Arts and Culture | Truthdig http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/ Truthdig, a Web magazine that provides expert in-depth coverage of current affairs as well as a variety of thoughtful, provocative content assembled from a progressive point of view. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman. en editor@truthdig.com Copyright 2012 2012-05-25T09:41:14+00:00 http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/ http://www.truthdig.com/images/rss_feed_promo.gif Truthdig logo I Can’t Hear Myself Think http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Truthdig/ArtsAndCulture/~3/IG0_8ZKbCFM/ http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/i_cant_hear_myself_think_20120525/ book review, books, culture, diana senechal, education, republic of noise: the loss of solitude in schools and culture, society, technology, Book Review By Dexter Palmer

In “Republic of Noise: The Loss of Solitude in Schools and Culture,” Diana Senechal argues that the omnipresence of computers, tablets and smartphones hampers our ability to commune not just with one another, but with ourselves.

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]]> 2012-05-25T09:41:14+00:00 http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/i_cant_hear_myself_think_20120525/ Portraits of His People: A Tribute to Willie Middlebrook http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Truthdig/ArtsAndCulture/~3/BMpHI50Et-w/ http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/portraits_of_his_people_a_tribute_to_willie_middlebrook_20120522/ art, california, los angeles, obit, paul von blum, photography, race, willie middlebrook,

Willie Middlebrook’s untimely death at the age of 54 on May 4 brought an end to the work of one of the finest and most socially conscious artists of our times.

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]]> 2012-05-22T10:35:06+00:00 http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/portraits_of_his_people_a_tribute_to_willie_middlebrook_20120522/ Better Than We Found It http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Truthdig/ArtsAndCulture/~3/t-Ybb058iCw/ http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/better_than_we_found_it_20120521/ better than we found it, book review, darrell park, Book Excerpt By Darrell Park

“Better Than We Found It” explains dozens of complex and entrenched issues that plague today’s world and applies a thoughtful and straightforward approach to problem solving.

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]]> 2012-05-21T23:03:26+00:00 http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/better_than_we_found_it_20120521/ The Good-Natured Dictator http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Truthdig/ArtsAndCulture/~3/JWXOX66IBik/ http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/the_good-natured_dicator_20120521/ larry charles, review, richard schickel, sacha baron cohen, the dictator, torture, war, Film Review

No movie dedicated to Kim Jong Il can be all bad. On the other hand, “The Dictator,” the product of Sacha Baron Cohen, cannot be all good either.

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]]> 2012-05-21T07:59:22+00:00 http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/the_good-natured_dicator_20120521/ A Beast Bent on Grace http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Truthdig/ArtsAndCulture/~3/SaGEWQ4Lxwg/ http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/a_beast_bent_on_grace_20120517/ book review, collected poems, jack gilbert, poetry, Book Review By Steven Ratiner

In Jack Gilbert’s poetry, the mythic anguish of Orpheus in the underworld suddenly seems fused with something very much like the room in which you sit.

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]]> 2012-05-18T02:04:15+00:00 http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/a_beast_bent_on_grace_20120517/ How Bad Things Are http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Truthdig/ArtsAndCulture/~3/09CvRd0ggGM/ http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/how_bad_things_are_20120514/ ben bernanke, depression, economy, end this depression now, involuntary unemployment, lesser depression, mcdonald's, paul krugman, unemployment, w.w. norton, Book Excerpt By Paul Krugman

In March 2009 Ben Bernanke, normally neither the most cheerful nor the most poetic of men, waxed optimistic about the economic prospect. After the fall of Lehman Brothers six months earlier, America had entered a terrifying economic nosedive. But appearing on the TV show “60 Minutes,” the Fed chairman declared that spring was at hand.

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]]> 2012-05-14T16:45:07+00:00 http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/how_bad_things_are_20120514/ Lights, Camera, Activism http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Truthdig/ArtsAndCulture/~3/ksRfSKh4ZvM/ http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/lights_camera_activism_20120511/ , Book Review

In “Hollywood Left and Right,” Steven J. Ross details the public lives of 10 Hollywood notables who made significant marks on American political history, and posits that it is the Hollywood conservatives who have had a lasting effect on the country.

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]]> 2012-05-11T07:03:41+00:00 http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/lights_camera_activism_20120511/ The White House Gets Another Show http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Truthdig/ArtsAndCulture/~3/rVFbo_57-9w/ http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/the_white_house_gets_another_show_20120509/ bill pullman, book of mormon, jenna elfman, jon lovett, obama, veep, white house,

Americans attracted to White House-themed television shows will be pleased when NBC’s “1600 Penn,” a sitcom written by former Obama speechwriter Jon Lovett, hits the airwaves.

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]]> 2012-05-09T17:51:58+00:00 http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/the_white_house_gets_another_show_20120509/ The Invisible Man http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Truthdig/ArtsAndCulture/~3/rER--RjvNKU/ http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/the_invisible_man_20120508/ ,

Minus the macabre resolve of a dead soldier’s leg standing alone inside the gentle rain of vaporized meat, the death of my great-uncle was made beautiful to me by relatives who decided, like so many others prone to the questionable practice of ventriloquizing the deceased, that heroism works best when the person chosen to be the hero no longer exists.

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]]> 2012-05-09T14:37:24+00:00 http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/the_invisible_man_20120508/ Maurice Sendak, Children’s Book Author, Dies at 83 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Truthdig/ArtsAndCulture/~3/Ze5M6EiTSfI/ http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/maurice_sendak_chlidrens_book_author_dies_at_83_20120508/ brooklyn, children's books, children's illustrator, dave eggers, illustrator, maurice sendak, max, obituary, poland, polish, spike jonze, where the wild things are,

Maurice Sendak, a man whose imagination helped generations of children discover their own, “who wrenched the picture book out of the safe, sanitized world of the nursery and plunged it into the dark, terrifying and hauntingly beautiful recesses of the human psyche,” has died at 83 of complications from a recent stroke.

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