Ross Douthat: “The problem is the one that Auden identified seventy years ago: In an Apollonian culture, eager for “Useful Knowledge” and technical mastery and increasingly indifferent to memory and allergic to tradition, the poet and the novelist and the theologian struggle to find an official justification for their arts. And both the turn toward radical politics and the turn toward high theory are attempts by humanists in the academy to supply that justification — to rebrand the humanities as the seat of social justice and a font of political reform, or to assume a pseudoscientific mantle that lets academics claim to be interrogating literature with the rigor and precision of a lab tech doing dissection.”
Blog
The Secrets Of Costuming For Outdoor Summer Shakespeare
“Across the country, as actors and audiences endure rain, heat, and bugs to present and partake of free professional performances of the Bard’s classics, one group of designers has a special challenge: costume designers, who must conceive innovative ways to protect actors, their clothes, and the integrity of the story. How does the process of working al fresco differ from being in more enclosed venues, and how do costumers think sustainably to preserve their designs night after night?”
Declining Skills Or Age Discrimination? Longtime Orchestra Musicians Quit Rather Than Be Evaluated
Steven Reed’s letter said he failed to blend with other players in the section and came in late to solos. He said he doesn’t need the hassle of the evaluation procedure. “My impression is that it is a form of discrimination,” Reed said. Once an orchestra member receives a warning letter, a meeting is held with the music director to discuss issues.
Gala Dalí, Chief Marketing Officer Of Salvador Dalí, Inc.
“The idea is that while Dalí was the face of the enterprise, Gala propelled it. Dalí certainly recognised her contribution, signing some of his paintings ‘Gala Salvador Dalí’ … Can Gala, having produced no art that we know of, really be considered an artist? Perhaps not. But this exhibition does show how much Salvador Dalí – and his art – depended on her forceful personality, for better or worse.”
How Books Let Us See Inside Others’ Brains
“There are many things that would be lost if we slowly lose the cognitive patience to immerse ourselves in the worlds created by books and the lives and feelings of the “friends” who inhabit them. And although it is a wonderful thing that movies and film can do some of this, too, there is a difference in the quality of immersion that is made possible by entering the articulated thoughts of others. What will happen to young readers who never meet and begin to understand the thoughts and feelings of someone totally different?”
Matt Groening Goes Medieval On Us
“But while it takes place in a medieval realm of wizards and dragons, [the new series] is not exactly Mr. Groening’s answer to Game of Thrones. Disenchantment is more like [his] comic amalgam of fantasy franchises like Lord of the Rings and the animated epics of Hayao Miyazaki, to name just two of its dozens of influences. It is also Mr. Groening’s first show created for a streaming service … as well as, consequently, his first to have a serialized narrative.”
How Musicians Make Money Today (Or Don’t)
By recent research estimates, U.S. musicians only take home one-tenth of national industry revenues. One reason for such a meager percentage is that streaming services — while reinvigorating the music industry at large — aren’t lucrative for artists unless they’re chart-topping names like Drake or Cardi B. According to one Spotify company filing, average per-stream payouts from the company are between $0.006 and $0.0084; numbers from Apple Music, YouTube Music, Deezer and other streaming services are comparable.
How Philanthropists Used Music To Push For Social Change In 19th-Century America
Amanda Moniz of the National Museum of American History writes about the Hutchinson Family Singers (who campaigned for the abolition of slavery), the Fisk Jubilee Singers (who raised funds for Fisk University, which was founded to educate former slaves), and the concerts by the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston to benefit Russian Jewish refugees.
QAnon And Sacha Baron Cohen Are Giving America What It Craves Right Now: Masha Gessen
“Is there a way to explain what’s happening to us? Is there a theory, a secret, or a person capable of forcing our undulating reality to come into focus? Is there a way to feel stable on this careening ship of a country? But of course there is: two compelling options have emerged into the mainstream in the last few weeks … One is brought to us by Sacha Baron Cohen, the other by a person, or persons, known as Q. One claims to show that the people in charge are actually idiots; the other claims to know that the idiot-in-chief is actually in charge.”
How Mark Morris Subverts Hoary Romantic Clichés: Alastair Macaulay Analyzes ‘Love Song Waltzes’
“Even when they waltz, [the dancers] don’t have the lifted posture and arching polish of the best ballroom performers; they’re more ornery than that. … The men arch back — rapturous, trusting — in their women’s arms. Whereupon the women promptly drop them — splat! — to the floor.” (Face down, no less.) (includes video clips)