“After all, the [programme] was created by a musician who, at that point, had famously rejected and expressed disdain for all forms of live performance, and the doc is about a religious group [the Mennonites of Manitoba] that at times has discouraged dancing among its members.” Yet Emanuel Gat has pulled it off.
Tag: 08.30.13
The Onion Is America’s Best Op-Ed Page. Seriously.
What the articles in America’s Finest News Source℠ “share in common with the best opinion writing is an ability to elegantly locate and dismantle a problem with an economy of words. … The Onion has figured out a way to do a high-wire trick: they’ve made moral outrage funny without slipping into moralizing.”
Samuel Johnson’s Angry Letter To His Patron
“Is not a Patron, my Lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help? The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labours, had it been early, had been kind; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it.”
Paul Simon Remembers Seamus Heaney
“Songwriters have melody, instrumentation and rhythm to color their work and give it power; poets accomplish it all with words. Seamus, though, was one of those rare poets whose writing evokes music.”
Next Up From Disney’s Broadway Factory: Aladdin
Early next spring, “Aladdin will join other Disney animated films – Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Tarzan and The Litte Mermaid, among them – adapted for the musical stage with varying degrees of success.”
Benjamin Millepied Wonders Why Paris Opera Ballet Is All White, And France Freaks Out
Millepied: “In a city as cosmopolitan as this, I cannot understand why no coloured dancers belong to this company. How can you expect the audience to identify with it?” France: How dare you suggest that this is not the land of égalité?
Dave Chappelle Walks Out On Audience (And He Maybe Even Had A Point)
“A live appearance by Dave Chappelle can be an unpredictable affair, promising either brilliance or petulance, and audiences who saw him perform Thursday night in Connecticut got a little bit of both, when this onetime Comedy Central star halted his stand-up act in mid-performance and proceeded to run out the clock.”
The Relationship Between Poverty And The Ability To Think
“Does bad decision-making help cause poverty, or does poverty interfere with decision-making?”
Is It Easier To Run A Canadian Bookstore In Paris Than In Canada?
“Canada’s literary scene isn’t inherited. It’s built and rebuilt. It relies on these places. If Canadian bookstores aren’t viable here, then where?”
Washington’s National Gallery Of Art Has An Indestructible Budget
“From 2001 to 2011, federal appropriations to the National Gallery grew from $73 million to $158 million — or rose 70 percent when accounting for inflation — a growth rate nearly triple that of other federally-funded cultural institutions such as the National Archives, the Library of Congress and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.”