Perhaps the clearest proof that the way we talk about food is saturated with moralism is the ubiquity of the term “guilt”. Marketing departments have seen the power of this and promoted “guilt-free” snacks and treats. This promises an escape from self-recrimination but simply reinforces it by suggesting that eating the “wrong” kinds of foods does and should make you feel guilty.
Tag: 07.17.16
Quodlibet (That’s Classical For Mashup): How To Turn 57 Famous Melodies Into One Cool Six-Minute Viral Hit
“Earlier this year, Grant Woolard, a California-based cartoonist, musician, and producer, mashed-up 57 well-known classical music themes by 33 composers. Instead of a cacophony, he created a beautifully tailored 6-minute work that has been watched by nearly 3 million people. In the Q&A below, Woolard gives us a behind-the-scenes look at his process, as well as a insight about his next project.”
What Is The Purpose Of Music?
“Like language, music is organised, human-made sound that sprang up independently across early human cultures. Unlike language, however, music serves no obvious evolutionary purpose. So then why do we love it? And why is it so entwined with our emotions?”
Spencer Tunick Brought 100 Nude Women To Republican Convention HQ
“At dawn on Sunday, … Tunick posed the group in a photographic art installation where they held circular Mylar mirrors over their heads and reflected light at the city [of Cleveland] to expose what they view as the naked truth about Republicans.” (By now, of course, this is one of the less weird things to have happened there.)
Why Would 100 Women Go To Cleveland And Get Naked For The Republican Convention? Let Some Of Them Tell You
“I very much appreciate and identify with the mission of this piece. On a political level, my participation will be in contrast to many Republican ideals regarding the use of women’s bodies. My body. My body is mine and I choose how it is used, from abortion to posing nude publicly.”
Why Big Publishing’s Blockbuster Mentality Is Good For Indie Presses And Good For American Literature
“When editors and publishers feel they need to fight for every moment of planned reading, and readers are experiencing a shrinking cultural attention span, it’s surprising that large books inherently make the most market sense. With this pattern of investment behavior, major presses are inadvertently helping foster an environment where American indie presses can thrive by doing the very thing they’re best at: being small and, by extension, focusing on creativity and originality over sales.”
‘Reparations’: Opera Can – No, It Must – Become A Tool Of Cultural Change, Says New York Times Classical Music Editor
“For centuries, opera has been a tool of power, a spectacle developed and organized by influential Western nations and the elites within them. It is long past time for the art form to be more open about this heritage, and to make reparations for it. Using opera to understand the connections between cultures and to experiment with what can bridge them is no longer merely an aesthetic possibility; it’s a moral necessity.”
Is The Word ‘Queer’ Expanding Its Meaning, Or Losing It? When Everyone Can Be ‘Queer’, Is Anyone?
Jenna Wortham: “Facebook, which can be seen as a kind of social census, now offers nearly 60 different gender options … Plainly, we are in the midst of a profoundly exhilarating revolution. And ‘queer’ has come to serve as a linguistic catchall for this broadening spectrum of identities, so much so that people who consider themselves straight, but reject heteronormativity, might even call themselves queer. But when everyone can be queer, is anyone?”
Benjamin Millepied Is Now A Free Man (A Q&A)
“In a recent Skype call from London on a day off, Mr. Millepied looked happy and relaxed, quick to laugh. Words tumbled out of his mouth in sometimes hard-to-follow torrents. He spoke about his constantly expanding plans, his state of mind post-Paris and his love for Los Angeles. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.”
Composer Michael Hersch’s Lonely Path
“After early successes in the 1990s with expressionistic orchestral works performed under the likes of Mariss Jansons, … at 45, Hersch shows every sign of heading farther down a lonely road marked ‘art for art’s sake.’ He writes important” – and often long, and always challenging for audience ears – “works without a commission, and would premiere them at his own expense [if necessary].”