26 September 2010
"Quantum: Einstein, Bohr, and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality" by Manjit Kumar (2008)
Heisenberg, Schrödinger, Bohr, and Einstein each, with near-religious conviction, believed in his own version of reality, despite no experimental evidence could discriminate among them. The physicists' debate was not futile, however. Even though the application of existing knowledge is unaffected by the fiction behind equations, the advancement of future science is. Speculations about the unobserved reality help generate new hypotheses and prioritise pending experiments. Furthermore, even if, say, Heisenberg were unsure about the verity of his vision (which he, a scientist, must have been), the society would nonetheless want him to passionately advocate that vision, thereby encouraging others to harness their arguments.
19 September 2010
"Red Plenty" by Francis Spufford (2010)
Many things in a society can go wrong; most do. It is a theory of why something ever goes right that is wanting---a theory without the air of Jane Austenesque inevitability to it. "Red Plenty" tells how coercion, intimidation, and delusion can dress, feed, educate, and house. The employed centralised control is liable to manipulation by all, including those lacking pro-social disposition. Hence, the requisite coördination should better be achieved by a minimally centralised system. Instead of being itself centrally imposed, the system must spread by contagion, through revolution or---most reliably---evolution.
Individual liberty not only prevents the wrong but also nourishes the right, as is best described in Chapter "Midsummer Night, 1962." Liberty enables the like-minded to identify and inspire each other.
Individual liberty not only prevents the wrong but also nourishes the right, as is best described in Chapter "Midsummer Night, 1962." Liberty enables the like-minded to identify and inspire each other.
18 September 2010
Colorama
(George Eastman House, 18 September 2010)
"Alps Skiers with Airplane, Near the Matterphorn in Switzerland" (January 27--February 17, 1964). In her beskied husband's plain view, a beskied woman shoots her husband's best friend (skies erect), posing in front of a smooth red-and-white aeroplane aiming at the woman and positioned at a slight angle to the barely spoilt sheets of snow below, creased in the background to form the pillows of a mountain range---Alps, apparently. All four involved maintain a gentlemanly distance and leave it to the redness of their fuselages to convey the intensity of their encounter. "Couple in Blossoms at Bronx Botanical Gardens" (February 19--March 11, 1968). A woman---a kodak in her hands---rests her eyes on a flower bed. A man seeks to relive the woman's emotion by gazing at the spot just exposed on her kodak's film. "Portuguese Fishing Village, Nazare, Portugal" (August 9--August 30, 1965). Soaked in a setting sun's warmth that only a glass of wine can furnish, an American couple, installed on a balcony overlooking the sea, frame the shared memories of what later will be identified as the footage of their designated dream.
When one would have kissed before, one has been stepping ten feet away and taking a picture since then. When one would have diverted the eyes and looked down before, one has been boldly aiming the camera and taking a picture since then. When one would have used a drink to appreciate the world in all its over-saturated tones before, one has been loading a film and releasing the shutter since then. One was in no obligation to live a dream any more, it was enough to look a dream when cued by a photographer.
Then, the over-saturated colours, elaborate hairdos, and grow-ups' clothes went out of style. Broadcasting oneself---free from one's dream---took over amateur photography.
"Alps Skiers with Airplane, Near the Matterphorn in Switzerland" (January 27--February 17, 1964). In her beskied husband's plain view, a beskied woman shoots her husband's best friend (skies erect), posing in front of a smooth red-and-white aeroplane aiming at the woman and positioned at a slight angle to the barely spoilt sheets of snow below, creased in the background to form the pillows of a mountain range---Alps, apparently. All four involved maintain a gentlemanly distance and leave it to the redness of their fuselages to convey the intensity of their encounter. "Couple in Blossoms at Bronx Botanical Gardens" (February 19--March 11, 1968). A woman---a kodak in her hands---rests her eyes on a flower bed. A man seeks to relive the woman's emotion by gazing at the spot just exposed on her kodak's film. "Portuguese Fishing Village, Nazare, Portugal" (August 9--August 30, 1965). Soaked in a setting sun's warmth that only a glass of wine can furnish, an American couple, installed on a balcony overlooking the sea, frame the shared memories of what later will be identified as the footage of their designated dream.
