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mixing deskMixing DeskspacerBooksyesfeedbooksBooks1/123125/2202562/Books.jpg4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009112421159PMTuesdayNovNovember1411/24/2009 7:11:59 PM6339466871945739582009112421159PMTuesdayNovNovember1411/24/2009 7:11:59 PM6339466871945739582009112421159PMTuesdayNovNovember1411/24/2009 7:11:59 PM633946687194573958false2008101713007PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:30:07 PM6335984700700000002008101713007PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:30:07 PM633598470070000000Reading between the lines.2NA=1154&NC=1215&DI=4098&PS=58541&PI=7315BookReviewfalsefalsespacernotembeddedbooks1/123125/2202562/Books.jpg4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100048AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:00:48 PM63394653648294041620091124100048AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:00:48 PM63394653648294041620091124100048AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:00:48 PM633946536482940416false2008101713007PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:30:07 PM6335984700700000002008101713007PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:30:07 PM633598470070000000The AlienatorEmily Bazelon1/123122/2202502/bazelone.gif4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100048AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:00:48 PM63394653648325292020091124100048AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:00:48 PM63394653648325292020091124100048AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:00:48 PM633946536483252920false2008101711612PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:12 PM6335984617200000002008101711612PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:12 PM633598461720000000falseMaking sense of Justice Scalia's personality—and his theory.noThe AlienatorJoan Biskupic's American Original.noIn Joan Biskupic's new biography of Antonin Scalia, American Original, the justice wears a wreath of superlatives. He is the most quoted member of the Supreme Court and the one scholars write about most. He is the justice who writes the most concurrences—separate opinions that accept the holding of a majority opinion but usually part company with its reasoning. He is also the justice who prompts the most laughter at oral argument, according to two bona fide studies. Court observers pick Scalia as the most talkative. He disagrees with that one. They would probably call him the most argumentative. And he'd disagree with that, too.truenotochyperlinkno20091124100044AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:00:44 PM63394653644000000020091124100044AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:00:44 PM633946536440000000books1/123125/2202562/Books.jpg4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009112421157PMTuesdayNovNovember1411/24/2009 7:11:57 PM6339466871786192962009112421157PMTuesdayNovNovember1411/24/2009 7:11:57 PM6339466871786192962009112421157PMTuesdayNovNovember1411/24/2009 7:11:57 PM633946687178619296false2008101713007PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:30:07 PM6335984700700000002008101713007PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:30:07 PM633598470070000000The Real Secret of FeminismKatha PollittfalseGail Collins reveals who actually made change happen.noThe Real Secret of FeminismGail Collins's When Everything Changed.noDo you have a daughter who thinks feminists are dowdy man-haters who don't shave their legs? A single friend who blames the women's movement for her lack of a husband or children—or a married one who thinks it's Gloria Steinem's fault that she has to earn a living? I'm guessing that, unlike me, you don't know any radical feminist activists from the 1970s who feel they've made virtually no difference in American women's lives—but you may well know women like a writer acquaintance of mine who confessed, a few years ago, that she'd rather not fly in a plane with a female pilot.truenotochyperlinkno2009112370325AMMondayNovNovember711/23/2009 12:03:25 PM6339455660500000002009112370325AMMondayNovNovember711/23/2009 12:03:25 PM633945566050000000books1/123125/2202562/Books.jpg4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100045AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:00:45 PM63394653645332864420091124100045AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:00:45 PM63394653645332864420091124100045AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:00:45 PM633946536453328644false2008101713007PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:30:07 PM6335984700700000002008101713007PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:30:07 PM633598470070000000Stage FrightJudith ShulevitzfalseHow to read Philip Roth's quartet on aging.noStage FrightPhilip Roth's The Humbling. noNot long ago, Philip Roth gave an interview to the Wall Street Journal, one of several in various publications that occasioned some surprise, since Roth is a notoriously reclusive writer. In this interview, he revealed that his latest novel, The Humbling, is the third of four short novels. The first two, Everyman and Indignation, came out in 2006 and 2008, respectively. The fourth, called Nemesis, will be published next year. "Together," he said, "the four make a quartet."truenotochyperlinkno20091115111816PMSundayNovNovember2311/16/2009 4:18:16 AM6339392389600000002009111665419AMMondayNovNovember611/16/2009 11:54:19 AM633939512590000000books1/123125/2202562/Books.jpg4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100108AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:08 PM63394653668042754120091124100108AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:08 PM63394653668042754120091124100108AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:08 PM633946536680427541false2008101713007PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:30:07 PM6335984700700000002008101713007PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:30:07 PM633598470070000000Hands Off NabokovAleksandar HemonfalseWhy The Original of Laura should never have become a book.noHands Off NabokovNabokov's The Original of Laura (Dying Is Fun).noBack when I was a young viewer of Sarajevo TV, there was a cult show along the lines of Monty Python that once featured a skit with a poem presumably found in the papers of a deceased genius poet. An actor ponderously declaimed the newly discovered verse—"Bread/ Milk /Cooking oil …"—as it became clear that the masterpiece was in fact a grocery list. The last, crushing line was: "And some fish, if you can find any."truenotochyperlinkno2009111070614AMTuesdayNovNovember711/10/2009 12:06:14 PM6339343357400000002009111070614AMTuesdayNovNovember711/10/2009 12:06:14 PM633934335740000000books1/123125/2202562/Books.jpg4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100052AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:00:52 PM63394653652682021320091124100052AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:00:52 PM63394653652682021320091124100052AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:00:52 PM633946536526820213false2008101713007PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:30:07 PM6335984700700000002008101713007PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:30:07 PM6335984700700000001989 and All ThatAnne ApplebaumfalseHow much anti-Communist opposition really was there?no1989 and All ThatTwo books about the revolutions of 1989.noEverything comes around again, in the end; every debate needs to be held twice. For the past few years, the Russians have been conducting an extraordinary national argument about whether Stalin was bad, a question one would have thought was settled long ago. And now, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of 1989, we have two books, both by eminent historians, both seeking to start an argument about whether there was an anti-Communist opposition in Central Europe. In Uncivil Society Stephen Kotkin, a Soviet historian at Princeton, makes an unusually strident version of the case that there was not. Konstantin Pleshakov, a Soviet historian at Mount Holyoke, presents a milder and more complicated version in There Is No Freedom Without Bread.truenotochyperlinkno200911884609PMSundayNovNovember2011/9/2009 1:46:09 AM633933099690000000200911965745AMMondayNovNovember611/9/2009 11:57:45 AM633933466650000000200311442656PMTuesdayJanJanuary161/14/2003 9:26:56 PM63178158416000000020038690021AMWednesdayAugAugust98/6/2003 1:00:21 PM631957572210000000falsetruetruetruetruetruetrue20011018111443PMThursdayOctOctober2310/19/2001 3:14:43 AM631390436830000000200181561456PMWednesdayAugAugust188/15/2001 10:14:56 PM631334960960000000spacerMoviesyesfeedmoviesMoviesReviews of the latest films.2NA=1154&NC=1210&DI=4098&PS=58328&PI=7315MovieReviewfalsefalseCulturespacernotembeddedmoviesBad Lieutenant: Port of Call New OrleansDana Stevens1/123122/2202502/stevensd.gif4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009112041609PMFridayNovNovember1611/20/2009 9:16:09 PM6339433056953395062009112041609PMFridayNovNovember1611/20/2009 9:16:09 PM6339433056953395062009112041609PMFridayNovNovember1611/20/2009 9:16:09 PM633943305695339506false2008101711658PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:58 PM6335984621800000002008101711658PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:58 PM633598462180000000falseWerner Herzog and Nicolas Cage invent their own blend of crazy.noBad Lieutenant: Port of Call New OrleansBad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleansreviewed.noThis review only needs to consist of six words: Werner Herzog. Nicolas Cage. Bad Lieutenant. Not every one of those elements (with the possible exception of Herzog's name) is enough to sell a movie on its own, but the combination? Most definitely. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (Edward R. Pressman Films) isn't really a remake of Bad Lieutenant, Abel Ferrara's 1992 exploration of a crooked cop's journey through the depths of spiritual debasement. It's more like a dream one might have after watching the original Bad Lieutenant, doing three lines of cocaine, staying up all night, and collapsing on some none-too-clean sheets in a seedy New Orleans motel. The main thing the two films share is a fascination with abjection—these aren't just bad lieutenants, they're baaaad lieutenants. It's a fascination so extreme and so systematic that it exists at the permeable border between high drama and low comedy.truenotochyperlinkno2009112034711PMFridayNovNovember1511/20/2009 8:47:11 PM6339432883100000002009112034711PMFridayNovNovember1511/20/2009 8:47:11 PM633943288310000000moviesIllegal Use of Sandra BullockJosh Levin1/123122/2202502/levinj.gif4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009112050753PMFridayNovNovember1711/20/2009 10:07:53 PM6339433367364389602009112050753PMFridayNovNovember1711/20/2009 10:07:53 PM6339433367364389602009112050753PMFridayNovNovember1711/20/2009 10:07:53 PM633943336736438960false2008101711643PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:43 PM6335984620300000002008101711643PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:43 PM633598462030000000falseThe Blind Side should have been a great movie about football.noIllegal Use of Sandra BullockThe Blind Side reviewed.noMichael Lewis' book The Blind Side tells the true story of Michael Oher, a poor black kid who gets adopted by a rich white family and transforms himself into a football star. The movie version zooms in on Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock), the woman who gave the hard-up prodigy the care and feeding that he needed to become a man and an NFL draft pick. This feels less like an artistic choice than an economic one. The Blind Side plays like filmmaking by focus group, a movie that aims to please and ends up condescending to its audience.truenotochyperlinkno20091120112524AMFridayNovNovember1111/20/2009 4:25:24 PM63394313124000000020091120112524AMFridayNovNovember1111/20/2009 4:25:24 PM633943131240000000moviesThe Twilight Saga: New MoonDana Stevens1/123122/2202502/stevensd.gif4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009112041611PMFridayNovNovember1611/20/2009 9:16:11 PM6339433057183018102009112041611PMFridayNovNovember1611/20/2009 9:16:11 PM6339433057183018102009112041611PMFridayNovNovember1611/20/2009 9:16:11 PM633943305718301810false2008101711658PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:58 PM6335984621800000002008101711658PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:58 PM633598462180000000falseI can't defend this movie, but I loved it.noThe Twilight Saga: New MoonThe Twilight Saga: New Moon reviewed.noSometimes a critic's aesthetic judgment is impossible to extricate from what you might call her cinematic libido. There are movies that bring us a pleasure that's neither definable nor defensible. These used to be called "guilty pleasures," but that phrase seems too judgmental, too pre-Vatican II, for our postmodern era of omnivorous cultural consumption. The distinction between high and low culture, between what we're allowed to enjoy publicly and what we must sneak off to savor in private, has effaced itself to the degree that "guilty pleasures" needs to be replaced by a more morally neutral term. For our purposes here, I'll go with a term that a friend and I coined in college and that I still deploy on occasion: movies we couldn't intellectually defend but still unapologetically loved we called "juicebombs."truenotochyperlinkno2009111963219PMThursdayNovNovember1811/19/2009 11:32:19 PM6339425233900000002009111963219PMThursdayNovNovember1811/19/2009 11:32:19 PM633942523390000000moviesIt's the End of the World as We Know ItDana Stevens1/123122/2202502/stevensd.gif4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009112041612PMFridayNovNovember1611/20/2009 9:16:12 PM6339433057226161802009112041612PMFridayNovNovember1611/20/2009 9:16:12 PM6339433057226161802009112041612PMFridayNovNovember1611/20/2009 9:16:12 PM633943305722616180false2008101711658PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:58 PM6335984621800000002008101711658PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:58 PM633598462180000000falseBut Roland Emmerich's 2012 will make you feel more than fine.noIt's the End of the World as We Know ItRoland Emmerich's 2012.noAfter you've seen 2012, listen to our earth-obliterating Spoiler Special discussion:truenotochyperlinkno2009111342704PMFridayNovNovember1611/13/2009 9:27:04 PM6339372642400000002009111342704PMFridayNovNovember1611/13/2009 9:27:04 PM633937264240000000moviesFantastic Mr. FoxDana Stevens1/123122/2202502/stevensd.gif4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009112041619PMFridayNovNovember1611/20/2009 9:16:19 PM6339433057940807962009112041619PMFridayNovNovember1611/20/2009 9:16:19 PM6339433057940807962009112041619PMFridayNovNovember1611/20/2009 9:16:19 PM633943305794080796false2008101711658PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:58 PM6335984621800000002008101711658PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:58 PM633598462180000000falseYou don't want to watch this movie, you want to climb inside it and play.noFantastic Mr. FoxFantastic Mr. Fox reviewed.noThe experience of Fantastic Mr. Fox (Fox Searchlight), Wes Anderson's stop-motion adaptation of the Roald Dahl book for young readers, is like being magically shrunk down to 1:12 scale and set loose for 90 minutes in an exquisite, handcrafted, dizzyingly well-stocked dollhouse. If, like me, you're a lifelong aficionado of miniatures—someone who still presses their nose to toy-store windows filled with cunningly crafted furniture and tiny kitchen supplies—this movie will seduce you on tactile terms alone. The animal characters' real, shiny fur, gently moving in the wind! The infinitely detailed sets and props: acorn-patterned wallpaper, cutlery made from deer hooves, bespoke corduroy jackets with tiny stalks of wheat in place of pocket squares! You don't want to watch this movie, you want to climb inside it and play.truenotochyperlinkno2009111290625PMThursdayNovNovember2111/13/2009 2:06:25 AM6339365678500000002009111290625PMThursdayNovNovember2111/13/2009 2:06:25 AM633936567850000000200311442703PMTuesdayJanJanuary161/14/2003 9:27:03 PM631781584230000000200311442703PMTuesdayJanJanuary161/14/2003 9:27:03 PM631781584230000000falsetruetruetruetruetruetrue20011018111443PMThursdayOctOctober2310/19/2001 3:14:43 AM6313904368300000002001102983750AMMondayOctOctober810/29/2001 12:37:50 PM631399414700000000spacerTelevisionyesfeedtelevisionTelevisionWhat you're watching.2NA=1154&NC=1212&DI=4098&PS=58338&PI=7315tvreviewfalsefalsespacernotembeddedtelevisionTime for a Beauty PageantTroy Patterson1/123122/2202502/pattersont.gif4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009112362058PMMondayNovNovember1811/23/2009 11:20:58 PM6339459725884531342009112362058PMMondayNovNovember1811/23/2009 11:20:58 PM6339459725884531342009112362058PMMondayNovNovember1811/23/2009 11:20:58 PM633945972588453134false2008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM6335984621100000002008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM633598462110000000falseHow to score chicks on the Disney Channel.noTime for a Beauty PageantHow to score chicks on the Disney Channel.noThe Suite Life on Deck (Disney Channel, Fridays at 8:30 p.m. ET) is a follow-up to The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, itself a kiddie sitcom about identical-twin boys kicking it Eloise-style at a Boston hotel. Last week, the sequel ranked as the No. 4 show on cable and No. 1 overall among children ages 6 to 11. Should children actually be watching The Suite Life? This columnist does not pretend to offer parental guidance and, as far as he knows, does not have any 6-year-old kids. But there's an outside chance that he'd prefer to plop his imaginary, rhetorical-device-type offspring in front of Law & Order during the time slot in question.truenotochyperlinkno2009112053851PMFridayNovNovember1711/20/2009 10:38:51 PM6339433553100000002009112053851PMFridayNovNovember1711/20/2009 10:38:51 PM633943355310000000televisionI Love GleeTroy Patterson1/123122/2202502/pattersont.gif4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009112054038PMFridayNovNovember1711/20/2009 10:40:38 PM6339433563891250972009112054038PMFridayNovNovember1711/20/2009 10:40:38 PM6339433563891250972009112054038PMFridayNovNovember1711/20/2009 10:40:38 PM633943356389125097false2008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM6335984621100000002008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM633598462110000000falseWho knew a musical comedy could be so good?noI Love GleeThe many charms of Glee.noIn some social circles—those of dirty East Coast liberals, for instance—the fashionable new comedy of the season is Modern Family. Good for it. Good for wit that contributes to screwball tartness on network TV. But, for the record, the best new comedy is probably Glee (Fox, Wednesdays at 9 p.m., ET), created by Ryan Murphy and now back on air after a break for the World Series. And yet it happens that Glee is a musical comedy, and according to TV-biz conventional wisdom, many people feel such revulsion for that genre that they will not read this article any further, much less consider watching an hourlong show.truenotochyperlinkno2009111175021PMWednesdayNovNovember1911/12/2009 12:50:21 AM6339356582100000002009111175021PMWednesdayNovNovember1911/12/2009 12:50:21 AM633935658210000000televisionSlouching Towards St. LouisTroy Patterson1/123122/2202502/pattersont.gif4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009112054038PMFridayNovNovember1711/20/2009 10:40:38 PM6339433563810771002009112054038PMFridayNovNovember1711/20/2009 10:40:38 PM6339433563810771002009112054038PMFridayNovNovember1711/20/2009 10:40:38 PM633943356381077100false2008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM6335984621100000002008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM633598462110000000falseA journey through the Travel Channel.noSlouching Towards St. LouisA journey through the Travel Channel.noThe big TV-business story of the week reached its resolution yesterday with news of a deal valuing the Travel Channel at $975 million. The only justification for such a price tag is that network's modest audience—about 370,000 households in prime time—represents the kind of niche market advertisers can't resist pandering to. In a week of flying the network frequently, I caught commercials for online travel agencies and chain restaurants—and also tourism-themed ads for LensCrafters, Subaru, Wal-Mart, and Dulcolax stool softener.truenotochyperlinkno200911610306PMFridayNovNovember1311/6/2009 6:03:06 PM633931093860000000200911610306PMFridayNovNovember1311/6/2009 6:03:06 PM633931093860000000televisionGuess Who's Coming To Eat Us for DinnerTroy Patterson1/123122/2202502/pattersont.gif4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009112054035PMFridayNovNovember1711/20/2009 10:40:35 PM6339433563581080562009112054035PMFridayNovNovember1711/20/2009 10:40:35 PM6339433563581080562009112054035PMFridayNovNovember1711/20/2009 10:40:35 PM633943356358108056false2008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM6335984621100000002008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM633598462110000000falseThe classic '80s series V gets a post-9/11 update.noGuess Who's Coming To Eat Us for DinnerThe new V reviewed.nospacer252195Still from V. Click image to expand.Morris Chestnut in Vfalsefalse1/123125/122958/2207904/2234469/091103_TV_vTN.