Topping the fiction chart was John Grisham’s Camino Island, followed by The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. Grisham had three books among the top 20 selling fiction books in the year, withThe Rooster Bar landing at #16 and The Whistler at #18.
Tag: 12.29.17
We Keep Trying To Get Rid Of Paper. But We’re Addicted To It
Paper has played “an essential role in the development of mankind”. And yet, for decades, civilisation has been trying to develop beyond paper, promoting a paper-free world that will run seamlessly, immaterially on pixels and screens alone. How did paper get here? Where does it go next? For that matter, why is paper – which does its job perfectly well – compelled to keep innovating?
San Francisco’s Skyline Is Being Taken Over By Tech
“Skyscrapers tell a different story. They are the pyramids of our civilization, permanent monuments of our existence. They show who is in charge and what they think about themselves. Salesforce Tower is breaking a San Francisco height record that stood for nearly half a century.”
Some Of The Best Dancers In New York Work For The NBA
“Sure, New York City is home to lots of dance troupes, but if you’re a dance fan these two groups may not even be on your radar. Don’t be a snob. The Brooklynettes and the Knicks City Dancers perform intricate choreography during the breaks between quarters of pro-basketball games, in arenas with 360-degree views. And they are not messing around.”
‘Quite Simply The Greatest Theatrical Poem Ever Written’: Michael Billington On ‘Macbeth’
“If Macbeth continues to obsess us, it is because it seems both modern and timeless. We see all around us today the corrosive folly of overweening ambition and the insecurity that breeds tyranny. But Macbeth can never be reduced to a set of moralistic, crime-does-not-pay platitudes. It … has a language that eats into the soul.”
‘The Biggest Art Travesty Of 2017’: Indianapolis Museum Of Art Turning Itself Into ‘Newfields’
Following up on his contribution to CityLab‘s “Your Entire City Is an Instagram Playground Now” (last entry), Kriston Capps goes on a tweetstorm: “[In] the IMA’s rebrand as Newfields – an experience park – … the IMA’s board and director turned their backs on the museum, its curators, its collections, its accumulated knowledge, its history, and its legacy.”
Hero Dogs Are Being Trained To Sniff Out Smuggled Antiquities
“Vets at the Penn Vet Working Dog Centre in Philadelphia are to train canines to sniff out illegally trafficked antiquities, in partnership with the city’s Penn Museum and the non-profit organisation Red Arch Cultural Heritage Law & Policy Research.”
The Instagrammable City – A Bad Idea Whose Time Has Come
Don’t do this, cities. Or maybe do do this, if you’re a marketer. But wow, what a tool of gentrification Instagram has become. For instance, in a Northeast D.C. neighborhood that is experiencing rapid gentrification: “The murals are fine ones; the splashes of color are nice. But most are very clearly Instagram bait in the service of developers.”
Callas Singing ‘Tosca’ Is The Best Opera Recording Ever, And Here’s Why
Anthony Tommasini: “Even though it was done under studio conditions, Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano (as the idealistic Mario) and Tito Gobbi (as the villainous police chief Scarpia) are thrillingly alive and subtle for the towering maestro Victor de Sabata and the forces of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. It’s hard to think of a recording of any opera that nails a work so stunningly, that seems so definitive.”
There Was, Last Week In Manhattan, And Briefly, A Four-Story Mural Of A Penis
The piece, by artist Carolina Falkholdt, had been commissioned, but it didn’t last long. “The painting appeared on the wall of a building on Broome Street, between Forsyth and Eldridge Streets, on Christmas Eve. By Wednesday afternoon, it was being painted over, and by Thursday it had completely disappeared.” (Read much more about the mural’s background and planned focus in this Hyperallergic piece.)