When one would have kissed before, one has been stepping ten feet away and taking a picture since then. When one would have diverted the eyes and looked down before, one has been boldly aiming the camera and taking a picture since then. When one would have used a drink to appreciate the world in all its over-saturated tones before, one has been loading a film and releasing the shutter since then. One was in no obligation to live a dream any more, it was enough to look a dream when cued by a photographer.
Then, the over-saturated colours, elaborate hairdos, and grow-ups' clothes went out of style. Broadcasting oneself---free from one's dream---took over amateur photography.
17 August 2010
Robin and the 7 Hoods
(The Old Globe Theatre, 12 August 2010)
The plot celebrates the twentieth century Robin Hoods---the independent media, especially television. The musical does not innovate. It reliably entertains with the traditional. The first act is saturated with songs sung too closely and with one-liners spoken too quickly---often leaving no room for acting. When present, acting betrays Broadway training. The musical numbers are contrived, but mostly one delights in how cleverly contrived they are.
As soon as the first words of "Come Fly with Me" are sung by Little John Dante (played by Will Chase), the audience senses the irony, suspends its breath, and hopes that John's fiancee (played by Amy Spanger) will not detect the insencerety betrayed by his employment of the off-the-shelf standard. John recognises the precariousness of his situation, and realises that the audience does so (and, possibly, that the audience realises that he realises). The song's salsa segment is expertly done. So is the scene on the plane; the flight attendants' moaning approaches the grotesque but never trespasses it.
The plot celebrates the twentieth century Robin Hoods---the independent media, especially television. The musical does not innovate. It reliably entertains with the traditional. The first act is saturated with songs sung too closely and with one-liners spoken too quickly---often leaving no room for acting. When present, acting betrays Broadway training. The musical numbers are contrived, but mostly one delights in how cleverly contrived they are.
As soon as the first words of "Come Fly with Me" are sung by Little John Dante (played by Will Chase), the audience senses the irony, suspends its breath, and hopes that John's fiancee (played by Amy Spanger) will not detect the insencerety betrayed by his employment of the off-the-shelf standard. John recognises the precariousness of his situation, and realises that the audience does so (and, possibly, that the audience realises that he realises). The song's salsa segment is expertly done. So is the scene on the plane; the flight attendants' moaning approaches the grotesque but never trespasses it.
25 July 2010
"Endpoint" by John Updike (2009)
Poetry produces intensity from precision, parsimony, and sometimes rhyme. Forced rhyme compromises sincerity. Absent rhyme often signals self-obsessed ramblings of a feeble mind---unlike Updike's. Rhyme slipped nonchalantly---mid-sentence, mid-stanza---punctuates thought the way only the spoken word can, thus giving thoughts physical expression. Broken lines and split sentences are spurious pauses. They discourage the reader from racing through the seamless verse. A poem is akin to a music score; it must be spoken to be appreciated fully.
When one is receptive of confession, Updike's poetry infects one with the capacity for the thought-soaked feeling. The poems' intensity (the better ones', at any rate), however, prevents them from captivating a distracted mind. Prose, with its more nuanced intensity, is better at winning the reader's confidence and nurturing his pensive mood.
When one is receptive of confession, Updike's poetry infects one with the capacity for the thought-soaked feeling. The poems' intensity (the better ones', at any rate), however, prevents them from captivating a distracted mind. Prose, with its more nuanced intensity, is better at winning the reader's confidence and nurturing his pensive mood.
