Browsing Book Court’s New York Review Books shelf, one of my favorite publishers of late, I encountered its edition of The Unknown Masterpiece from Honoré de Balzac. Though he kept it short and sweet and I enjoyed it very much, none of the story has stayed with me closer than the epigraph (such is the curse of excellent […]
Dr Teresa Belton has released an insipid article which advocates a need for more boredom in our generation. While the article is itself boring and meek, I tend to agree with its closing statement. But it is a state to be approached gingerly. The history of boredomology (thaasophobia is supposedly the fear of boredom, so […]
Be it all in my head or in fact actually widespread, I need to share this mini exposé on the meaning of potential energy, and its implications. I can thank Konstantinos Alexakos for tuning my brain to these frequencies. As taught in high school, potential energy is maybe misconstrued as ACTUAL energy, something substantive, a FORM of […]
Why do we read? But, Mr. Keating, do you not see the complication? How is one supposed to receive something very specific while at the same time expecting to contribute in the future? Were one to read every book ever published, one would come to the conclusion that there is nothing left to contribute. Writing […]
The many Shakespeare-inspired performances about lately, plus one more, and my admiration of them all, provides the runway this time, public/private space as the control tower, skies are blue, and we are cleared for takeoff. Above, from top: Alan Cumming’s Macbeth; Sleep no More’s Macbeth; New York Classic Theatre’s Twelfth Night; Pina Bausch’s Orpheus & Eurydice Two […]
This is as much for my own reference, to return to and finish reading later, as it is for anyone interested in this small roll I’m on with classicism. T.S. Eliot’s “Tradition and the Individual Talent”
My dad fastened the last of the Ikea screws and went outside. It had predictably taken him too long and the sun had already begun nodding off. From the field and upon the great rock he felt like he could see through the house’s walls. He put his beer down and made a large gesture […]
On my run this morning, backdropped by awesome views of a golden jersey shore, glinted highlights from parked barges on the Hudson, storage containers, and windows, I passed more dog walkers than runners. I then remembered an interesting point Carl Skelton made during my final fall semester thesis critique (round-table style) in 2009 as we […]
Dennis Adams, professor of art at The Cooper Union, has a way of really nailing down works’ gists. In reverse as well, he is able to begin with an idea, crystallize it into a concept of sufficient scale, and name an artist whose work X in year Y best exemplifies it. In a discussion about […]
This may be half-cooked conjecture, due mostly to its scary simplicity, but it bears notice. To begin with, the reason our hemisphere is colder during winter months is not because the sun is further away than during summer (in fact, due to the ovular shape of Earth’s orbit around the sun, we may in fact […]