“You’ve heard of actors getting typecast. But there is no group more slighted, more narrowly cast, than the Muslim-American actors who earn virtually their entire livings pretending to hijack planes and slaughter infidels. Jon Ronson embarks on a soul-searching odyssey with the bad guys of Homeland, American Sniper, 24, and every other TV show and movie in which the holy warriors get mowed down before they even get to finish one good ‘Allahu Akbar!’“
Author: Matthew Westphal
The ISIS Book Club? These Volumes Could Help Trace Antiquities Looted From Iraq And Syria
“The stash of books about ancient coins and Egyptian pyramids seemed to belong more in a 1950s library in Germany than on the back of a truck filled with shoulder-fired missiles. Then again, if you’re an Islamic State fighter with plans to loot and sell antiquities to the West in order to fund your cause, it helps to know which objects to look for.”
‘Mother’s Delusions’: Shirley Jackson On Writing
“The children around our house have a saying that everything is either true, not true, or one of Mother’s delusions. … The very nicest thing about being a writer is that you can afford to indulge yourself endlessly with oddness, and nobody can really do anything about it, as long as you keep writing and kind of using it up, as it were.”
Mind-Bending: The Psychology Of Awe
“Awe is not an everyday emotion. You don’t wake up awestruck. A satisfying lunch doesn’t leave you filled with awe. Even a great day is unlikely to leave you in a state of jaw-dropped, consciousness-opening fear and trembling. Perhaps that’s why, up until about ten years ago, psychology had surprisingly little to say about awe.” So Jonathan Haidt and Dacher Keltner set out to change that.
Boredom – We Could Not Live Without It
Andreas Elpidorou draws an analogy with pain: almost none of us enjoy it, but not being able to feel it at all is dangerous.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 08.04.15
“Music Unwound” – The NEH and the Music Education Crisis
AJBlog: Unanswered Question Published 2015-08-04
Who’s “Unfair”? Guggenheim & Gulf Labor Coalition Exchange Barbs Over Delayed Abu Dhabi Project
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-08-04
Follow that Brook at your Peril!
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2015-08-04
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The Zen Master Of Dance In New York
“Even in the depths of summer, when New York theaters close up shop and dance companies go on break or on tour, the ballet teacher Zvi Gotheiner keeps going to work, though he may not call it that. And dancers keep flocking to work with him.”
After A Year On The Job, Andris Nelsons Extends With Boston Symphony To (At Least) 2022
“On Monday, the orchestra announced it has extended its contract with Nelsons through the 2021-2022 season. The contract, which had previously run until 2019, also includes an evergreen provision allowing Nelsons and the orchestra to add additional years.”
Do New York Theatergoers Really Dress Like Slobs? And Does It Matter?
Alexis Soloski: “Mostly I’m in favour of dressing down. It seems democratising to me. Less elitist. It makes theatre seem like the kind of thing anyone and everyone can go do, which is what I devoutly wish. (Well, that and cheaper, better wine at the concession stands.)”
The Composer That Lyric Opera Of Chicago Found On YouTube
The company was looking to commission an adaptation of Ann Patchett’s novel Bel Canto. Jimmy López remembers getting a call about it from his friend, conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya: “November 18th, 2010, I was having lunch and I got a call from Miguel. He said, ‘You need to go home and upload your vocal music to YouTube.'”