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/122958/2207904/2234469/091103_TV_vTN.jpg252195http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009112054035PMFridayNovNovember1711/20/2009 10:40:35 PM6339433563588893162009112054035PMFridayNovNovember1711/20/2009 10:40:35 PM6339433563588893162009112054035PMFridayNovNovember1711/20/2009 10:40:35 PM633943356358889316false200911325843PMTuesdayNovNovember1411/3/2009 7:58:43 PM633928571230000000200911325843PMTuesdayNovNovember1411/3/2009 7:58:43 PM633928571230000000V (ABC, Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET), a show about killer iguanas from outer space, reworks the '80s science-fiction smash of the same name. In its first incarnation, V was pulp with a seriousness of purpose. It quickly emerged that the space lizards, handsome in their human disguises, wanted to take our water and then use it to wash us tasty earthlings down. They were allegorical German fascists and quite effective as such. Despite being the sort of entertainment in which a fox swallows a guinea pig, the original V was a tale of resistance more potent than two out of three Oscar-season Nazi films.truenotochyperlinkno200911322922PMTuesdayNovNovember1411/3/2009 7:29:22 PM633928553620000000200911323051PMTuesdayNovNovember1411/3/2009 7:30:51 PM633928554510000000televisionThrust, Lunge, Vomit, Smile!Troy Patterson1/123122/2202502/pattersont.gif4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009112054038PMFridayNovNovember1711/20/2009 10:40:38 PM6339433563839687812009112054038PMFridayNovNovember1711/20/2009 10:40:38 PM6339433563839687812009112054038PMFridayNovNovember1711/20/2009 10:40:38 PM633943356383968781false2008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM6335984621100000002008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM633598462110000000falseA TV critic journeys through the cheerful hell of exercise shows.noThrust, Lunge, Vomit, Smile!A TV critic journeys through the cheerful hell of exercise shows.noFlip the channel and feel the burn. The history of exercise on TV stretches to 1951 and The Jack LaLanne Show. Amazingly, despite the advent of home video, LaLanne's successors are still on the air, lifting and thrusting and smiling too hard. By way of seeing what kind of shape the genre is in, I subjected myself to its rigors, devising along the way a weeklong regimen: The TV Critic Workout. It guarantees flatter abs in seven days, partly by way of stomach crunches, partly by way of promoting tummy-straining laughter at both one's own foolishness and the sillier programs.truenotochyperlinkno20091030115719AMFridayOctOctober1110/30/2009 3:57:19 PM63392500639000000020091030115719AMFridayOctOctober1110/30/2009 3:57:19 PM633925006390000000200311442705PMTuesdayJanJanuary161/14/2003 9:27:05 PM631781584250000000200311442705PMTuesdayJanJanuary161/14/2003 9:27:05 PM631781584250000000falsetruetruetruetruetruetrue20011018111443PMThursdayOctOctober2310/19/2001 3:14:43 AM631390436830000000200181561532PMWednesdayAugAugust188/15/2001 10:15:32 PM631334961320000000spacerArchitectureyesfeedarchitectureArchitectureWhat we build.2NA=1154&NC=1217&DI=4098&PS=62617&PI=7315archfalsefalsespacernotembeddedarchitectureHe Broke the MoldWitold RybczynskifalseYou don't see great public sculptors like Augustus Saint-Gaudens anymore.noHe Broke the MoldAugustus Saint-Gaudens, America's greatest public sculptor.nospacer205180Click here to read a slide-show essay about sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens.falsefalse1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/SlideShowLaunchModule.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/SlideShowLaunchModule.jpg205180http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722149184852009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722149184852009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM633930172214918485false200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000spaceryeshyperlinkAugustus Saint-Gaudens9407351/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/slideshow_header_Interim.gif94054http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722150747412009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722150747412009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM633930172215074741false200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM6339285114800000001/123125/122986/2111960/2116067/2116783/2116938/SlideshowFooter.gif94024http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722150747412009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722150747412009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM633930172215074741false200541844310PMMondayAprApril164/18/2005 8:43:10 PM632494393900000000200541844310PMMondayAprApril164/18/2005 8:43:10 PM632494393900000000FFFFFF000000spaceryeshyperlinkThe Augustus Saint-Gaudens show at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City is modest in scale, and a good way to enlarge the experience is to walk down Fifth Avenue to Grand Army Plaza and the Sherman Monument. The stirring figures atop a handsome granite pedestal designed by architect Charles Follen McKim are one of Saint-Gaudens' great works. The mounted Civil War general is depicted bareheaded with the wind lifting his cloak, preceded by the goddess Victory holding the palm branch of peace. Saint-Gaudens, notoriously slow, had taken 18 sittings to make a bust of Sherman; the model for Victory was Hettie Anderson, a popular African-American model. He sculpted Victory unclothed, then spent two weeks arranging her drapery. The monument is a reminder of how different Saint-Gaudens was from contemporary artists such as Claes Oldenburg, Richard Serra, and Jeff Koons, who make public sculptures but whose art is essentially private in nature. The Saint, as he was sometimes called, was an artist who derived his inspiration from the subjects of his public commissions.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/1_Sherman_Monument.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/1_Sherman_Monument.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722152309972009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722152309972009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM633930172215230997false200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000Sherman Monument in Grand Army Plaza, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1892-1903. Photograph by Jim Henderson. This image is in the public domain.200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000 spaceryeshyperlinkSaint-Gaudens was born in Dublin in 1848 to a French father and an Irish mother. The family immigrated to America when he was an infant and settled in New York City. At 13, he was apprenticed as a cameo cutter. Cameos are tiny images—often portraits—cut into shell or stone, and after six years, he developed an extraordinary skill in shallow-relief carving. He studied art in Paris and Rome, developed a love of the Italian Renaissance, and later divided his time among New York, Paris, and a rural retreat in Cornish, N.H. His friend Kenyon Cox painted him in 1887 in his 36th Street studio, intently modeling a bas-relief portrait of the painter William Merritt Chase. The portrait was to be a birthday present from Saint-Gaudens, who had a wide circle of friends, including many architects: H.H. Richardson, Daniel Burnham, Stanford White, and his partner McKim. These friendships, which were the source of commissions and regular collaborations, represent a creative camaraderie among artists and architects that is rare today.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/2_Cox_Portrait.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/2_Cox_Portrait.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722152309972009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722152309972009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM633930172215230997false200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Kenyon Cox, 1887. Oil on canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Gift of friends of the artist, through August F. Jaccaci.200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000spaceryeshyperlinkSaint-Gaudens, a master of alto- and bas-relief, made portraits of his friends—John Singer Sargent, Francis D. Millet, art critic Mariana Van Rensselaer—as well of the rich and famous: Cornelius Vanderbilt, Mrs. Grover Cleveland, Robert Louis Stevenson. Many of these reliefs have an endearing, sketchy quality. This large (about 4-by-5-foot) plaque depicting Mortimer and Frieda Schiff was a gift to their father, a New York banker, from a British friend. Unlike paintings or photographs, bas-reliefs appear three-dimensional yet are often less than an inch deep, an illusion that gives them a sort of magical authority. Note how the rounded toe of Mortimer's right foot protrudes over the frame, as if he were about to step out. The sculptor did many clay studies of the children, finally adding his own Scottish deerhound, Dunrobin, to complete the composition. The original plaque is bronze; Schiff had this marble copy made and gave it to the Metropolitan Museum.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/3_Schiff_Children.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/3_Schiff_Children.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722153872532009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722153872532009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM633930172215387253false200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000The Children of Jacob H. Schiff, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1884-85. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Gift of Jacob H. Schiff.200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000spaceryeshyperlinkSaint Gaudens sculpted several cemetery memorials. In 1886, he was approached by the eminent historian Henry Adams with a seemingly impossible commission: a grave monument for his wife, Marian, who had taken her own life the year before. At Adams' suggestion, Saint-Gaudens studied Buddhist monuments as well as Michelangelo's sibyls in the Sistine Chapel and produced this haunting work. The bronze figure is in Washington, D.C.'s Rock Creek Cemetery; the setting was designed by Stanford White.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/4_Adams_Memorial.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/4_Adams_Memorial.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722155435092009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722155435092009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM633930172215543509false200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000Adams Memorial in Rock Creek Cemetery, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1891. This image is licensed under GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000spaceryeshyperlinkThe figure of Victory in the Sherman Monument is a version of the idealized classical female that appears in many Saint-Gaudens works: a pair of caryatids supporting a massive mantel in a fireplace that he designed for the entrance hall of Cornelius Vanderbilt's house (now displayed in the Met) and several tombs and cemetery monuments. Here she takes the form of an angel, wearing a flowing chiton and a garland on her head, and holding a tablet. Amor Caritas (Love Charity) was not a commissioned work, although 40-inch-high bronze reductions enjoyed considerable commercial success, and the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris purchased a full-size casting—a rare honor for an American artist.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/5_Amor_Caritas.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/5_Amor_Caritas.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722155435092009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722155435092009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM633930172215543509false200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000Amor Caritas, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1880-98. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund.200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000spaceryeshyperlinkPerhaps Saint-Gaudens most popular work is the figure of Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt. Saint-Gaudens made it to serve as a finial for the top of the tower of Madison Square Garden, recently designed by his close friend Stanford White. The racy idea of placing a nude on top of a 32-story tower (the second tallest structure in the city) probably came from White, a noted womanizer. It must have appealed to Saint-Gaudens, too, for he charged only for his expenses and based the statue on Davida Clark, his model and mistress. Saint-Gaudens and White deemed the first 18-foot riveted-copper figure too large and replaced it with a 13-foot version (now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art). The small bronze casting shown here is one of several that Saint-Gaudens made later for sale to collectors.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/6_Diana.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/6_Diana.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722156997652009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722156997652009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM633930172215699765false200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000Diana, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1892-93. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund.200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000spaceryeshyperlinkSaint-Gaudens first public monument was the Farragut Memorial in Madison Square Park in New York City. It is an extraordinary combination of tradition and innovation. The bronze figure is placed on a granite (originally bluestone) exedra, or bench. Farragut is in naval uniform, holding field glasses, and posed as if on the deck of a ship; the skirt of his coat blown back by a breeze. The allegorical figures on the pedestal, representing Courage and Loyalty, crouch among stylized waves; dolphins, another marine motif, form the ends of the bench. An inscription, in Saint-Gaudens' characteristic Roman-style lettering, celebrates the admiral's accomplishments. What is remarkable about the monument is its small size and great compression, a lesson for today's sprawling memorials, which seem intent on educating the visitor, often at great length. Saint-Gaudens and Stanford White, who designed the base, tell a story, too, but it is more like a haiku.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/7_Farragut_Sculpture.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/7_Farragut_Sculpture.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722158560212009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722158560212009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM633930172215856021false200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000Farragut Memorial in Madison Square Park, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1881. This image is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000spaceryeshyperlinkThe memorial to Col. Robert Gould Shaw and the volunteer soldiers of the African-American 54th Massachusetts Regiment stands at the edge of Boston Common. The marching soldiers (16 are visible), preceded by a drummer boy, are rendered in high relief and form a background to the freestanding equestrian portrait of Shaw. The setting, designed by McKim, contains lines from a poem by James Russell Lowell. As he did so often, Saint-Gaudens wove together intense realism with spiritual allegory, the latter in the form of a floating female figure holding laurel leaves, symbolizing glory, and poppies, symbolizing death—half the regiment as well as Gould died in a fateful attack on Fort Wagner in Charleston, N.C. This is generally considered Saint-Gaudens' great achievement, and it represents a pinnacle of modern American public sculpture, rarely—if ever—surpassed.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/8_Shaw_Memorial.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/8_Shaw_Memorial.