Jon Gnarr ran on a platform promising free trips to Disneyland and more polar bears at the zoo; he even promised to break all his promises if elected. Then he was. (audio interview plus video clip)
Author: Matthew Westphal
Top Posts From AJBlogs 06.19.14
Another Nazi Loot Case: Discovered, Resolved
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts | Published 2014-06-20
On Horace Silver
AJBlog: RiffTides | Published 2014-06-20
A Dissent on “The Classical Style”
AJBlog: CultureCrash | Published 2014-06-19
Aaron Sachs & Jimmy Scott, Gone
AJBlog: RiffTides | Published 2014-06-19
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NY City Ballet’s Saratoga Season Is Finally Growing, Not Shrinking
“The New York City Ballet, which was forced by financial pressure to limit its Saratoga Performing Arts Center residency to one week last summer and this year, will return for two weeks in 2015, SPAC management announced Tuesday.”
Working-Class Fiction Has Been Written Out Of British Publishing
“We know that literary fiction is the record of the middle classes by the middle classes. Sometimes working-class characters exist, but they are there in the main to be ciphers or consequences. However, though it’s not a recent phenomenon, it is getting worse.”
Warning To Indie Authors: Amazon Is Not On Your Side!
Laura Miller: “It’s easy to understand their impulse to defend Amazon’s e-book publishing programs, given that many had tried in vain to publish their books with traditional houses before opting for, say, Kindle Direct Publishing. However, the dispute with Hachette has nothing to do with Amazon’s publishing programs and everything to do with the way traditionally published books are retailed, a distinction that self-published authors ignore at their peril.”
‘Pain In The Arts’: John Tusa’s Advice To The Cultural Sector
The former managing director of the BBC World Service and the Barbican Arts Centre “urges them to stop adopting the political jargon that distorts what art is, to refuse to reduce ticket prices to seduce a new public, and to stop moaning.”
More Evidence Of Why Musical Training Is Great For Kids’ Brains
“Precisely why learning an instrument would have a positive impact on academic achievement has never been clear. A new study from Boston Children’s Hospital provides a possible answer. It reports musical training may promote the development and maintenance of a key set of mental skills.”
The Strange Case Of China’s Half-Built ‘Ancient’ City
“In the last few years, Datong has made a massive push to draw those tourist groups to its inner city, a place that was first settled in the Han dynasty around 200 BC. It’s all part of an ambitious plan to raze the old city and replace it with a new ‘ancient’ Tang-style city.” Naturally there are complaints that the new “historic” buildings are ersatz; worse is what happened after the mayor left town.
Nashville Symphony Bailout Cost Lenders $39 Million
“According to Chad Boyd, the symphony’s chief financial officer, the $39 million included some $30 million the symphony owed to the banks on a mortgage with a balance of $85.3 million and another $9 million due to the lenders under a related interest swap agreement, a deal meant to hedge against rate fluctuations.”
John Lithgow’s ‘King Lear’ Rehearsal Diary, Part One
“This is not going to be easy. … And since late February I have foregone shaving.”