“What was an iconoclastic gesture has become an icon. Whatever the readymade stood for during Duchamp’s time, and for Duchamp, is no longer of any value.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
We Have ‘Twin Peaks’ To Thank For Our Current ‘Golden Age Of TV’
“Many of the defining aspects of Twin Peaks can seem clichéd today: Its narrative intricacy, its darkness, its reliance on antiheroes. But that’s just because we are by now so used to the show’s sensibility in our televised diet. What set this show apart [in 1990] has so thoroughly been assimilated that talking about it is like pointing to the sky and calling it blue.”
Stephen Sondheim Backpedals On Disney’s Changes To ‘Into The Woods’
After last week’s New Yorker post, Sondheim has released a statement saying that the article “has created some false impressions about my collaboration with the Disney Studio … The fact is that James [Lapine, who wrote both the show and the movie] and I worked out every change from stage to screen with the producers and … director.”
Why Tearjerker Teen Movies Are So Popular
“You might say that the teen weepie picture is cathartic of all these adolescent anxieties, but theorists are increasingly dubious about whether or not catharsis exists, at least where tears are concerned. Do you actually purge emotions when you cry over art?”
‘Market Populism’ And Casey Kasem
Scott Timberg argues that the late American Top 40 host has ” been drafted posthumously into a war he never fought, and become a symbol in a debate in which he never took a side.”
Your Moral Calculus Changes When You Use It In A Second Language
Researchers have found an interesting twist on the famous “trolley problem” (should you kill one person in order to save five?) thought experiment: people answer it differently when it’s posed in a second language rather than in their mother tongue.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 06.23.14
Maybe The Ka-Nefer-Nefer Dispute Isn’t Over
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts | Published 2014-06-24
From Jeffrey Nytch: Entrepreneurial transformation (1)
AJBlog: Sandow | Published 2014-06-24
Another Great Job Opens Up — In London
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts | Published 2014-06-24
Why The Morgan’s Roger Wieck Is A Surprising Proselytizer
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts | Published 2014-06-23
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S.C. Legislature To Colleges: If You’re Gonna Teach Lesbianism, We’ll Make You Teach ‘American Ideals’
After having assigned, respectively, Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home and the anthology Out Loud: The Best of Rainbow Radio, “the College of Charleston and the University of South Carolina-Upstate will have to spend $52,000 and $17,000, respectively, to teach the U.S. Constitution and other founding documents, ‘including the study of and devotion to American institutions and ideals’.”
Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, And Musicians Agree To Contract Extension – A Year Early
“The current contract was set to expire Aug. 31, 2015; the agreement” – which runs through August 2018 – “comes 14 months ahead of schedule. That undoubtedly will smooth the way for new Seattle Opera general director Aidan Lang, who takes the helm of the opera company this fall.”
Gerry Goffin, 75, Lyricist For (And Ex-Husband Of) Carole King
Among the hit songs the pair wrote together in the late 1960s were “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”, “Take Good Care of My Baby”, “Up on the Roof”, and “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?”