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722158560212009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722158560212009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM633930172215856021false200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000Robert Gould Shaw Memorial, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1897. This image is in the public domain.200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000spaceryeshyperlinkIn 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt, dissatisfied with the coins being issued by the U.S. Mint, prevailed on an ailing Saint-Gaudens (he had cancer and would die two years later, only 59), to design 1-cent, $10, and $20 coins. The 1-cent was never minted, but the $20 gold piece—a double eagle—is widely considered the most beautiful American coin ever made. (It was struck but never circulated, being melted down when the United States went off the gold standard.) The obverse shows a dynamic Liberty (Hettie Anderson, again) holding a torch and palm leaf, the sun rays behind her symbolizing enlightenment. The reverse shows a soaring bald eagle with similar rays. Unlike the U.S. Mint today, which has issued such uninspired coins as the distinctly pedestrian state quarters—they appear to have been designed by committees—Saint-Gaudens understood that a coin could be a miniature sculpture. A work of public art in your pocket.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/9_Eagle_Coin.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/9_Eagle_Coin.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722160122772009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722160122772009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM633930172216012277false200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000Double Eagle coin, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1933. This image is in the public domain.200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000Click here to read a slide-show essay about sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens.truenotochyperlinkno200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000architectureCareful With That MatisseWitold RybczynskifalseThe Barnes Collection is moving. Does its new Philadelphia home measure up?noCareful With That MatisseThe Barnes Collection is moving. Does its new Philadelphia home measure up?noWere Albert C. Barnes alive, the plan to move his art collection from its home in suburban Merion, Pa., to downtown Philadelphia would have made him erupt in one of his famous rages. The argument that an urban location would enable more people to see his paintings would have cut no ice with him, since he considered his foundation not a public museum but a private teaching academy. To add insult to injury, the new site is within spitting distance of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, with which Barnes feuded mightily, and often nastily, all his life.truenotochyperlinkno2009101470416AMWednesdayOctOctober710/14/2009 11:04:16 AM6339110065600000002009101470416AMWednesdayOctOctober710/14/2009 11:04:16 AM633911006560000000architectureToo Much of a Good ThingWitold RybczynskifalseFrank Gehry isn't going to design Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards development, and that's OK.noToo Much of a Good ThingWhy it's a good thing Frank Gehry isn't going to design Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards development.noEarlier this summer, Bruce Ratner, the developer of the Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, N.Y., announced that he was letting go his architect, Frank Gehry. The main reason, according to the New York Times, was that in the new shrinking economy, Gehry's work was simply too expensive. It's a shame that Gehry will not be designing a new Brooklyn home for the Nets, for it would have been instructive to see an imaginative architect tackle the thorny problem of a basketball arena. Arenas, unlike baseball stadiums, are basically big boxes, and they have a track record of being ham-fistedly designed. Wachovia Center, where the Philadelphia 76ers play, for example, is a block-sized collection of contemporary architectural clichés, combined without any logic or wit. Its only saving grace is that it is not in an urban neighborhood but surrounded by parking lots—a suburban setting for a suburban design.truenotochyperlinkno200992393352AMWednesdaySepSeptember99/23/2009 1:33:52 PM633892952320000000200992393352AMWednesdaySepSeptember99/23/2009 1:33:52 PM633892952320000000architectureForest Hills GardensWitold RybczynskifalseA walkable, transit-oriented, architecturally rich planned community, built 100 years ago.noForest Hills GardensForest Hills Gardens: A walkable, transit-oriented, architecturally rich planned community, built 100 years ago.nospacer205180Click here to read a slide-show essay on Forest Hills Gardens.falsefalse1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/SlideShowLaunchModule.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/SlideShowLaunchModule.jpg205180http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622173939200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622173939200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622173939false2009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM6338671298400000002009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM633867129840000000spaceryeshyperlinkForest Hills Gardens9407351/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/slideshow_header_Interim.gif94054http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622330192200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622330192200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622330192false2009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM6338671298400000002009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM6338671298400000001/123125/122986/2111960/2116067/2116783/2116938/SlideshowFooter.gif94024http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622330192200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622330192200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622330192false200541844310PMMondayAprApril164/18/2005 8:43:10 PM632494393900000000200541844310PMMondayAprApril164/18/2005 8:43:10 PM632494393900000000FFFFFF000000spaceryeshyperlinkDespite the medieval, Germanic appearance of the buildings, this town square isn't in Bavaria—it's in New York City. Forest Hills Gardens in Queens, N.Y., was begun in 1909, a project of the Russell Sage Foundation, which had been founded by the widow of a successful Wall Street financier. The planned community of 142 acres, which introduced the British Garden City movement to the United States, was intended to demonstrate the latest ideas in town planning, housing, open space, and building construction. It's pretty obvious that in the intervening years, Levittown, N.Y.—not Forest Hills—became the prototype for American planned communities. But in an age of diminishing resources and an interest in walkable neighborhoods, it is worth revisiting Forest Hills. One of the strengths of the Garden City movement was that it dealt with town planning in a comprehensive way, and this 100-year-old piece of New York City remains a model for how the attractions of town and suburbs can be combined.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/1_Square.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/1_Square.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622486445200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622486445200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622486445false2009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM6338671298400000002009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM633867129840000000Photograph by Witold Rybczynski.200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000spaceryeshyperlinkThe town square faces a station on the Long Island Railroad, which connects Forest Hills to Manhattan, 20 minutes away—an early example of transit-oriented development. The buildings on the square have stores and restaurants at street level and apartments above, just the sort of mixed-use that many developers are promoting today. The tallest building, nine stories, originally housed the Forest Hills Inn, since converted into condominiums. Apartment buildings line the streets immediately behind the square (right), creating a more urban density in this part of the community. As you walk away from Station Square, the scale of the buildings becomes smaller, there are more trees, and the surroundings are greener and more parklike.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/2_Apartment_Tower.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/2_Apartment_Tower.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622642698200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622642698200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622642698false2009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM6338671298400000002009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM633867129840000000Photograph by Witold Rybczynski.200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000spaceryeshyperlinkWalkability, which is the goal of most town planners today, requires smaller lots and more compact houses in order to keep distances short. In the housing terrace at right, 17-foot-wide town homes use land efficiently, but even detached house lots at Forest Hills can be as small as 2,800 square feet (compared with a typical suburban lot size today of 20,000 square feet). Forest Hills has a variety of single-family houses: attached, semidetached, and freestanding. The aim of having many housing types was partly to give more choices to buyers and partly to create the kind of visual variety found in old towns. This is very different from the sort of homogeneity that characterizes most modern suburbs. Notice also the generous planting strip next to the sidewalk, which gives the street trees plenty of room.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/3_Houses.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/3_Houses.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622642698200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622642698200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622642698false2009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM6338671298400000002009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM633867129840000000Photograph from The Architecture of Grosvenor Atterbury. Photograph by Jonathan Wallen © 2009 Jonathan Wallen.200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000spaceryeshyperlinkThe planner of Forest Hills was Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (1870-1957), son of the famous landscape architect. Olmsted was in his 40s, highly experienced, and he produced one of the great garden suburb plans of this period—or of any period. He showed how, in a relatively small area, it was possible to combine a variety of housing: apartment buildings, housing groups, and individual houses surrounded by gardens. The plan is not a simple grid—the streets curve—but neither is it the mindless "spaghetti" of so many modern suburbs. There is a clear hierarchy of larger avenues (called greenways), streets, and narrow internal streets that resemble back lanes. There is also a variety of open spaces: a town square, a village green, small parks, and this landscaped circle at the heart of a quiet cluster of houses (right).spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/4_Sidewalk.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/4_Sidewalk.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622798951200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622798951200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622798951false2009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM6338671298400000002009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM633867129840000000Photograph by Witold Rybczynski.200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000spaceryeshyperlinkOne housing group, intended for lower-income buyers, consists of attached houses only 13 feet wide. (The end houses, with octagonal bays, are wider.) The houses are constructed entirely of precast hollow-concrete slabs and panels. A single house consisted of 140 panels and could be assembled in nine days. The successful use of prefabricated concrete in housing at such an early date (1913) was decades ahead of what anyone else was doing in the United States or Europe. The lively exterior doesn't look cheap or mass-produced, despite the limitation of the standardized panels, which are given an attractive rough pebble finish. Equally impressive is the fact that this experiment has survived more than 90 years and is in excellent shape. This probably has something to do with the rather conservative design, which sticks to the tried-and-true: pitched roofs, protective overhangs, dormers, and traditional windows. And these little (1,960-square-foot) three-bedroom prefabs have more than held their value; one of these houses is currently on the market for $929,000.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/5_Prefab.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/5_Prefab.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622955204200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622955204200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622955204false2009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM6338671298400000002009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM633867129840000000Photograph by Witold Rybczynski.200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000spaceryeshyperlinkThe architect of the prefabricated houses, Station Square, and of many of the buildings at Forest Hills was Grosvenor Atterbury (1869-1956), the subject of a recent monograph. Atterbury is not well-known, but he deserves to be. He belonged to an in-between generation of architects, younger than turn-of-the-century giants like Charles McKim and Daniel Burnham and older than the first Modernists, such as Eliel Saarinen and George Howe. Atterbury worked in a variety of architectural styles—and for a variety of clients. At the same time as he was designing his ingenious precast concrete system for low-cost housing, he was building a group of cow barns in Newport, R.I. (right), to house the prize Guernsey herd of Arthur Curtiss James, one of the richest men in the country. So, a society architect or a revolutionary? Perhaps both.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/6_James.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/6_James.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622955204200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622955204200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622955204false2009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM6338671298400000002009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM633867129840000000Photograph from The Architecture of Grosvenor Atterbury. Photograph by Jonathan Wallen © 2009 Jonathan Wallen.200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000spaceryeshyperlinkOne of Atterbury's first projects in concrete was a summer colony of 10 cottages, built in 1897 for sugar magnate Henry Osborne Havemeyer, at Bayberry Point on the south shore of Long Island. The houses were built out of cast-in-place concrete, but what is even more striking is that they have flat roofs and starkly unadorned surfaces, giving them the appearance of the Modernist villas that architects such as Viennese firebrand Adolf Loos ("ornament is a crime") would build some years later. Did Grosvenor Atterbury invent the International Style? Not exactly. The Bayberry Point houses, which were advertised as "creations of the fancy," were intended to recall the Moorish architecture of North Africa, which Atterbury and his collaborator, Louis Comfort Tiffany, had both recently visited. Still, it is a curious fact that these two American eclectics arrived at bare concrete construction a decade before the European avant-garde.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/7_Havemeyer_House.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/7_Havemeyer_House.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150623111457200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150623111457200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150623111457false2009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM6338671298400000002009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM633867129840000000Photograph from The Architecture of Grosvenor Atterbury.200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000spaceryeshyperlinkThere is nothing bare about Forest Hills—quite the opposite. The picturesque architecture of medieval towns was greatly admired by garden city architects, and Atterbury gave the buildings around Station Square a medieval air, using precast concrete to suggest half-timbering. Decorative fretwork and patterned brick complete the effect. One is tempted to see this as an early example of architectural theming, except that it is done with such conviction and inventiveness that it is more like a performance than a simulation.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/8_Close_Up.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/8_Close_Up.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150623267710200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150623267710200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150623267710false2009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM6338671298400000002009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM633867129840000000Photograph by Witold Rybczynski.200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000spaceryeshyperlinkWhat makes Forest Hills different from—and much better than—most modern suburbs is not just the density, walkability, and architectural variety. It is also the attention to detail, whether in Olmsted's planting strips or Atterbury's distinctive street lamps. The designers understood that one of the great challenges of building a planned community from scratch is creating an instant sense of belonging. They achieved this by harmoniously integrating planning, landscaping, and architecture. That may be Forest Hills' most important lesson: Community building is an art. Not a pictorial art, but an experiential one, appreciated when you walk through the dark arcades of Station Square, beside the shaded town green (where a person sat in a deck chair the day I was there) and along the looping curve of Olmsted's greenway. This is not merely planning or building; it is place-making.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/9_Street_Lamp.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/9_Street_Lamp.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150623267710200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150623267710200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150623267710false2009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM6338671298400000002009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM633867129840000000Photograph by Witold Rybczynski.200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000Click here to read a slide-show essay on Forest Hills Gardens.truenotochyperlinkno200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000architectureGate ChangeWitold RybczynskifalseThe history and future of airport design.noGate ChangeThe history and future of airport design.nospacer205180Click here to read a slide-show essay on the history of airport architecture.falsefalse1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/SlideShowLaunchModule.