The modernist classic, perhaps the greatest English-language Bildungsroman, turns 100 on December 29, 2016. To celebrate, we look at what makes the novel so special: its fierce defense of individualism and critical thought, and its unique portrayal of the artistic mind. Of the characteristics likely to be associated with James Joyce’s writing, two—his inventiveness of […]
Let’s try to set the record straight. More has been written about Kubrick – on his films, about his person, extracting his methods – than any other motion picture director in history. The Shining has in fact sparked a fervent cottage industry of books, blogs, and documentary films all to its own. There are dozens […]
Neutrinos and their weird subatomic ways could help us understand high-energy particles, exploding stars and the origins of matter itself. Why, after millions of years of steadily lighting the cold darkness, does a supergiant star suddenly explode in a blinding blaze of glory brighter than 100 billion stars? What exotic objects in deep space are […]
Mr. Coppola, you once said that it is very difficult to be a good artist if you are rich. Do you still think the same way? These days I think that it’s good to be rich because you are not going to make any money making personal films.(Laughs) Nobody will go see them. If you […]
The women who screamed and swooned for the 19th Century piano virtuoso Franz Liszt set the pattern for fans in our own time – from The Beatles to Justin Bieber. The spectacle of young women shrieking, sobbing, and swooning at the sight of their musical idols might seem like a peculiarly modern phenomenon. You might […]
When one thinks of the masters of cinema, Japanese director Akira Kurowsawa (1910-1998) would be towards the top of that tree. Ground breaking and innovative in not only the technical arena of the field, the way in which he used narrative has been a major influence on several subsequent generations of directors, including Roman Polanski, […]
What the Beatles were to the ’60s, Led Zeppelin were to the ’70s: a band so successful and innovative they wound up creating the prism through which their entire epoch was seen. Zeppelin ushered in the era of album rock — they refused to release singles off their albums, even when they were garnering massive […]
1. Solsbury Hill Given the financial hole he was in, and the success of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, 1974 was an odd year for Peter Gabriel to hand in his notice as frontman of Genesis. One of the reasons he gave for quitting was odd as well – he claimed he wanted to […]