“The pronounced stock shortage inside the Librairie des Puf” – that’s for Presses universitaires de France – “is not the result of an ordering mistake, but the heart of the shop’s business model.”
Tag: 06.13.16
Think Gender Is (Even Partly) Performance? Here’s The Woman Who Launched The Idea
“Here’s Teen Vogue on another photo of Jaden Smith in a skirt suit: ‘The midi skirt set sends up a poignant rejection of heteronormativity.’ What sage could have predicted that heteronormativity would eventually make its way into the vocabulary of teen magazines and shareable web content? Only, perhaps, the queer theorist Judith Butler.”
How, And Where, American Tourism Began
“In the early nineteenth century, a few scenic destinations became hot spots for tourism … In fact, by the 1860s [the number-one attraction] was so popular that travelers complained that souvenir sellers and aggressive guides had spoiled the place.”
A ‘Canterbury Tales’ For The Age Of The Refugee
“Refugee Tales features stories including [Chris] Cleave’s ‘The Lorry Driver’s Tale’, [Ali] Smith’s ‘The Detainee’s Tale’, [Marina] Lewycka’s ‘The Dependant’s Tale’ … [The book] stems from refugee charity the Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group, which sends volunteers into the two detention centres at Gatwick airport to speak to the hundreds of people who are held there.”
Elon Musk Says We Might All Be Living In A Simulation. Really?
“Wouldn’t it, I mean, be a remarkable coincidence to find ourselves alive at just the moment where technology finally shows itself to be adequate to reveal to us the true nature of reality? And how are we supposed to interpret the equally certain claims of people in other times and places, who believed that reality in fact reflected some device or artifice of central importance to their own culture (e.g., horologia, mirrors, puppets, tjurungas…)?”
Interviewing Vanessa Redgrave Is A Very Strange Experience
Simon Hattenstone: “I have never met somebody who can go from wilfully cantankerous to heartstoppingly tender so quickly; who can make me want to scream with frustration and move me to tears in the same sentence.”
Director: It’s A Terrible Time To Be Director Of A Theatre
“We have become fundraisers who occasionally get time off to do a play, as opposed to theatre directors who have to take an interest in fundraising.”
The Lost Masterpiece Of Pakistan’s Avant-Garde Cinema (?)
“Pakistani cinema is assumed to have been untouched by the 20th century’s avant-garde film movements. But, with its documentary treatment of village life, labour and capitalist exploitation bearing recognisable traces of socialist realism, Italian neo-realism and Indian parallel cinema, Day Shall Dawn proves otherwise. The intimate involvement of revered poet [Faiz Ahmad] Faiz – credited with story, lyrics and dialogue – adds gravitas to an already intriguing endeavour.”
There’s A Full-Size Replica Of The Sistine Chapel Touring Mexico
“Rising on the Plaza de la República [in Mexico City], the massive structure marks the first time the Vatican has given permission to reproduce the chapel on this scale … Michelangelo’s paintings are photographic reproductions printed on canvas, their religious scenes composed of over 2.6 million images each about an inch large.”
Why Violinist Jennifer Koh Is Sticking With New York Even Though Her Life Would Be Easier In Berlin
“Stateside, she fundraised for eight years to acquire her current violin, while European countries loan instruments to their top artists. Being a self-employed artist in the United States means paying for your own health insurance or going without, not the case in Europe. But at the end of the day, she says, New York wins out on …” (audio)