"The Maison de Balzac is located in the sixteenth arrondissement at 47, rue Raynouard, Paris, in the heart of the former village of Passy. If you visit, chances are you’ll approach it along the rue de l’Annonciation, which is pleasantly quiet and perfectly shaded, and boasts, according to Google Maps, a Pizza Hut that I don’t remember seeing when I visited in April. What I do remember seeing was an unaccompanied Alsatian with some sort of harness girding its chest, loping through a small nearby park. When I looked around, vaguely nonplussed, I noticed a clinique vétérinaire directly across the street. ..."
The Pariis Review
Bill McClintock Mash-Ups
"Bill McClintock is one of the biggest music-mashup artists on the internet. His opus of over 80 unique music-video mix-ups of celebrated musicians has, over the last three years, managed to accrue over 31 million channel views and 145 thousand subscribers on YouTube. For those of you who haven’t listened to the work contained in this rocking cavern of the internet – you are in for one hell of a ride. You will experience a strange, humorous, musically ambitious, and self-aware world, in which any two (or more) artists can find themselves next to each other. ...”
After the Leap: Marriage and Philosophy in George Eliot and Søren Kierkegaard
"Geoege Eliot and Søren Kierkegaard were born in the same decade, six years apart: Kierkegaard in a smart townhouse in the center of Copenhagen in 1813, Mary Ann Evans—George Eliot’s given name—in humbler circumstances in rural Warwickshire, England’s ‘Midlands,’ in 1819. They both became philosophers. And they both wrote remarkable works animated by the marriage question—a question that continues to transgress the dubious boundary between philosophy and life. At a time when this boundary was being fixed and entrenched by an increasingly professionalized, specialized academic culture, Eliot and Kierkegaard leapt over it, bringing profound ideas to wide readerships. Some of their most devoted contemporary readers were women and working men—readers with no access to higher education, who found in these books the intellectual and spiritual sustenance they craved. ...”
2011 July: Søren Kierkegaard, 2013 April: Repetition (1843), 2013 December: The Quotable Kierkegaard, 2014 October: Fear and Trembling - Søren Kierkegaard (1843), 2014 December: The Dark Knight of Faith - Existential Comics, 2015 July: I still love Kierkegaard, 2015 October: The Concept of Anxiety (1844), 2016 October: Cruel intentions, 2017 July: Søren Kierkegaard Newsletter, 2018 January: Either/Or (1843), 2018 November: The Seducer’s Diary (1843), 2020 July: Søren Kierkegaard’s Struggle with Himself, 2020 November: W. H. Auden - The Living Thoughts of Kierkegaard (1952)
In Search of the First Dub LP
"... According to the meagre evidence that has been unearthed so far, the first batch of dub albums surfaced in late 1973, including Herman Chin-Loy’s Aquarius Dub, Studio One’s Dub Store Special, Clive Chin and Errol Thompson's Java Java Java Java, Joe Gibbs’ Dub Serial, Lee Perry’s Upsetters 14 Dub Blackboard Jungle and Prince Buster’s The Message Dubwise. Every producer has some points that would back up their claim to have beaten the others to the draw, yet the counter evidence is typically just as convincing. ...”
American Revolution: will the power of US money change soccer forever?
"From the curtains of rain at his unveiling to the flawless top-corner winner in the final minute of his debut off the bench and the video-game soccer on display in his first start in flamingo pink, Lionel Messi’s beginnings in Miami have seemed providential, almost biblical. Messi is not, of course, the first aging superstar to put himself out to pasture on the gentle greens of US soccer. Pelé set the precedent, and many will follow once Messi has gone. But to choose America now? In this economy? With Saudi Arabia’s gushing riches within reach, and the lure of nostalgia calling him back to Barcelona? Surely that says a lot. ...”
TRUMP ACCUSED OF LEADING PUSH TO OVERTURN GEORGIA VOTE
Opinion | The Editorial Board - What if, Knowing What They Know Now, Republicans Don’t Vote for Donald Trump? “After three other criminal indictments were filed against him, Donald Trump was accused on Monday of racketeering. In a new indictment, Fani Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, Ga., charged him with leading what was effectively a criminal gang to overturn the 2020 presidential election in that state. The grand jury indictment says Mr. Trump and 18 others violated the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO law, established by the federal government and more than 30 states and used to crack down on Mafia protection rackets, biker gangs and insider trading schemes. The Georgia indictment alleges that Mr. Trump often behaved like a mob boss, pressuring the Georgia secretary of state to decertify the Georgia election and holding a White House meeting to discuss seizing voting equipment. ...”
