The Masochism Tango: Why Finland Took The Archetypal Argentine Dance To Heart

“It seems the melancholic music is a perfect match for the typical Finnish soul. ‘It’s a little bit sad, and it’s beautiful,’ a woman tells me at a dimly lit Helsinki restaurant that regularly hosts dances. Paradoxically, when she moves to these sad melodies, she feels happy. (She didn’t want to be named, her reason being another national trait: shyness.)”

Farrah Fawcett As Role Model

Michelle Cottle: “[M]y six-year-old friends and I … were years away from understanding the concept of ‘Jiggle TV,’ much less why it might be a bad thing. We liked the guns and the gowns and the karate kicks and the sight of a bunch of really pretty ladies getting the best of the bad guys. And, oh yes, we loved the fact that, week after week, the chicks dashed out to save the day while their faithful handler, John Bosley, functioned as a genial, glorified manservant.”

House Okays NEA, NEH Funding Increase (Next Up: Senate)

“The House of Representatives today approved $170-million budgets for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2010: a 9.7% increase for each over their current $155 million. … The issue now: the Senate Appropriations Committee’s budget proposal for the cultural agencies calls for $161.3 million each….”

The Art Of Book Recommendations (Or Is It?)

“Book Seer prompts a question above and beyond the functionality of its algorithms. Namely: what methods do most people actually employ to move from one book to another? Is it the “if you liked this, try this” suggestions of online retailers such as Amazon? Or perhaps newspaper and journal reviews, a bookseller’s expertise, serendipitous browsing or the opinion of friends? Could it even be, flying in the face of the maxim, a book’s cover?”

Design Issue: Do We Need More Chairs?

“The most environmentally responsible solution is surely to not make anything further, but recycle, reuse and adapt what already exists. That single idea undoes the entire furniture industry, which is perhaps why so many designers are sticking their heads in the sand and soldiering on regardless, or paying lip-service to green production values while struggling with the idea that consumption, as we know it, may be over.”

Farrah Fawcett, 62, Model, Actress, Symbol

Alessandra Stanley: “[H]er last poignant appearances sometimes obscure a smaller, more gratifying story line of a celebrated beauty who worked against type to construct a more dignified second act. Long before Charlize Theron gained weight to make Monster and Nicole Kidman put on a fake nose to play Virginia Woolf, Ms. Fawcett scrubbed off her tawny good looks to play battered – and battering – women in The Burning Bed and Extremities.”