“What’s your favorite book?” is a stupid question. “Really, it’s not about books at all, it’s about distinguishing yourself through your distinctions, choosing a work that gives the fullest picture of the person you’d like the world to consider you to be. That’s why everyone always says Catch-22 – not because they think Heller to be easily as good as Roth, Mailer, Updike and Vonnegut rolled into one. No one thinks that. It’s because of the myriad excellent messages enjoyment of this book gives off – I have a fine sense of humour; I’m anti-war and probably broadly leftwing; I have a healthy, questioning disrespect for authority; I like a bit of nooky, but not in a mean way, not like that Rabbit or that Zuckerman; and I’m highly intelligent, but I won’t get all in your face about it. You probably want to go out with me, it says, and you’re dead right.”
Month: December 2003
Of Rings, Wagner and Tolkien
Lord of the Rings certainly has a Wagnerian feel, writes Alex Ross. And not just because rings are at the center of the two epics. “Tolkien refused to admit that his ring had anything to do with Wagner’s. ‘Both rings were round, and there the resemblance ceased,’ he said. But he certainly knew his Wagner, and made an informal study of ‘Die Walküre’ not long before writing the novels. The idea of the omnipotent ring must have come directly from Wagner; nothing quite like it appears in the old sagas.”
The New Divas
“This fall has seen a remarkable outpouring of albums by female opera singers,” writes Charles Michener. “The majority of them, as it happens, are not sopranos but mezzo-sopranos; we’re living in an age when, curiously, many of the most interesting female voices belong not to the leading ladies who impersonate the tragic heroines around which most operatic plots creak, but to a powerful group of slightly lower-voiced women who rival, and frequently outstrip, the prima donnas for vocal charisma.”
The WTC Tower Compromise
Later this week, the compromise design of the tower at the World Trade Center by Daniel Libeskind and David Childs is to be released. “As details of that compromise were uncovered, in interviews conducted over the last week, it appeared that except for a few elements, the tower will closely resemble a design forged initially by architects at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, house architects for Ground Zero leaseholder Larry Silverstein, in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. That was long before Ground Zero master planner Daniel Libeskind was involved in the redevelopment process.”
Man (Alias “The Monkey”) Arrested In Van Gogh Threat
A Dutch thief known as “the Monkey” has been arrested inconnection with the theft of two Van Gogh paintings from Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum in 2002. “Investigators were baffled by the theft at the time because guards patrolled the premises at night and there was tight security inside, including infra-red systems and cameras. The thieves got in through the roof and police found a rope and a 4.5-metre (15-foot) ladder leaning against the rear of the building.”
Barnes & Noble’s Fiction Gatekeeper
Sessalee Hensley is in charge of buying fiction for Barnes & Noble. “How many copies will be bought – of Proust, McMillan, John Grisham, Jonathan Franzen and Ms. Hensley’s favorite, Barbara Kingsolver – how they’ll be apportioned among the 652 Barnes & Noble branches and 200 B. Dalton Booksellers in her fiefdom, how they’ll be placed and positioned–this is all part of the gig. ‘There are some books that I’ve gone through three, four, five revisions of how I’m thinking about them,’ says Ms. Hensley, 48. Concern that she’s decided wrong sometimes keeps her up at night. Concern that she’s decided wrong keeps publishers up as well…”
Scottish Ballet’s Housing Furore
Scottish Ballet thought it ha found a perfect new home at Glasgow’s struggling Tramway. “It seems like a good idea. Scottish Ballet could fill empty spaces, it could open up possibilities of engagement with local communities and give Tramway a firmer purpose in Glasgow’s cultural landscape. But it has caused a furore. Part of the scheme would be to turn Tramway’s largest hall, currently an exhibition space, into a scenery store. This has enraged Glasgow’s visual artists. It’s a shoo-in, they say, rigged without proper consultation or process, and the accusations of conspiracy are flying.”
Why Nutcracker Nation
There are lots of reasons American dance companies mount Nutcracker year after year. But “no ballet company mounts a “Nutcracker” primarily to strengthen ties among its volunteers, to bring families together at Christmas, to provide a growth chart of a dancer’s progress. Laudable as these aspects of the work are, they are byproducts of a financial imperative. Lacking any better way to fund our ballet companies – faced with scarce government support, declining corporate backing and unreliable ticket sales for more adventurous dancing – we have become a “Nutcracker” nation indeed.”
The Commonplace Genius (What Fun Is That?)
Is Mensa, the “genius” IQ organization, inflating applicants’ test scores so as to boost its membership numbers? “Membership in the UK currently stands at a lowly 26,247 – the lowest figure in 15 years, more than 17,400 below the figure 10 years ago, when membership reached an all-time high of 43,652. While Mensa has a worldwide membership of 98,861, British Mensa, the heart and home of the society, is in a very sorry state indeed. So what has gone wrong? Well, pretty much everything…”
LA Discovers Alt-Film
Los Angeles has never been much of a home to independent or alternative film; there’s too much mainstream industry going on. But recently that’s begun to change. “Most striking are several expensive new or renovated theaters either just opening or being planned. They are evidence that interest in film’s history here goes far beyond the casual stroll along Hollywood Boulevard’s tacky Walk of Fame. Blessed with access to pristine 35mm prints of old movies from various studios and other archives, these venues are making L.A. a mecca for retro cinema. And independent and art/experimental films.”