Culture Articles
for the luxe minded
|
The New Republic
Culture The New Republic: Culture |
 |
|
|
From The New Republic
It has been a long time since I saw museumgoers as fully engaged as the crowds moving through “Inventing Abstraction: 1910-1925,” the visual and intellectual banquet at the Museum of Modern Art this winter. Visitors are wide-eyed, attentive, quietly exhilarated. And why not? They are having the kind of full-out artistic experience on which the Museum of Modern Art built its legendary reputation, but which it has rarely managed to produce in recent years. From the first work you see, ... Quick Read |
|
From The New Republic
The Oscars are odd. It’s just about the only reason left for having them; that and for the sake of the people who make red carpets. Every year when the nominations come out, there are three or four days of stories about the “surprises” and the people who were “snubbed.” So Tom Hooper and Kathryn Bigelow were overlooked, but Michael Haneke was remarked on. And Helen Hunt got a supporting actress nod for The Sessions. No, I’m not suggesting that she was ... Quick Read |
|
From The New Republic
Mariah Carey, who made her debut alongside Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban in the now-storied role of celebrity judge on “American Idol” on Wednesday night, was paid as many millions as she has lifetime No. 1 hits (18) to appear on this, the twelfth season of the long-running show. Eighteen million also happens to be the approximate number of viewers who tuned into the season premiere of the Fox show, down from 30 million just three years ago. ... Quick Read |
|
From The New Republic
“Retirement is for sissies,” read the billboards for the new action film, The Last Stand, opening today. The words appear below a photo of the Governor of California Emeritus, who is firing a huge machine gun, while former constituent Johnny Knoxville, of “Jackass” fame, cheers wildly in the background.
Rest assured that the slogan is a deliberate message—at once cinematic, personal, and political—from Arnold Schwarzenegger and about Arnold Schwarzenegger. ... Quick Read |
|
From The New Republic
The current cable television landscape is full of hit shows that are sexy and hip and fun: the urban adventuring of “Girls,” the breakneck momentum of “Homeland,” the slinky nostalgia of “Mad Men,” the pageantry of “Game of Thrones.” But HBO’s stunning, under-watched “Enlightened”—about a mid-level executive at a giant corporation who has a spiritual awakening after a workplace meltdown directed at her boss—is ... Quick Read |
|
From The New Republic
Late on January 9, The Washington Post published a list of what it called the best books about Washington, D.C. Wait, scratch that: Not “best.” As Post fiction editor and reviewer Ron Charles explained on Twitter, the article is “meant to be [an] eclectic list of subjects & genres to introduce the many facets of DC,” not (NOT, he all-capped) a best-of list. By the time coffee had kicked in for most District res ... Quick Read |
|
From The New Republic
On January 17, “Legit,” a new comedy featuring Australian comic Jim Jeffries, will air on FX with an explicit, if broad, premise: What does it take to be a legitimate human being? A more precise question, for the show—and the network—might be: What does it take to be a legitimate man? FX, the premium cable affiliate of Fox founded in 1994, has made no secret of its male-oriented programming, hosting shows like the biker gang drama “Sons of Anarchy,” ... Quick Read |
|
From The New Republic
Architecture occupies a peculiar place in the life of democratic societies. Most buildings get built because some private concern, an individual or a corporate entity, commissions it. Because procuring land and constructing buildings is expensive, the private concerns that do so typically enjoy the benefits of wealth, which include social and political influence in excess of the democratic credo of one man, one vote. Yet architecture, or most of it anyway, is a public good: what any one person ... Quick Read |
|
From The New Republic
Former Obama speechwriter Jon Lovett may be a co-creator of the show, but “1600 Penn,” which premieres tonight on NBC, stays far away from actual politics. The mechanics of government get clownishly redrawn: the Oval Office is a revolving door of foreign dignitaries with wacky accents, the president’s son can schmooze his way into an international trade agreement negotiation, and the situation room is the site of urgent debriefs about the personal life of the president’s ... Quick Read |
|
From The New Republic
The backlash to season one of HBO’s “Girls” erupted as soon as the wunderkind glow around Lena Dunham had dimmed. On The Hairpin, Jenna Wortham lamented Dunham’s failure “to weave a main black character” into the show. The blog Racialicious posted a piece titled “Dear Lena Dunham: I exist.” And Dunham leapt to apologize. “If we have the opportunity to do a second season, I’ll address that,” she told The Huffington Post. ... Quick Read |
|
 |
|
|
|
rss
