“Tea party queen and Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann is convinced that America is sinking into tyranny. Why?” She blames, ultimately, the Renaissance for having set in motion the abandonment of the medieval, God-centered worldview. Christopher Knight has at her.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Indian English: The Family Tree Of A (Deliciously) Mongrel Language
“Once the British left India, Anglo-Indian died a natural death. In its place came a chutnified Indian English that mixes American and British versions of the language with vernacular words and syntax and direct translations of phrases. A glimpse of the breadth of influences in contemporary Indian English can be found at the delightfully-named Samosapedia.”
New Jersey Mom Goes To Andalusia And Dances Flamenco
Toni Messina, a “50-year-old suburban mom and lawyer from New Jersey” who has studied and danced flamenco for years, writes of her journey to Jerez – ground zero for flamenco – in search of duende.
The Opera-ization Of The American Musical
Anne Midgette: “Opera companies all over the country are putting new emphasis on presenting classic musicals in the original orchestration, without amplification … [But] fetishizing authenticity is of questionable value when it comes to the Broadway tradition.”
Stephen Sondheim Slams ART’s Revised Porgy And Bess
“More dismaying is the disdain that Diane Paulus, Audra McDonald and Suzan-Lori Parks feel toward the opera itself. Ms. Paulus says that in the opera you don’t get to know the characters as people. Putting it kindly, that’s willful ignorance.”
If They Rewrite Porgy And Bess With A Happy Ending, What Next?
Michael Musto: “Cats, but changed to be about lions? (A big possible comeback for Julie Taymor.) … A Titanic where they avert the iceberg and keep pouring the cocktails? A Chorus Line where they all get the part?”
Philip Levine Named US Poet Laureate
“The Library of Congress will announce on Wednesday that Philip Levine, best known for his big-hearted, Whitmanesque poems about working-class Detroit, is to be the next poet laureate, succeeding W. S. Merwin.”
Conceptual Artist Roman Opalka, 79, Painted Numerals To Infinity
“Starting at the top left of a canvas measuring a little over four by six feet, and using acrylic paint, he used a fine brush (No. 0) to inscribe 20,000 to 30,000 white numerals … in neat rows that ended at the bottom right corner. Each succeeding canvas, or ‘detail’ as he called it, picked up where the previous one left off. As of July 2004, he had reached 5.5 million.”
Reviving The Oldest (And Longest) Finnish Ballet
Whirls, a sprawling ballet score by composer Uuno Klami based on a story from the ancient Finnish epic Kalevala, was supposed to have received its world premiere 50 years ago. The work will finally reach the stage this month, with choreography by Alpo Aaltokoski.
How Super 8mm Film Let Everyone Make Movies
“Super 8mm, unleashed by Kodak in 1965, … no longer had to be threaded laboriously into place; instead it came in 3,600-frame cassettes that could be inserted in a couple of seconds. These developments increased the picture-area on each frame by 50 per cent and allowed space for a soundtrack as well. Suddenly, Everyman was a real film-maker. So were his kids.”