The Lost Joys of Flying a Kite
Flying a kite is the simple pleasure of celebrating, in the quietest but most glorious way, winter folding into spring.
By Ben Fulton
Listening to Mussorgsky’s “Great Gate of Kyiv” during the Ukraine War
Mussorgsky’s music represents a tsarist, imperial vision of what Hartmann, and no doubt other Russians, wanted to see constructed so that it could adorn the capital city of Ukraine for generations. When we listen to Mussorgsky’s music we can instead, for now, call to mind the Golden Gate of Kiev that still stands.
Why the Trial over the Eagles’ Lyrics Epitomizes Boomer Rot
Ever since it was filed in 2022 this was a case shoved into the headlines by boring egos, sloppy legal work, and with the anemic celebrity appeal of America’s most blasé, greedy 1970s rock band lounging sleazily at the center of it all.
Five Years Since Scott Walker’s Gone
The story of Scott Walker is the story not of making it big, but making it big the right way across an entire career, including even the long breaks in between.
Robert Motherwell’s Defining Images of Change and Strife
It is in Motherwell’s complete and utter lack of direct representation that we might find room to discover the heart of his “Elegies.” He assumes, graciously, that we also have the heart and intelligence to triangulate history, painted images, and varying titles on the theme of Spain’s self-inflicted suffering.
Marriage is an Institution for the Rich
While most proponents of marriage frame the problem correctly—as if it was not already obvious that married people are less likely to be lonely—they grab this thorny dilemma by the wrong end of the stick.
Anselm Kiefer’s Appetite for Destruction
Humor in the face of depictions as seemingly bleak as Kiefer’s is not far off the mark. There is no punch-line in “Burning Rods.“ Look carefully enough, though, and it is clear there is no distinct vanishing point, either.
Watching Rashomon in the Age of Disinformation
The flip side of Kurosawa’s great film, revealing a murder mystery to solve, is also a world in which the search for truth, however difficult or naïve, must never be abandoned.
When Kitsch Collides With Food (And Spirits)
(Courtesy of Empirical)
Andy Warhol once said he loved Coca-Cola because regardless of who bought a bottle, it remained the same product for everyone. “A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one…
How Radiohead’s OK Computer Accelerates the Passing of Time
The fact that a composer such as Steve Hackman has folded Radiohead’s music into that of Brahms successfully enough to land in a performance hall is probably proof that time, alas, has at last caught up with Radiohead.
Hollywood Goes for the Partisan Jugular with Civil War
The film’s strategic map already has commentators in conniptions. If Texas and California are not more disparate than cheese and chalk, what brand of politics even motivates this movie, let alone motivations for our second civil war?
Why, and How, the Colors of Mental Health Matter
“Neuro Blooms” shows us how mental states might be projected outside our innermost thoughts, out into the physical world, so that they might be drawn back into our consciousness and reinterpreted in new ways.