Given the current state of play, any attempts to enrich our knowledge of the built environment are valuable.
Commentary
Book Review: The Climate Crisis and the “Race for Tomorrow”
If there is one book to pick up that will get you interested in what is happening to our climate, Race for Tomorrow is it.
Arts Commentary: The Oscars 2022 — No Longer So White, But Still Not So Hot
It was soon clear what Oscar was after: two separate younger demographics — one with plebeian cinematic tastes, the other with hip politics.
Arts Commentary: The 2022 Academy Awards — “Timmy, Don’t Hit Your Sister”
Aside from the multiple awards Dune won for technological brilliance, the 94th Academy Awards was a very different sort of “Hooray for Hollywood.”
Music Commentary: Jean Sibelius’s Violin Concerto — The Universal Concerto?
Sibelius’s Violin Concerto is almost something of a phenomenon now: in just eight months, I’ve heard it played by three different fiddlers — Baiba Skride, Lisa Batiashvili, and Inmo Yang.
Arts Commentary: Containing Multitudes — Five Shows Explore the Intersections of Identity and Performance
In dealing with the turmoil of ‘real’ life, the art of illusion found in cinemas, theaters, and museums will help us regain a sense of who we are as communal beings.
Author Reconsideration: The A, B, and C of Sue Grafton
The conveniently tidy endings do turn killing into an entertainment. They also allow us to briefly believe in redemption. And that is not the vainest of hopes.
Book Review: “We Uyghurs Have No Say” — When Truth Telling Becomes Subversive
What do the words of an imprisoned Uyghur dissident tell us about the desperate plight of China’s ethnic minorities today?
Book Review: “Literature for a Changing Planet” — A Crash Course
Martin Puchner is stumped because what is called for is a genuinely radical rethink about what role literature and literary studies should play in avoiding the global meltdown to come.
Cultural Commentary: The Gergiev Case
There are times – and we’ve been living in these for several years now – when boldness is required, especially from artists.