Capote. Mailer. Buckley. Hitchens. “As he put it himself,” writes longtime friend Jay Parini, “‘I am at heart a propagandist, a tremendous hater, a tiresome nag, complacently positive that there is no human problem that could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise.’ That he was also a brilliant novelist and essayist was often beside the point.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
How The Buckley-Vidal Debate Changed The Media (And Maybe Paved The Way For Fox News)
“Where a debate between two urbane intellectuals ought to have ushered in a golden age of elevated, rational discussion, it instead – due to the personal enmity to which the combatants gave voice – sparked the worst aspects of modern media, a debased version of political talk, the gladiatorial mudslinging that prevails in broadcasting today.”
The Whistled Language Of Northern Turkey – And What It Can Tell Us About The Brain
“The small town of Kuşköy, which is tucked into an isolated valley on the rainy, mountainous Black Sea coast, … is remarkable not for how it looks but for how it sounds: here, the roar of the water and the daily calls to prayer are often accompanied by loud, lilting whistles – the distinctive tones of the local language.” (includes sound samples)
Former Guggenheim Head Thomas Krens Proposes Big For-Profit Museum In Berkshires
“Thomas Krens, the man with the original concept for the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art 30 years ago, has proposed building a new 160,000-square-foot art gallery on North Adams’ Harriman-West Airport grounds. … It would be named the Global Contemporary Collection and Museum and contain a collection of about 400 works of art.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 08.18.15
To share or not to share: On nonprofits and the disclosure of information to the public
AJBlog: Jumper Published 2015-08-18
Tom Krens: At It Again?
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2015-08-18
Chewing Up Chiu: Thin-Skinned DC Critics Feel Snubbed by Hirshhorn’s NYC Fundraising Gala
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-08-18
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The Death Of The American Dance Critic
“Today there are only two full-time dance critics in the country … For a medium that can be difficult to understand, generalist coverage remains vital to the accessibility of the dance scene. As Deborah Jowitt, the former Village Voice critic, put it: ‘If art is valuable as a reflection – of a time, of a place, of a creation – then dance is just as important as literature or film, even though the audience for it is smaller.”
MacArthur Foundation Makes Big Change In Focus Of Its Grants
“Julia M. Stasch … explains in the organization’s annual report that the emphasis going forward will be on a smaller number of bold and even risky ‘big bets.’ These will be results-oriented, defined-time projects, as opposed to the more open-ended organizational support it has provided in the past.”
Was Racism Really Why Nina Simone Wasn’t Admitted To Curtis?
“It’s one of those stories that has lodged in the minds of many for its injustice and irony. Nina Simone – before she was Nina Simone, when she was still an aspiring classical pianist named Eunice Waymon – auditioned for the Curtis Institute of Music and was rejected on grounds of her race.” Yet there is evidence to indicate that she simply didn’t make the cut at an extremely competitive school.
Stephen Colbert Explains – Very Frankly – Why He Loves Discomfort And How He Turns It Into Joy
As his improv teacher at Second City, Del Close, told him, “You have to learn to love the bomb.”
Against Binge-Watching: What We Lose When We Gain The Entire Story At Once
Scott Timberg: “You don’t have to be a hardcore Proustian – someone who sees life as shaped by the passage of time and delights in the pleasure of anticipation – to want this stuff to come out a little at a time. (Though it sure helps.)”