SPORTS SKULLDUGGERY
CHEATING AT SPORT is unsportsmanlike. But, according to John Lancaster writing in the London Review of Books, sports skullduggery has become institutionalized. His “How Bad Can It Be?, LRB, July … Continue reading
POSTWAR ARCHITECTURE: SPECIALISTS’ VIEWS
T, THE NEW YORK TIMES Style Magazine is published with the NYT Sunday edition and recently ran “The 25 Most Significant Works of Postwar Architecture.” Kurt Soller and Michael Snyder … Continue reading
MY GARBLED TALE OF STRAVINSKY’S DUMBARTON OAKS
STRAVINSKY’S JAUNTY CONCERTO in E-Flat had just been broadcast on SiriusXM‘s “Symphony Hall.” And I thought, how neat that he composed it for that big-deal conference at Dumbarton Oaks. What … Continue reading
DEADLY CONS PART 2
YESTERDAY’S CON WAS a Ponzi scheme expanded to absurdity. Today in Part 2, a man’s death is related to something as seemingly innocuous as his Twitter hand. Handles For Sale. … Continue reading
DEADLY CONS PART 1
I’VE WRITTEN LIGHTHEARTEDLY about cons, including Guiseppe Balsamo aka Cagliostro, whose 18th-century antics inspired the modern opera The Ghosts of Versailles.. There are, though, modern cons with horrible outcomes. Here, … Continue reading
MOTHERS’ MUSICALE
OPERA NEWS, PUBLISHED monthly by the Metropolitan Opera, had a particularly entertaining collection of Mother’s Day tidbits earlier this year. Here are several that remain in mind, even now in … Continue reading
996? 855? 933? Or?
WHAT’S THE OPTIMAL work week? The Chinese have been complaining about the 996; 9 a.m.-9 p.m., six days a week. The traditional American 40-hour work schedule has been 8-5, with … Continue reading
DOING RIGHT BY ART
IT’S NEVER TOO late to remedy art abuses, whether perpetrated for evil means or just triviality. Two examples come to mind: One involves the Nazis and French Vichy collaboration, a … Continue reading
THE FIRST HUMANS/DIE ERSTE MENSCHEN
RECENTLY I ENCOUNTERED the first humans, at least metaphorically. Here are tidbits about the Dutch National Opera’s production of Die Erste Menschen, a 1920 opera by German composer Rudi Stephan. … Continue reading
A TRIPLE CONJUNCTION OF VENUS, MERCURY, AND THE SUN IN SCORPIO?
MY FAVORITE ASTROLOGICAL predictions are the specific ones: “Tomorrow, Libras are going to step upon Virgos’ umbrella tips.” And, so it seems, Alexander Boxer shares this view in his book … Continue reading
