“There was no grand entrance, no curtain-up moment. Instead, dancers in white gradually emerged on the edges of Lincoln Center’s Josie Robertson Plaza. Their movements foreshadowed doom: some falling, some with head in hands, some with arms outstretched to sky, but all lunging forward.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Holy War: How Real Is The Clash Of Religions And Civilizations?
“While religion is a popular motif for describing national or international strife, a closer look suggests that’s really just a veneer for less spiritual issues.”
Reading Shakespeare in Kandahar
“At its core, Titus Andronicus is a play about how good people can become unhinged and indeed overwhelmed by the need to avenge. It is about how powerful people surrender themselves to cycles of violence, how tribal and religious customs unequivocally demand retaliation, and how two tribes’ or two religions’ speaking past rather than with each other can lead to chaos.” Relevant to Afghanistan, perhaps?
Oakland Children’s Museum Cancels Show Of Art By Palestinian Kids
“An Oakland children’s museum, citing pressure from the community, canceled a planned exhibit of artwork by Palestinian youth that depicted the Israeli assault during the 2008-09 Gaza conflict.”
The Link From Radio Drama To Citizen Kane
“Less noticed by critics [praising the film today] is something that was obvious in 1941: Many of the film’s signature devices were motifs developed by [Orson] Welles and his Mercury Theatre troupe during their years in radio.”
Lady Gaga – Pop’s Leading Conservative?
“None of Gaga’s supposed transgressions – from the near-nudity onstage to the risqué-ish lyrics … to the ritual oversharing – had not already been made in 1972. She is touted for her boldness in becoming an outré bisexual icon, even though David Bowie, literally old enough to be her grandfather, carried that flag in more treacherous times.”
When Maori War Dances Meet Flash Mobs
“With the world’s attention on New Zealand as it plays host to the Rugby World Cup, a Maori group has given an indigenous dance a contemporary twist, creating the ‘flash haka’.”
Were Moses And The Israelites At Mount Sinai Tripping?
“When Moses received the Ten Commandments, ‘[A]ll the people perceived the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the voice of the horn, and the mountain smoking.’ Could this be because all the people themselves were themselves smoking – or otherwise consuming – a hallucinogen (or hallucinogens)?”
How Many Different Ways Can TV Look At The 9/11 Anniversary? (Too Many.)
“Some specials are so niche-sensitive that they almost sound like humor-magazine parodies: CNBC, which has a series called American Greed, came up with American Greed: 9/11 Fraud, about the scams and profiteering that followed the disaster. Showtime offers The Love We Make, about Paul McCartney’s journey through New York after Sept. 11. (Bravo, thankfully, did not try to wedge its Real Housewives formula into the mix.)”
And How Well Has Cinema Handled 9/11?
“Perhaps the whole point of 9/11 was that it could never be represented on the cinema screen. The diabolic, situationist genius of the kamikaze attacks was that they were themselves a kind of counter-cinema, a spectacle very possibly inspired by the art-form, but rendering obsolete any comparable fictions it had to offer.”