Those drawn to new year resolutions can check out Louis Wise’s novel twist on annual self-improvement plans: Clean up your culture diet, with a 10-step “arts detox.”
The idea is “not to do less, but to do better.” The piece, from The Times (of London), is Brit-centric and not just a little snarky. But coming up with ways to add more arts and culture into daily life, and to make those experiences more meaningful, seems like a lot more fun than figuring out how to eat more veggies or squeeze in a 20-minute workout during lunch.
Me, I’m going to take his advice, and try to resist museum gift shops, concert T-shirts and souvenir stands …and put the money I save toward tickets for more performances.
Any resolutions you’re making about your culture diet? Share, please.
Who knew that “pulling a rabbit out of a hat” may derive from an 18th century Surrey housewife who claimed to have given birth to a bunny? Michael Bailey, the former president of the Magic Circle, the London society of magicians, did, and he’s put it in a new history of magic.
God and Gold, Walter Russell Mead’s new history of how the maritime commerce of Britain and America came to rule the world, uses Lewis Carroll’s “The Walrus and the Carpenter” to explain Britain (the Walrus, of course) and the U.S. (the Carpenter) — “ignoring the fact that these two characters are rapacious and hypocritical beings inhabiting a nonsensical world.” Richard Francis explains.
Our chiseled-ab superheroes were lard butts long before the rest of America followed suit.
A look at the year to come in British books, including Peter Ackroyd’s Poe bio, new novels from Peter Carey and Salman Rushdie and memoirs from J. G. Ballard and Julian Barnes.
Stoops of Baltimore, Streets of Mexico, and Porches of North Texas: Space, Place and Race as Cultural Practices.
In Baltimore, there are row houses that have three marble steps that lead up to the front door (think the opening scene in Hairspray.)In the mornings, someone, a grandmother, a momma, a young girl, would scrub the steps with sudsy water that smelled like pine cones. Right before the sun would go down, particularly on a Friday night, people would come out and sit on the stoop to drink beer in brown paper bags, lemonade in plastic cups, or sodas directly from the can and be related. We talked. Joked. Laughed and for a few hours forgot about the hardships of living in the ghetto…
It’s no big surprise that more of us are using cell phones and the internet to watch television, or broadcasting our own music, videos, or blogs online. What is startling is how quickly we are forming new habits.
A new-media survey conducted by Deloitte & Touche found that the number of people using their phones as entertainment devices has increased by 50 percent since the firm’s last survey — eight months ago.
OK, this is a little silly, but it’s nice to see that museums can lighten up a bit. Jana at the Amon Carter blog introduces “the one-stop blog for your 19th century mustache needs.” The photos and site are courtesy of the University of Kentucky archives.
Extra bonus points: Jana was inspired to find a contribution from the Carter galleries.
JR Compton over at Dallas Arts Revue has posted a nice photographic chronicle of Art Conspiracy 3, the Dallas event put on to benefit local non-profit arts groups. AC features artists who create new works at the event, an auction of said works and live music, all in an informal setting. It’s a great scene, and just the type of event North Texas needs more of.
This year’s AC (the third annual event, hence the name) was held December 9 at The Door, in the former Gypsy Tea Room space on Main Street in Deep Ellum. It raised funds for the St. Anthony Community Center in the Fair Park area, which provides arts and music programming for children after school and on weekends.
More photos have been posted online at Flickr by Carissa Byers, “clared23″, “ReyGuy” and others.
No word yet on how this year’s event did (if you know, let us know and we’ll update this post), but the past two years netted over $20,000 in funds for local groups. Take a look at the AC site and JR’s photos, and if you like what you see (and you should), you can still make a donation online.
The 7-day celebration of African-American culture begins today. The DMN’s Norma Adams-Wade offers a line-up of the week’s events in Dallas. They kick off today with a parade at 1 beginning at Lincoln High School.
And here’s KERA’s Bill Zeeble talking to Bandele and Akwete Tyehimba , whose booth of traditional masks, sculptures and drums is a 17-year tradition at Dallas Kwanzaa Fest, which took place earlier this month.
JR Compton over at 