It’s been leading up to this, the past several months, as we have tracked the descent of the twentieth century into its mid-century madness through the course of its music. Alex Ross’s book is quite clever in this—but it seeks to illuminate the music of the century through its intellectual and social history. The focus […]
Author Archives | wufnik
Unsolicited museum review: Ice Age Art, at the British Museum
The British Museum’s astonishing exhibit, Ice Age Art: Arrival of the Human Mind, is one of the best shows they’ve had since we’ve been in London. It’s a collection of carvings from the dawn of modern history in Europe, mostly on mammoth or reindeer ivory. The carvings are of a variety of objects—women, mostly, but […]
Climate and agriculture: Wheatless in Hampstead
According to an article in yesterday’s Independent, the weather in Britain, especially England, has been so lousy that the UK is set to go from a wheat exporter to a wheat importer for the first time in a decade. The culprit here, if there is only one, appears to be the long spell of cold […]
Traveling to Istanbul (III)–In the heart of the country?
Thursday started out in a bit of frustration, but turned out okay after all. The plan was to head out by tram to the Naval Museum, then double back to one of the university museums to see a map show, and then wander around the Galata area. The first two were a bust, sadly. First […]
Traveling to Istanbul (II)–the Harem and other delights
Whenever I want to learn about a place, or a different time, I usually go the mystery route—find some good mysteries about whatever I want to know about, and read them. Sometimes this is more a happy accident than by design. Such was the case with Jason Goodwin’s series about Istanbul in the 1830s, with […]
Traveling to Istanbul (I)
This is farther east and still in Europe than I’ve ever been, outside of Moscow—farther than Bucharest, farther than Athens. A lot like both, though—even though the place has been Islamic for five hundred years, it still feels pretty Orthodox as well—you can’t just disappear that 1,300 years of Christianity. What it mainly feels like, […]
London Underground: Happy birthday to the Tube
After a year in which the celebrations never seemed to end—the Queen’s Jubilee, the Olympics, and lord knows what I’ve already forgotten—the celebrations have barely paused for breath in the new year. Because 2013, it turns out, is the 150th birthday of the London Underground—The Tube. This is a big deal. Residents in larger cities […]
Orlando Chamber Choir: Lamenting Lowlands
Here are my program notes for last Thursday’s concert by the good old Orlando Chamber Choir. I have done only minimal editing–enjoy! The need to provide rituals at ceremonies for the dead appears to be one of the oldest characteristics of recorded human history—there is considerable archeological evidence that rituals of some sort accompany burials […]
Unsolicited book review: Spillover, by David Quammen
This is a damn scary book. Quammen is perhaps our best science writer, and his subjects in the past have ranged widely, from island biogeography to large predators to whatever he fancies in his excellent collections of essays. And this time he’s picked something topical, timely and thoroughly terrifying. It’s zoonosis—the phenomenon of diseases that […]
Recreating Shackleton’s unbelievable voyage
In the annals of polar exploration, there are any number of extraordinary journeys that have reached mythic status. Scott’s failed return from the pole, with its simultaneous overtones of tragedy and inspiration; the journey of Apsley Cherry-Garrard, Birdie Bowers, Edward Wilson and Henry Robertson on that same expedition to harvest some Penguin eggs in the […]
RT at the BBC
BBC Radio 4 has this neat show–Master Tapes– where they bring in some artist to discuss one of their important albums. It’s a Q&A for the interviewer, John Wilson, and the audience to find out what makes artists tick in some manner, and to discuss why they do what they do in the way they […]
ArtsWeek: The Rest is Noise (5)—Ravel, Vaughan Williams, Bartok, Janacek, Satie and Stravinsky
The first two decades of the 20th century saw a remarkable rise in nationalism in music. As we indicated in our last post, this wasn’t unusual in and of itself—composers such as Dvorak and Brahms had been doing this already in the second half of the 19th century. But what emerged in the early part […]
The European Union’s next crisis
The European Union has surprised people over the past year with its resilience. Much of 2012 was spent listening to commentators predicting the imminent break-up of the EU, with Greece the first to go, followed in short order by Portugal, Spain, and perhaps even Italy. That most of these commentators were British or American should […]
Richard III’s body discovered—world rejoices
Well, it sure seems like it, anyway. Practically everyone I know on Facebook, for example, which is mostly Americans, has mentioned this. As has just about every news organization in the world. There will always be an England, apparently. Anyway, for those just returning on holiday from Venus, a body discovered beneath a parking lot […]
The Rest is Noise (4) – Debussy and Sibelius
So tonight we resumed our tour of 20th century music. The theme is still The Rise of Nationalism. Tonight this theme continued with a performance of Spanish and Finnish music—or, more precisely, music about Spain, and Finnish music. First up was Iberia, by Claude Debussy, followed by Sibelius’s Violin Concerto and Symphony Number 4, once […]
China changes its mind on food
In something of a Big Deal, it has emerged that China no longer will pursue the goal of being self-sufficient in food. According to the South China Morning Post, Chen Xiwen, who is the director of the rural affairs policy-making committee of the Communist Party, and who therefore presumably knows a thing or two, the […]
S&R Honors
Click here to learn more about past honorees...- Profiling the Tea Party: In defense of the IRS. Sorta. Or not.
- Saturday Video Roundup: “Imagine the Band,” by John Lennon and Wings
- The Rest is Noise (6)—Descent into the Maelstrom
- I hate handguns, but I have still considered owning one
- Redneck jokes are racist
- Mystery Unraveled: How a white, moderate, married, churchgoing, middle-class, middle-aged woman could vote for Obama
- An open letter to Burt Rutan, regarding his WSJ commentary on human-caused climate disruption
- Meet the men of Match.com: Really, guys, are you serious?
- Climate scientists still besieged
- Pelosi on Bush: “He’s not worth impeaching”
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wufnik: Thanks Jim. I haven't read the Danto book, but I s…
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Lex: I'm glad i'm not a Progressive, because not being …
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Jim Booth: Wonderful piece, Wufnik. I'm currently reading Art…
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Fnay: Having recently put three kids through college (tw…
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satanicpanic: I've thought about this myself. Other than needin…
