We Used To Think Being Rich Was A Challenge To The Soul. We Don’t Seem To Think That Now

According to an apocryphal exchange between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, the only difference between the rich and the rest of us is that they have more money. But is that the only difference? We didn’t used to think so. We used to think that having vast sums of money was bad and in particular bad for you — that it harmed your character, warping your behavior and corrupting your soul. We thought the rich were different, and different for the worse. Today, however, we seem less confident of this.”

Israeli Artist Claimed She Stole Items From Auschwitz For Her Work

Ten days before her art school’s graduate exhibition opened, Rotem Bides claimed that the objects in her installation in the show had been taken from the museum at the Auschwitz-Birkenau prison camp. All hell broke loose, and her work was about to be removed – then she released a statement swearing that the items had not been taken from the Auschwitz museum itself.

Netflix Is Hugely Successful But $20 Billion In Debt. How Long Can This Go On?

Netflix has accumulated a hefty $20.54 billion in long- and short-term debt in its effort to produce more original content. The Los Gatos, Calif.-based company hopes more new shows will capture more subscribers, its primary revenue driver. It’s also under pressure to keep spending on new shows as streaming rivals such as Amazon and Hulu expand their own slates of original programming.

Why Isn’t New Opera At Least As Smart As Good TV?

“When was the last time you came out of a new opera — or ANY opera — feeling that you had had a vital, exciting dramatic experience? When was the last time you felt you had lost yourself in another world? It certainly happens. But in general, we judge opera by different standards. We don’t expect it to be as gripping as a work of spoken theater. The long passages of music, and the pace of the singing, slow everything down.”

When Glimmerglass Goes To Attica

Francesca Zambello, the general director of Glimmerglass, described the story of Porgy and Bess, “recounting the twists and turns of a work about love, loss, race, murder, drug use, imprisonment, perseverance and hope. When she set the scene for one aria by saying that ‘a crap game starts,’ a murmur of recognition rippled through the audience. When she said that Crown, the opera’s villain, ‘murders someone impulsively,’ an inmate exclaimed: ‘Oh, man!'”

Once Again, A Canadian Panel Finds That An Annie Leibovitz Collection Is Not Fully ‘Significant’

The decision has major tax implications for the donor that donated the collection to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in 2013. “‘We disagree with the decision,’ the museum said in a statement. ‘We consider Annie Leibovitz to be one of the most influential photographers of her time and feel the collection is culturally significant — to our province, our country and internationally.'”