateur, an essayist, a screenwriter and playwright, an editor, an ambassador and a cultural historian.”
Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet: From Vanity Project To Powerhouse In A Decade
“The troupe’s first two years didn’t do much to dispel the idea that it was a rich woman’s whim: there was no headquarters and few performances … Nearly 10 years later, the 16-member Cedar Lake … [is] possibly the country’s most innovative contemporary ballet troupe with an A-list repertoire, and an accent on creation that few companies worldwide can match.”
UK Authors Demand Royalties From Libraries For E-Book Loans
“Authors are paid 6.05p every time their physical books are borrowed from the UK’s public libraries, up to a maximum of £6,600, under the government-funded Public Lending Right scheme. But ebooks and audiobooks, a growing sector for library users, are not currently included in the scheme.”
Lady Gaga Denied Permission To Perform In Jakarta
The national police say that they cannot guarantee public safety at the singer’s sold-out arena concert because of objections by hardline Islamic militants. Says the leader of one such group, “She’s a vulgar singer who wears only panties and a bra when she sings and she stated she is the envoy of the devil’s child and that she will spread satanic teaching. This is dangerous.”
Burma Shave’s Legendary (And Long-Lost) Road-Sign Verse
“In a simpler time, when automobiles went slower … there was a popular advertising campaign that ran from 1927 until 1963. It consisted of rhymed messages sequentially staked on the right side of the road, all ending with the advertiser’s name, ‘Burma-Shave’.”
Protests Over Lack Of Women Honored At Cannes
“Just days before the festivities kick off, a group of prominent French filmmakers have written an open letter to organisers condemning them for failing to award women who stand behind the cameras instead of in front of them.”