“The Mongol 482 may be just a ‘middle-range, everyday’ pencil. But it’s also one of the most famous pencils in history … Because the Mongol 482 has written its autobiography” – with the “as told to” services of a libertarian economist. Thus, like so many autobiographies, this one had an agenda – and, also like so many autobiographies, it isn’t entirely accurate. (podcast with transcription)
Author: Matthew Westphal
Trevor Nunn Directs An American Cast For The First Time
“When he introduced himself to the actors on the first day, he said that he found beginning work with an American cast both exciting and ‘paralyzingly terrifying – maybe I will find that it’s a whole new ballgame.’ By the time a reporter could observe him in rehearsal, though, he seemed to have learned the rules.”
A ‘Bizarre, Noble Experiment’ – When They Tried To Put Magazines On CD-ROM
“A handful of magazines saw the potential of the CD-ROM and saw dollar signs. Problem was, this was an idea without an audience at first, and there was no clue if creating multimedia content in lieu of a mag would actually work. (It didn’t.) Today’s Tedium into the world of the magazine-on-disc – the publishing world’s bizarre, noble experiment in multimedia.”
Can Saigon’s Unique Historic Architecture Be Saved?
“When Ho Chi Minh City’s property market perked up after a slump that followed the 2008 financial crisis, dozens of prewar buildings – spanning the colonial to modernist eras – were razed to make room for new ones. As the city’s modest skyline grows, residents are watching with a mixture of awe and trepidation.”
#JeSuisCirconflexe – Why The Protests Against French Spelling Changes Are So Passionate
The people who are angry about the loss of a diacritical mark are upset about the abandonment of history – but, even if they don’t realize it, it’s not really linguistic history that worries them.
Chris Rock’s Oscar-Hosting Gig Is ‘The Moment That [His] Entire Career Has Pointed Toward’
Andrew O’Hehir: “At this point, if Rock doesn’t open the show with a slam-bang musical number, featuring Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump and Bill Cosby in KKK robes, half of Twitter will announce that he sucks. (And if he does, the other half will profess undying outrage.) But he’s the right man for the job; I honestly can’t think of anyone who is better positioned to tackle the #OscarsSoWhite moment with humor and anger and just a little cerebral detachment.”
How Charlotte Rampling Handled Her Last Pre-Oscars Interview (Very Rampling-ly)
“Under the vigilant eye of her publicist Lauren Schwartz, who never left her side, Ms. Rampling replied stoically to a question about the slim chance, in the wake of her lapse, that she would make off with an Oscar. She had held out the hope, it seemed, that the highly charged matter would never come up. A stony silence followed the question.”
Teens Have Not Stopped Reading, And David Denby’s New Yorker Jeremiad Is ‘You Kids Get Off My Lawn’ Journalism
“Ah, it appears that, fleeing human connection, lost to their reductive gender-specific pastimes of sports and, um, friends, teen hyphen agers (The teen hyphen ager! In the pizza parlor! With the smart phone!) have murdered reading. But soft – no one is dead yet, not even you, geriatric Cassandra. Nor are the teen hyphen agers brain-dead.”
‘Transformational’ Gift To Philadelphia Museum Of Art
“The gift of more than 50 artworks, as well as endowment funds, announced by the museum Thursday includes contemporary works by Cy Twombly, Philip Guston, Agnes Martin, Eva Hesse, and Paul Thek” as well as a major Edward Hopper painting and works by both Eakinses.
English National Opera Chorus Votes Unanimously To Strike
“Their union, Equity, announced that action short of a strike would start next Friday. … The action is in protest at plans to cut pay by 25% and axe four jobs.”