Kirill Gerstein: “Lupu’s playing, especially when experienced live, resists my professional habit of analyzing the elements of interpretation and performance – exactly how he achieves the results that he does. … The instrument, the craftsmanship, even the compositions themselves recede into the background, and there remains a lone figure communicating not just music, but something deeply humane. “
Author: Matthew Westphal
That’s Totally Not Gollum, It’s Smeagol, Peter Jackson Says About Turkish Court Case
Asked to weigh in on the current lèse-majesté trial – the defendant juxtaposed photos of the Tolkien character and President Erdoğan – the director and screenwriters of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings films said in a statement, “We can state categorically: None of [the images] feature the character known as Gollum.”
Archaeologists Unearth 2,300-Year-Old Board Game In China
The game, called bo or liubo, “includes a 14-face die carved from an animal tooth, 21 rectangular game pieces featuring painted numbers, and a broken tile – ‘decorated with two eyes, which are surrounded by cloud-and-thunder patterns’ – that once made up part of the game board.”
Germany’s Top Movie Comedy Right Now Is A Spoof Of Hitler
“Based on a best-selling 2012 novel, Er ist wieder da (‘Look Who’s Back’) imagines what it would be like if Hitler woke up in modern Germany and morphed into a media sensation. … Predictably, the movie has also raised a debate over what role – if any – the infamous Nazi ruler should play in popular culture.”
Where Book Titles Come From
“Writers are at least as picky about the titles of their novels as parents are about their children’s names; often more so. This is perhaps to be expected, as a book’s conception is considerably less pleasurable, and the gestation period generally lasts far longer than nine months.”
Behavioral Science Is Trying To Explain Your Taste In Art
“Art Basel-goers would surely love to believe that they, and they alone, are responsible for their impeccable taste in art. But recently, researchers have begun to study the neurological and psychological underpinnings that help explain why you may love an abstract Cy Twombly drawing, but your friend thinks it looks like a bunch of scribbles his toddler made.”
Minnesota Orchestra Musicians Donate Money Raised During Lockout Back To Orchestra
The $250,000 gift, “which establishes a separate fund and was not included in the 2015 results, came from self-produced concerts and donations that the musicians received during the lockout. Given to the association in memory of orchestra advocate Lee Henderson, the gift will support education and community programming.”
Luc Bondy, Theatre And Opera Director, Dead At 67
“[He] generally favored an almost spartan mise-en-scene that placed the focus on his actors and the story they were telling: his work was often beautiful, but it was never conventionally pretty.”
One Of Two Rivals To Revive New York City Opera Withdraws
“Gene Kaufman, an architect and one of the suitors who has been vying to reorganize and take control of City Opera, withdrew as part of a negotiated settlement that calls for granting his group $300,000, according to a court filing.”
The 2015 Bad Sex In Fiction Award Goes To An Actual Rock Star
“At this, Eliza and Ezra rolled together into the one giggling snowball of full-figured copulation, screaming and shouting as they playfully bit and pulled at each other in a dangerous and clamorous rollercoaster coil of sexually violent rotation with Eliza’s breasts barrel-rolled across Ezra’s howling mouth and the pained frenzy …” (We’ll spare you the rest.)