The Washington Post critic follows the game through DC monuments and museums in a vain effort to get to level five, and finally concludes it’s not worth the effort.
Month: July 2016
South Korean Soldiers At The DMZ Are Taking Ballet Barre Class – To Relieve Stress (!)
“Wearing shorts and T-shirts along with their dancing slippers, members of the army’s 25th Division are taught each week by a ballerina from the Korean National Ballet under a programme that began last year … intended to ease the stress of guarding the world’s most heavily fortified border.”
The Sliding Value Of Facts In A Social Media-Saturated World
“We are caught in a series of confusing battles between opposing forces: between truth and falsehood, fact and rumour, kindness and cruelty; between the few and the many, the connected and the alienated; between the open platform of the web as its architects envisioned it and the gated enclosures of Facebook and other social networks; between an informed public and a misguided mob. What is common to these struggles – and what makes their resolution an urgent matter – is that they all involve the diminishing status of truth.”
Nico Muhly Is Ambivalent About Commissions And Deadlines (But *Loves* Cavafy)
“If I tell people I got a commission, they say ‘Congratulations!’ But a commission is almost like being challenged to a duel. … Or it feels like one of the tasks of Hercules. In this span of time, you have to solve this crazy problem which can be artistic or emotional or musical. … Deadlines are very odd. They’re these constantly shifting sources of anxiety. There’s no way to predict what they actually mean.” (audio)
Detroit Symphony Patron Leaves $5,000 To Each Member Of The Orchestra In Her Will
“She didn’t know many of them personally, but she had tremendous respect for their lifetime commitment to excellence and the quiet sacrifices they make to bring the joy of music to others. Still, no one outside the small circle of family and advisers privy to her estate planning knew of the cash surprise she quietly tucked inside her will like a sly gift from a secret Santa.”
‘The Hunger Games’ Foresaw The Meeting Of Reality TV And Politics
The titular games are themselves a reality TV show, after all, and (writes Alyssa Rosenberg) the franchise “feels uneasily resonant today not because [author of the books Suzanne] Collins treated reality programming as a diversion from more important things, but because she recognized the extent to which reality TV would capture our politics and become the means by which we make our most important decisions as a society.”
Fighting ISIS With Animated Mockery
“A cartoon firebrand delivers his Ramadan message: ‘Ramadan is the month where sins are forgiven and hearts are filled with – love.’ This outburst of goodwill is met with confusion from the audience of masked men and veiled women, which only heightens as he continues: ‘there is no difference between Arabs and Westerners except in piety.’ Rescuing the situation, the sidekick hands the preacher a sesame biscuit. ‘Better?’ ‘Fucking better,’ replies the preacher – and with hunger banished, he launches into calls for bombs and destruction. ‘You’re not you when you’re hungry,’ the clip concludes, parodying an American ad for the Snickers candy-bar.”
This French City Was Once ‘Culturally Dead’ – And Free Public Art Brought It Back To Life
“‘The city was culturally dead when I arrived here,’ says Jean Blaise, an artistic director and cultural impresario who has been based in Nantes since the mid-1980s. ‘There was one interesting festival and the opera house, that’s all.'” Now it’s France’s fastest-growing city and has real cachet. The key? “‘If you make people pay for culture, or only offer it in enclosed spaces like theatres or museums, you will only ever reach a small percentage of the population,’ Blaise says.”
Little Old Lady Gives Possible Da Vinci Sketch To Expert For Authentication – And He Makes Off With It
“The drawing was given to the [octogenarian] by her father, an antiquarian in the center of Bordeaux, and had been in her possession for several years. … The supposed expert, with the sketch in tow, vanished quickly thereafter, but not before liquidating his company and leaving no trace of his whereabouts.”
Bach Manuscript Sells For $3.3 Million At Auction
“Likely written between 1740 and 1745, the Prelude, Fugue and Allegro in E-flat Major (BWV 998) is a favorite among both harpsichords and lutenists. Like many works by [Bach], it can be played on different instruments, which is expressly indicated on this score in the composer’s handwriting: ‘Prélude pour la Luth ò Cembal‘ (for lute or keyboard).”