Jeff Weinstein: “[We] couldn’t really know if … anyone from the deep, dark past, moved and felt the same way we did. … That scary, childish doubt goes far to explain my lifelong search for some connection to a particular past, one that, were I able to visit, I could negotiate with confidence and treat as my own. For some reason I can’t explain, food has always seemed to be the most reliable constant, a true passport back.”
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Russian Ballet Shoes Are Cutting Into Capezio’s Market Share
Two Russian shoemakers, Grishko and Ballet Class, “have taken center stage in the production of ballet shoes around the world. The companies’ exports have become so large they are challenging international competitors that boast decades of experience in the industry.”
Old Harold Pinter Comedy Sketch Rediscovered
“It was part of a 1960 revue at the Nottingham Playhouse called You, Me and the Gatepost, performed for one night only, and then promptly forgotten. But the sketch, written by a 29-year-old Harold Pinter and lost for more than half a century, has re-emerged as a result of some diligent detective work.”
The Picasso Of Pumpkin-Carving
“On a recent afternoon, Ray Villafane studied a pumpkin face that looked, by turns, like a sad cartoon Popeye, a vampire and the actor Gérard Depardieu. Hating it, he spun the pumpkin to its other side and started over, hacking in bold strokes at its outer skin.”
Why Haunted House Movies Keep Being Made
The genre goes right back to 1927 (The Cat and the Canary), through The Amityville Horror, The Shining, and The Others; four high-profile haunted-house movies have come out just this year. Why does a trope that seems so hackneyed retain such power?
Moby-Dick – An American Bible?
Nathaniel Philbrick, author of the new book Why Read Moby-Dick?, argues that Melville’s novel, though not an easy read, is “as close to being our American Bible as we have.” This is not just because “the level of the language is like no other,” but also that the book contains the “genetic code” for much of the American mindset.
Multi-Million-Euro Cache Of Paintings Found In Polish Workman’s Shed
“Police in Poland have been left puzzled by the discovery of a collection of 300 paintings worth ‘millions of euros’ in an outhouse belonging to a 92-year-old former bricklayer.”
From Così To Onegin In 4½ Hours
“Opera audiences are used to seeing performances awash in spectacle. But they rarely get to glimpse the magic that occurs between shows — namely, ‘the changeover,’ when one production is taken down and another takes its place. ‘It’s like working a huge jigsaw puzzle,’ says Rupert Hemmings, director of production at Los Angeles Opera. ‘It may seem haphazard, but everything’s done in order’.”
Diller Scofidio + Renfro Design For Berkeley Art Museum Unveiled
“[The] busy New York firm has released the schematic design for a new facility for the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, known as BAM/PFA, in downtown Berkeley. The plans are classic DS+R, which is to say they are canny, sleekly attractive and conceptually overstuffed all at once.”
What Do You Get When You Cross A Gamelan And A Celeste? Björk Shows Us
“Incorporating gamelan-like bronze bars in a celeste housing, the gameleste is the work of the British percussionist Matt Nolan and the Icelandic organ craftsman Björgvin Tómasson,” who were commissioned by Björk for her latest album.