He’d been acting professionally in British theatre, film, and television for seven decades when he was cast (at age 90) as Maester Aemon in HBO’s juggernaut. “With his bulky figure, small eyes and prognathous jaw, he usually played the type of character you would not want to bump into on a dark night in a darker alley, even though, in real life, Vaughan was known for his conviviality,”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Nine Nations And Their Favorite Movies (And The Reasons Why)
These films rarely top critics’ lists, but they’ve definitely captured their people’s imaginations. Britain’s The Great Escape, Russia’s Irony of Fate, India’s Sholay – plus titles for France, Germany, Mexico, Japan, Nigeria, and, of course, the U.S. (for which the choice may be arguable but is certainly credible, especially when you adjust its box-office figures for inflation).
Classical Grammy Nominations For 2017 Include Plenty Of Contemporary Music
And not just in the contemporary category, either. Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain and John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles are up for best opera recording (Higdon’s up for best new composition as well). Among other nominees are the Seattle Symphony doing Dutilleux, Leila Josefowicz acing John Adams, Salonen and the LA Phil zinging Zappa, Third Coast Percussion banging out Reich, and Mason Bates performed by both MTT/San Francisco and Muti/Chicago.
Jazz Grammy Nominations Feature Familiar Faces (Yet Again)
“In a year that lacked some of the breakout narratives that have marked the jazz category in recent years – see Gregory Porter, Cecile McLorin Salvant – Grammy voters once more leaned on veteran or otherwise familiar talents for the bulk of the nominations field.”
Ralph Ellison’s ‘Invisible Man’ Is About More Than We Thought, As A High School Teacher Learns
Clint Smith: “My classroom was filled with almost exclusively black and brown students, many of them undocumented immigrants. While Ellison wrote of invisibility as a black man caught in the discord of early-twentieth-century racism, this particular group of students read the idea of invisibility not as a metaphor but as a necessity, a way of insuring one’s protection.”
The Culture Wars Over Christmas Really Are As Old As Christianity Itself
“‘This festival teaches even the little children, artless and simple, to be greedy,’ as one critic put it. ‘The tender minds of the young begin to be impressed with that which is commercial and sordid.’ The year was 400, and the anxious writer was the Cappadocian Bishop Asterius of Amasea.”
Adorno And The Frankfurt School Predicted This Election 60 Years Ago, Says Alex Ross
“Two years ago, in an essay on the persistence of the Frankfurt School, I wrote, ‘If Adorno were to look upon the cultural landscape of the twenty-first century, he might take grim satisfaction in seeing his fondest fears realized.’ I spoke too soon. His moment of vindication is arriving now.”
The Dominican Priest Who Busted Thieves Holding A Caravaggio For Ransom
“After weeks went by and no money changed hands, [Father] Zerafa got a parcel in the post containing a slice of the Caravaggio canvas. They intended to slice off strips until they were paid or the painting was destroyed.”
Meet Afghanistan’s First Female Rapper
“Life has not been easy for Paradise Sorouri. In the past seven years, the 27-year-old has been forced to flee her country twice, received more death threats than she can count, and was brutally beaten by 10 men on the street and left to die. Her crime? She covers her head with a baseball cap instead of a hijab, raises her voice for women’s rights, and is Afghanistan’s first female rapper.”
My Very First Classical Concert Was In My Own Living Room (And It Was Amazing)
Tamara Best: “I barely listen to classical music, so how did a live string quartet end up in my apartment on a Saturday night?” (The answer: Groupmuse.)