‘The Tension Between Taylor Swift’s Legs and the Arctic Melt Is Not Just a Journalistic Problem, It’s a Problem for Our Society’

IDEAS Posted: March 6, 2014 12:59 am

So said Alain de Botton in a talk at the Brooklyn Academy of Music about the way we consume news today.

Weekend Extra: Kelly And Montgomery Smokin’
Wynton Kelly Trio, Wes Montgomery, Smokin’ In Seattle (Resonance) The Resonance Records label’s stream of previously unreleased music includes a collaboration of guitarist Wes Montgomery (1925-1968) and pianist Wynton Kelly (1931-1971) that ... read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2017-09-22
Twyla Tharp Dances Again
Twyla Tharp Dance appears at the Joyce Theater, September 19 through October 8 Twyla Tharp’s The Raggedy Dances in 1972. Heading left: Sara Rudner. Heading right: Rose Marie Wright. Photo: William Pierce What do I ... read more
AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2017-09-22
The old-fashioned way
In my two drama columns for the online edition of today’s Wall Street Journal, I review a pair of regional revivals, Walnut Street Theatre’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-09-22
Replay: Leonard Bernstein conducts The Rite of Spring
Leonard Bernstein leads the London Symphony in a live performance of Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps, originally telecast by the BBC on November 27, 1966: (This is the latest in a series of arts-related ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-09-22
Almanac: Rudyard Kipling on Jane Austen
“In my spare times at Bath I’ve been reading Jane Austen and the more I read the more I admire and respect and do reverence. What are your views? When she looks straight at a ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-09-22
Guest Columnist: Ken Burns’ Vietnam
MUCH of the nation has been debating the latest Ken Burns documentary, which I — the son of a Marine officer nearly killed in 1967 — have not yet had the stomach to watch. ... read more
AJBlog: CultureCrashPublished 2017-09-21
Pete Turner, Eminent Jazz Photographer, Dies
Pete Turner, the photgrapher whose work became cover art for dozens of memorable jazz albums,has died at 83. His pictures, including the one above, often appeared on albums of Creed Taylor’s ... read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2017-09-21
Upstairs & Downstairs at the Royal National Theatre
photograph Johan Persson It’s said (by Michael Coveney, in his superb new book, London Theatres, Frances Lincoln, £30) that the auditorium of the 1,100-seat Olivier Theatre (upstairs at the Royal National Theatre) is ... read more
AJBlog: Plain EnglishPublished 2017-09-21
The writing on Edward Albee’s walls
In this week’s “Sightings” column, which appeas in the online edition of today’s Wall Street Journal, I take a look at Edward Albee’s art collection, which is being auctioned off next week. Here’s an excerpt. ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-09-21
So you want to see a show?
Here’s my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. For more ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-09-21
Almanac: Cary Grant on self-improvement
“In life, there is no end to getting well.” Cary Grant (quoted in Becoming Cary Grant) ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-09-21
What Museum Visitors Want to Know
Museums are mysterious to many people outside the art world (and maybe to people in the art world, I don’t know!). That’s why I highlighted Ask A Curator Day here last week, and why I ... read more
AJBlog: Real Clear ArtsPublished 2017-09-20
Recent Listening In Brief: 3 Trumpets Redux
Dick Titterington, The 3 Trumpet Band Live at The 1905 (Heavywood) The 3 Trumpet Band recorded their third album before an audience at The 1905, an upscale pizza emporium on the east ... read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2017-09-20
Jazz community upends Englewood’s bad rep
Dancing at Englewood Jazz Festival. Photos by Marc PoKempner, unless otherwise credited The 18th annual free Englewood Jazz Festival in south side Hamilton Park last Saturday (9/16) affirmed the best of Chicago’s grassroots culture, promoting ... read more
AJBlog: Jazz Beyond JazzPublished 2017-09-20
The Artistry of Siegfried Tieber, Magician
Photo Lisa Whiteman THE other night I was invited to a private session at the Magic Castle in Hollywood with a young magician. Siegfried Tieber — his real name, apparently, with no relation to ... read more
AJBlog: CultureCrashPublished 2017-09-20
Snapshot: Dana Andrews appears on I’ve Got a Secret
Dana Andrews appears as the guest on I’ve Got a Secret, originally telecast by CBS on June 4, 1958. Garry Moore is the host and the panelists are Bill Cullen, Jayne Meadows, Henry Morgan, and ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-09-20
Almanac: Jorge Luis Borges on the future
“Time forks perpetually toward innumerable futures.” Jorge Luis Borges, “The Garden of Forking Paths” (trans. Donald A. Yates) ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-09-20
Evaluating Engagement: Outcomes
Evaluation of any kind is a challenge for nonprofit organizations generally and for nonprofit arts organizations in particular. Resource constraints and focus on mission, sometimes at the expense of critical management issues, make evaluation ... read more
AJBlog: Engaging MattersPublished 2017-09-19
The Maltese Icon–No, Not That One
If you’re an art-lover (and writer) headed toward Malta, as I was last June, the first artwork that comes to mind is Caravaggio’s masterpiece in the Valetta cathedral, The Beheading of St John the Baptist. Brilliantly ... read more
AJBlog: Real Clear ArtsPublished 2017-09-19
Lookback: on no longer using public libraries
From 2004: I can’t count the hours I spent haunting big-city libraries as a young man. During the decade I spent working on The Skeptic: A Life of H.L. Mencken I had access to the ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-09-19

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