“[There’s a] cultural bias against women’s voices and the domestic truths of women’s lives and the deep role this has played in painting Plath as both a pathetic victim and a Cassandra-like, genius freak. It is only in a culture where these two things be claimed simultaneously that Hughes, a known philanderer and violent partner, can spend forty years botching the editing of, or outright destroying, his estranged, now dead wife’s work, then win every conceivable literary prize and be knighted by the Queen.”
Blog
Alex Ross: When Trump Evoked Symphonies (And Symphonies Evoked Power)
Presuming to speak for that civilization, Trump said, “We write symphonies. We pursue innovation. We celebrate our ancient heroes . . .” The Internet cried with one voice: “We write what?” Like many of Trump’s utterances, the line was at once ludicrous and sinister. His veneration for orchestral music came as a surprise to almost everyone, and the implication that some cultures are incapable of creating symphonies stirred bad memories.
When The Leaders Of The World Went To An Orchestra Concert
As the cameras panned over the orchestra, soloists and chorus, each and every musician (even the terrific timpanist with a goatee that extended down to his white tie) gave the impression of attempting to personally bring light, reason, substance, even love, into the life of world leaders capable of making the world better or blowing it to smithereens.
British Student Arrested Under Terrorism Laws For Owning ‘The Anarchist Cookbook’
Josh Walker, 26, traveled to Syrian Kurdistan to volunteer with the People’s Protection Units, a secular, social democratic group fighting ISIS. Upon returning to Britain, he was detained at the airport and later released without charge. Then police searched his apartment in Wales. “The authorities have not alleged that he was involved in any kind of terror plot; rather, they claim that because he obtained parts of the Cookbook – which is freely available in its entirety on the internet – he collected information ‘of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.'”
Quentin Tarantino’s Next Film Will Be About The Manson Family Murders
Oh, dear – this isn’t going to be pretty, even if it is good. “If the … project does become Tarantino’s next film, it becomes unique in that it will be his first movie to be based on true events.”
‘The World’s First Kung-Fu Holocaust Exploitation Flick!”
“Exodus to Shanghai is a film that claims to tell the story of Ho Feng-Shan, Chinese consul for Vienna, a rescuer of Jews in prewar Austria. While indeed based on true events, it may be the first Holocaust film that heavily features martial-arts-action scenes. The cast includes German actors, as well as Romanians, some Asians, and two young blond models. It was completed in Israel and sponsored by the Fashion TV channel. Sounds delusional? Not in the eyes of the filmmakers.”
Why Do Languages Have Contractions?
As Slate puts it, “John McWhorter explains why we love shrinkage.” (podcast)
Ben Brantley And Jesse Green Talk Broadway Musical Second Casts (Donna Murphy Rules As Dolly)
Green: “Not that we and the rest of the world didn’t adore Ms. Midler in the part. But Ms. Murphy so immediately makes it her own, and has such a different take on it, that you are not left wanting what you cannot have.” (They also talk about Brendon Urie in Kinky Boots and Norm Lewis and Carolee Carmello – who “would be a great Dolly if Ms. Murphy herself wants an alternate” – in the pie-shop Sweeney Todd.)
Changing Young People’s Minds About Classical Concerts Will Not Be Easy
Graham Strahle writes about the results of a study of 40 young adults who attended concerts explicitly designed to cut down on concert-hall formality.
Bolshoi Canceled ‘Nureyev’ Ballet, On Culture Minister’s Orders, Because Of Gay ‘Propaganda’ Law: Report
“Just days after the Bolshoi called off the premiere, Russia’s state-run TASS news agency quoted an unidentified ‘source’ as saying that Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky ordered the show postponed because it may constitute gay ‘propaganda’ [under a notorious] 2013 law.”