“Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s wife on Thursday presented the initial three volumes of the first full collection of his works to be published in Russia, a country still struggling with the legacy of the oppressive era he documented. It was a cherished moment for the aging Nobel laureate, who has been through prison camps and exile and, Natalya Solzhenitsyn said, feels the ‘draining of the life force’ as his 88th birthday approaches. He was not at the presentation and his wife did not elaborate on his health.”
Tag: 11.17.06
Getting Inside Your Head
A new study suggests that religious people who believe that God can take over their minds and cause them to “speak in tongues” are at least correct that those in such a state are not fully in control of their own brains at the time. Another study proves that brains can like ice cream. “These studies play with the ticklish notion that our brain mediates all of our inner experience�whether we’re angry, or in love, or enjoying a vanilla ice-cream cone. Every feeling can be expressed in patterns of neural activity spread out on a computer screen. But does the specific pattern associated with enjoying ice cream tell us anything new�about the brain, or ice cream, or ourselves?”
Is This Progress, Or Regression?
With World War II now more than 60 years behind us, a long-enduring taboo may be starting to show signs of a crack. But surely it can’t really be the case that filmmakers are beginning to create sympathetic depictions of Nazis? Well, not exactly. But “the sheer horror of German civilian suffering, and the despairing heroism of its shattered armies” now seems to be fair game, as do “scenes of numbed Germans shuffling through the Third Reich’s ruins.”
Rumble In The Record Stores
“A mammoth 40% of the UK’s annual music sales take place in the six weeks up to Christmas. With this season’s trading forecast to be the toughest ever, record-shop managers around the country are lining up for a serious scrap. Commercially, of course – for now.”
Whaddya Mean There’s Nothing Funny About Religion?
To Americans steeped in the daily rhetoric of the Iraq War, the words “Islam” and “comedy” might seem jarring together. But even as the cultural chasm between Christian and Islamic fundamentalists widens, a new generation of Muslim comedians are attempting to bring everyone who falls in between the two extremes back to their senses, and to the basic reality that everyone loves to laugh.
Toronto Finally In The Black
The Toronto Symphony announced a small surplus for fiscal 2006 this week, the orchestra’s first balanced budget since it nearly succumbed to bankruptcy five years ago. Ticket sales also increased slightly, and subscriptions held steady. But the TSO isn’t completely out of the woods yet – it’s still carrying a CAN$9.5 million accumulated debt, and further internal cost reductions don’t seem feasible.
Come On, Smell The Noise
Scratch ‘n sniff music? Why not, say the organizers of this year’s Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in the UK. “An electronic chamber opera that breaks new ground in the field of concert-going by combining sounds and smells” is the headline-grabbing phenomenon of the season. “Scent diffusers that look like spotlights are mounted on a heavy steel frame, controlled by a converted light mixer. There are 120 of these diffusers ranked above the audience’s heads, ready to produce bursts of specific aromas during the performance. Yet the audience is unaware of them, as this is a performance that takes place in pitch darkness.”
Iran Cracks Down On Publishers
“Dozens of literary masterpieces and international bestsellers have been banned in Iran in a dramatic rise in censorship that has plunged the country’s publishing industry into crisis… The clampdown has been headed by the hardline culture minister, Mohammed Hossein Saffar Harandi, a former revolutionary guard and close ally of [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad. It follows a relative thaw during the eight-year presidency of Mr Ahmadinejad’s reformist predecessor, Mohammed Khatami.”