“As its title suggested, the book was an ‘Appeal’ to ‘The Colored Citizens of the World, but in Particular and Very Expressly to those of the United States of America.’ Yet appeal was a tame word for the prophecy smoldering between its covers, clearly directed towards the nation’s enslaved laborers. The police may have flipped to page 28: ‘It is no more harm for you to kill a man, who is trying to kill you, than it is for you to take a drink of water when thirsty.’ Page 35 argued that owners denied slaves education because it would reveal their right to ‘cut his devilish throat from ear to ear, and well do slave-holders know it.'”
Month: February 2018
Is Charles Venable Saving The Indianapolis Museum Of Art (Or Killing It?)
Is Venable’s vision for his museum misguided, or a clarion call for a struggling industry to cast aside its pieties in pursuit of a purely rational bottom line? As of last October, the Indianapolis Museum of Art has rebranded itself as Newfields: A Place for Nature and the Arts. Admission is no longer free, and your $18 ticket brings you into a wonderland of flowering gardens, foreign delicacies, theatrical performances, cat-video festivals, mini-golf, beer gardens, and, should you be into such things, an art museum, too.
Omarosa, ‘Celebrity Big Brother’, and Reality-TV Politics
“Omarosa Manigault Newman, a three-time contestant on NBC’s The Apprentice, volunteered to enter a surreal house in which minor celebrities, acting out under constant media surveillance, conspire to eject their rivals one by one.
Then she went on Celebrity Big Brother. That it took the second experience (a CBS reality show) to get Ms. Newman to open up about the first (her tenure in Donald J. Trump’s White House) may not be the model of civic discourse that the founders envisioned. But it’s the one Americans voted for, and maybe the one we deserve.” (includes video)
How I Forgot How To Read (Books)
It’s embarrassing. Especially for someone like me. I’m supposed to be an author – words are kind of my job. Without reading, I’m not sure who I am. So, it’s been unnerving to realize: I have forgotten how to read – really read – and I’ve been refusing to talk about it out of pride.
A Brief History Of The Panel Show (Which Is Alive And Well In Britain, Even If Americans Have Given It Up)
It was a perfect genre for the early days of television, and was quite successful, as you can see on YouTube in old episodes of What’s My Line and To Tell the Truth. “[It] was a purely American invention, yet somehow it’s become deeply associated with modern British TV. Here’s why.”
Think The CD Is Disappearing? Think Again
“Compared to two decades ago, when CDs were at peak popularity, of course 2017’s sales statistics look anemic. But the compact disc is still the most popular format for people purchasing records. The second-most-popular format, with 66.2 million units sold? Another one pundits love to say is dying, digital albums. And it’s certainly not correct to say that all consumers are eschewing CDs.”
A History Of The Late, Unlamented CD Longbox (Remember Those?)
These aren’t the “jewel box” CD cases, mind you – they’re the long, mostly empty plastic containers that jewel boxes were stuffed inside for record store shelves, and they were supposed to be removed at the cash register. “From a distance, it seems like putting a CD or a cassette inside a massive [plastic] box, of which more than half of it was effectively useless, would be a really questionable choice. But the record industry had a couple of good reasons for doing so.”
Why Actors In Immersive Shows Like ‘Sleep No More’ Need Extra Protection From Assault
“Only recently has a line been added to the show asking audience members to ‘keep a respectful distance’ from the performers. Wouldn’t it be great if we lived in a culture where this nannyish reminder was unnecessary? It would. We don’t.” Alexis Soloski lays out the case.
It Was ‘Art In Action’: Artist Behind Removal Of That Painting Of Naked Nymphs Explains What Went Down
Sonia Boyce: “The recent, temporary removal from Manchester Art Gallery of John William Waterhouse’s 1896 painting Hylas and the Nymphs, which depicts Hercules’s handsome male lover being lured to his death in a pond by seven long-haired, topless nymphs (pubescent girls), was an attempt to involve a much wider group of people than usual in the curatorial process.” And it did.
New York City Ballet Isn’t Dropping Peter Martins’s Ballets (But It Is Making Small Changes)
As Michael Cooper reports, City Ballet has “no intention of editing him out of the company’s history, the way Kevin Spacey was cut out of the film All the Money in the World after he was accused of misconduct. The Martins ballets remain important to the ticket sales and continuing the company’s fortunes.” Even so, there are occasional moments in his choreography that now look, well, problematic …