How Hip-Hop Conquered the World
“We’ve gathered here today to raise a glass to hip-hop. It’s 50, baby! Half a century of effrontery, dexterity, elasticity, rambunctiousness, ridiculousness, bleakness, spunk, swagger, juice, jiggle and wit, of defiant arrogance, devastating humor, consumptive lust and violent distress, of innovation, danger, doubt and drip. Salud! I’ll be honest, though. I knew the magazine covers and concerts and TV specials were coming, but I wasn’t feeling it. Seemed too arbitrary a date. Or maybe just impossible to ascertain. What I did feel was that hip-hop has so thoroughly infused the atmosphere of American life (we’ll just start with this country), that it has pushed so much forward — who cares that it’s pushing 50? ...”
The Battle of Hostomel Airport: A Key Moment in Russia’s Defeat in Kyiv
"The battle for Hostomel Airport was the first major battle of the Russo-Ukrainian War (2022-present) and a decisive event in the war. This battle started on the morning of February 24 and lasted less than 36 hours. In the opening hours of the Russo-Ukrainian war Russian forces sought to seize a key airfield just 12 miles from the capital’s center. Additional airborne battalions would follow on transport planes. They would rapidly deploy, seek to take control of the city, and overthrow the government or make the leadership flee. Russia ultimately gained control of the airport but failed to achieve the objective of the assault. Ukrainian National Guard conscripts, backed by artillery units, were able to delay the elite Russian airborne troops long enough to prevent the Russian military from using the airfield as an airbridge to support a rapid seizure of Ukraine’s capital. ...”
YouTube: Tragedy of civilian life in Donbas | This Week in Ukraine Ep. 20, This Week in Ukraine Ep. 20 (Audio)
A woman carries a bicycle after a Russian missile strike hit an apartment building in Pokrovsk, Donetsk Oblast, on Aug. 8, 2023.
New York Intellectuals
"The New York Intellectuals were a group of American writers and literary critics based in New York City in the mid-20th century. They advocated left-wing politics but were also firmly anti-Stalinist. The group is known for having sought to integrate literary theory with Marxism and socialism while rejecting Soviet socialism as a workable or acceptable political model. Trotskyism emerged as the most common standpoint among these anti-Stalinist Marxists. ...”
There are 28 new Little Free Libraries in New York City.
"More than two dozen new Little Free Libraries will bring books to community gardens in all five boroughs of New York City, Serena Tara of Thrillist reports. The new installations are a project of Little Free Library, the nonprofit that is responsible for more than 150,000 book-exchange boxes around the world, and The New York Restoration Project. Here are the locations of the new libraries. ...”
Robbie Robertson’s 16 Essential Songs
"In Robbie Robertson’s music, earthiness and mystery were never far apart.Robertson, who died on Wednesday at 80, wrote songs that were firmly and widely rooted. Although he was Canadian, his music was steeped in Americana: in blues, country, ragtime, Cajun music, parlor songs, Appalachian ballads, gospel, circus bands, vaudeville and his Indigenous heritage. The way he deployed his guitar was twangy, sly and rigorously pithy, allowing no wasted motion. The lyrics he wrote could be cryptic or narrative, character studies or tall tales or riddles, and they were informed by history, myth and paradox. ...”
Rick Danko and Robbie Robertson of the Band. Robertson shaped an ensemble sound that was down-home and communal but laced with thoughtful details.
‘She’s hard to pin down’: the ‘avant-garde It girl’ who became a revolutionary photographer
"One morning in the mid-90s, the art historian Patricia Albers and her husband drove out to a farm in Oregon, looking for clues that would bring her closer to a woman she had encountered a decade before. She had been perusing an exhibition celebrating the work of California photographer Edward Weston, yet, wandering through the gallery space, it was the photographs of his Italian lover and protege, taken in Mexico in the 1920s, that especially piqued her interest. Who was she, Albers wondered? However, Tina Modotti wasn’t so easy to find. ...”
Mixing artistic rigour with political power … Modotti’s Men Reading El Machete, 1929.
