Perhaps we should blame it all on Plato. Ever since he introduced his concept of the “philosopher king,” countless intellectuals have been besotted by the notion of finding and working hand in hand with the ideal Big Brother, often with lethal results.
Tag: 12.23.17
The Colorblind Artist
Children’s book illustrator Loren Long, whose mother told him immediately after he learned he was colorblind that he should still pursue the art he loved: “In general, I can’t tell the difference between the many shades of brown and green or blue and purple. They’re very similar to me. Light blue and lavender look the same, and tan and pale green are almost impossible to tell apart. My living room is a shade of gray, but if my wife had told me it was green I would have taken her word all these years.”
The Christmas Food Of Fiction
Does anything top the Christmas feast in James Joyce’s short story “The Dead”? Well, maybe if you like Turkish Delight – or perhaps, as in Noel Streatfeild’s Ballet Shoes, a Pavlova.
The Newest Star Wars Movie Might Earn $1 Billion, But Even That Can’t Make Up For Hollywood’s Bad Year
Summer flops are to blame this year – think Alien: Covenant and King Arthur (or rather, don’t think about them; no one else did) – but that’s not the only problem. “The long-term decline in attendance reflects systemic challenges facing the industry. Audiences are spending less time going to the movies and are consuming more entertainment on small screens and through streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon that are spending billions on original video content.”
In Sitka, Alaska, ‘The Nutcracker’ Gets A Special Twist Or Two
If you’re going to do Nutcracker in Alaska, you better do it right: “Every few years, they set the plot against an Alaskan backdrop with characters the audience intimately recognizes. Instead of a Mouse King and his army of rodents, the Nutcracker goes to a battle with Mosquito Queen and her swarm. He’s assisted by housemaids with fly swatters.”