“For better or worse, the West has escaped the tyranny that the dead once held over the living, and still do in many lands and cultures. We no longer make room for the dead in our worlds: the household flame lit for the ancestors, death masks, Sunday picnics in the cemetery, Funeral Savings Banks, even coffins themselves – all of these seem increasingly distant from our death-wary present.”
Tag: 08.03.16
Nabokov’s ‘Pale Fire’ Is ‘The Great Gay Comic Novel’, Argues Edmund White
“[The character] Kinbote’s mad ‘notes’, far from commenting on Shade’’ poem, trace out a mini-biog¬raphy of Kinbote. And that biography, real or delusional, is the picture of an unrepentant homosexual, sensual, guilt-free, tirelessly on the make. In the 1950s, gay men were portrayed in fiction and films as lonely phantoms – sad and colourless – or sometimes as instant villains (see Norman Mailer’s essay, ‘The Gay Villain’, 1954). Nabokov, by contrast, depicts Kinbote as lustful, entitled, screamingly absurd.”
Chutzpah: 90-Year-Old Woman Sees Art Depicting Crossword Puzzle, Fills In Answers, Claims Copyright On Vandalized Work
“The 1977 creation by the 20th-century artist Arthur Köpcke was lent to Nuremberg’s Neues Museum by a private collector, and is said to be worth around £68,000. The retired German dentist … said that she started filling in the artwork’s crossword puzzle because it bore the phrases ‘Insert words’ and ‘so it suits.’ … [Her attorney] says that far from harming the work in question, his client has increased its value.”
The Jewish Naval Officer Who Saved Monticello – And Whose Descendants Caught Hell For It
The trouble really started around 1880, when the wife of a congressman wrote, “By what right must the people of the world ask Mr. Levy for permission to visit the grave and home of Thomas Jefferson? Surely he does not want a whole nation forever crawling at his feet for permission to worship at this shrine of our independence.”
New York Is About To Get A Shape-Shifting Buidling
Movable walls that raise up like garage doors and slide open allow the building to essentially become one big Tetris puzzle in which the users can slot in stadium seating for up to 1,250 people—or leave open for a standing audience of 3,000.
Is Virtual Reality The New Music Video?
“If you can put yourself inside of a music experience, when you’re 100% covered with the artist’s music and another artist’s interpretation of the music, we thought those two worlds colliding is great way to achieve something remarkable. I want to explore that as an art form, and create the next generation moments that is something everyone will talk about.”
The Politics Of Europe’s New, Hot Superstar Writers
“A new generation of young European writers is reinventing political literature—and people are listening. Some of the brightest new voices on the continent are making their names through overtly political books, showing that literature, even books of poetry, can still play a significant role in shaping public discourse.”
Is Multitasking Good Or Bad For You? The Answer Is (Predictably) Complicated
“Multitasking has a purpose—but it’s not as effective as we think and makes us more prone to mistakes. Doing rote sorting or organizing work while having a conversation with a coworker? Fine. But try answering an email while trying to explain an important meeting outcome to your boss, and both tasks will take you longer, have a greater likelihood of errors, and be more taxing than if you focused and did one thing.”
Why Do I Get Carsick? Turns Out It’s Because My Brain Thinks I’m Being Poisoned
It’s all about the way the thalamus (mis-)interprets the signals from the tiny, liquid-filled motion sensors in the inner ear.
Secrets Of Success For Producers At The Edinburgh Fringe
“Edinburgh is often described as the world’s biggest arts trade show. It is, but one of the things that today’s fringe producing landscape reflects is changes in the wider theatre ecology. … Edinburgh isn’t just a chance to make money, it’s also about finding future talent to produce.”