The Black History of the Montgomery Brawl Folding Chair
"The Montgomery Alabama Riverfront brawl that unfolded when a group of White men attacked a Black dockworker over access to a boat parking spot last Saturday, August 5, ignited a fervent response from various bystanders who quickly jumped into action. The scene garnered international headlines and memes aplenty, as social media users celebrate the 16-year-old ‘Black Aquaman’ who swam to the scene to defend the dockworker and everyone else who joined forces. But the Internet has appointed the unnamed Black man equipped with a white folding chair as the most iconic fighter of the brawl, and the chair motif was quickly adapted into a variety of memes, fan art, merchandise, and even a tattoo. ...”
Artist and social media user Premimathieu ‘Premi’ Sterlin’s “Alabama Sweet Tea Party” (2023), a Photoshop revision of Ernie Barnes’s “Sugar Shack” (1976) with elements from the Riverfront brawl that took place in Montgomery, Alabama, last Saturday
John Coltrane’s Eternal “Equinox”
"Coltrane, who recently saw his latest posthumous release go metaphorically gold — i.e. sanctioned by the Ameri-Grecian/Bacchanalian Gods of Jazz — would have been proud of his dear friend’s latest release: Eric Dolphy’s Musical Prophet, reviewed yesterday by Henry Cherry. Dolphy’s is indeed a fine and wonderful new release, yet/and with all due respect I hence put forth Zeus, who, yay, sanctioned or obliterated all other sounds of this epic era in Jazz. Here, Coltrane’s ‘Equinox,’ where McCoy Tyner (who, by the gracious hands of those same breath-giving gods, is still with us, and still playing!!) lays down perhaps thee most spare and lovey piano solos ever put to tape, nor to ears nor time fore or since. ...”
John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy
Conspiracy theories in United States politics
"Conspiracy theories in United States politics are beliefs that an event or situation in US politics is the result of secretive collusion by powerful people striving to harm a rival group or undermine society in general. Such theories draw from actual conspiracies, in which individuals work together covertly in order to unravel a larger system. Often, the struggle between a real conspiracy theory and a misconception of one leads to conflict, polarization in elections, distrust in government, and racial and political divisions. Many political conspiracies begin and spread from politically charged circumstances, individuals' partisan affiliations, and online platforms that form echo chambers with like-minded individuals. Belief in American political conspiracy theories applies to all parties, ideologies, races, ethnicities, socioeconomic levels, and genders. ...”
YouTube: PBS - United States of Conspiracy (full documentary) 53:18, From Salem to QAnon: The enduring presence of conspiracies in American politics, QAnon And Conspiracy Theories: An American Political Tradition 27:17
In 1836, both camps in the so-called Bank War—supporters of U.S. president Andrew Jackson, and supporters of the Second Bank of the United States president Nicholas Biddle—lobbed accusations of conspiracy to sway Americans to their sides.
The 12 Most Popular Libraries in the World
"I don’t know about you, but I’m obsessed with my local library. I mean, if you think about it, the idea of a public library—where anyone in the community is trusted to borrow books, often for long stretches of time, for free, ad infinitum—is fairly magical. Where else do you get something for nothing? Which is not even to mention the many programs, study space, use of computers, and other perks that most public libraries offer. Basically, what I’m saying is: libraries should be even more popular than they are—but some of them are pretty popular already. ...”
A tucked-away holdout house built before the Civil War hides on 73rd Street
"It’s not a house with a famous pedigree—no Vanderbilts or Astors lived there. It wasn’t the site of a historical event; it didn’t witness a scandalous crime. Tucked away on a quiet Lenox Hill block, it doesn’t steal the spotlight from its converted carriage house neighbors. What distinguishes the red brick beauty with the curvy cornice and spectacular original iron veranda at 171 East 73rd Street is its astounding longevity. In an ever-changing Manhattan where row houses are renovated over and over to reflect current design styles—or bulldozed in favor of something taller and shinier—this set-back house still exists much as it did when it made its debut 163 years ago. ...”
"Souvenirs" - John Prine (1972)
"As much of the world has come to know, John Prine had a genius for laughing at life. Almost all of his foundational stories, the ones about how he became who he became, are funny. Funny but true. This applies to the writing, playing and recording of ‘Souvenirs,’ one of his classic and most beloved songs. ... Videos by American SongwriterInstead, ‘Souvenirs’ was relegated to his second album, Diamonds in the Rough, released in 1972. Produced also by Arif Mardin, who produced his debut, it was done quicker and at lower cost, which is what John wanted. ...”