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/SlideShowLaunchModule.jpg205180http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698491187200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698491187200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698491187false200972121432PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:32 PM633837824720000000200972121432PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:32 PM633837824720000000spaceryeshyperlinkGate Change9407351/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/slideshow_header_Interim.gif94054http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698647443200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698647443200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698647443false200972121432PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:32 PM633837824720000000200972121432PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:32 PM6338378247200000001/123125/122986/2111960/2116067/2116783/2116938/SlideshowFooter.gif94024http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698647443200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698647443200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698803699false200541844310PMMondayAprApril164/18/2005 8:43:10 PM632494393900000000200541844310PMMondayAprApril164/18/2005 8:43:10 PM632494393900000000FFFFFF000000spaceryeshyperlinkAirports used to be called "fields"—as in La Guardia Field and O'Hare Field. All you needed was a grassy landing strip and a windsock, and perhaps a shack for the passengers, who simply walked over to the planes. By the late 1920s, as air travel became more widespread, larger buildings were required, with ticketing counters, waiting rooms, baggage handling, customs and immigration, and so on. The design of new building types has often borrowed from the past—early skyscrapers looked liked steeples, for example—but the 19th-century railroad terminal, a monumental concourse in the front and a steel-and-glass shed over the platforms in the back, was not easily adapted to air travel. Architects have struggled with the problem of how to design airports ever since—and have produced a variety of different solutions.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/1_TWA_1930_flight.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/1_TWA_1930_flight.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698803699200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698803699200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698803699false200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000Photograph courtesy Brian Lea.200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000spaceryeshyperlinkAlthough William Adams Delano and Chester Holmes Aldrich are best known for their exceptional country houses in revival styles, the two architects were also pioneers of aviation architecture. In 1928, they were commissioned to build a terminal in Miami for Pan American Airways and a few years later a seaplane base in Coconut Grove, Fla., where passengers could board Clipper flying boats. They followed these up with the New York Municipal Airport (later called LaGuardia Field), which served both land planes and seaplanes. (The marine air terminal is at right.) The free-standing terminals resembled simple geometrical volumes (an airy vaulted hangarlike shed in Miami, a drum enclosing a circular concourse in New York). The buildings included observation decks and vertically separated arrival and departure areas and were decorated with stylized globes, signs of the zodiac, and, in the case of the marine terminal, dolphins. Delano and Aldrich adopted a clean, streamlined Art Deco style that suggested efficiency and modernity, and crowned the New York land terminal with a large steel eagle, symbolizing flight.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/2_LaGuardia.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/2_LaGuardia.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698959955200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698959955200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698959955false200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000Survey of LaGuardia Airport's Marine Air Terminal, 1974, via Wikipedia. This image is in the public domain.200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000spaceryeshyperlinkIn 1941, Delano and Aldrich were commissioned to plan a brand-new airport for New York City at Idlewild, and they proposed a massive circular terminal building with 700-foot spokes housing the gates. This was never built, but two decades later Idlewild (today John F. Kennedy International Airport) was the site of another ambitious experiment. Hired by TWA to design a new terminal, Eero Saarinen, with characteristic flair, determined that the entire building should say "flight." His solution: not a sculpted eagle but a building shaped like a bird. Saarinen's interiors were self-consciously futurist and resembled a set for a science-fiction movie. The building, executed with conviction and enormous skill (this was before computer-aided design), made a powerful impact when it opened in 1962, although its long-term influence on airport design proved to be negligible. Nothing ages faster than today's idea of tomorrow.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/3_TWA_Terminal.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/3_TWA_Terminal.jpg60045011http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698959955200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698959955200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698959955P false200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000Photograph by Todd Lappin/Telstar Logistics.200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000spaceryeshyperlinkFor Washington, D.C.'s Dulles International Airport, Saarinen went in a different direction, rethinking not only how an airport should look but also how it functioned. In order to get rid of the long and featureless corridors and walkways that led from the terminal to the gates, Saarinen invented a "mobile lounge" that could transport passengers directly from the terminal to the planes, which were parked some distance away on the tarmac. The terminal was now a single hall, cars arriving on one side, mobile lounges departing on the other. Nothing could be simpler. The problem was that neither the passengers nor the airlines warmed to the concept; the lounges were more like wide buses than rooms, and with the advent of jumbo jets, they proved inefficient. Although a few airports adopted mobile lounges, most stuck with the terminal-and-gates solution.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/4_Dulles_Airport.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/4_Dulles_Airport.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699116211200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699116211200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699116211false200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000Main Terminal of Washington Dulles International Airport, via Wikipedia. This image is in the public domain.200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000spaceryeshyperlinkIn 1988, the United Airlines terminal at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport opened. The idea here was to make the walk to the gate as architecturally interesting as the terminal itself. Instead of trying to discover a new architectural style for the airport, as Saarinen had done, architect Helmut Jahn simply updated the imagery of the Victorian train shed. The exposed steel structural elements are fussy and stylized, however, producing a cartoonish version of the original. The effect is tantamount to outfitting modern pilots with leather helmets and flying goggles. Not that it matters; here, as in many airports, the architecture ends up obliterated by a welter of graphics, signs, and advertisements.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/5_OHare_United.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/5_OHare_United.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699272467200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699272467200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699272467false200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000Photograph by Robert Werner, 2005, via Wikipedia. This image is licensed under GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000spaceryeshyperlinkThere are now 85 airports in the United States that handle more than 1 million passenger boardings. The largest, in area, is Denver International, whose opening in 1995 was marked by an infamous engineering failure—the $230 million baggage-handling system ran amok, losing and mangling bags. The building was designed by Fentress Bradburn Architects and consisted of a tensile fabric structure. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill had done much the same thing 20 years earlier in the Hajj Terminal in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A tent roof probably makes more sense in sweltering Saudi Arabia than in snowy Colorado, but the airport owners liked the distinctive silhouette, which is often compared to the nearby Rockies.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/6_Denver.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/6_Denver.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699428723200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699428723200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699428723false200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000Photograph by Doc Searls, via Wikipedia. This image is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 1.0.200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000spaceryeshyperlinkDespite its tensile structure, there is something almost whimsical about the design of the Denver airport. Whimsy is entirely absent from Stansted Terminal, outside London, which opened a few years earlier.* The terminal merged engineering, function, and aesthetics in what was essentially a large shed. Shed sounds utilitarian, but this space has the impact of a Gothic cathedral nave. Light enters from above, and the entire roof is supported by repetitive treelike structural modules. Stansted is a breakthrough, for Norman Foster had discovered a compelling solution to the problem of designing an airport: no metaphors of flight, no symbolic technology, no reviving the past (although Stansted does recall a very large aircraft hanger), and, instead, a building that demonstrates a structural and functional logic that is no less rigorous than the aeronautical design of a plane. The resulting paradigm shift has led to a whole generation of "elegant shed" airports: Hong Kong and Beijing (Foster), Madrid Barajas and Heathrow Terminal 5 (Richard Rogers), and Kansai (Renzo Piano).*This article originally misspelled the airport's name.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/7_London_Stansted_Rudelle.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/7_London_Stansted_Rudelle.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699428723200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699428723200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699428723false200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000Photograph by Nicolas Rudelle.200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000spaceryeshyperlinkKansai Airport sits on a man-made island in Japan's Osaka Bay. The basic plan is simple: A terminal building handles ticketing and baggage, and a milelong gallery accommodates the gates. Renzo Piano turns the tunnellike space into an evocative combination of light-filled greenhouse and dirigible shed. To get to the gates, passengers board a people mover, an automated tram that runs along the exterior of the building. There is some of the fluidity of Saarinen's TWA here—Piano's roof is invariably compared to an airfoil—but the lightweight structure is highly rationalized in the manner of Stansted. (Ove Arup & Partners were the structural engineers on both projects.) The airfoil roof is not only resistant to typhoon winds; it allows conditioned air to be blown across its inside surface, reducing the need for ducts.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/8_Kansai.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/8_Kansai.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699584979200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699584979200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699584979false200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000Photograph by Alexs Letterbox, 2005, via Wikipedia. This image is licensed under GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000spaceryeshyperlinkWhat should an airport look like? The Victorian railroad terminal celebrated the excitement associated with fast long-distance travel. Trains had dining cars and sleepers, and a corresponding sense of elegance permeated the station, even if you were traveling second-class. Excitement and elegance have long since worn off air travel. People just want to get where they're going as quickly and painlessly as possible. The best you hope for is that you get through the security line quickly, your flight's on time, there's space for your bag in the overhead bin, and if you're really lucky, the adjacent seat is empty. Airports have become as ubiquitous—and about as glamorous—as bus stations. Perhaps that's really the new model. In the talented hands of a Piano or a Foster, the bus station will be light and airy, but the kind of theatricality shown by the first generation of airports now seems out of place.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/9_BWI.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/9_BWI.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699897491200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699897491200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699897491false200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000Photograph of Baltimore/Washington International Airport by Rudi Riet, 2007, via Wikipedia. This image is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 1.0.200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000Click here to read a slide-show essay on the history of airport architecture.truenotochyperlinkno200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000200972293128AMWednesdayJulJuly97/22/2009 1:31:28 PM633838518880000000200322523252PMTuesdayFebFebruary142/25/2003 7:32:52 PM631817803720000000200322523252PMTuesdayFebFebruary142/25/2003 7:32:52 PM631817803720000000falsetruetruetruetruetruetrue200322511607PMTuesdayFebFebruary132/25/2003 6:16:07 PM631817757670000000200322511607PMTuesdayFebFebruary132/25/2003 6:16:07 PM631817757670000000spacerArtyesfeedartArt1/123125/2202562/art.jpg4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009112421159PMTuesdayNovNovember1411/24/2009 7:11:59 PM6339466871970740062009112421159PMTuesdayNovNovember1411/24/2009 7:11:59 PM6339466871970740062009112421159PMTuesdayNovNovember1411/24/2009 7:11:59 PM633946687197074006false2008101713007PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:30:07 PM6335984700700000002008101713007PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:30:07 PM633598470070000000The big picture.2NA=1154&NC=1217&DI=4098&PS=58538&PI=7315Artfalsefalsespacernotembeddedart1/123125/2202562/art.jpg4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672530218320091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672530218320091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM633946536725302183false2008101713007PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:30:07 PM6335984700700000002008101713007PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:30:07 PM633598470070000000Hello, DalíBen DavisfalseThe surreal, high-concept showmanship of Urs Fischer.noHello, DalíThe surreal, high-concept showmanship of Urs Fischer.nospacer205180Click here to read a slide-show essay about the Urs Fischer show at the New Museum.falsefalse1/123125/123118/2209169/2235777/2235782/SlideShowLaunchModule.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123118/2209169/2235777/2235782/SlideShowLaunchModule.jpg205180http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672561468120091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672561468120091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM633946536726239677false2009111895715AMWednesdayNovNovember911/18/2009 2:57:15 PM6339413503500000002009111895715AMWednesdayNovNovember911/18/2009 2:57:15 PM633941350350000000spaceryeshyperlinkUrs Fischer's Anti-Art Fun House9407351/123125/123118/2209169/2235777/2235782/slideshow_header_Interim.gif94054http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672639592620091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672639592620091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM633946536726395926false2009111895715AMWednesdayNovNovember911/18/2009 2:57:15 PM6339413503500000002009111895715AMWednesdayNovNovember911/18/2009 2:57:15 PM6339413503500000001/123125/122986/2111960/2116067/2116783/2116938/SlideshowFooter.gif94024http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672655217520091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672655217520091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM633946536726552175false200541844310PMMondayAprApril164/18/2005 8:43:10 PM632494393900000000200541844310PMMondayAprApril164/18/2005 8:43:10 PM632494393900000000FFFFFF000000spaceryeshyperlinkAt least one crowd-pleaser awaits visitors to Urs Fischer's just-opened show at the New Museum in New York. Called Service à la française, it consists of a collection of large mirrored boxes packed into the institution's warehouselike second-floor galleries. Each box is printed with images depicting various sides of a seemingly random object blown up to jumbo size so that you can inspect it in hyper-real detail: a green Top Shop shoe, a lavishly frosted pink cupcake, a vacantly waving Tweety Bird, a towering toy version of the Empire State Building. The landscape of boxes is supposed to remind you of walking among the skyscrapers of New York, though something about the whole thing—I think it's all the mirrors—also evokes a department store. (The artist calls it an "encyclopedia of banalities.")Service à la française is viscerally appealing and intellectually suggestive, accessible and provocative at once, which just about sums up what Urs Fischer does when he does it well. Not every artwork in his New Museum show has quite the same sizzle, but the show is also more than the sum of its parts. It stands as evidence of the kind of eclectic, high-concept showmanship that Fischer has perfected, the style that has made him an emblematic art-world figure of the last few years.spacer600450nono1/123125/123118/2209169/2235777/2235782/1.