In the big sales, financial guarantees do – so that the New York art world can feel reassured it’s moving at least $2 billion worth of art.
Blog
What Do Amazon Reviews Reveal About Humanity En Masse?
Here’s the theory: “The power of the Amazon review is not what you might think. They’re not really there to help you purchase a clock or a book or even to develop a conspiracy theory about the increasing flimsiness of Ziploc sandwich bags compared to other brands. … I mean, they are there to help you purchase things, but that is secondary. The real reason to read Amazon reviews, and, in particular, to follow the Hansel-and-Gretel breadcrumb trail of those reviews as left by one person from product to product, is to glimpse into a life, strange and whole and utterly unlike your own. This is where the real magic lies.”
A Bunch Of First-Year College Students Are Involved In ‘Common Reading’ Programs. But What Are They Reading?
In 2018, 481 U.S. colleges and universities picked common readers – and they prefer new or recent books to classics: “67 percent of common reading books assigned were published after 2011.”
Ricky Jay, Master Magician And Actor, Has Died At 72
Jay was “one of the most compelling figures in magic,” and he also appeared in Magnolia, Boogie Nights, and Deadwood.
Congratulations! You’ve Won Eurovision. What’s Next? [VIDEO]
Israeli singer Netta Barzilai won the 2018 competition, and since then, she’s met Prince William, gotten hundreds of thousands more followers on Instagram – and tried to stay true to being a musician, not a hit pop song writer.
The U.S. Has A Huge Number Of Empty Churches – What Should Be Done With Them?
Between 6,000 and 10,000 churches die every year in the United States. “As donations and attendance decrease, the cost of maintaining large physical structures that are only in use a few hours a week by a handful of worshippers becomes prohibitive. None of these trends show signs of slowing, so the United States’s struggling congregations face a choice: start packing or find a creative way to stay afloat.”
Pompeii Has Some Seriously At-Risk Areas, And The Effort To Preserve Them Has Revealed New Treasures
A fresco of Leda and the swan is only one of many treasures revealed by an intensive effort to save a stretch along the Via del Vesuvio. “The project involves excavating and securing more than two miles of earth that border an unexcavated area of the ancient city. The archaeological remains along this front have suffered in recent years as a result of collapses and landslides caused by heavy rains.”
Has Contemporary Poetry ‘Abandoned Craft,’ Or Are Its Critics Missing Something Important?
Novelist Rose Tremain and poet Robin Robertson have both railed against contemporary poetry in recent days. Whoops. “Detractors of new poetry make judgments about craft based on conservative assumptions about poetic traditions, forms, style. But radical aesthetics have their own craft and traditions, formed from intersecting political and linguistic concerns. So this isn’t a question of craft at all.”
The World’s Greatest Song Partnership Is Three Decades In, With No Signs Of Stopping
Christian Gerhaher, a baritone, and pianist Gerald Huber, who have performed together for 30 years, “have become bywords for sensitivity, cerebral depth and seeming perfection in a lieder repertory that they have made their own.”
Oh, Netflix: The Giant Still Can’t Quite Figure Out An Oscar Strategy For ‘Roma’
Director Alfonso Cuarón wanted the release on the big screen, not just for an Oscars campaign, but because the movie looks better there. And the company did that, “but selling theaters on making room in their schedules to show Roma in all its glory was not an easy task for Netflix.”