2010 February: John Prine, 2011 October: John Prine - 1, 2012 May: Diamonds in the Rough., 2013 September: Sweet Revenge (1973), , 2020 April: Living in the Present with John Prine
The USWNT shootout that ended its World Cup
"Penalties are always a game of chance, turning 120 minutes into a matter of inches. For the U.S. women’s national team, those inches, or even a single millimeter, mattered the most on Sunday as it bowed out of the World Cup to Sweden at the quarter-final stage with a 5-4 loss in penalties. These penalties were unlike most that we’ve seen from the U.S. Megan Rapinoe missed for the first time in years. Alyssa Naeher stepped up and scored as a surprise sixth selection. Sophia Smith, whose form going into the tournament had been red hot, missed hers as well. Any of those moments could easily have been the biggest takeaway from this shootout were it not for what happened at the very end, as goal-line technology decided the end of the shootout when Naeher couldn’t get a palm on the winning spot kick in time after parrying upward on the initial effort. ...”
As War in Ukraine Grinds On, Fighting Intensifies Beyond Established Battlefields
"Ukrainian strikes on Russian ships in the Black Sea. Waves of drones fired at Moscow. A Russian attack on a Ukrainian port on the Danube River near the Romanian border. Nearly a year and a half into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, both sides appear increasingly ready to open a new dimension in the war, taking violence to people and to places that have largely been spared until now. The attacks have come as Ukraine presses on with a counteroffensive in the south and east that it launched around two months ago, with no sign yet that Russian lines have been decisively breached. ...”
Damaged buildings in Kharkiv, a city in eastern Ukraine, on Friday.
Have Climate Questions? Get Answers Here.
July 3, 2023: “Climate change is tremendously complex — and we’re here to help. The climate desk at The Times has been collecting reader questions and has started answering them here. Type your question in the search box to see if we’ve covered it yet. If you don’t find an answer, don’t worry: We’re following your great questions and will add more in time. ...”
Asymmetric Cut – Davide Bernardi
"1. Favourite knob/fader/switch on a piece of gear and why? One of my favorite knobs are all the Arturia MicroFreak potentiometers, but my fav thing about the MF is the touch sensitive keyboard (I was scared at the beginning, but now I’m totally in love). Another thing that I like so much, are the wooden and clicky buttons of the OrganelleM. 2. Do you have an ‘almost’ perfect bit of kit? What would you change? I don’t own many things, I have the Critter & Guitari Organelle M, Norns Shield by Garret Labs (+ Novation Launchpad Mini MK2 as 64 ‘Grid’), Arturia MicroFreak, Koma Elektronic Field Kit FX, Zoom MS-70CDR pedal and an old Panasonic Dictaphone. ...”
Show us your current studio - Desktop Studio
Sunken Ice Cream Trucks Were Used Create Artificial Reefs in NYC
"The bottom of the ocean is a mysterious place, often home to many objects that are not naturally part of marine life. However, some of these confusing objects found on the ocean floor were not victims of falling overboard or sinking ships, they were actually placed there on purpose. Since its official establishment in 1962, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Artificial Reef Program has been sinking unlikely objects with the hopes of promoting biodiversity off the shores of coastal states. One of their most iconic projects took place in the mid-1960s when they sank a fleet of Good Humor ice cream trucks. ...”
New Doc Contextualizes the Impact of ‘Midnight Cowboy’
"When it opened in the theaters in 1969, John Schlesinger’s masterpiece Midnight Cowboy shook Hollywood to its core. The story of wannabe hustler, Joe Buck (Jon Voight), and his limping, brash compatriot, ‘Ratso’ Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), not only exposed audiences to the dark corners of society but condemned a system that left people dead on the street, which is portrayed in the movie’s opening montage with Harry Nilsson’s ‘Everybody’s Talkin’ on the soundtrack. ... Writer-director Nancy Buirski’s compelling documentary, Desperate Souls, Dark City & The Legend of Midnight Cowboy contextualizes this cultural juggernaut, which garnered Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. ...”
2017 September: Midnight Cowboy - John Schlesinger (1969)
Pastor or Traitor? Ukrainians Shun a Church Seen as a Kremlin Tool.
