Deceptively Simple

“So “The State of Jones” was born with a near-perfect Hollywood pedigree — though no one is prepared to shoot the movie. Hollywood has been wary of period dramas since pictures like Universal’s “Frost/Nixon” and the Paramount film “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” did better on the awards circuit than at the box office [...]

“Waiting for Godot frankly jettisons everything by which we recognise theatre. It arrives at the custom-house, as it were, with no luggage, no passport, and nothing to declare; yet it gets through, as might a pilgrim from Mars. It does this, I believe, by appealing to a definition of drama much more fundamental than any [...]

Lithuanian composer and conductor Mindaugas Piecaitis discovered a rich vein of Orthodox Christianity in the videos of Nora, the piano-playing cat. The enterprising musician didn’t stop there, but turned them into a Concerto for Solo Nora and Orchestra, the so-called Catcerto, amplifying the stray scents of Holy Minimalism, which usually don’t call forth those of [...]

The rotary-valve trumpet-wielding Zach Condon brought Beirut to Pitchfork for a sort-of “greatest hits” set this year, proving that the band is even better live – tighter, more aggressive – than in the studio. My setlist is below.

Nantes (from The Flying Cup Club – youtube)
Mimizan (from Dark Was the Night – youtube, with same lineup [...]

South Carolina governor Mark Sanford has been laughed at by pretty much everyone who’s read the emails between him and his Argentinian mistress. Looking in on anyone’s romantic letters is invariably funny from the outside, or at least amusing as you imagine the feelings and desire running around and between the words themselves. But what [...]