Says the leader of Radiohead, “I was trying hard not to be intimidated or overly starstruck … I kind of wish he had been more foreboding, but he’s just very friendly.” Says the venerable avant-garde composer, “I didn’t expect to meet somebody from pop music who was really quite a normal person. He dresses very normal, he has dignity and very good manners.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
The Real Downton Abbey And Its Real Lady Cora
Highclere Castle, the family pile stately home where the TV series is filmed, was the abode of Almina, the fifth Countess of Carnarvon, the filthy-rich bastard child goddaughter of industrialist Alfred de Rothschild.
How’s This For Site-Specific Art? New York Water Tanks
“For 12 weeks during the spring and summer of 2013, the Water Tank Project will host works by artists including Ed Ruscha, Lawrence Weiner, Tony Oursler, Marilyn Minter and Carrie Mae Weems, as well as rapper Jay-Z.”
Latest Endangered Folk Dance Tradition: Marching Aussie Lifeguards
“In Australia, a national tradition is under threat. On summer weekends, members of elite squads head to the beach. Standing like guards outside Buckingham Palace, participants parade up and down, barefoot on the sand, practicing a pageant that mixes the pomp of military ceremony with Baywatch.”
Evita! Judy! Jesus! Thank Heaven For Musicals About Celebrities!
Ben Brantley: “You might even argue that in this age of instant celebrity – in which fame for its own sake is regarded as both a feasible career choice and a democratic right – the lives of the excessively famous are more relevant than those of struggling sample-kit schleppers like Willy Loman.”
Vote For The Year’s Oddest Book Title!
“A guide to Estonian socks, an examination of the role of the fungus in Christian art, and a celebration of the humble office chair are among the books in contention for the Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year – the prestigious literary award run by The Bookseller since 1978.”
Why Writers Work In Cafes (The Noise Helps Them Think)
“People who like to write in cafes are onto something, it seems: A moderate level of noise – the equivalent of the background buzz of conversation – prompts more creative thought, according to a study.”
Barney Rosset, 89, Publisher And Anti-Censorship Hero
“[He] was most identified with his work at Grove Press, the New York-based book publisher he bought in the early 1950s. For the next several decades, he … used his company to distribute critically acclaimed but sexually explicit books by D.H. Lawrence, Henry Miller and William S. Burroughs and engaged in a series of groundbreaking legal battles that changed the way the government interpreted the First Amendment.”
Theatres Chosen To Create Online Content For BBC
“Bristol Old Vic, Shakespeare’s Globe and Sadler’s Wells will be among the first companies to create theatre content for a new online arts channel being launched by Arts Council England and the BBC.”
How Habits Get Formed (The Ad Industry Knows)
“The malleability of habits isn’t news to Madison Avenue: Effective commercials show how people can be quickly trained to do something new and then keep on doing it. The secret, it turns out, is the quick combination of a memorable cue and a rewarding experience.”