“For while the Hallé can claim a 153-year unbroken performance record since Sir Charles Hallé first assembled his talented musicians in 1858, it seems the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society may lay better claim to the title – by 18 years.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Being Salman Rushdie
“A few years ago, someone brought a smile to Rushdie’s lips. What’s worse, he asked him: living in hiding for years with a death sentence hanging over you, or being asked thousands of times what it’s like to live with a death sentence hanging over you? ‘It’s pretty close,’ the writer replied ironically.”
Why Haunted House Movies Keep Being Made
The genre goes right back to 1927 (The Cat and the Canary), through The Amityville Horror, The Shining, and The Others; four high-profile haunted-house movies have come out just this year. Why does a trope that seems so hackneyed retain such power?
Paris Syndrome (It’s Nothing Like Stockholm Syndrome Or Jerusalem Syndrome)
This summer the French capital saw at least 20 cases of “a serious disorder that causes tourists, especially Japanese tourists, many problems on their trip through the City of Light.” Common symptoms include “acute delusions, hallucinations, dizziness, sweating, and feelings of persecution.”
Moby-Dick – An American Bible?
Nathaniel Philbrick, author of the new book Why Read Moby-Dick?, argues that Melville’s novel, though not an easy read, is “as close to being our American Bible as we have.” This is not just because “the level of the language is like no other,” but also that the book contains the “genetic code” for much of the American mindset.
Why Chuck Palahniuk Writes About Really Gross Stuff
“I always work to the point where I know I’m going to regret what I’ve done on the page. … I operate with a theory that if I can conceive of a thing, I should put it on the page, to the point where I’ve begun to challenge myself and I begin to worry about how my friends will receive it. Because unless I go too far, I don’t feel like I’ve gone far enough.”
Forget Occupy Wall Street – Save The Surfing Madonna!
“She appeared on Good Friday [of 2011] beneath a railway bridge in the California beach town of Encinitas: the Virgin of Guadalupe calmly surfing a cobalt blue wave, her cloak pointing toward the words ‘SAVE THE OCEAN’.” For complicated reasons, the town government didn’t want the mosaic to stay, and it’s gone now – though it may soon reappear.
Pixar’s Creative Chief Talks About His Studio’s First Bad Reviews
“One negatively reviewed film” – Cars 2 – “especially one that goes on to become a megahit, isn’t enough to scratch the Pixar brand. But the commentary did dent morale at the studio, which until then had enjoyed an unbroken and perhaps unprecedented run of critical acclaim.”
New York Update Of The Seagull Headed For Screen
Relative Insanity “will update Chekhov’s play to the present day and relocate the action from the Russian countryside to the Hamptons in upstate [sic] New York.” David Duchovny, Helen Hunt, Maggie Grace, Joan Chen and John Davidson star.
Lost Eugene O’Neill Play Published In New Yorker
“The one-act play, entitled Exorcism, was staged in March 1920 by the Provincetown Players, but, according to The New Yorker‘s theatre critic John Lahr, O’Neill destroyed what he believed to be every copy of the play in order to save his father, celebrated romantic actor James O’Neill, embarrassment after a stroke.” (Online, the play is behind The New Yorker‘s paywall.)