“Mysteriously, even uncannily, an artefact, especially a life-like human figure, persuasively stands in for what it represents. When that stone phantom seizes you, the instinctive response is to struggle free.”
Tag: 10.15
Why Are We Still Fascinated By Sherlock Holmes?
“What keeps Sherlock Holmes alive? As is customarily the case with serial literature, the most important element of the appeal of the Holmes stories is the personality of their principal character, closely followed by his relationship with his amanuensis.”
Classical Music Losing Its Audience? It’s A Matter Of Relevance
“Might there be a concert a few decades hence in which – God willing – my trio is still performing, but only to an audience of one? And if that listener were to perish mid performance, would we keep playing?”
Why Composers Are Drawn To Write Symphonies, Even In 2015
James MacMillan: “The symphonic tradition, and Beethoven’s monumental impact on it, is an imposing legacy which looms like a giant ghost over the shoulder of any living composer foolhardy enough to consider adding to it. Some turn away in terror and even disdain … Others can’t help themselves. Perhaps not fully knowing what writing a symphony ‘means’ any more, some of us are drawn towards it like moths flapping around a candle flame. We might get burned.”
Ernest Hemingway In Love
An excerpt from A.E. Hotchner’s memoir of how Hemingway’s affair with Pauline Pfeiffer changed his life and his writing.
The Bald Norwegians Who Actually Create The Songs That Top The Charts
“The biggest pop star in America today is a man named Karl Martin Sandberg. The lead singer of an obscure ’80s glam-metal band, Sandberg grew up in a remote suburb of Stockholm and is now 44. Sandberg is the George Lucas, the LeBron James, the Serena Williams of American pop. He is responsible for more hits than Phil Spector, Michael Jackson, or the Beatles.”
After 30 Years, Major Restoration Of The Acropolis Is Almost Done
“The overhaul is far from merely cosmetic. An earlier restoration misguidedly used iron clamps to strengthen the marble on the edifices. These are rusting at a rate of knots and being replaced with titanium rods, all of which are removable, in case future generations want to fiddle further. Chunks of broken marble are being shored up with new stone and columns rebuilt. It is also a cataloguing project: every stone has been noted and listed.”
Mike Nichols’s Life And Career: The Definitive Oral History
“A glittering cast of Nichols’s friends share with Sam Kashner and Charles Maslow-Freen their stories of a refugee from Hitler’s Germany who lived his own inimitable version of the American Dream. Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Dustin Hoffman, and more remember the comic genius, a groundbreaking director and true bon vivant.”
Here Are Real World Clues To Our Cities Of The Future
“A century, plus or minus, after human beings started putting their minds toward designing cities as a whole, things are getting good. High tech materials, sensor networks, new science, and better data are all letting architects, designers, and planners work smarter and more precisely. Cities are getting more environmentally sound, more fun, and more beautiful. And just in time, because today more human beings live in cities than not.”
The Tragic Loss Of Palmyra And Why The West Did Nothing To Save It
“To have committed even a handful of troops to save Palmyra, rather than to rescue refugees, might have implied that buildings mattered more than people. No politician dares risk a charge of lacking compassion. Hence one of the greatest surviving relics of antiquity has been sacrificed without a fight.”