Alastair Macaulay reports on the merchandise he’s seen in the lobbies on his tour of American Nutcrackers: Mouse King cookies in Seattle, Drosselmeyer action figures in Denver, tiers of Nutcracker soldiers in Houston. But there’s one seemingly obvious item he hasn’t yet seen in any of the gift shops …
Tag: 12.17.10
Why Desperate Housewives Makes for Good Cultural Diplomacy
“There is nothing here about the founding fathers or the primacy of individual liberty. But there are plenty of evidently free people, choosing to live their lives as they wish, in attractive circumstances. American life is desirable here, not because of the values it espouses but because of its very modernity.”
‘Europe’s Biggest Collection of Fairground and Carnival Artifacts’
At the Musée des Arts Forains in Paris, just go through the curtains at the entrance “and you find yourself flanked by a colonnade of four-metre-high horses … there’s hardly a ‘Don’t Touch’ sign in sight, fantasy vegetation crawls up the walls and you can go on the rides.”
Are English’s Days As Global Language Numbered?
“More than 1 billion people speak English worldwide but only about 330m of them as a first language, and this population is not spreading. The future of English is in the hands of countries outside the core Anglophone group. Will they always learn English?”
Play Flops On Broadway, Becomes Hits Everywhere Else
“John Cariani’s ‘Almost, Maine,’ an earnest 19-character play about the romantic happenings one cold night in northern Maine, has since been produced around the world, including in Australia, Dubai and South Korea. A Spanish-language version will be presented this spring in Mexico City. More than 600 companies, amateur and professional, have put it on in the United States and Canada.”
Is There A New Aesthetic As Movies Move From Film To Digital?
“Even as digital supplants celluloid (and almost every film now involves some kind of digital processing), it can be difficult to gauge what has been lost or gained.”
Online Crowd Buys An Important Art Work For The Louvre
“The Louvre announced Friday that it had raised $1.3 million from thousands of online donors to buy a luminous Renaissance painting of three nude women that has never been displayed in public.”
Where Are Today’s New Holiday Classic Songs?
“Given the rewards, why have so few songwriters since then had any luck giving Rudolph and Frosty a run for their not-insignificant money?”
Why Should Musicians Be So Prone To Depression?
It appears carving out a career as a musician isn’t just perilous when it comes to earning a living – it can also cause damage to your physical and mental health. Musicians supplementing their income by waiting tables would rate even higher on the chart, as food service staff are second most prone to depression.
Controversy Over Guggenheim Bilbao Showing Trustee’s Collection
Guggenheim concedes: “Although this show will be presented “with huge integrity, I’m not sure we can ever convince everybody.”