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123118/2209169/2235777/2235782/1.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672655217520091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672655217520091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM633946536726552175false2009111895715AMWednesdayNovNovember911/18/2009 2:57:15 PM6339413503500000002009111895715AMWednesdayNovNovember911/18/2009 2:57:15 PM633941350350000000Urs Fischer, Service à la française, 2009. Silkscreen on mirrored chrome steel, dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist; Gavin Brown's enterprise, New York; Sadie Coles HQ, London; and Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich, Switzerland. Installation view: "Urs Fischer: Marguerite de Ponty." Photograph by Benoit Pailley.20091118112725AMWednesdayNovNovember1111/18/2009 4:27:25 PM63394140445000000020091118112725AMWednesdayNovNovember1111/18/2009 4:27:25 PM633941404450000000 spaceryeshyperlinkBy most accounts, Fischer's approach to art-making is both calculated and semi-improvisational, equal parts Swiss rigor (he was born in Switzerland) and New York rowdiness (his studio is in Red Hook). A certain amount of unevenness is a natural consequence. The present show's curator, the talented and normally indefatigable Massimiliano Gioni, recently told The New Yorker's Calvin Tomkins that he had "thought a couple of times of killing" Fischer during the installation process. But Fischer's mercurial character is integral to his aesthetic. This is a guy who first stepped into the spotlight in the late '90s with sculptures that incorporated various food items: for example, a wall built atop a foundation of decaying fruit or a cabin assembled out of loaves of bread, designed to be slowly eaten away by birds living inside. Clearly, Fischer appreciates a certain preprogrammed potential for chaos.spacer600450nono1/123125/123118/2209169/2235777/2235782/2.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123118/2209169/2235777/2235782/2.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672670842420091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672670842420091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM633946536726708424false2009111895715AMWednesdayNovNovember911/18/2009 2:57:15 PM6339413503500000002009111895715AMWednesdayNovNovember911/18/2009 2:57:15 PM633941350350000000Urs Fischer, Bread House, 2005, bread, wood, screws, expanding foam, light, 17.5 x 15.5 x 14-15 feet. Image courtesy the artist and Gavin Brown's enterprise, New York.20091118112725AMWednesdayNovNovember1111/18/2009 4:27:25 PM63394140445000000020091118112725AMWednesdayNovNovember1111/18/2009 4:27:25 PM633941404450000000spaceryeshyperlinkLike a lot of recent art, Urs Fischer's oeuvre picks up various "anti-art" ideas—art strategies incorporating ugliness, vulgarity, randomness, instability, or immateriality, all of which not so long ago implied some critical, even political, stance in their assaults on traditional taste. But he gives these ideas a fun-house twist. Fischer's diverse projects bubble over with half-submerged references to other artists or styles. Are the painted mirrors of Service à la française a hat tip to the brainy mirror paintings of the Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto? Probably. But Fischer's references are not particularly reverent. He uses past art the same way he has used food: not as a firm foundation but as raw material that disintegrates in the process of being incorporated into his scattershot constructions. In addition to his food sculptures, Fischer has also made his name by cutting holes in things. For a recent gallery show, he commanded that the interior of Gavin Brown's space in New York be completely excavated so that all there was to see was a gaping pit of dirt. This intervention riffed on older gestures by artists like Gordon Matta-Clark and Daniel Buren, who sliced and diced institutional spaces, claiming that they were making viewers aware of their underlying structures. In Fischer's hands, however, this idea seemed more a deliberate piece of theater than a consciousness-raising exercise. Spectacular but stripped-down, cynical but in-your-face—it felt almost punk-rock.spacer600450nono1/123125/123118/2209169/2235777/2235782/3.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123118/2209169/2235777/2235782/3.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672686467320091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672686467320091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM633946536726864673false2009111895715AMWednesdayNovNovember911/18/2009 2:57:15 PM6339413503500000002009111895715AMWednesdayNovNovember911/18/2009 2:57:15 PM633941350350000000Urs Fischer, you, 2007, mixed media, dimensions variable. Image courtesy artist/Gavin Brown's enterprise, New York.20091118112725AMWednesdayNovNovember1111/18/2009 4:27:25 PM63394140445000000020091118112725AMWednesdayNovNovember1111/18/2009 4:27:25 PM633941404450000000spaceryeshyperlinkAt the New Museum, a particularly odd spectacle inhabits the third floor, probably the most lavish work in the new show. Except for a few spare sculptures, the galleries appear empty—until you realize that the room itself is the work. Fischer has papered over the walls with exact, to-scale photographic images of their own pristine surfaces, rendered a slightly different color, an atmospheric purple. He also dictated that the ceiling be lowered by 2 feet and that fake beams and new lights be installed. The gallery feels mostly the same. But the environment has been turned almost imperceptibly into a near copy of itself.Like his big dig at Gavin Brown, this type of thing calls to mind the art of "institutional critique," high-minded gestures that tried to throw into question the experience of being in a museum, often implicitly attacking the art world's underlying culture of money and power. Tellingly, however, the response to Fischer's new installation is less thoughtful contemplation of such matters and more "My God—how much did it cost?" The answer is "a lot," though the New Museum isn't saying exactly how much. spacer600450nono1/123125/123118/2209169/2235777/2235782/4.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123118/2209169/2235777/2235782/4.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672702092220091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672702092220091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM633946536727020922false2009111895715AMWednesdayNovNovember911/18/2009 2:57:15 PM6339413503500000002009111895715AMWednesdayNovNovember911/18/2009 2:57:15 PM633941350350000000Installation view of third floor of "Urs Fischer: Marguerite de Ponty" at the New Museum, New York.20091118112725AMWednesdayNovNovember1111/18/2009 4:27:25 PM63394140445000000020091118112725AMWednesdayNovNovember1111/18/2009 4:27:25 PM633941404450000000spaceryeshyperlinkA series of large aluminum sculptures command the final floor of the New Museum show: formidable, formless blobs that loom over you. These are lovably weird-looking and perfect examples of Fischer's romance with the irregular and the unexpected. Each is a greatly blown-up version of a small piece of modeling clay; its seemingly haphazard protuberances were determined by the way the substance squished through Fischer's fingers. The enlarged whorls of Fischer's fingerprints are in evidence on the towering hunks, giving you a sense of their original scale.Spinning art from randomness is, of course, an old avant-garde pastime, from the Dada sculpture of Jean Arp to the Zen compositions of John Cage. True to form, however, Fischer adopts this device while deliberately thumbing his nose at the ideals that gave it an aura of meaning—for instance, the old notion that the use of chance in art was a way to get around the limitations of rational, conscious thought. Having his random blobs monumentalized (manufactured in China, no less!) emphasizes that the whole thing is a calculated game. The works get their zip from the difference between the low-key, intimate manipulation of the original clay and the superexpensive, sophisticated process required to take these shapes and get them to their final form.spacer600450nono1/123125/123118/2209169/2235777/2235782/5.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123118/2209169/2235777/2235782/5.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672702092220091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672702092220091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM633946536727020922false2009111895715AMWednesdayNovNovember911/18/2009 2:57:15 PM6339413503500000002009111895715AMWednesdayNovNovember911/18/2009 2:57:15 PM633941350350000000Installation view of "Urs Fischer: Marguerite de Ponty" (left to right: Ix, David, the Proprietor, 4:15 p.m. & 4:15 p.m., Marguerite de Ponty, Miss Satin, Zizi). Courtesy the artist; Gavin Brown's enterprise, New York; Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich, Switzerland; and Sadie Coles HQ, London. Photograph by Benoit Pailley.20091118112725AMWednesdayNovNovember1111/18/2009 4:27:25 PM63394140445000000020091118112725AMWednesdayNovNovember1111/18/2009 4:27:25 PM633941404450000000spaceryeshyperlinkOf all the Ghosts of Art History Past, though, Surrealism haunts Fischer's work the most—particularly Surrealism of the madcap Salvador Dalí variety. Sprinkled throughout the galleries of the New Museum are a few smaller sculptures illustrating the affinity: a life-size purple replica of a piano and bench as well as a pink lamppost and a pair of toothpaste-colored crutches. Each of these seems to be wilting beneath some invisible heat, evoking Dalí's swooning clocks. Similarly, a sculpture that incorporates a skeleton, posed so that it appears to be clamoring up onto a stack of cardboard boxes, echoes the morbid, fragmentary landscapes of Dalí's paintings.spacer600450nono1/123125/123118/2209169/2235777/2235782/6.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123118/2209169/2235777/2235782/6.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672717717120091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672717717120091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM633946536727177171false2009111895715AMWednesdayNovNovember911/18/2009 2:57:15 PM6339413503500000002009111895715AMWednesdayNovNovember911/18/2009 2:57:15 PM633941350350000000Urs Fischer, Violent Cappuccino, 2007. Cast aluminum, lacquer, motor oil, glue, and dust, 79.75 x 51.125 x 28.75 inches (203 x 130 x 73 cm). Private collection; courtesy Giraud Pissarro Segalot, New York. Installation view: "Urs Fischer: Marguerite de Ponty." Photograph by Benoit Pailley.20091118112725AMWednesdayNovNovember1111/18/2009 4:27:25 PM63394140445000000020091118112725AMWednesdayNovNovember1111/18/2009 4:27:25 PM633941404450000000spaceryeshyperlinkCupadre, which consists of a croissant dangling from a fishing wire with a butterfly tacked to it, might evoke Dalí's famous assemblage grafting a lobster to a telephone. It has the same kind of lurking, though indeterminate, sexual suggestion. It certainly has the same borderline silliness. Dalí is a fitting role model for Fischer: He was the Surrealist who turned the movement's high-flown rhetoric about exploring the unconscious into a kind of carnival aesthetic, becoming something of a cartoon of himself by the end of his life. Dalí's weirdness was unashamedly commercial, hyperactive, and populist. The title of Fischer's New Museum show, incidentally, is "Urs Fischer: Marguerite de Ponty," an obscure nod to a pseudonym that French experimental poet Stéphane Mallarmé used when writing for a fashion magazine. The title, in effect, stands for exactly the fusion of difficult avant-garde nihilism with hammy, high-impact spectacle that Fischer goes in for. (Asked by The New Yorker whether he actually read Mallarmé, the artist said "no.")spacer600450nono1/123125/123118/2209169/2235777/2235782/7.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123118/2209169/2235777/2235782/7.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672733342020091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672733342020091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM633946536727333420false2009111895715AMWednesdayNovNovember911/18/2009 2:57:15 PM6339413503500000002009111895715AMWednesdayNovNovember911/18/2009 2:57:15 PM633941350350000000Urs Fischer, Cupadre, 2009. Fishing line, croissant, and butterfly, dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist; Gavin Brown's enterprise, New York; Sadie Coles HQ, London; and Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich, Switzerland. Installation view: "Urs Fischer: Marguerite de Ponty." Photograph by Benoit Pailley.20091118112725AMWednesdayNovNovember1111/18/2009 4:27:25 PM63394140445000000020091118112725AMWednesdayNovNovember1111/18/2009 4:27:25 PM633941404450000000spaceryeshyperlinkIn the exhibition catalog, Massimiliano Gioni's interview with the artist is notable in that it shows the two men disagreeing over the fundamental meaning of the work. Gioni asks whether the artist picked the cultural flotsam printed on the mirrors in Service à la française because "they question assumptions of taste"—a bit of critical boilerplate. "No," Fischer replies. "I just like them. I think they look good." A little later, Gioni asks him whether his often fragmentary works aren't a "polemic against a certain polished look that has been so fashionable lately." Fischer calmly points out that the mirrored boxes are "about as polished as things get." (Indeed, at the press preview, a frequently heard comment was what great objects to sell they would be, which, to be fair, says as much about the art press as it does about Fischer.) The catalog's cover image is a self-portrait, picturing the tattooed artist peacefully asleep, a small dog trapped in his burly arm. The dog's eyes, collaged in, are human, supposedly Fischer's own. It's a great image and, as Gioni pointed out to me, something of a joke on the heroic portrait of an artist. Notably, it depicts Fischer literally unconscious, a rejoinder, perhaps, to those who try to read heady "critical" ideas into his works—though the detail of the eyes symbolizes that Fischer is very much conscious in the scene and self-conscious about what he is doing in general. His guilelessness is as much of an affectation as anything else.spacer600450nono1/123125/123118/2209169/2235777/2235782/8.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123118/2209169/2235777/2235782/8.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672748966920091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672748966920091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM633946536727489669false2009111895715AMWednesdayNovNovember911/18/2009 2:57:15 PM6339413503500000002009111895715AMWednesdayNovNovember911/18/2009 2:57:15 PM633941350350000000Urs Fischer, self portrait, The Heart of the Ocean, May Yohe & Putnam Strong, Zero Year Curse, Tavernier Blue, Hope Diamond, 2006, from a suite of three framed prints.20091118112725AMWednesdayNovNovember1111/18/2009 4:27:25 PM63394140445000000020091118112725AMWednesdayNovNovember1111/18/2009 4:27:25 PM633941404450000000spaceryeshyperlinkIf you want a metaphor for the basic position of Urs Fischer's art in the world, look no further than Noisette. A small, golf-ball-size hole has been poked in the wall on the third floor, the room with the wallpaper and the fake ceiling. Pass nearby, and a robotic tongue thrusts out, wags lewdly, then darts back in. It's a PG-13 attraction for a contemporary-art Disneyland, high-concept entertainment spun from low-brow mockery of viewers who might well be looking for something—anything—that seems like a recognizable work of art. That probably about sums things up. You have to appreciate the pretensions of contemporary art to really get Urs Fischer. But if you're not willing to laugh at those pretensions, you're not going to get him, either.spacer600450nono1/123125/123118/2209169/2235777/2235782/9.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123118/2209169/2235777/2235782/9.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672748966920091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672748966920091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM633946536727489669false2009111895715AMWednesdayNovNovember911/18/2009 2:57:15 PM6339413503500000002009111895715AMWednesdayNovNovember911/18/2009 2:57:15 PM633941350350000000Urs Fischer, Noisette, 2009. Mixed mediums, dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist; Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich, Switzerland; Gavin Brown's enterprise, New York; and Sadie Coles HQ, London. Installation view: "Urs Fischer: Marguerite de Ponty." Photograph by Benoit Pailley.20091118112725AMWednesdayNovNovember1111/18/2009 4:27:25 PM63394140445000000020091118112725AMWednesdayNovNovember1111/18/2009 4:27:25 PM63394140445000000020091118112725AMWednesdayNovNovember1111/18/2009 4:27:25 PM63394140445000000020091118112725AMWednesdayNovNovember1111/18/2009 4:27:25 PM633941404450000000Click here to read a slide-show essay about the Urs Fischer show at the New Museum.truenotochyperlinkno20091118112725AMWednesdayNovNovember1111/18/2009 4:27:25 PM63394140445000000020091118112725AMWednesdayNovNovember1111/18/2009 4:27:25 PM633941404450000000art1/123125/2202562/art.jpg4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM63394653676855366920091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM63394653676855366920091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM633946536768553669false2008101713007PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:30:07 PM6335984700700000002008101713007PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:30:07 PM633598470070000000Watteau the WandererChristopher BenfeyfalseWhat accounts for his enduring, elusive appeal?noWatteau the WandererWatteau at the Met.nospacer205180Click here to read a slide-show essay about Jean-Antoine Watteau.falsefalse1/123125/123118/2209169/2229695/2229696/SlideShowLaunchModule.