Tag: 01.27.19

‘Unnerving Kitsch’: The Problem With The New KGB Museum In New York

The flyer says the place offers a “journey back to socialism.” You can get a picture taken in an old restraining chair, or at a commissar’s desk in his coat; you can dial-a-dictator on an old rotary phone and hear Stalin or Brezhnev give a speech. It’s all “blithely morally neutral,” writes Masha Gessen. “In the absence of any historical or political context, everything becomes an exhibit. And, with enough cheer and an address in Chelsea, anything can be kitsch.” — The New Yorker

Hemingway Hoped ‘The Old Man And The Sea’ Could Be Made Into A Play. Now, At Last, It Has

The novel was adapted for film three times, but none were considered successes. (Hemingway hated the first one, saying that Spencer Tracy looked more like Gertrude Stein than a Cuban fisherman.) A.E. Hotchner, who was both Papa H’s longtime friend and his biographer (and is now 101), has partnered with his son to make the novel’s first stage version, which opens in Pittsburgh on Feb. 1. — The Observer (UK)

Elon Musk Proposes Bach To Protect Cars

To prevent vandalism of his expensive cars, Musk announced plans for new theft prevention. “The latest details of the car monitoring system — that sound like a joke, but knowing Musk are possibly real(??) — were introduced on his Twitter page Saturday night. Musk claims the watchful cameras will play Bach’s Toccata and Fugue composition. He also said thieves might hear the metal versions of the classical piece.” – Mashable

The Religion Of Economics Is Done

Fareed Zakaria: “Let me be clear: Economics remains a vital discipline, one of the most powerful ways we have to understand the world. But in the heady days of post-Cold War globalization, when the world seemed to be dominated by markets and trade and wealth creation, it became the dominant discipline, the key to understanding modern life. That economics has since slipped from that pedestal is simply a testament to the fact that the world is messy.” – Foreign Policy

Ambitious New Classical Music Radio Station Launches, Aimed At Young Listeners

“The launch of a new classical entertainment station aimed at younger listeners is based on more than a hunch. Research found that a new generation of listeners was switching on to classical music through different sources, with 48% of under-35s exposed to it through classical versions of popular songs, such as the Brooklyn Duo version of Taylor Swift’s Blank. And 74% of people in the same age group had experienced classical music via a live orchestral performance at a film screening, according to analysts at Insight working for Bauer Media, owner of the new station.” – The Guardian

A Rising Chorus Urges Journalists To Get Off Social Media. Jeff Jarvis Dissents

“When journalists delete, dismiss, or disengage from Twitter or Facebook or YouTube or Instagram or Reddit or blogs, they turn their backs on the people who finally — like the journalists — have a printing press to call their own. For too long — since Habermas’ alleged birth of the public sphere in the coffee houses and salons of London and Paris — that sphere has excluded too many people, whom social media finally can include. Listen to them.” – Medium

Untangling Nostalgia For The World Of The Hardy Boys

The brothers’ adventures appealed to many young readers, as the boys filled their lives with adventures that always ended safely. But it’s also true that there were no gay characters and a paucity of characters of color – and racism throughout, despite decades of revisions. Still, there was Chet. “There was always something delightfully transgressive about the fact that Chet’s car, depicted in the books as the ‘pride’ of his life, is named The Queen.” – The Atlantic