Aesthetics

Excerpt from The Book of Tea: “V. Art Appreciation”

by Micah Towery May 14, 2010 Aesthetics

V. Art Appreciation Have you heard the Taoist tale of the Taming of the Harp? Once in the hoary ages in the Ravine of Lungmen stood a Kiri tree, a veritable king of the forest. It reared its head to talk to the stars; its roots struck deep into the earth, mingling their bronzed coils [...]

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The Problem of Style

by Adam Fitzgerald March 27, 2010 Aesthetics
Post image for The Problem of Style

So there’s always this double duty, neither to make the best the enemy of the good, nor to make the good the enemy of the best. Scylla and Charybdis. The reason I admire Johnson and Eliot and Empson so much – the thing that holds them together – is that they all think that doing [...]

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Do Movie Critics Matter?

by Micah Towery March 25, 2010 Aesthetics

comments on : Journalistic standards have changed so drastically that, when I took the podium at the film circle’s dinner and quoted Pauline Kael’s 1974 alarm, “Criticism is all that stands between the public and advertising,” the gala’s audience responded with an audible hush—not applause. Over recent years, film journalism has—perhaps unconsciously—been considered a part [...]

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As If She Were a Symbol of Something

by Sarah V. Schweig March 17, 2010 Aesthetics

Before I post my regularly scheduled post, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I give you an excerpt from James Joyce’s “The Dead.” Gabriel had not gone to the door with the others. He was in a dark part of the hall gazing up the staircase. A woman was standing near the top of the [...]

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An Annotated ‘Some Enchanted Evening’

by Stuart Krimko March 12, 2010 Aesthetics

I recommend playing all the videos at the same time. Some enchanted evening You may see a stranger, you may see a stranger Across a crowded room And somehow you know, You know even then That somewhere you’ll see her Again and again. Some enchanted evening Someone may be laughin’, You may hear her laughin’ [...]

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To Make Bach the Grund of Grundrisse and the Chaconne of a Shocked Shack

by David Shapiro March 1, 2010 Aesthetics

Today I thought I should add my secret voice to your evaluations. Your intelligence may be genius, but remember as my mother said also always be nice. A seventh grade teacher consoled me when I was teased: You can always tell the genius by the enemies who surround him. Try, though it’s impossible. See JA. [...]

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The Flaming Poodle of the Mind: Poetry Readings, Vaudeville & Louise Gluck’s Legs

by Joe Weil March 1, 2010 Aesthetics

If I am anything at all, I am a vaudevillian. Considering that vaudville has been stone dead the last 80 years, that’s a hard thing to be, but wouldn’t you want to attend a reading where, first, someone read Elizabeth Bishop’s “One Art” beautifully, followed by a white poodle jumping through a fiery hula hoop, [...]

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On Memorization: Some Thoughts on “Owning” Your Own Work

by Christie Ann Reynolds March 1, 2010 Aesthetics

When I was 19 I interned at The Bowery Poetry Club. I can tell you that I didn’t get much done in the way of writing press releases; I was there to experience poetry. I was there to meet the real live poets who didn’t seem to exist on my college campus. I attended a [...]

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