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123118/2209169/2229695/2229696/SlideShowLaunchModule.jpg205180http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM63394653676902242520091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM63394653676902242520091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM633946536769022425false200992915602PMTuesdaySepSeptember139/29/2009 5:56:02 PM633898293620000000200992915602PMTuesdaySepSeptember139/29/2009 5:56:02 PM633898293620000000spaceryeshyperlinkWatteau9407351/123125/123118/2209169/2229695/2229696/slideshow_header_Interim.gif94054http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM63394653676917867720091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM63394653676917867720091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM633946536769178677false200992915602PMTuesdaySepSeptember139/29/2009 5:56:02 PM633898293620000000200992915602PMTuesdaySepSeptember139/29/2009 5:56:02 PM6338982936200000001/123125/122986/2111960/2116067/2116783/2116938/SlideshowFooter.gif94024http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM63394653676917867720091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM63394653676917867720091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM633946536769178677false200541844310PMMondayAprApril164/18/2005 8:43:10 PM632494393900000000200541844310PMMondayAprApril164/18/2005 8:43:10 PM632494393900000000FFFFFF000000spaceryeshyperlinkThose who love the delectable 18th-century French artist Jean-Antoine Watteau (initial "V" and rhymes with gâteau) love him ardently. When a Watteau picture turned up in an English country house last year after going missing for 200 years, it sold at Christie's for $24.4 million (the highest auction price ever for a French old master) to a still-unidentified enthusiast. Jed Perl, longtime art critic for the New Republic, recently published a beguiling love letter to his favorite painter titled Antoine's Alphabet. Philippe de Montebello, who ran the Metropolitan for three decades before retiring in 2008, had two favorite paintings in the museum: a tiny Duccio acquired under his regime and this Watteau portrait of wistful guitar player, dressed as the lovelorn theatrical character Mezzetin, hopelessly serenading a woman of stone. Watteau is widely regarded as perhaps the most important European artist of the early 18th century, but the mood of festive frivolity in much of his work makes it hard for some people to rank him with Goya, say, or Chardin. An intimate exhibition at the Metropolitan, including the recently discovered painting, seeks to illuminate one aspect of Watteau's work by zeroing in on his intense engagement with the fantasy world of music and theater. It also offers an occasion to speculate about the complex sources of Watteau's enduring, if still elusive, appeal.spacer600450nono1/123125/123118/2209169/2229695/2229696/1_Mezzetin.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123118/2209169/2229695/2229696/1_Mezzetin.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM63394653676933492920091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM63394653676933492920091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM633946536769334929false200992915602PMTuesdaySepSeptember139/29/2009 5:56:02 PM633898293620000000200992915602PMTuesdaySepSeptember139/29/2009 5:56:02 PM633898293620000000Mezzetin, by Jean-Antoine Watteau, 1718-20. Oil on canvas. © 1934 the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Munsey Fund, New York.2009930100826AMWednesdaySepSeptember109/30/2009 2:08:26 PM6338990210600000002009930100826AMWednesdaySepSeptember109/30/2009 2:08:26 PM633899021060000000 spaceryeshyperlinkOne source of Watteau's magic is surely the sheer energy and accuracy of his eye. A self-taught and highly idiosyncratic artist, Watteau was one of the greatest of all French draftsmen, easily on a par with Ingres or Degas. Consider, for example, this deft preparatory drawing for de Montebello's beloved Mezzetin, with sketched-in beret and black stubble. The neck muscles are tensed in expectation, as though they're connected to the man's upturned eyes. Watteau carried around with him a book of such drawings with forms and gestures that he freely incorporated into his paintings. He also had a trunk of flamboyant costumes in which he clothed his friends and models—his own private drama for visual improvisation. Friends spoke of Watteau's "spirit of instability"—he was always on the move—but he found a sense of home in the fleeting world of the popular theater, a world in which, as Baudelaire wrote admiringly of Watteau, characters "flutter like moths as they go up in flame." In the pictures that resulted, he captured both a sense of alienation, mirroring his own uprooted background, and of momentary asylum, premonitions of our own unsettled world.spacer600450nono1/123125/123118/2209169/2229695/2229696/2_Head_Of_Man.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123118/2209169/2229695/2229696/2_Head_Of_Man.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM63394653676949118120091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM63394653676949118120091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM633946536769491181false200992915602PMTuesdaySepSeptember139/29/2009 5:56:02 PM633898293620000000200992915602PMTuesdaySepSeptember139/29/2009 5:56:02 PM633898293620000000Head of a Man, by Jean-Antoine Watteau, 1718-20. Red and black chalk on buff antique laid paper. © 1937 the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, New York.2009930100826AMWednesdaySepSeptember109/30/2009 2:08:26 PM6338990210600000002009930100826AMWednesdaySepSeptember109/30/2009 2:08:26 PM633899021060000000spaceryeshyperlinkAs the son of a roofer from the Flemish frontier town of Valenciennes, which had changed nationality in the recent wars between France and Spain, Watteau arrived in Paris around 1702, determined to win the patronage of the court of Louis XIV. He moved in bohemian circles, borrowing a bed from friends, never marrying, and settling nowhere. He made a splash in official society with his dazzling if still puzzling painting Pilgrimage to the Island of Cythera in 1717. Critics still debate whether the "pilgrims" to the mythical island of Venus are embarking in eager anticipation or leaving disappointed. A work on the same theme from 10 years earlier has a kindred uncertainty. A couple of Cupids hovering in the sky urge the beautiful people to board the curtained Love Boat on the left. Why do they hesitate on the shore? Like many of Watteau's paintings, this one borrowed theme and mood from the French theater during the waning years of the Sun King's reign, when the Parisian theaters were shut down by a suddenly pious old monarch and troupes of wandering players flourished at informal seasonal fairs on the outskirts of the city. It was these improvised and promiscuous affairs that Watteau, himself a wanderer, seems to have frequented.spacer600450nono1/123125/123118/2209169/2229695/2229696/3_Island_Of_Cythera.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123118/2209169/2229695/2229696/3_Island_Of_Cythera.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM63394653676949118120091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM63394653676949118120091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM633946536769491181false200992915602PMTuesdaySepSeptember139/29/2009 5:56:02 PM633898293620000000200992915602PMTuesdaySepSeptember139/29/2009 5:56:02 PM633898293620000000The Island of Cythera (L'Isle de Cythère), by Jean-Antoine Watteau, 1709-10. Oil on canvas. Courtesy the Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.2009930100826AMWednesdaySepSeptember109/30/2009 2:08:26 PM6338990210600000002009930100826AMWednesdaySepSeptember109/30/2009 2:08:26 PM633899021060000000spaceryeshyperlinkStock characters from the Italian commedia dell'arte mingled on the rural stage with French characters like Pierrot. These were mainly servant figures, forerunners of Figaro, who helped young lovers elude their killjoy parents. But Watteau took these familiar properties—"the ribboned stick, the bellowing breeches," in Wallace Stevens' words—in a deeply personal direction. Pierrot in his baggy white peasant's suit captures our attention as he does that of the two seated women, one of whom lifts a black mask toward him. With his back turned to us, he seems hesitant and aloof, a figure of profound alienation—Hart Crane in a poem refers to Pierrot's "exile guise." It's easy to feel that this Pierrot is a stand-in for Watteau. His guitar sports red ribbons but remains on his back unplayed, contributing to the silence of the scene, with two patches of cobalt-blue sky opening like spooky windows in the forested glade. There is a mood of trauma that pervades Watteau's comedians, who seem to be seeking shelter from some unnamed storm. spacer600450nono1/123125/123118/2209169/2229695/2229696/4_The_Foursome.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123118/2209169/2229695/2229696/4_The_Foursome.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM63394653676964743320091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM63394653676964743320091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM633946536769647433false200992915602PMTuesdaySepSeptember139/29/2009 5:56:02 PM633898293620000000200992915602PMTuesdaySepSeptember139/29/2009 5:56:02 PM633898293620000000The Foursome (La Partie quarrée), by Jean-Antoine Watteau, 1714. Oil on canvas. © 1977 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Museum Purchase, Mildred Anna Williams Collection.2009930100826AMWednesdaySepSeptember109/30/2009 2:08:26 PM6338990210600000002009930100826AMWednesdaySepSeptember109/30/2009 2:08:26 PM633899021060000000spaceryeshyperlinkEven Watteau's most frolicsome paintings retain this hint of menace. It's there in The Surprise, the fittingly named picture that mysteriously turned up in an English country house after vanishing in the mayhem of the French Revolution. It's an oddly off-kilter composition. The guitarist, wearing Mezzetin's familiar pink and white stripes, tunes his guitar; a couple is executing a dance step or swooning in erotic embrace; and a worried spaniel is barking his concern. Katharine Baetjer, the Met curator who mounted the exhibition in conjunction with the art historian Georgia Cowart, writes that the male lover employs "force rather than gentility" and notes that "his kiss is not returned."spacer600450nono1/123125/123118/2209169/2229695/2229696/5_La_Surprise.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123118/2209169/2229695/2229696/5_La_Surprise.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM63394653676980368520091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM63394653676980368520091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM633946536769803685false200992915602PMTuesdaySepSeptember139/29/2009 5:56:02 PM633898293620000000200992915602PMTuesdaySepSeptember139/29/2009 5:56:02 PM633898293620000000The Surprise (La Surprise), by Jean-Antoine Watteau. Oil on wood. Private collection, courtesy Jean-Luc Baroni Ltd.2009930100826AMWednesdaySepSeptember109/30/2009 2:08:26 PM6338990210600000002009930100826AMWednesdaySepSeptember109/30/2009 2:08:26 PM633899021060000000spaceryeshyperlinkThe guitar appears in so many of Watteau's paintings as traveling companion to the lovelorn that it almost seems like a separate character. This exquisite guitar, made by a German luthier in Rome at a time when the guitar was becoming popular in French music by composers like Lully, is remarkable for its mother-of-pearl inlay, along with its exotic ebony, ivory, and bone. In his paintings, Watteau brought out the seemingly human attributes of musical instruments, such as the mustachioed bridge of this guitar—another indication of the intimacy of actor and personified instrument. The checkerboard pattern along the sides recalls Harlequin, the cunning male servant of the French stage.spacer600450nono1/123125/123118/2209169/2229695/2229696/6_Guitar.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123118/2209169/2229695/2229696/6_Guitar.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM63394653676980368520091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM63394653676980368520091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM633946536769803685false200992915602PMTuesdaySepSeptember139/29/2009 5:56:02 PM633898293620000000200992915602PMTuesdaySepSeptember139/29/2009 5:56:02 PM633898293620000000Guitar, by Giacomo (Jacob) Ertel. Spruce, ebony, ivory, bone, fruitwood, mother-of-pearl. © 1984, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, purchase of the Rogers Fund, Mrs. Peter Nicholas, the University of Chicago Club of New York, Mrs. Henry J. Heinz II and Lowell S. Smith and Sally Sanford Gifts, the Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, by exchange, and funds from various donors.2009930100826AMWednesdaySepSeptember109/30/2009 2:08:26 PM6338990210600000002009930100826AMWednesdaySepSeptember109/30/2009 2:08:26 PM633899021060000000spaceryeshyperlinkWatteau was attentive to how his musicians, often portrayed as isolated and aloof, played their instruments. Nothing gets more attention in his Mezzetin painting than the precise position of the guitarist's prehensile fingers as he lovingly presses the strings between the frets. They are every bit as expressive as the musician's features; Perl compares the fingernails to punctuation marks, "sharp and acute." And when Watteau hastily sketches a standing flutist he gets the posture exactly right. There's room on the sheet for two women's faces, divided by the diagonal line of the flute. Rendered in red and black with highlights in white chalk, they suggest, like many of Watteau's characters, the remote and doll-like figures of 18th-century European porcelain.spacer600450nono1/123125/123118/2209169/2229695/2229696/7_Flutist_Two_Women.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123118/2209169/2229695/2229696/7_Flutist_Two_Women.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM63394653676995993720091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM63394653676995993720091124100116AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:16 PM633946536769959937false200992915602PMTuesdaySepSeptember139/29/2009 5:56:02 PM633898293620000000200992915602PMTuesdaySepSeptember139/29/2009 5:56:02 PM633898293620000000Studies of a Flutist and Two Women, Jean-Antoine Watteau, 1717. Red, black, and white chalks on buff laid paper. © 1955, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Mass.2009930100826AMWednesdaySepSeptember109/30/2009 2:08:26 PM6338990210600000002009930100826AMWednesdaySepSeptember109/30/2009 2:08:26 PM633899021060000000spaceryeshyperlinkLater artists took what they wanted from Watteau, often missing the delicate balance of frivolity and unease. His influence was decisive on such later Rococo painters as Boucher and Fragonard, with their feathery brushstrokes and pastoral seductions. But the Met exhibition takes us in a more surprising direction, showing how something of Watteau's darkly theatrical wit survived in the best work of the new medium of porcelain. In this tour de force by Meissen master Johann Joachim Kaendler, one of the most distinctive and influential sculptors of the era, the well-known mezzo Faustina Bordoni sings to the accompaniment of a fox. So detailed is the music that we can read the notes and the lyrics, which refer to "seduction, dignity, and revenge." But what's with the fox, whose paws don't quite reach the pedals? Well, Faustina was having a love affair with a certain Herr Fuchs ("fox"). She was dancing, you might say, to his tune. Watteau would have loved the innocent-looking fox, who has some of the mysteriously blank yet seen-it-all expression of Pierrot.spacer600450nono1/123125/123118/2209169/2229695/2229696/8_Faustina_Bordoni_Fox.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123118/2209169/2229695/2229696/8_Faustina_Bordoni_Fox.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100117AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:17 PM63394653677011618920091124100117AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:17 PM63394653677011618920091124100117AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:17 PM633946536770116189false200992915602PMTuesdaySepSeptember139/29/2009 5:56:02 PM633898293620000000200992915602PMTuesdaySepSeptember139/29/2009 5:56:02 PM633898293620000000Faustina Bordoni and Fox, by Johann Joachim Kaendler, 1744. Hard-paste porcelain. © 1964, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, gift of Irwin Untermyer.2009930100826AMWednesdaySepSeptember109/30/2009 2:08:26 PM6338990210600000002009930100826AMWednesdaySepSeptember109/30/2009 2:08:26 PM633899021060000000spaceryeshyperlinkBut all this levity, alas, was too late for Watteau. In 1719, he made a shadowy trip to England, and among those who purchased paintings from him was a distinguished doctor who presumably treated him for the tuberculosis that would kill him. It turned out that he was right that the premonitions that haunt his art—of disillusion, exile, isolation, and death—would catch up with him sooner than he would have liked. He died in midsummer in 1721 at the age of 36. His entire astonishing, enigmatic, and restless working career had lasted barely a decade.spacer600450nono1/123125/123118/2209169/2229695/2229696/9_Mezzetin_Again.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123118/2209169/2229695/2229696/9_Mezzetin_Again.