Art’s modern intoxication with ugliness
From City Journal: Beauty and Desecration. At some time during the aftermath of modernism, beauty ceased to receive those tributes. Art increasingly aimed to disturb, subvert, or transgress moral certainties, and it was not beauty but originality-however achieved and at whatever moral cost-that won the prizes. Indeed, there arose a widespread suspicion of beauty as next in line to kitsch-something too sweet and inof...
In France, tradition is out; le sandwich is in.
From the Washington Post: Le Sandwich Takes a Bite Out of French Tradition. The shifting lunchtime habits, which are more pronounced in large cities such as Paris, are part of a social tug of war in France between the imperatives of a modern industrial economy and a long-cherished tradition of fine food produced and prepared by artisans devoted to their crafts. The increasingly common sight of a young French office ...
Holden and two J.D.s
From Image Journal's Good Letters blog: Who Wrote Holden Caulfield? So it's no surprise that Salinger's lawyers are now going after 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye, a book written by a pseudonymous Swedish author J.D. California, which is billed as a "sequel" to Catcher in the Rye. Details are sketchy (the book is supposed to have been published already in England, though I can't seem to find a review written...
June 26, 2009
Upgrade Me By Jonathan Fitzgerald Are we getting better, or just newer? Lost in the Cosmos By Casey Downing The off-Broadway play Night Sky deals with language, selflessness, and a world rearranged. Night In At The Movies By Sarah Hanssen Why - and how - to start a movie night in your home....
Lost in the Cosmos
Night Sky, a new off-Broadway play, concerns a world renowned astronomer named Anna who suffers an injury to her brain during a car accident and loses her abilities of language and communication - a condition known as aphasia. I was recently invited by the play's producer to see its final rehearsal at Baruch City College in midtown Manhattan. I arrived at the practice space, a small classroom three stories below...
Upgrade Me: Are We Getting Better, Or Just Newer?
A confession: a couple of Wednesdays ago, I brought my laptop to work with me for one purpose - to download the latest iPhone update. Apple issued an upgrade to its iPhone software that day, which added such long-awaited features as Copy, Cut and Paste, Spotlight search, multimedia messaging, and a plethora of other add-ons to the already excellent operating system. (Yes, this is going to be a nerdy article.) ...
Night In At The Movies
Early this year, some friends from church approached me about organizing a monthly film night. They had just finished remodeling their single-family home in Brooklyn, and they were feeling generous towards their neighbors, and maybe a little thankful to God for the good fortune of a beautiful new home. So, armed with a video projector, fresh popcorn, and an unpainted sheetrock wall, we set about creating a little l...
