Culture Diaries: 11/4/16

A quick roundup of some other things I've been into lately: 

- John Berger's seminal series about art and perception  Ways of Seeing all on Youtube. 

- Finally got around to seeing Son of Saul (last year's Oscar winner for best foreign film). Sharp focus is on a surprisingly intimate human story with the mass-scale atrocities of the holocaust happening in the periphery. Impressive. 

- Recently finished Booker Prize finalist His Bloody Project, about a triple-homicide in the Scottish highlands in the 19th century but pieced together and presented through in nearly journalistic fashion. 

- Sculptor Richard Wentworth's words

Lately...

 + Saw this production of Sleeping Beauty that I really, really loved.
+ Bread: here and here.
+ Did you catch the Youtube Music Awards? It was directed by Spike Jonze and it was really messy but I really liked the makeshift creativity of it (music videos, short films were shot on the spot, live etc.)
+ I've been reading more of Charles Simic's poetry and I really like it. Much to learn!
+ I thought Kate Bosworth's wedding dress was really beautiful.
+ "Now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good." I think I'm really starting to understand this.

Recommendations I've Got From Others Lately

 + The stories of Alice Munro
+ George Saunders
+ "The Shadow Line" by Joseph Conrad
+ Bob Dylan's "Early Roman Kings"
+ The film "Breaking Away"
+ The films of Ingmar Bergman
+ Helen Vendler's Introduction to Poetry

Lately

 

+ Paul Simon on the brain, especially this song. 

+ The role venturesome ignorance plays in creativity.

+ Gillian Welch's music, especially this song.

+ Reading this fascinating book.

+ Reading 100 short stories for 100 days

Wednesday Miscellany

+ This sweet obituary
+ Another rendition. Mesmerizing.
+ The desert, as beautiful.
+ Some film recos from Woody.
+ Interesting conversation. 

Also, a little belated, but some lovely lovely pieces about the late Seamus Heaney: here, here, and here. His last words were Noli Timere (Don't be afraid.)

Monday Miscellany

+ Isabel Marant. Always so chic.
+ Blast from the past.  On a related note, this is awesome.
+ Some summer slaws.
+ These photos are amazing.
+ A map of human history.
+ Also, this video of Basil Twist.

A few things...

+ The trailer for this film
+ The red string of fate.
+ Train love.
+ The desks of creative folk.


Happy Friday.

Lately

 

+ Beautiful train stations

+ This lady's illustrations

+ Tomatoes. 

+ Wings of Desire

+ No-Cook Summer dishes

+ This interview with Greta Gerwig. 

Particularly when she talks about not finding that THING yet - purpose in life, etc.:

"I read an interview with Lorrie Moore in the Paris Review, and she said she didn't feel 'called' to write. She said you really have to give yourself permission to do it. I was like, 'Oh my God.' I printed it out."

+ How to write better

Friday Miscellany

+ How we say things

+ Some thoughtfulness from Ethan Hawke: here and here

+ Strawberry season means I'm going to make me an Eton Mess

+ Why Music Makes Our Brains Sing

Tuesday Miscellany

 

Lately...
+ These magnificent photographs

+ This interview with the soulful Viggo Mortensen

+ This piece about the decline of eye contact

+ Eight Writers and the Walks that Inspired Them

+ Marginalia

photo by James Lam/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest

Tuesday Miscellany

 

Lately...

+ Homemade basil pesto.  Must try this method next time.

+ Some light gardening. Waiting is the hard part.

+ Cookbook indulgence. Bought this and this.

+ Finally watched Django Unchained. Liked this dissection of one of the scenes.

+ One can dream, right? Loved reading about this 51-Day Grand Tour of Asia.

+ Some binge watching.

+ This interplanetary dance. 

+ Reading Recos from Hemingway.

Happy Tuesday.

Lately

I love tulip season. I love how they lean, don't you?

+ Novelists talking about other art forms.  I loved hearing about Colm Tolbin's love for opera, in particular.  I agree with this bit - when he writes:
"It is easy to feel that life itself, during a soaring aria or a moment when a melody lifts, is at its most perfect and pure. Or just that the music is perfect and pure. To hell with life!"
+ Miniature Art.

+ Hurricane on Saturn.
+ Motherhood...in Charts.
+ Ramp season.
+ This conversation.
+ This broccoli slaw recipe.

Have a great weekend.

Monday Miscellany

Lately...
+ Drawn from my Father's Adventures
+ This illustrator
+ Haikus in the news
+ Wes Anderson's worlds
+ This conversation

Friday Miscellany

+ A son's loving tribute to Nora

+ This interesting New Yorker article

+ Some more Georges Delerue

+ Syllabi from classes taught by famous writers

+ Cool redesigned book covers

+ Patti Smith Waves to Virginia


Happy Friday.

(image via)

Friday Miscellany

+ 20 Amazing Facts about the Human Body

+ This gorgeous soundtrack
+ This incredibly moving story

+ Fresh-faced stars

(sketch drawn by le corbusier, via)

Friday Miscellany

+ Photos from just 50 years ago.

+ A conversation with Jessica Chastain at the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

+ You can help name Pluto's moons. Vote here.

+ The Moonrise Kingdom script: illustrated.

+ The ability to appreciate the beauty of music is learned.


Have a nice long weekend!

Things for today

+ There's this feature on the Strand Books website called THE AUTHOR'S BOOKSHELF where you can browse through the favorite books of writers like Adam Gopnik, Michael Cunningham, Dave Eggers, and the late Nora Ephron. Nice!

+ On the Making of Pulp Fiction

And some romance, of course:
+ To me, this overture will forever be one of the most wonderfully dramatic and romantic ever.
 
+ How to make latte hearts

+ A very short romantic story by Haruki Murakami

+ I recently started trying to memorize a poem a day.  I memorized the very romantic Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 the other day. I've learned it's much easier to absorb words that you're madly love with – Love "is an ever-fixed mark / that looks at tempests and is never shaken" is pretty darn easy to remember.

Have a wonderful valentine's day.

Lately (in pictures)

Lately

  - John Donne's The Good Morrow, particularly the line,"For love...makes one little room an everywhere." I think Julian Glover's old-school recitation here is pretty lovely:


- Alice Friman's poem Getting Serious, particularly the line, 

"And my heart flexed in me, a sail,
and I swear I saw it flying out of my chest
spiriting away my giddy soul"

- Cyrano De Bergerac. Again. I've been listening to this radio play 
(Kenneth Branagh as the hero and Tom Hiddleston as Christian): 


- I saw a production of Golden Boy, the Clifford Odets play. Tony Shalhoub's performance made me tear up, he was so good.

- I recently saw a Pinchas Zuckerman play the Bruch's Violin Concerto with the NY Philharmonic. Fantastic.
 

- I was introduced to Bruckner via his 6th symphony. Riveting.


And that's all I've got!
Have a wonderful weekend. 

Lately

  

 

1. I found this New Yorker article on underground dinner club Wolvesmouth fascinating.
Need to experience this for myself next year!

2. I've been listening to Schubert's Die Winterreise (Winter Journey). It has the right amount of melancholy for chilly winter days.

3. I enjoyed a few laughs at this play. Love David Hyde Pierce!

4. I watched Lincoln. Daniel Day Lewis was spectacular, and Sally Field, as his wife, was too.
I'm rooting for her. Ever since I saw this video about how she has to fight for every role and how she fought for this one. The whole roundtable conversation is really interesting and worth watching.

5. Have you been following this story? It's begging for a movie re-telling!

6. I do it. Do you do it too? The art of reading while walking.

Happy Friday!