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100117AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:17 PM63394653677011618920091124100117AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:17 PM63394653677011618920091124100117AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:17 PM633946536770116189false200992915602PMTuesdaySepSeptember139/29/2009 5:56:02 PM633898293620000000200992915602PMTuesdaySepSeptember139/29/2009 5:56:02 PM633898293620000000Mezzetin, by Jean-Antoine Watteau, 1718-20. Oil on canvas. © 1934 the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Munsey Fund, New York. 2009930100826AMWednesdaySepSeptember109/30/2009 2:08:26 PM6338990210600000002009930100826AMWednesdaySepSeptember109/30/2009 2:08:26 PM6338990210600000002009930100826AMWednesdaySepSeptember109/30/2009 2:08:26 PM6338990210600000002009930100826AMWednesdaySepSeptember109/30/2009 2:08:26 PM633899021060000000Click here to read a slide-show essay about Jean-Antoine Watteau.truenotochyperlinkno2009930100826AMWednesdaySepSeptember109/30/2009 2:08:26 PM6338990210600000002009930100826AMWednesdaySepSeptember109/30/2009 2:08:26 PM633899021060000000art1/123125/2202562/art.jpg4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100108AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:08 PM63394653668308382520091124100108AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:08 PM63394653668308382520091124100108AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:08 PM633946536683083825false2008101713007PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:30:07 PM6335984700700000002008101713007PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:30:07 PM633598470070000000Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim MuseumFred Kaplan1/123122/2202502/kaplanf.gif4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100108AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:08 PM63394653668339632920091124100108AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:08 PM63394653668339632920091124100108AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:08 PM633946536683396329false2008101711636PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:36 PM6335984619600000002008101711636PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:36 PM633598461960000000falseFifty years after its opening, has the art finally caught up with the architecture?noFrank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim MuseumFrank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim Museum.noClick here for a slide show about the art and architecture of New York's Guggenheim Museum.truenotochyperlinkno200981272035AMWednesdayAugAugust78/12/2009 11:20:35 AM633856584350000000200981272035AMWednesdayAugAugust78/12/2009 11:20:35 AM633856584350000000art1/123125/2202562/art.jpg4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100113AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:13 PM63394653673795835220091124100113AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:13 PM63394653673795835220091124100113AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:13 PM633946536737958352false2008101713007PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:30:07 PM6335984700700000002008101713007PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:30:07 PM633598470070000000Ready, Aim—Dream!Sarah BoxerfalseHas photography blinded us to the reality of the American West?noReady, Aim—Dream!The American West in photographs at MoMA.noClick here to read a slide-show essay on photography and the American West..truenotochyperlinkno20095670146AMWednesdayMayMay75/6/2009 11:01:46 AM6337719010600000002009731115335AMFridayJulJuly117/31/2009 3:53:35 PM633846380150000000art1/123125/2202562/art.jpg4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672777189720091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM63394653672777189720091124100112AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:01:12 PM633946536727771897false2008101713007PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:30:07 PM6335984700700000002008101713007PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:30:07 PM633598470070000000Does Plastic Art Last Forever?Sam KeanfalseNot even close. Can a generation of synthetic objects be saved?noDoes Plastic Art Last Forever?A generation of plastic art objects are degrading like overused Tupperware. Can they be saved?noIn the early 1960s, curators at the Philadelphia Museum of Art noticed something funny about one of their modern-art sculptures: It smelled like vinegar. Worse, the once-clear plastic sculpture had begun browning like an apple, and cracks had appeared on its surface. By 1967, Naum Gabo's translucent, airy Construction in Space: Two Cones looked like Tupperware that had gone through the dishwasher too often.truenotochyperlinkno200971113203AMWednesdayJulJuly117/1/2009 3:32:03 PM633820447230000000200971113203AMWednesdayJulJuly117/1/2009 3:32:03 PM633820447230000000200311442654PMTuesdayJanJanuary161/14/2003 9:26:54 PM631781584140000000200311442654PMTuesdayJanJanuary161/14/2003 9:26:54 PM631781584140000000falsetruetruetruetruetruetrue20011018111443PMThursdayOctOctober2310/19/2001 3:14:43 AM6313904368300000002001102365433AMTuesdayOctOctober610/23/2001 10:54:33 AM631394168730000000spacerMusic Boxyesfeedmusic boxMusic BoxPop, jazz, and classical.2121132777NA=1154&NC=1211&DI=4098&PS=58329&PI=7315musicboxfalsefalsespacernotembeddedmusic boxNature's RejectsJan SwaffordfalseThe music of the castrati.noNature's RejectsThe music of the castrati.noIt's not the pyrotechnic pieces that are the most difficult, Cecilia Bartoli says. "The beautiful sad arias are the hardest to sing, because I am moved almost to tears. I know they were singing those arias out of their own sorrow." Bartoli is talking about her new recording, Sacrificium, which concerns the most exquisitely unsettling episode in the history of music: the castrati and the music written for them.truenotochyperlinkno200911912841PMMondayNovNovember1311/9/2009 6:28:41 PM633933701210000000200911912841PMMondayNovNovember1311/9/2009 6:28:41 PM633933701210000000music boxIs It OK To Like Chris Brown's New Single?Jonah WeinerfalseWhat to do when a bad person makes a good song.noIs It OK To Like Chris Brown's New Single?Is it OK to like Chris Brown's new single featuring Lil Wayne?noIf your stomach turns a little at the thought of ever hearing Chris Brown's voice again—or, for that matter, his name—get ready for one nauseous winter. The R&B singer, who pleaded guilty in June to beating his ex-girlfriend Rihanna during a February argument, is set to release his third album, Graffiti, in December. Last month, the lead single, "I Can Transform Ya," hit radio, and the follow-up, "Crawl," came out last week. There's something audacious about Brown's return, and not just because it took a scant three months for him to slide back into album-promo mode after entering his guilty plea. Brown has been exposed in the Rihanna saga, after all, as more than an abusive boyfriend. Promising affection and pleasure in his music but brutish and violent in real life, his love oil turned out to be snake oil: An R&B loverman best known for a domestic-violence conviction is an insupportable contradiction.truenotochyperlinkno20091029104759AMThursdayOctOctober1010/29/2009 2:47:59 PM63392410079000000020091029104759AMThursdayOctOctober1010/29/2009 2:47:59 PM633924100790000000music boxCreed Is GoodJonah WeinerfalseScott Stapp's nu-grunge foursome was seriously underrated.noCreed Is GoodCreed is totally underrated.noIn 1997, an unknown Florida hard-rock group called Creed spent $6,000 to make its debut album, My Own Prison. Talk about a good investment: An independent label, Wind-Up, signed the group, got Sony to provide distribution, and Creed became, for four years or so, one of America's hugest bands. Its 1999 single, "Higher," topped the modern-rock chart for 17 straight weeks. "With Arms Wide Open," released the following year, reached the top of the pop charts, and won the Grammy for best rock song. Between 1997 and 2002, the band grossed more than $70 million touring. To date, it has sold 26 million records in the United States.truenotochyperlinkno2009102193024AMWednesdayOctOctober910/21/2009 1:30:24 PM6339171422400000002009102193024AMWednesdayOctOctober910/21/2009 1:30:24 PM633917142240000000music boxFall in Love With ParamoreJonah WeinerfalseIt's like Green Day fronted by a 20-year-old Christian girl from Tennessee.noFall in Love With ParamoreParamore's new album Brand New Eyes, reviewed.noTennessee rock band Paramore released its third album, Brand New Eyes, last Tuesday, and if sales projections hold true, it will enter the charts in the No. 1 spot. Paramore, fronted by 20-year-old belter Hayley Williams, is often referred to as an emo band or a punk band, but those designations fall short. The group's songs are full of unresolved hurt and anger, but they're ultimately too galvanizing and upbeat to feel quite emo, too luxurious and windswept to feel quite punk.truenotochyperlinkno200910682948AMTuesdayOctOctober810/6/2009 12:29:48 PM633904145880000000200910682948AMTuesdayOctOctober810/6/2009 12:29:48 PM633904145880000000music boxCan Miley Cyrus Save Health Care Reform?Jonah WeinerfalseThe pop starlet's new single is great, goofy—and bipartisan!—fun.noCan Miley Cyrus Save Health Care Reform?Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA" is great, goofy, bipartisan fun.noAt 16, Miley Cyrus is an actress, singer, memoirist, clothing designer, cancer-research advocate, highly ranked member of Forbes' "Superstar Earners Under 25" list, and the subject of a magazine-cover mini-scandal, twice over. Recently, she enjoyed a new career milestone when her song "Party in the USA"—released to promote not an album but a Wal-Mart-exclusive clothing line—became her highest-charting single ever, debuting at No. 2 on Billboard's Hot 100.truenotochyperlinkno200992993819AMTuesdaySepSeptember99/29/2009 1:38:19 PM633898138990000000200992993819AMTuesdaySepSeptember99/29/2009 1:38:19 PM633898138990000000200311445905PMTuesdayJanJanuary161/14/2003 9:59:05 PM631781603450000000200311445905PMTuesdayJanJanuary161/14/2003 9:59:05 PM631781603450000000falsetruetruetruetruetruetrue20026615916PMThursdayJunJune136/6/2002 5:59:16 PM63158968756000000020026615916PMThursdayJunJune136/6/2002 5:59:16 PM631589687560000000spacerDVD Extrasyesfeeddvd extrasDVD ExtrasDeleted scenes, commentary, and more.2NA=1154&NC=1210&DI=4098&PS=58314&PI=7315dvdfalsefalsespacernotembeddeddvd extrasThe Easy Rider Road TripThe Easy Rider Road TripRetracing the path of the iconic movie on its 40th anniversary.Keith Phipps0The end of the road.Day 6 I begin the day by flying from Albuquerque, N.M., to New Orleans. It's cheating, but only a little. Warned not to film in Texas because the state had no patience for long hair, Easy Rider skipped the state, so I do, too. Renting a car at the airport, I head directly to Morganza, La., a rural community up the road from Baton Rouge where Hanson, Wyatt, and Billy try, and fail, to enjoy a meal. "You name it, I'll throw rocks at it," one local tells the town sheriff as they enter the diner. The teenage girls dining there have a different reaction. Visibly attracted to the men, they follow them outside and coo over their bikes. Easy Rider used locals as the diner patrons and Fonda recalls giving the men a single line of motivation: "We've just raped a 13-year-old white girl outside of town."nonotruenonotochyperlinkno2009111665754AMMondayNovNovember611/16/2009 11:57:54 AM6339395147400000002009112071142AMFridayNovNovember711/20/2009 12:11:42 PM633942979020000000dvd extrasThe Easy Rider Road MapAn interactive guide.noThe Easy Rider Road MapThe Easy Rider Road Map: An interactive guide to the movie's journey.notruenotochyperlinkno2009111674146AMMondayNovNovember711/16/2009 12:41:46 PM6339395410600000002009111674146AMMondayNovNovember711/16/2009 12:41:46 PM633939541060000000dvd extrasThe Cineaste of CoolNathaniel RichfalseHow Jim Jarmusch's hipness distracts from his greatness.noThe Cineaste of CoolStranger Than Paradise on DVD.noFor better or worse, Jim Jarmusch has developed a reputation as the cineaste of cool. He has only himself to blame. For one, he has a rare genius for the suave posture and the shockingly odd image. Think of Johnny Depp in a checkered suit and black bowler, limping through a birch forest in the surrealist Western Dead Man (1995), or the two Japanese tourists in Mystery Train (1989), ecstatic with passion for Elvis Presley, sitting on the floor of their Memphis, Tenn., hotel room with lipstick-smeared faces. He also frequently casts musicians as his actors (John Lurie, Tom Waits, Iggy Pop, and Jack and Meg White, among others), and his soundtracks, featuring Charlie Parker, Elvis, and Ethiopian composer Mulatu Astatke, help give his films their distinctive mood—the cinematic equivalent of a world-weary shrug. Most responsible of all for this reputation, however, is his trademark dialogue, with its reliance on antiquated slang, digressive riffs, and bathetic one-liners.truenotochyperlinkno2007109125651PMTuesdayOctOctober1210/9/2007 4:56:51 PM6332753141100000002009111171132AMWednesdayNovNovember711/11/2009 12:11:32 PM633935202920000000dvd extrasShadowsElbert VenturafalseJohn Cassavetes' startling directorial debut changed American movies forever.noShadowsHow John Cassavetes' Shadows changed American movies forever.noIf American independent cinema could be said to have a birthday, Nov. 11 is as good a date to celebrate as any. On that night 50 years ago, John Cassavetes, an actor then best known for his TV roles, unveiled for a downtown New York audience his directing debut, Shadows. Cassavetes had financed the production with his paychecks from Hollywood and made the film with a cast and crew of novice actors from his drama workshop. The finished product betrayed their inexperience: mismatched cuts, shots out of focus, audio out of sync. But it was also unlike anything audiences had seen before: a raw, kinetic, jazz-scored dispatch from bohemian New York that was frank about sex, progressive on race, and intoxicated with youth. The film radiated a sense of urgency, even desperation—it felt like something Cassavetes just had to get out of his system.truenotochyperlinkno2009111171132AMWednesdayNovNovember711/11/2009 12:11:32 PM6339352029200000002009111171132AMWednesdayNovNovember711/11/2009 12:11:32 PM633935202920000000dvd extrasKing of PainGrady HendrixfalseMasaki Kobayashi's The Human Condition will crush you.noKing of PainMasaki Kobayashi's The Human Condition will crush you.noLike a stinging rebuke to Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, this week the Criterion Collection releases a three-disc set of Masaki Kobayashi's 1959 World War II masterpiece, The Human Condition. Deep where Basterds is shallow, expansive where Basterds is puny, and profound where Basterds is glib, Kobayashi's humanist triumph is finally getting the Western exposure it deserves. Previously unavailable in the United States, a restored version was screened last year at New York City's Film Forum and proved to be so popular that it was brought back for a return engagement. Not bad for a movie that is nine-and-a-half hours long (spread over three films) and so monumentally painful to watch that it stands as the Grand Canyon of despair.truenotochyperlinkno200998100407AMTuesdaySepSeptember109/8/2009 2:04:07 PM6338800104700000002009112103503AMMondayNovNovember1011/2/2009 3:35:03 PM633927549030000000200311445906PMTuesdayJanJanuary161/14/2003 9:59:06 PM631781603460000000200311445906PMTuesdayJanJanuary161/14/2003 9:59:06 PM631781603460000000falsetruetruetruetruetruetrue2002711100230AMThursdayJulJuly107/11/2002 2:02:30 PM6316197855000000002006223111932AMThursdayFebFebruary112/23/2006 4:19:32 PM632762903720000000spacerCultureboxyesfeedcultureboxCultureboxArts, entertainment, and more.2NA=1154&NC=1208&DI=4098&PS=58310&PI=7315cultureboxfalsefalsespacernotembeddedcultureboxOutfoxedJames ParkerfalseHow Roald Dahl's stories for children eclipsed his fiction for adults.noOutfoxedWould Roald Dahl have liked Wes Anderson's adaptation of Fantastic Mr. Fox?no"I could feel him smiling," said Felicity Dahl, widow of the great Roald, of her experience of viewing Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox. "I was thinking, he'd love this." Well, she would know, I suppose. But what am I to do then with my conviction that her late husband would have loathed this? That Wes Anderson, with his glockenspiels and drolleries and minutely faceted interiors, has travestied the raucous spirit of Dahl? And that the ideal Fantastic Mr. Fox movie would be a work of slapdash animation, soundtrack by Mötorhead, directed by Bobcat Goldthwait? I'll just have to sit on it, I suppose.truenotochyperlinkno20091124111727AMTuesdayNovNovember1111/24/2009 4:17:27 PM63394658247000000020091124111727AMTuesdayNovNovember1111/24/2009 4:17:27 PM633946582470000000cultureboxComing Soon to a Shelf Near YouTroy Patterson1/123122/2202502/pattersont.gif4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091119111411AMThursdayNovNovember1111/19/2009 4:14:11 PM63394226051349365820091119111411AMThursdayNovNovember1111/19/2009 4:14:11 PM63394226051349365820091119111411AMThursdayNovNovember1111/19/2009 4:14:11 PM633942260513493658false2008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM6335984621100000002008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM633598462110000000falseDo books really need Hollywood-style trailers?noComing Soon to a Shelf Near YouDo books really need Hollywood-style trailers?noThis month brings the publication of Eating Animals—a vegetarian's memoir and manifesto, a Peter Singer sort of guide to a Michael Pollan world, the third book by novelist Jonathan Safran Foer. In support of it, the author and his publisher have concocted a short Web video. When I watched it over dinner last night, it put me off my lamb shoulder chop (medium rare) only in its unpalatable tone, which is extremely cute and incredibly twee. It's but the latest reflection of the ways that such clips—"book trailers"—can reveal the hopes and fantasies of readers, writers, and publishers alike.truenotochyperlinkno2009111863039PMWednesdayNovNovember1811/18/2009 11:30:39 PM6339416583900000002009111863039PMWednesdayNovNovember1811/18/2009 11:30:39 PM633941658390000000cultureboxI Spend My Free Time With Dead PeopleAdrian ChenfalseThe strange hobby of graving.noI Spend My Free Time With Dead PeoplePeople whose hobby is visiting cemeteries and photographing graves.noNot long ago, I met a woman named Cara at Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery. She led me to a computer kiosk tucked under a big gothic archway at the main entrance. The computer allows you to browse the names and resting places of the 560,000 people buried in Green-Wood's 478 acres. Cara entered a name into the search field—"Johansen, Mathias"—and pressed "locate." A map appeared with a red square indicating general burial location. She zoomed in to a hand-drawn plan of subdivided lots. Lot 38325 was marked with a red "X."truenotochyperlinkno2009102993620AMThursdayOctOctober910/29/2009 1:36:20 PM6339240578000000002009102993620AMThursdayOctOctober910/29/2009 1:36:20 PM633924057800000000cultureboxRoll Over, BeethovenChris Wilson1/123122/2202502/wilsonc.gif4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091119111400AMThursdayNovNovember1111/19/2009 4:14:00 PM63394226040646103820091119111400AMThursdayNovNovember1111/19/2009 4:14:00 PM63394226040646103820091119111400AMThursdayNovNovember1111/19/2009 4:14:00 PM633942260406461038false2008101711707PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:17:07 PM6335984622700000002008101711707PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:17:07 PM633598462270000000falseHow Yamaha's new electronic piano improves upon a 300-year-old instrument.noRoll Over, BeethovenHow the AvantGrand, Yamaha's new electronic piano, improves upon a 300-year-old instrument.noThere are nine pianos squeezed into the back of Yamaha's music salon in the old Aeolian Building in New York, and between them they represent an abridged history of technology's assault on the instrument. Against the wall you'll find a majestic 9-foot grand and two of its 6-foot cousins—not an electric bone in their bodies. A few feet away is a modern player piano, the Disklavier Pro, which is still an acoustic piano but is outfitted with gadgets that can resurrect Art Tatum if you insert the correct 3½-inch floppy. (Think Darth Vader: still human but with a lot of gizmos for extra functionality.) And over by the door is the newest addition to the Yamaha family, the just-released AvantGrand. It doesn't even have strings.truenotochyperlinkno2009102855548PMWednesdayOctOctober1710/28/2009 9:55:48 PM6339234934800000002009102993048AMThursdayOctOctober910/29/2009 1:30:48 PM633924054480000000cultureboxWe Have a Winner!The results of Slate's Significant Objects contest.noWe Have a Winner!We have a winner! The results of Slate's Significant Objects contest.noEarlier this month, Slate teamed up with the Significant Objects project and offered our readers a challenge: Take a worthless object and give it value by writing a short story about why it's important. We chose the item for you, a small barbecue-sauce jar with a built-in brush, purchased at a thrift store in Meredith, N.H., for $0.75.truenotochyperlinkno20091027124459PMTuesdayOctOctober1210/27/2009 4:44:59 PM63392244299000000020091027124459PMTuesdayOctOctober1210/27/2009 4:44:59 PM633922442990000000200311442836PMTuesdayJanJanuary161/14/2003 9:28:36 PM631781585160000000200311442836PMTuesdayJanJanuary161/14/2003 9:28:36 PM631781585160000000falsetruefalsefalsefalsetruetrue20011018111443PMThursdayOctOctober2310/19/2001 3:14:43 AM631390436830000000200933064927AMMondayMarMarch63/30/2009 10:49:27 AM633739925670000000spacerHighbrow, Theyesnonefeedthe