The orchestras that get most of the publicity are just the tip of the iceberg. And they are seriously outnumbered by a less-heralded cohort. Just as the great teams in sport are outnumbered by the organisations that operate in local communities or provide an outlet for youth activities. – Irish Times
Author: Douglas McLennan
How Tap Dancing Made Kobe Bryant A Better Player
Bryant’s injury prevention routine was particularly unique—and involved taking tap classes to strengthen his ankles. (You’ve probably heard of football players taking ballet, but this one was new to us.) – Dance Magazine
Should Jeanine Cummins’ “American Dirt” Be Disappeared?
Kathleen Parker: “Once Cummins’s genetic shortcomings caught the attention of social media’s literati, it was off to the bonfires. Not only was she condemned, prompting her to cancel her book tour in fear for her safety, but a petition was circulated asking Oprah Winfrey to remove Cummins’s novel from her book-club list.” – Washington Post
What Makes James Wood Such An Inspired Critic
What are we to think, then, about a critic criticizing a critic? Do I intend to get you to see Sebald or Roth as I see Wood seeing them? But of course, to see Wood as I see him is, in part, to see how Wood sees. He has stained my vision indelibly, and I can pay him no greater tribute than to read him (and to ask you to read him) as generously, justly, and gorgeously as he taught me to read. – BookForum
The Power Of Negativity
Being in a bad mood can improve your memory. Aspirin helps not just for headache, but for heartbreak. (Hmm.) Indulging nostalgia in a cold room can actually warm you up. ‘List your blessings.’ (Thus avoiding the corny phrase ‘count your blessings’.) Being a ‘good-enough’ parent or teacher is all you need. Just don’t be bad. – The Spectator
Why We Love Leonardo The Artist
Only 15 paintings are attributed to Leonardo. He lived off and on in Florence but for long periods was cosseted by potentates such as the Duke of Milan and the French King Francis I who considered him their pet genius. He took forever to finish paintings, if he finished them at all. He was born out of wedlock, his father a small-town lawyer and his mother a peasant. He had little formal education. When he tried to steal papal work from the young Raphael and Michelangelo, he failed. By 1510 in Rome, however esteemed Leonardo was, they were more fashionable, and reliable. Why, then, is Leonardo the genius for all seasons, the original Renaissance man? – National Review
“I Can’t Think For A Moment Why People Would Hate On My Novel About A Middle-Aged White Lady”
“When I set out to write this novel, which takes place in Iowa and centers around 46-year-old Meradyth Spensir and her 8-year-old son Chab, my goal was to shed light on the struggles that white middle-aged women in America face — struggles that I, a 28-year-old Latino man, don’t know much about but I would imagine are pretty tough. And as far as I’m concerned, I freaking nailed it.” – McSweeney’s
The Fox News Theory Of Art
According to the Fox News theory of art, an artwork’s primary purpose isn’t to awe, inspire, or delight, let alone challenge your understanding of the world, but to serve as an expression of partisan allegiances; that you might also get a kick out of looking at it is more of a perk. On Fox News, the suggestion that a statue of a Confederate general who fought and died for the cause of chattel slavery doesn’t belong in public makes you a censorious triggered lib trampling on the Constitution, but an elected official who tears down a teenager’s painting acts in the name of human dignity. – The Baffler
Disney Will Release “Hamilton” Movie Starring The Original Cast
Obtaining the rights to movie, set for release on Oct. 15, 2021, is another huge coup for Disney — which topped $10 billion in box office sales last year — and allows a stage show that still fetches eye-watering ticket prices to be seen around the world. – Axios
Why Peter Schjeldahl Is Such A Great Critic
Schjeldahl’s primary mode is that of a lover, and you can read many of his pieces as impassioned love letters, often involving his favorite art: painting. His deep devotion to the medium continued throughout the decades painting was supposed to be dead. Every painter I know would give a couple fingers off their non-painting hand for a good long review by Peter Schjeldahl – not only for the recognition, but because he unfailingly brings something new into the discourse, getting to the very heart of the medium that he succinctly describes as “engaging our strongest sense, eyesight, and our finest physical aptitude, that of the hand – it’s about the hand and eye in concert.” – Momus