His miniature woodcut series The Dance of Death is like a “16th-century Charlie Hebdo,” argues a Cambridge historian.
Your Boss Has To Give You Time Off To Read, According To United Arab Emirates’ New Literacy Law
What’s more, every newborn’s family will get a “knowledge briefcase,” taxes will be eliminated on publishing, and it will be illegal to destroy books. (So now we know where to send all those copies of Fifty Shades of Grey that secondhand bookstores won’t take.)
A Brief History Of Deep Time
The concept of time on a geological or astronomical scale wasn’t articulated until 1788, and the term “deep time” didn’t appear until two centuries later. Yet now, with planet-altering changes happening within a few generations, we’re in the Anthropocene Era (the era of the human) – an era that began with what’s now called the Great Acceleration.
‘The Most Influential Philosopher In World History Whom You Have Probably Never Heard Of’
“Although Mengzi” – or Mencius, as the Jesuits Latinized his name – “was born long after Confucius died, he is referred to as the ‘Second Sage’ because he shaped the form that Confucianism would take for the next two millennia, not just in China, but also in Korea, Japan and Vietnam.”
Why Did Vincent Van Gogh Slice His Ear? There’s Some New Evidence
The most common explanation has been that Vincent had a psychotic episode after a fight with Paul Gauguin, but a scholar has found evidence that points to Theo, Vincent brother and lifeline.
World’s Oldest Working Actor Dies At 101
Vladimir Zeldin was called back from the front in World War II by Stalin himself, because a film Zeldin was shooting wasn’t finished yet. He went on to join the company of the Red Army Theatre in Moscow, where he performed for 71 years.
Mastermind Of Acid Attack On Sergei Filin Is Back At Bolshoi
“Pavel Dmitrichenko, the Bolshoi dancer convicted and jailed for ordering the infamous acid attack on his boss at Russia’s chief ballet company, is reported to have been back in the Bolshoi doing ballet class for the past month, hoping to return to the stage.”
So Now There’s A “Dementia-Friendly” Opera…
“The abridged version of The Marriage of Figaro – a partnership with Scottish Opera, and supported by the Life Changes Trust – will soften sound and lighting, add a narrator to the stage, and allow audiences to travel freely between the auditorium and the foyer during the performance.”
‘It Hit Me Right In The Chest, It’s Still Hitting Me’: Elena Ferrante On The Most Terrible Sentence In ‘Madame Bovary’
“I certainly saw myself in Berthe Bovary, Emma and Charles’s daughter, and felt a jolt. I knew that I had my eyes on a page, I could see the words clearly, yet it seemed to me that I had approached my mother just as Berthe tried to approach Emma.”
Why Are So Many People Scared Of Bugs? They’re Such Tiny Little Things
Yeah, a few of them can actually hurt us, but not so many – and even harmless and useful insects like grasshoppers and dragonflies freak out a lot of folks. Yet there are reasons for this.
Looking For Van Gogh’s Famous Bed
There remains the intriguing possibility that the bed still survives in Boxmeer—a silent witness to the story of Van Gogh in Arles.
Report: Cable TV Subscription Price Increases Have Exceeded Inflation Every Year For 20 Years
For US cable TV in particular, price increases have outpaced inflation for every single one of the past 20 years, according to a recent FCC report surfaced by CordCutting.com. Every one! In 1995, cable cost $22.35 per month, on average. In 2015, it was $69.03. And the climb has been steady.
Picasso’s Handyman, Convicted Of Possessing Stolen Paintings, Now Says The Widow Was Hiding Them From The Kids
Pierre Le Guennec and his wife Danielle were found guilty last year of keeping 271 of Picasso’s drawings, collages and paintings in their garage for four decades. Now, appealing their conviction, Pierre told the court that “Mrs Jacqueline Picasso had problems with Claude Picasso” over the artist’s estate and stashed a bunch of paintings with the Le Guennecs, leaving one bag with the 271 works behind as a thank-you. (He didn’t mention this during his first trial because he was afraid, of course.) Claude’s attorney calls this “a staggering lie.”
Portland Symphony Musicians Get Four-Year Contract With Real Raises
There’ll be a 4% pay increase in each of the first two years, with compensation to be reviewed thereafter.
Tammy Grimes, The Original Unsinkable Molly Brown, Dead At 82
She won her first Tony for playing the Titanic survivor in the Meredith Wilson musical – and her second for Private Lives by Noël Coward, who first discovered her way back when.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 10.31.16
Artificial Intelligence Invades The Museum and Art Worlds
“It’s a massively ambitious project.” That is Tony Guillan, a multimedia producer for the Tate museum, in the U.K, speaking. … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2016-10-30
The ties that bind
I was nosing around Facebook the other day when I stumbled across a reproduction of a picture postcard that bore on its face an ancient black-and-white photograph of the first church that I can remember … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2016-10-31
we saw her fall
For years, I’ve wanted to create something that would capture the sense of helplessness I feel in the face of horrific onscreen images, the kinds of clips that 24-hour news programming seems to specialize in. … read more
AJBlog: Infinite Curves Published 2016-10-31
“I’m Still Here” (despite buyouts): My Q&A with Keith Christiansen at the Met’s “Valentin de Boulogne”
By some strange curatorial telepathy, the Metropolitan Museum’s justly acclaimed “Valentin de Boulogne: Beyond Caravaggio” bears a title closely resembling that of a major show at another world-class museum: … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-10-31
Monday Recommendation: Fred Hersch Trio
Fred Hersch Trio, Floating (Palmetto)
I’m not sure how this 2014 CD ended up in the holding pen for so long, but I am delighted that it finally called to me from the stacks. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-10-31
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Want To Read This Margaret Atwood Story? You’ll Have To Wait 100 Years
The Future Library is part working library, part conceptual art project, part investment in unborn generations of readers. Starting with Margaret Atwood, a different author will contribute a work to the vault each year, with none to be opened until 2114.
Boston Globe Critic Goes On Sabbatical, Foundation Funds His Ten-Month Replacement
With funding provided by San Francisco-based organizations, Zoë Madonna, who won the 2014 Rubin Prize in Music Criticism at the Institute, starts a 10-month post as classical music critic at the Globe on Monday, corresponding with a temporary leave by Globe critic Jeremy Eichler, who is now a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard.
London Now Has Audiophile Clubs Where You Can Hear Recordings At The Highest Quality Possible
“These speakers were built totally without compromise. When you have equipment this good, it can deliver such high quality that it emotionally connects you to the music. We’re not afraid to say that listening to music is a very magical thing.”
Meeting The Enemy In Virtual Reality – Art And VR As An Affecting Means Of Communicating
It holds the promise of opening up new frontiers for the integration of journalism and art in a socially oriented 21st-century performance piece poised at technology’s cutting edge.
Another Strong Earthquake In Italy Brings Down A Historic Church
“The earthquake, the most powerful to hit the country since 1980, has brought devastation to areas that were already damaged by the 6.2-magnitude earthquake of 24 August, which killed almost 300 people. No further deaths have been reported in the recent wave of seismic activity. The latest disaster follows a pair of tremors (5.4- and 5.9-magnitude) in quick succession on 26 October.”
Esperanto: The Constant Battles Over The Language Of World Peace
The inventor of Esperanto, Ludovik Lazarus Zamenhof, explicitly hoped that his simple, easy-to-learn language would lead to easy communication between nations and peoples – and thus to an end to conflict between. Even that ideal was controversial, and was rejected at Esperanto’s first international congress. And the arguments kept going from there.