Book critic Ron Charles barely ekes out a piece after experimenting with Kindle-based reviewing.
Tag: 11.12.12
Why Cellists Shouldn’t Fly Delta (Maybe A Boycott?)
“I have to admit part of me sees the irony for being punished by an airline for innocently buying two full fare tickets for each trip, but to have them administer corporate justice 11 years after the fact is just plain mean; not only did Delta cancel my account but it summarily gobbled up all of the associated miles and placed a permanent ban on my ever rejoining their miles program.”
Seeing Jack Gilbert, Still There Under All The Afflictions Of Alzheimer’s
“[The reader] finishes, and the man brightens in his chair and points at his heart, mouthing to a visitor holding his arm, ‘Me?’ Yes, Jack Gilbert. That’s yours.” A profile of the poet (visited at his nursing home), published just one day before his death.
Could An Angels In America Make It To The Stage Today?
“Now that a generation has passed, it seems fair to ask whether the American theater remains equally capable in 2012 of what it brought forth back then. … Could five years, more than $2 million in today’s currency and so much of an audience’s time be set aside to write, develop and perform an unprecedented kind of work by an unproven playwright?”
The Ballet Where Nobody Knows Who’ll Die At The End
For his adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” for Ballet West in Salt Lake City, choreographer Val Caniparoli “decided that when the villagers draw lots, the performers really are going through a chance procedure … to find out who is the ‘chosen one’ that will be stoned to death.”
Have Agriculture And Civilization Made Humans Less Intelligent?
“A hunter-gatherer who did not correctly conceive a solution to providing food or shelter probably died, along with his/her progeny, whereas a modern Wall Street executive that made a similar conceptual mistake would receive a substantial bonus and be a more attractive mate. Clearly, extreme [natural] selection is a thing of the past.”
Looking At London’s Experiments With Affordable Theatre Tickets
“With the National Theatre’s acclaimed Travelex Ticket season [offering £10 seats] celebrating its 10th birthday this year, it seems there’s something in the air. But as audiences are dazzled (or not, as the case may be) by these headline-grabbing experiments in pricing strategy, it’s worth taking a moment to consider the implications of such schemes for both audiences and theatres, as well as the challenges that accompany them.”
The Difficulty Of Writing A Novel In The Voice Of The Virgin Mary
Colm Tóibín: “The novel is actually a secular space. The novel is not made for miracles. It’s made for ordeal. It’s made for material things. … This almost needed none of that. It needed a sense of grandeur that normally the novel doesn’t entertain. It’s all voice, but the voice is heightened.”
YouTube Ups Its Stake On Reinventing TV
“YouTube is reinvesting in 40 per cent of the channels that have already launched. That means more than half of the channels have failed to catch on, yet is still a rate of success that any network programmer would kill for.”
Salman Rushdie And John Le Carré End 15-Year Feud
“Fifteen years after Salman Rushdie called John le Carré a ‘pompous ass’ and le Carré: responded with an accusation of ‘self-canonisation’, one of the most gloriously vituperative literary feuds of recent times has come to an end. … The fight had its roots in le Carrés criticism of The Satanic Verses.”