Dennis Loy Johnson of Melville House: “I recently read a survey that said 39% or 40% of people who bought books on Amazon looked at them in a bookstore first. They could know everything about the book online short of having seen it, but still the physical object had enough meaning to them to want to see it first.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Mike Daisey Attacks Journalists, Insists On ‘Truth’ Of His Monologue
“After four days of nonstop media coverage, Mike Daisey is still standing his ground and refusing to retreat. In fact, he is taking the counter-offensive, blasting the media for what he sees as their skewed obsession with him.”
Deteriorating Brutalist Landmark In Upstate New York May Be Razed
“Beefy piers hold up three stories of long boxcar shapes that look as if they had been frozen in the process of chugging past one another. Massive plate-glass windows fill the staggered, sliced-off ends. … The Orange County Government Center, by the once-famed architect Paul Rudolph,” is now so leaky it can’t be used; the county executive finds it a troublesome money pit and wants to replace it completely.
Is God Is A Testable Hypothesis?
“The gods worshipped by billions either exist or they do not. And those gods, if they exist, must have observable consequences. Thus, the question of their existence is a legitimate scientific issue that has profound import to humanity. We can consider the existence of God to be a scientific hypothesis and look for the empirical evidence that would follow.”
Science Will Not Loosen Religion’s Hold On People
“The fears and trepidation of so many believers – and the jubilant anticipation of so many critics of religion – that science will eventually displace religion are wrong-headed on many counts. … Not everyone is religious, but religious ideas and actions spontaneously and inevitably arise in human populations. Second, [the skeptics] underestimate the creativity and imaginativeness of theology.”
Hollywood’s Problem With IMDb? Too Much Information (Of The Wrong Kind)
“Over the past 15 years, the Internet Movie Database, or IMDb, has become an increasingly popular source for biographical data, with profiles of more than four million Hollywood types. But many aren’t exactly thrilled about its accuracy – or its revelatory powers.” Actors’ ages are a particular sore spot.
San Francisco Lyric Opera Back In Action After Three-Year Hiatus
The company, first formed in 1996 by San Francisco Opera choristers who wanted their own turns at center stage, had to suspend operations in 2009. Now SFLO, with a new focus on chamber opera, is relaunching with a staged version of David Lang’s the little match girl passion.
Andy Warhol Gets A Make-Up Line
“Postmodern eye shadow, anyone? Tomato-soup blush? A new line of cosmetics is being launched that will bear the name of Andy Warhol. … The new collection of makeup will be developed by Nars Cosmetics, under license from the Andy Warhol Foundation.”
The Great Granddaddy Of All Political Strategists (He Was Cicero’s Brother)
“Cicero was … a brilliant man and gifted speaker, with a burning desire to gain the highest office in the ancient republic. As the campaign approached, his brother Quintus … decided that his older sibling needed to learn a few things about how to win an election.”
BBC Radio 4 To Air Series About Shakespeare’s Audience
“The [20-part] series, called Shakespeare’s Restless World, is being presented by British Museum director Neil MacGregor and will use objects to discuss ‘how Elizabethan playgoers understood and made sense of the unstable and rapidly changing world in which they lived’.”