ART
The purpose of art is not the momentary ejection of adrenaline but rather the lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serenity.
— Glenn Gould
In this week’s New Yorker
January 6, 2013
A few long pieces held my interest:
* Lauren Collins on the new vogue for Scandinavian TV shows (with my favorite passage in the entire issue);
* Adam Green’s profile of Apollo Robbins, whose professional is pickpocket-as-entertainer; and
* Daniel Mendelsohn’s “Personal History” account of the correspondence between a tortured young homosexual (himself, growing up in Long Island) and Mary Renault, renowned lesbian author of a string of novels set in ancient Greece loaded with homosexual romances.
Andy also pointed out the poignant contrast between Chris Ware’s “Back to School” cover from last September…
and this week’s, titled “Threshold,” in which the parents are not nearly so casual as they drop the kids off to school:
In other media notes, I was struck by a couple of juxtapositions in the Sunday New York Times recently that left misleading impressions. Last weekend, the annual “The Lives They Led” issue opened with this spread, which at first I took for a remarkably tony two-page ad for Portlandia:
Then in today’s Arts and Leisure section, at first glance it looks like Reed Birney is making his Broadway comeback in drag impersonating a highly recognizable Hollywood actress:
Quote of the day: DANISH
January 6, 2013DANISH
When asked by the Guardian to account for the popularity of Danish television overseas, the actress Sidse Babett Knudsen – who plays Birgitte Nyborg, Denmark’s first female statsminister, on “Borgen” – replied, “I’ve no idea, because our language is one of the most ugly and limited around. You can’t seduce anyone in Danish; it sounds like you are throwing up.”
— Lauren Collins in the New Yorker
Good stuff online: THOUGHTS ON TOUCH
January 2, 2013
My friend George Russell (above center) is a gifted teacher, bodyworker, and chiropractor who writes an excellent blog about life in a body. His latest entry is so good, I want you to check it out. He talks about two populations who get the least amount of touch — elders and adolescents — and the connection between touch and empathy, and lack of touch and violence/death. Read his column online here.
Quote of the day: FELLATIO
January 2, 2013FELLATIO
Fellatio is the nicest thing one human being can do for another.
— John Cheever, speaking to a writer class at the University of Iowa in 1973
another eye opens 