"For two decades, Ilya Solkan served as the parish priest in a tiny Ukrainian village outside the capital, Kyiv. He baptized babies, blessed marriages and conducted funerals. The Orthodox church stood at the heart of the village and Mr. Solkan was central to its life. ... Today, he is unemployed and has been ostracized from the village after parishioners booted him out last October for putting politics into his pastoral care.The removal of Mr. Solkan, a priest with no public profile beyond his home village, reflects the gradual rejection by much of Ukrainian society of a church that answers to Moscow — a process that has been accelerated by the war. Specifically, it speaks to the division between the two branches of Orthodox Christianity, the most predominant religion in Ukraine. ...”
Parishioners leaving church after a service in Blystavytsya, Ukraine. The village has switched its allegiance from the Russian Orthodox Church to the Ukrainian national church.
Black Roots - Sugar Minott (1979)
"Recorded for Island's Mango label in 1979, Black Roots is among Sugar Minott's earlier solo efforts and is also among the best albums that the Jamaican singer ever recorded. Black Roots isn't an album to acquire if you're looking for slickness; Minott favors simplicity throughout this LP, which often recalls the northern soul and sweet soul of the '60s. If you combined Stax's raw production style with the type of sweetness that characterized a lot of Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia soul and added a reggae beat, the outcome might sound something like Black Roots. ...”
2020 November: Sugar Minott @ Studio 1
JAN. 6 RIOT ‘FUELED BY LIES,’ INDICTMENT SAYS
"Former President Donald J. Trump was indicted on Tuesday in connection with his widespread efforts to overturn the 2020 election following a sprawling federal investigation into his attempts to cling to power after losing the presidency. The indictment, filed by the special counsel Jack Smith in Federal District Court in Washington, accuses Mr. Trump of three conspiracies: one to defraud the United States; a second to obstruct an official government proceeding, the certification of the Electoral College vote; and a third to deprive people of a civil right, the right to have their votes counted. Mr. Trump was also charged with a fourth count of obstructing or attempting to obstruct an official proceeding. ...”
DJ Angelo
"In today’s saturated marketplace, DJ ANGELO is a much needed breath of fresh air and a breed of DJ the world never had before. Multi-talented yet grounded, multi-faceted yet focused – he continues to innovate the art form, elevate his followers, and push the boundaries of what a DJ is capable of. When he’s not winning World DJ Championships and touring every continent of the globe with his explosive live shows, ANGELO is an in-demand Creative Consultant and Content Producer for many global brands in the music space, and beyond. ...”
Aksak Maboul: Before And After Bandits (Documents 1977-1980, 2015)
"Formed in 1977 by Marc Hollander and Vincent Kenis, the Belgian avant-rock band, Aksak Maboul, excelled at the playful construction of ersatz yet exciting musical forms and counterfeit cross-cultural soundtracks that seem ever more radical and innovative with the passing of time. Their first recording, Onze Danses Pour Combattre la Migraine (‘Eleven Dances for Fighting Migraines’), fused early electronica, classical chamber orchestral, improvised jazz, Balkan folk, traditional Turkish music and Satie-esque miniatures with a light and humorous touch that transcended its hybrid nature to anticipate future musical forms, such as its proto-techno opener ‘Saure Gurke.’ ...”
2014 November: Aksak Maboul, 2017 July: Made to Measure, Vol. 1 (1984), 2020 March: Tout a une fin / Blaue Bleistift (2020), 2020 August: Aksak Maboul – Figures (2020), 2020 September: From Aksak Maboul to Crammed Discs, Marc Hollander Envisions a Musical Melting Pot, 2023 April: Une Aventure De VV - Songspiel (2023)
The Outsider – Colin Wilson (1956)
“Like Aldous Huxley and C S Lewis with John F Kennedy, the English writer Colin Wilson had the misfortune of dying on the same day as a vastly (and justly) more famous man: Nelson Mandela. When Wilson’s first book, The Outsider, came out in 1956 — coinciding with the arrival of a noisy cohort of anti-establishment writers labelled the ‘Angry Young Men’ — he became an overnight sensation: a self-taught, ‘staggeringly erudite’, working-class, provincial 24-year-old hailed by highbrow reviewers as Britain’s answer to Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. ...”
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