“A completist abdicates that distinction with a peculiar mixture of sorrow and relief. The long march through Godard’s hardcore Maoist period becomes too arduous to bear; … the long-ago passion for searching out Bowie oddities has devolved into a grudge: It is time to bail, and with the bailing comes a faintly mournful sense of liberation. Thus it is that I abandon all hope of reading everything Ralph Ellison (1914-1994) ever published.”
Tag: 05.05.10
Mezzo-Soprano Giulietta Simionato, 99
Considered one of the great opera singers of the postwar era, Simionato had a 30-year career at La Scala that encompassed most of the great standard mezzo roles. She performed in Lyric Opera of Chicago’s debut season (1954), and continued there as well as at the Met and most of the world’s major companies until she retired in 1966.
Antonio Banderas To Come Home To Almodovar
“Antonio Banderas will star in Pedro Almodóvar’s next film, marking one of the most anticipated film reunions in Spanish cinema more than 20 years after the actor starred in Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down.” The suspense film, which begins shooting this summer, is titled La piel que habito (“The Skin I Live In”).
Computer Software Decodes Emotions Over The Phone
“An Israeli company called eXaudios has developed a computer program, known as Magnify, that decodes the human voice to identify a person’s emotional state. … eXaudios is even testing the software’s use in diagnosing medical conditions like autism, schizophrenia, heart disease and even prostate cancer.”
NJPAC Gets $38M Tax Credit For Newark Skyscraper
“The New Jersey Performing Arts Center publicly unveiled plans for an ambitious high-rise building in Newark today. For the fourth time.” The project, now renamed One Theatre Square, “is a collaboration between NJPAC and Dranoff Properties. … but as in past years, today’s event did not explain how the planners will pay for it.”
Storms, Flooding Pummel Cannes Just A Week Before Festival
“Waves between four and 10 metres high crashed into the Promenade des Anglais in Nice and the Croisette in Cannes yesterday afternoon, overturning cars and battering seafront restaurants.” The town’s mayor “said the cost of the damage would run into millions of euros.”
Hanif Kureishi Just Had To Get Away
“As [the Indian-British author] publishes his collected short stories, he talks to Sarfraz Manzoor about his career, and his determination to escape the suburbs in favour of velvet trousers, drugs and cultural self-invention.”
Did Christie’s Sell A $150M Da Vinci For $20,000?
“Christie’s is facing a bitter compensation claim after a drawing it sold for £11,400 as a 19th-century German picture was claimed to be a 15th-century Leonardo da Vinci worth £100m.”
Ruling: Milwaukee Symphony Concert Tix Subject To Tax
“Trying to resolve a dispute that dates back to the mid-1990s, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled today the orchestra’s concerts are entertainment events and therefore are subject to the tax.”
How The Way We Read Mirrors The Way We Vote
“Depending on your mood, and the circumstances in which you were reading, your response can go either way. Book reviewers will recognise this sensation. You read deep into a book. Your verdict might traverse a range of opinions. Then you start to write about it, and you discover what you think. It’s a capricious process.”