Bookmarks from June 15th through June 16th:[del.icio.us]

Bookmarks from June 15th through June 16th:[del.icio.us]

• the arts monastery project – “The purpose of The Art Monastery Project is to produce art that is relevant to the contemporary world yet is informed and inspired by tradition. Our strategy is to apply the disciplined efficiency and contemplative serenity of monastic life to art production. As such, the Art Monastery will support artists and projects that best utilize the unique environment we are generating.”
• The good, the bad and the ugly at Ojai-Tim Mangan, OCRegister.com -tim mangan had some choice words about 8th blackbird’s curation of the 2009 ojai music festival; “the ratio of poor works to good is greater than in the standard repertory and must be accepted. Still, what mucked up Sunday’s proceedings was the group’s embrace of novelty for what appeared to be novelty’s sake. on the other hand he found some diamonds in the rough like steve reich’s “music for 18 musicians” and louis andriessen’s 1975 “Workers Union.” his most interesting take was on steve reich’s award winning “double sextet” “Opening the afternoon’s marathon, Reich’s Double Sextet, commissioned by eighth blackbird and winner of the Pulitzer Prize this year, seemed modest in comparison, an attempt to make minimalism serve more conventional notions of melody, harmony and form, but graceful and pleasant nonetheless”
• Show or Tell: A Critic at Large: The New Yorker – interesting review on mark mcgurl’s book “the program era” on writing workshops and its effect on creativity, process and content;
  “The meaning of one of Raymond Carver’s stories is not only what the story says; it’s also the way the story says it. The form of a Carver short story—ostentatiously brief, emotionally hyper-defended—expresses something. McGurl thinks that the style represents the “aestheticization of shame, a mode of self-retraction.” Literary minimalism like Carver’s—McGurl calls it “lower-middle-class modernism”—is a means of reducing the risk of embarrassing oneself, and is one way that students from working-class backgrounds, like Carver (he was from Oregon, where his father was a sawmill worker), deal with the highbrow world of the academy.”

• Leaving Home – The Atlantic Podcasts – NPR Commentator, Author and Van Nuys Resident Sandra Tsing Loh is getting divorced and lets it all hang out in the Atlantic Monthly “Sadly, and to my horror, I am divorcing. This was a 20-year partnership. My husband is a good man, though he did travel 20 weeks a year for work. I am a 47-year-old woman whose commitment to monogamy, at the very end, came unglued. This turn of events was a surprise. I don’t generally even enjoy men; I had an entirely manageable life and planned to go to my grave taking with me, as I do most nights to my bed, a glass of merlot and a good book. Cataclysmically changed, I disclosed everything.”
• Daniel Hege named new Wichita Symphony conductor | News Updates | Wichita Eagle – Daniel Hege, who has close ties to Kansas and led the Wichita Symphony in its season-ending performances in April, will become the orchestra’s music director and conductor beginning in the 2010-2011 season.
• Cherry Bomb’s Rants: Today I breathe. – “Yesterday was my last day of work. Today I was in the pool and it felt so refreshing. I don’t know what it is about the water, but every time I get in it and start swimming, I feel so free. When I swim underwater, I feel like the world and its nasty people are so far away that I cannot be touched. My body feels like the water washes off the filth that humanity has vomited all over me. I would give anything for a personal pool. Some people love mountains. Others love rain forests. A specific aspect of Mother Nature turns everyone on. Mine is…”
• FAQ on California Faculty Association Furlough Request -” How many layoffs of faculty could we be facing if CFA refuses to agree to the furlough plan? According to the estimates provided to CFA by the Chancellor’s Office, the CSU would need to lay off about 9,000 faculty members (headcount) or about 3,700 full-time equivalent positions. The administration would need to comply with the layoff procedures in our contract, however, the vast majority of layoffs would be of lecturer faculty who would simply disappear. That is, they would not be re- appointed and there would be no formal layoff process. The magnitude of the cuts, though, could well threaten some FERP, probationary, and tenured faculty members.”
• YouTube – Lady Gaga – Paparazzi -irresistible mix of hi art/low art (film noir, medical implement dance routines, fantasy revenge killing with a bitcrush coda)there is something so post-pop about her video and art design. i was hooked seeing her awkwardly dance with a rhinestone neck brace and crutches. very catchy music also, reminds me of the early 80’s videos (but with bigger budgets)
• How smart is Lady Gaga? – By Jonah Weiner – Slate Magazine -interesting zeitgeist analysis

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Related posts:

1. Bookmarks for June 26th through June 29th [del.icio.us]
2. Bookmarks for the week: June 22nd through June 26th [del.icio.us];
3. Bookmarks for July 16th through July 19th [del.icio.us]
4. Bookmarks for October 12th through October 15th [del.icio.us]
5. Bookmarks for October 16th through October 22nd [del.icio.us]

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 at 6:00 pm and is filed under bookmarks and tagged with 8th blackbird, class, creativity, culture, louis andriessen, mark mcgurl, minimalism, modernism, music festival, ojai, review, steve reich, tim mangan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.