Strange History Strange History
John Lahr’s biography of Tennessee William gets mired down in psychoanalysis.
Oct 28, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Julia M. Klein
Civilian Objects Civilian Objects
Architecture lets us speak of the spoken indirectly.
Oct 28, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Michael Sorkin
Algeria Algeria
You eat a songbird From beginning to end. You pierce your gums With tiny ribs For a squirt of her liquor Down your throat. Mitterrand hid his pleasure & his shame Under a clean white napkin as His own blood mixed with his last meal. We are kept in the dark To be tender & fat. The ortolan bunting sings A beautiful song & Stains our teeth from behind.
Oct 28, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Sylvie Baumgartel
Short Pop Short Pop
Film and TV are plagued by duration creep. Just like work—or unemployment.
Oct 28, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Joshua Clover
Misguided Media Hysteria Pervades the 24/7 News Cycle Misguided Media Hysteria Pervades the 24/7 News Cycle
Eric on this week in theater and music and Reed on how the media’s ratings-driven hysterics is warping Ebola coverage.
Oct 28, 2014 / Blog / Eric Alterman and Reed Richardson
‘With This Madness, What Art Could There Be?’ ‘With This Madness, What Art Could There Be?’
An Armenian-American writer asks if the Armenian obsession with genocide recognition is worth its emotional and psychological price.
Oct 21, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Meline Toumani
Pictures of Icarus Pictures of Icarus
With his cutouts, Henri Matisse tried to free himself from gravity.
Oct 21, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
What Are Movies Good For? What Are Movies Good For?
Awakening a sense of wonder and flooding a cinema with crucial realities.
Oct 21, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
The Summer Leaves The Summer Leaves
nothing unscathed. Desires, once tender stalks, grow brittle; the first and clear-eyed dew that clung thereto expires. The summer leaves—the trees’ dense growth—that, dying little by little, turn red, brown, go down and down and these still leaves long winds will shake and put me on my mettle— here, rusted as dead blood, there, bright, my good— both make the most of light. And then, as, torn, the leaves resettle, and the heart, ravaged, grieves, the summer leaves again.
Oct 21, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Catherine Breese Davis
Just for Gaffes: Why the Political Press’s Obsession With Minutiae Is No Joke Just for Gaffes: Why the Political Press’s Obsession With Minutiae Is No Joke
Eric on this week’s concerts and releases and Reed on how the gaffe-obsessed political press is doing a disservice to democracy.
Oct 20, 2014 / Blog / Eric Alterman and Reed Richardson