Well, that’s what Montaigne said, perhaps summing up the point of philosophy. But look at how philosophers die: Socrates (ordered to kill himself), Hypatia (flayed by a mob of angry Christians), Francis Bacon (caught a chill while experimenting with refrigeration), Nietzche (syphilis)… and Camus, who thought no death could be more meaningless than one in a car accident. Guess how he died.
Author: Matthew Westphal
The Beijing CCTV Fire: Divine Punishment For Bad Urban Planning?
Many Chinese saw the blaze – which happened on the last day of Lunar New Year celebrations – that destroyed part of the enormous Rem Koolhaas/OMA complex as a bad omen. That towering inferno “might also have been a funeral pyre of sorts, a symbolic end of the architectural excess that has hallmarked China’s post-Mao binge-building boom.”
It’s Not Just Ballet In Saratoga This Summer
“Modern dance returns to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center this summer as the Mark Morris Dance Group and the Paul Taylor Dance Company, guided by two of dance’s greatest choreographers, make their first-ever appearances on the SPAC main stage.”
Supposed Stolen Strad Surfaces At Seashore
“A violin believed to be a stolen Stradivarius has been found by Romanian police in the city of Constanta on the Black Sea coast.”
New Edinburgh Fringe Chief Promises No More Ticket Chaos
“Kath Mainland, newly appointed chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, has said the body must put the ticketing woes of last year behind it and vowed to keep the festival as an open-access event for performers.”
‘A Need To Be Heard’ Fuels Chicago’s New Opera Company
“‘There were way too few opportunities for African-American opera singers in Chicago,’ said Marvin Lynn, executive director of the 11-member group [South Shore Opera Company], which will debut this weekend at the newly renovated South Shore Cultural Center. […] ‘If it’s not a black opera, we may or may not be featured. As a company, we want to present a range of work.'”
Absurdist Moroccan Contemporary Dance (Yes, There Is Such A Thing)
Alastair Macaulay: “But what is funny and refreshing about the Cie2k_far – its full name, by the way, is Cie2k_far Contemporary Dance Company and Creation of All Kinds – is that it cheerfully and immediately contradicts any such notion” that it must necessarily base its work in traditional dance.
A Real-Life Former Slumdog Speaks
“People keep praising the film’s ‘realistic’ depiction of slum life in India. But it’s no such thing… Most people in the slums never achieve a fairy-tale ending. […] [M]ost slum dwellers never escape. Neither do their kids. No one wants to watch a movie about that.” Suzip Mazumdar recalls what life was like in the Indian ghetto.
Speaking Ill Of The Dead (You Know You Want To)
“We realize we aren’t supposed to speak ill of the dead, but we adore it, often to a perfectly scandalous degree, when others do, and especially when it’s funny. Cracking wise about the recently departed is the ultimate form of schadenfreude – mirth at the misfortunes of others.”
The Opposite Of Grand Theft Auto
Chris Suellentrop: “Flower [is] a little marvel of a game that casts the player as a series of petals floating in the wind. What’s remarkable about Flower is the sensation it creates, from start to finish: simple, almost indescribable, joy.”