22 July 2010
Yves Saint Laurent: Rétrospective
(Petit Palais, 17 July 2010)
An individual is remembered for an impeccable final product---not a concept, not a prototype. It takes talent to see the possible. It takes genius to recognise the indispensable in the possible, and to see it through. Yves Saint Laurent recognised as indispensable the trouser suit known possible at least since Marlene Dietrich. He introduced dresses animated by women, instead of designing dresses defining women, who, in turn, would hope that no one else would be able to afford the same definition. Yves Saint Laurent's dress is a vocabulary, bound with dignity.
With the emergence of mass production, individual creativity replaces purchased creativity. It is not enough to hang art. To distinguish oneself, one must be art. Inhabiting an elegant dress is a helpful induction.
On mannequins, dresses tell more than they do on photographs or screen. One can see them in low light (uncharitable to cameras) as they are intended to be seen---at a ball, at night. One can see them close-up, in three dimensions, appreciate their texture and volume. Only then dresses, as sculptures, come to life.
An individual is remembered for an impeccable final product---not a concept, not a prototype. It takes talent to see the possible. It takes genius to recognise the indispensable in the possible, and to see it through. Yves Saint Laurent recognised as indispensable the trouser suit known possible at least since Marlene Dietrich. He introduced dresses animated by women, instead of designing dresses defining women, who, in turn, would hope that no one else would be able to afford the same definition. Yves Saint Laurent's dress is a vocabulary, bound with dignity.
With the emergence of mass production, individual creativity replaces purchased creativity. It is not enough to hang art. To distinguish oneself, one must be art. Inhabiting an elegant dress is a helpful induction.
On mannequins, dresses tell more than they do on photographs or screen. One can see them in low light (uncharitable to cameras) as they are intended to be seen---at a ball, at night. One can see them close-up, in three dimensions, appreciate their texture and volume. Only then dresses, as sculptures, come to life.
Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève
(Palais Royal, 16 August 2010)
It has taken Alfred Hitchcock twelve hours to set up the scene in the flower shop in "Vertigo." The scene is less than a minute of the film. This is all one must know about the creation of art in order to appreciate it. "Jours étranges" insists on telling substantially more. It puts the creation of art into the perspective of life. The result is neither art nor life, but fundamental science---as opposed to engineering. The result is a model, not a final product. The model's value is in teaching the audience to recognise art and to avoid artless life.
"So schnell" subtracts from the conventional art form element after element: music, grace, narrative. The exercise helps the viewer define his own boundaries of art and of beauty. Beauty is economy, purpose, and communication. When intentional, beauty is art. A dance without music (as a poem without rhyme) can be art---liberated, uncompromisingly precise, and direct.
Often, however, a choreographer benefits from the discipline imposed by music. Music reminds dancers to coördinate with each other because they must coördinate with music. Harmony in music (as rhyme in poetry) enables the viewer to anticipate imminent moves, thus turning the viewer into a collaborator. Anticipation amplifies movement by making it seem inevitable. The inevitability distinguishes dance from sport.
It has taken Alfred Hitchcock twelve hours to set up the scene in the flower shop in "Vertigo." The scene is less than a minute of the film. This is all one must know about the creation of art in order to appreciate it. "Jours étranges" insists on telling substantially more. It puts the creation of art into the perspective of life. The result is neither art nor life, but fundamental science---as opposed to engineering. The result is a model, not a final product. The model's value is in teaching the audience to recognise art and to avoid artless life.
"So schnell" subtracts from the conventional art form element after element: music, grace, narrative. The exercise helps the viewer define his own boundaries of art and of beauty. Beauty is economy, purpose, and communication. When intentional, beauty is art. A dance without music (as a poem without rhyme) can be art---liberated, uncompromisingly precise, and direct.
Often, however, a choreographer benefits from the discipline imposed by music. Music reminds dancers to coördinate with each other because they must coördinate with music. Harmony in music (as rhyme in poetry) enables the viewer to anticipate imminent moves, thus turning the viewer into a collaborator. Anticipation amplifies movement by making it seem inevitable. The inevitability distinguishes dance from sport.
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