“I may be one of the last people to be burdened by the self-imposed obligation to read certain books during the golden months of vacation. These days, the summer-reading list seems to have gone the way of the perfect tan.”
Tag: 08.13.15
The Mass Panic Over The ‘War Of The Worlds’ Radio Broadcast? It’s A Myth
“The idea that hysteria swept America on October 30, 1938, when a 62-minute radio dramatisation of The War of the Worlds [was broadcast], remained unchallenged for nearly eight decades.” But it didn’t happen. (Well, not in the U.S.) Here’s (some of) the truth about that night.
The Grand Empress Of Cabaret In Philly Is A Six-Foot-Two Drag Queen Who Founded One Of The City’s Top Theater Companies
“This year marks 10 years since Pig Iron Theatre Company cofounder Dito van Reigersberg donned a wig and an evening gown, put a clever spin on the name of his legendary former teacher at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, and strutted onstage at L’Etage.”
The Emptiness Of The Invented City
Pico Iyer on Pyongyang and Las Vegas: “Plato’s Cave can look much the same in East or West, whether its screens are projecting images of tumbling cheerleaders or brigades of goose-stepping soldiers.”
The Lies And Infidelities Of Translation
“In translation, a discontent with reality expresses itself forcefully and most hauntingly by the longing to reproduce this one. The fabrication of a new, parallel reality flies in the face of the already created and as such is based on negation, and what should be the vacuum of a dream becomes continually replete as the source of dreams.”
Writers Love Writing Implements, And They Love Them Specifically And Passionately
“Somehow those pencils and that jar from my last teenage year takes me back to my most elemental self, the same self who learned to write holding a chubby pencil and then graduated to the traditional yellow Dixon Ticonderoga. I switched to black ones somewhere along the line, probably thinking I was too punk rock for a kid’s pencil, probably imagining black pencils were the sort of thing Gertrude Stein would have approved of and Nelson Algren might have liked.”
What’s The Point Of A Print Bookstore?
“Books were the original social media.”
Is David Oyelowo Going To Play James Bond? Sort Of
“His performance will be heard rather than seen – in an audiobook. The announcement on Thursday follows long-standing rumours that Idris Elba is in line to replace Daniel Craig when the latter’s run playing James Bond on the big screen comes to an end, potentially in two movies’ time.”
Research: Five Popular Education Reforms That Don’t Work
In a new paper, “What Doesn’t Work In Education: The Politics Of Distraction,” published by Pearson Education, Hattie takes on some of the most popular approaches to reform. Small classes. High standards. More money. These popular and oft-prescribed remedies from both the right and the left, he argues, haven’t been shown to work as well as alternatives.
Run Out Of Money? This City Just Spent £188 Million On New Library. Now It’s Asking The Public To Donate Books
Libraries in Birmingham have posted notices requesting members donate their new and recently-released books, saying they would be “gratefully received”.