highbrowHighbrow, TheExamining culture and the arts.2NA=1154&NC=1223&DI=4098&PS=84498&PI=7315highbrowfalsefalsespacernotembeddedthe highbrowThe Man Who Made OzMeghan O'Rourke1/123122/2202502/orourkem.gif4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200992245516PMTuesdaySepSeptember169/22/2009 8:55:16 PM633892353160990499200992245516PMTuesdaySepSeptember169/22/2009 8:55:16 PM633892353160990499200992245516PMTuesdaySepSeptember169/22/2009 8:55:16 PM633892353160990499false2008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM6335984621100000002008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM633598462110000000falseL. Frank Baum and the first American fairy tale.noThe Man Who Made OzDissecting the real Wizard of Oz.noIn 1900, a 44-year-old L. Frank Baum published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and became the father of the American fairy tale. The book was a commercial and critical success. The story of the orphaned Dorothy Gale, whisked by a tornado away from gray, impoverished Kansas to the magical land of Oz, captured the hearts of children and adults who had lived through an economic crisis but saw all around them the thrum of invention and change. As a young country abuzz with "progress," the United States needed a different kind of fairy tale. A truly American myth could not merely invoke Celtic wraiths or Bavarian dark forest goblins. It would have to include the drive to innovate that launched the Gilded Age and made America the archetypal modern industrial nation during the very decades when Baum's imagination was formed.truenotochyperlinkno200992172109AMMondaySepSeptember79/21/2009 11:21:09 AM633891144690000000200992172109AMMondaySepSeptember79/21/2009 11:21:09 AM633891144690000000the highbrowCrazy in LoveMeghan O'Rourke1/123122/2202502/orourkem.gif4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009922123847PMTuesdaySepSeptember129/22/2009 4:38:47 PM6338921992713319272009922123847PMTuesdaySepSeptember129/22/2009 4:38:47 PM6338921992713319272009922123847PMTuesdaySepSeptember129/22/2009 4:38:47 PM633892199271488179false2008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM6335984621100000002008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM633598462110000000falseA new book makes the case for passionate obsession.noCrazy in LoveCristina Nehring's A Vindication of Love. noAfter the free-love ardor of the 1960s sexual revolution cooled down, a brave new vision of marriage emerged from its ashes. This has come to be known as "companionate marriage." In such a partnership, spouses have a mutual interest in career and home, and share in raising children. They talk over dinner, take turns doing dishes, fret together over the children's schooling, and arrange the occasional date night. To many Americans, the Obamas' recent studiously scheduled outing together would represent the apogee of a successful equitable marriage. To Cristina Nehring, author of the ambitious polemic A Vindication of Love: Reclaiming Romance for the Twenty-First Century, one suspects, it would represent all that is wrong with marriage today.truenotochyperlinkno2009619114455AMFridayJunJune116/19/2009 3:44:55 PM6338100869500000002009619114455AMFridayJunJune116/19/2009 3:44:55 PM633810086950000000the highbrowThe Outsider ArtistMeghan O'Rourke1/123122/2202502/orourkem.gif4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009922123847PMTuesdaySepSeptember129/22/2009 4:38:47 PM6338921992714921952009922123847PMTuesdaySepSeptember129/22/2009 4:38:47 PM6338921992714921952009922123847PMTuesdaySepSeptember129/22/2009 4:38:47 PM633892199271492195false2008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM6335984621100000002008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM633598462110000000falseAssessing Kay Ryan, our new poet laureate.noThe Outsider ArtistAssessing the new poet laureate.noKay Ryan, who has just been named America's new poet laureate, is a miniaturist. She favors compression the way Walt Whitman favored expansion. Like oysters, she has said, her poems take shape around "an aggravation." They are also small (most are only about 20 lines long), rich, and dense. A single one might not always make a meal, but a well-selected plate will satiate most readers.truenotochyperlinkno2008729122655PMTuesdayJulJuly127/29/2008 4:26:55 PM6335293121500000002008729122655PMTuesdayJulJuly127/29/2008 4:26:55 PM633529312150000000the highbrow100 CandlesMeghan O'Rourke1/123122/2202502/orourkem.gif4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009922123853PMTuesdaySepSeptember129/22/2009 4:38:53 PM6338921993369638782009922123853PMTuesdaySepSeptember129/22/2009 4:38:53 PM6338921993369638782009922123853PMTuesdaySepSeptember129/22/2009 4:38:53 PM633892199336963878false2008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM6335984621100000002008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM633598462110000000falseAnne of Green Gables grows old and gets her due.no100 CandlesAnne of Green Gables at 100.noOne hundred years ago, L.M. Montgomery did for women's imaginative lives what Susan B. Anthony did for women's political lives by publishing Anne of Green Gables, the story of an outspoken red-haired orphan growing up on Canada's Prince Edward Island. The book immediately broke through commercially and artistically, selling some 19,000 copies in five months, leading even the cranky dean of American letters, Mark Twain, to pronounce Anne "the dearest and most lovable child in fiction since the immortal Alice." Today, Anne of Green Gables and its seven sequels are the basis for a small industry. More than 50 million editions of the first volume are in print around the world. The books have spun off movies, musicals, miniseries, and an assortment of bric-a-brac, from tea sets to light switches. But perhaps the greatest tribute to Anne's enduring vitality is the decision by the solemn eminences who edit the Modern Library to issue and heavily promote a centennial edition of the first volume in the series. Tolstoy and Anna Karenina, meet L.M. Montgomery and Anne Shirley.truenotochyperlinkno20087832728PMTuesdayJulJuly157/8/2008 7:27:28 PM63351127648000000020087832728PMTuesdayJulJuly157/8/2008 7:27:28 PM633511276480000000the highbrow'Tweenyboppers at WorkMeghan O'Rourke1/123122/2202502/orourkem.gif4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009922123845PMTuesdaySepSeptember129/22/2009 4:38:45 PM6338921992574290652009922123845PMTuesdaySepSeptember129/22/2009 4:38:45 PM6338921992574290652009922123845PMTuesdaySepSeptember129/22/2009 4:38:45 PM633892199257429065false2008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM6335984621100000002008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM633598462110000000falseThe Miley Cyrus controversy.no'Tweenyboppers at WorkThe Miley Cyrus controversy.noCall me insensitive, but I didn't think that the supposedly "racy" photo of 'tween star Miley Cyrus holding a bedsheet around her bare torso was as outré as all the fuss made it out to be. Sure, Cyrus' hair is tousled in a sexual way, and she is, technically, topless. But from a less alarmist perspective, the photograph is—as Annie Leibovitz described it—highly classical. It focuses on the contrast between Cyrus' alabaster skin and dark hair, and it captures, in her vulnerable yet adult gaze, the strangeness of the transitional period known as adolescence. To be 15 is to be no longer a child, even if you are not yet an adult.truenotochyperlinkno20085545012PMMondayMayMay165/5/2008 8:50:12 PM63345603012000000020085854643PMThursdayMayMay175/8/2008 9:46:43 PM633458656030000000200412831008PMWednesdayDecDecember1512/8/2004 8:10:08 PM632381154080000000200412831008PMWednesdayDecDecember1512/8/2004 8:10:08 PM632381154080000000falsetruetruetruetruetruetrue200412823538PMWednesdayDecDecember1412/8/2004 7:35:38 PM632381133380000000200412823538PMWednesdayDecDecember1412/8/2004 7:35:38 PM632381133380000000spacerSpectator, Theyesfeedthe spectatorSpectator, TheScrutinizing culture.22161049spectatorfalsefalsespacernullthe spectatorThe Evil of BanalityRon Rosenbaum1/123122/2202502/rosenbaumr.gif4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009103020536PMFridayOctOctober1410/30/2009 6:05:36 PM6339250833685379592009103020536PMFridayOctOctober1410/30/2009 6:05:36 PM6339250833685379592009103020536PMFridayOctOctober1410/30/2009 6:05:36 PM633925083368537959false2008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM6335984621100000002008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM633598462110000000falseTroubling new revelations about Arendt and Heidegger.noThe Evil of BanalityTroubling new revelations about Arendt and Heidegger.noWill we ever be able to think of Hannah Arendt in the same way again? Two new and damning critiques, one of Arendt and one of her longtime Nazi-sycophant lover, the philosopher Martin Heidegger, were published within 10 days of each other last month. The pieces cast further doubt on the overinflated, underexamined reputations of both figures and shed new light on their intellectually toxic relationship.truenotochyperlinkno20091030123755PMFridayOctOctober1210/30/2009 4:37:55 PM63392503075000000020091030123755PMFridayOctOctober1210/30/2009 4:37:55 PM633925030750000000the spectatorWorst Framing Device EverRon Rosenbaum1/123122/2202502/rosenbaumr.gif4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091030123803PMFridayOctOctober1210/30/2009 4:38:03 PM63392503083246654620091030123803PMFridayOctOctober1210/30/2009 4:38:03 PM63392503083246654620091030123803PMFridayOctOctober1210/30/2009 4:38:03 PM633925030832466546false2008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM6335984621100000002008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM633598462110000000falseHow the misbegotten phrase public option has undermined health care reform.noWorst Framing Device EverHow the phrase public option undermined health care reform.noIn the history of political euphemisms, has there ever been a more empty, vacuous, mystifying, or counterproductive phrase than public option? It's the bastard child of inbred wonk culture and fashionable "framing" theory. The product of people who talk mainly to one another (the wonks) and the people who invent ways for the wonks to talk down to other people (the framers).truenotochyperlinkno2009101315850PMTuesdayOctOctober1310/13/2009 5:58:50 PM6339103913000000002009101315850PMTuesdayOctOctober1310/13/2009 5:58:50 PM633910391300000000the spectatorThe Nabokov CodeRon Rosenbaum1/123122/2202502/rosenbaumr.gif4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091030123759PMFridayOctOctober1210/30/2009 4:37:59 PM63392503079007563420091030123759PMFridayOctOctober1210/30/2009 4:37:59 PM63392503079007563420091030123759PMFridayOctOctober1210/30/2009 4:37:59 PM633925030790075634false2008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM6335984621100000002008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM633598462110000000falseA first encounter with Laura, his last, unfinished work.noThe Nabokov CodeA sneak peek at Nabokov's Original of Laura.noIt shouldn't be surprising that the forthcoming (Nov. 17) release of the long-locked-away Holy Grail of higher lit, Vladimir Nabokov's unfinished draft of The Original of Laura, is attended with an air of the clandestine.truenotochyperlinkno2009924105726AMThursdaySepSeptember109/24/2009 2:57:26 PM6338938664600000002009924105726AMThursdaySepSeptember109/24/2009 2:57:26 PM633893866460000000the spectatorWho Are You Calling Genius?Ron Rosenbaum1/123122/2202502/rosenbaumr.gif4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091030123756PMFridayOctOctober1210/30/2009 4:37:56 PM63392503076526202220091030123756PMFridayOctOctober1210/30/2009 4:37:56 PM63392503076526202220091030123756PMFridayOctOctober1210/30/2009 4:37:56 PM633925030765262022false2008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM6335984621100000002008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM633598462110000000falseIt's time to retire the term.noWho Are You Calling Genius?How we use and abuse the word genius.noI've been thinking about the question of genius lately. I received an invite to an early screening of Richard Linklater's new film, Me and Orson Welles, which is in one sense a meditation on genius. It re-creates a turning point in Welles' rise to genius-dom: his triumphant struggle to put his sensationally received Mercury Theater production of Julius Caesar—done in modern dress, as if set in Mussolini's Rome—on Broadway in 1937.truenotochyperlinkno20099931758PMWednesdaySepSeptember159/9/2009 7:17:58 PM63388106278000000020099931758PMWednesdaySepSeptember159/9/2009 7:17:58 PM633881062780000000the spectatorWill the Pentagon Thwart Obama's Dream of Zero?Ron Rosenbaum1/123122/2202502/rosenbaumr.gif4242http://img.slate.com/mediafalse20091030123803PMFridayOctOctober1210/30/2009 4:38:03 PM63392503083006494020091030123803PMFridayOctOctober1210/30/2009 4:38:03 PM63392503083006494020091030123803PMFridayOctOctober1210/30/2009 4:38:03 PM633925030830064940false2008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM6335984621100000002008101711651PMFridayOctOctober1310/17/2008 5:16:51 PM633598462110000000falseHow serious is the president about nuclear disarmament?noWill the Pentagon Thwart Obama's Dream of Zero?Will the Pentagon thwart Obama's dream of nuclear disarmament?noBarack Obama dreams of Zero. A world without nuclear weapons. None. Zero. The nuclear lions will lie down with the non-nuclear lambs and hope that there are no nuclear wolves hoarding or hiding the deadly devices out there in the darkness. Meanwhile, though, the decisive question—whether this is merely a dream, merely rhetoric—will depend on how seriously the Pentagon's nuclear commanders take what is, in effect, a mandate to zero themselves out. And there are indications that more forceful direction from the White House is needed if they are to transform Obama's Zero from dream to reality.truenotochyperlinkno200982141413PMFridayAugAugust168/21/2009 8:14:13 PM633864680530000000200982141413PMFridayAugAugust168/21/2009 8:14:13 PM633864680530000000200735103859AMMondayMarMarch103/5/2007 3:38:59 PM633086879390000000200735103859AMMondayMarMarch103/5/2007 3:38:59 PM633086879390000000falsetruetruetruetruetruetrue20073610429PMTuesdayMarMarch133/6/2007 6:04:29 PM63308783069000000020073610429PMTuesdayMarMarch133/6/2007 6:04:29 PM633087830690000000spacerPoemsyesfeedpoemPoemsA weekly poem, read by the author.2NA=1154&NC=1217&DI=4098&PS=58332&PI=7315PoemfalsefalseCulturespacernotembeddedpoem"Funeral"Rosanna WarrenfalseA weekly poem, read by the author.no"Funeral""Funeral"noClick the arrow on the audio player to hear Rosanna Warren read this poem. You can also download the recording or subscribe to Slate's Poetry Podcast on iTunes..truenotochyperlinkno2009112465252AMTuesdayNovNovember611/24/2009 11:52:52 AM6339464237200000002009112465344AMTuesdayNovNovember611/24/2009 11:53:44 AM633946424240000000poemThe Slate Poetry PodcastYour favorite poets read their work to you.noThe Slate Poetry PodcastSlate's weekly Poetry Podcast.noNow you can listen to Slate poetry wherever you go. Below, browse Slate's weekly lineup of new and renewed work by leading poets, selected by Robert Pinsky and read to you by the author. Or subscribe to Slate's Poetry Podcast feed on iTunes and carry the poems with you..truenotochyperlinkno200991565443AMTuesdaySepSeptember69/15/2009 10:54:43 AM6338859448300000002009112465252AMTuesdayNovNovember611/24/2009 11:52:52 AM633946423720000000poem"Consciousness"Ellen WehlefalseA weekly poem, read by the author.no"Consciousness""Consciousness"noClick the arrow on the audio player to hear Ellen Wehle read this poem. You can also download the recording or subscribe to Slate's Poetry Podcast on iTunes..truenotochyperlinkno2009111770618AMTuesdayNovNovember711/17/2009 12:06:18 PM6339403837800000002009111770716AMTuesdayNovNovember711/17/2009 12:07:16 PM633940384360000000poem"Daily Threads"Wyn CooperfalseA weekly poem, read by the author.no"Daily Threads""Daily Threads"noClick the arrow on the audio player to hear Wyn Cooper read this poem. You can also download the recording or subscribe to Slate's Poetry Podcast on iTunes..truenotochyperlinkno2009111070417AMTuesdayNovNovember711/10/2009 12:04:17 PM6339343345700000002009111070417AMTuesdayNovNovember711/10/2009 12:04:17 PM633934334570000000poemConversation PieceRobert PinskyfalseWhy so much casual talk in Yeats' brilliant poem "Adam's Curse"?noConversation PieceDoes casual talk have a place in poetry?noPoetry can resemble incantation, but sometimes it also resembles conversation. Certain poems combine the two—the cadences of speech intertwined with the forms of song in a varying way that heightens the feeling. As in a screenplay or in fiction, the things that people in a poem say can seem natural, even spontaneous, yet also work to propel the emotional action along its arc.truenotochyperlinkno200911393348AMTuesdayNovNovember911/3/2009 2:33:48 PM633928376280000000200911393348AMTuesdayNovNovember911/3/2009 2:33:48 PM633928376280000000200311442707PMTuesdayJanJanuary161/14/2003 9:27:07 PM631781584270000000200311442707PMTuesdayJanJanuary161/14/2003 9:27:07 PM631781584270000000truetruetruetruetruetruetrue20011018111443PMThursdayOctOctober2310/19/2001 3:14:43 AM631390436830000000200710272203AMTuesdayOctOctober710/2/2007 11:22:03 AM633269065230000000ArtscultureboxWould Roald Dahl have liked Wes Anderson's adaptation of Fantastic Mr. Fox?James Parkernotruenomenuhyperlinkno20091124111727AMTuesdayNovNovember1111/24/2009 4:17:27 PM63394658247000000020091124111727AMTuesdayNovNovember1111/24/2009 4:17:27 PM633946582470000000booksJoan Biskupic's American Original.Emily Bazelonnotruenomenuhyperlinkno20091124100044AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:00:44 PM63394653644000000020091124100044AMTuesdayNovNovember1011/24/2009 3:00:44 PM633946536440000000poem"Funeral"Rosanna Warrennotruenomenuhyperlinkno2009112465252AMTuesdayNovNovember611/24/2009 11:52:52 AM6339464237200000002009112465344AMTuesdayNovNovember611/24/2009 11:53:44 AM633946424240000000booksGail Collins's When Everything Changed.Katha Pollittnotruenomenuhyperlinkno2009112370325AMMondayNovNovember711/23/2009 12:03:25 PM6339455660500000002009112370325AMMondayNovNovember711/23/2009 12:03:25 PM633945566050000000televisionHow to score chicks on the Disney Channel.Troy Pattersonnotruenomenuhyperlinkno2009112053851PMFridayNovNovember1711/20/2009 10:38:51 PM6339433553100000002009112053851PMFridayNovNovember1711/20/2009 10:38:51 PM633943355310000000moviesBad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleansreviewed.Dana Stevensnotruenomenuhyperlinkno2009112034711PMFridayNovNovember1511/20/2009 8:47:11 PM6339432883100000002009112034711PMFridayNovNovember1511/20/2009 8:47:11 PM633943288310000000moviesThe Blind Side reviewed.Josh Levinnotruenomenuhyperlinkno20091120112524AMFridayNovNovember1111/20/2009 4:25:24 PM63394313124000000020091120112524AMFridayNovNovember1111/20/2009 4:25:24 PM633943131240000000dvd extrasRetracing the path of the iconic movie on its 40th anniversary.Retracing the path of the iconic movie on its 40th anniversary.Keith Phippstrue0nonomenuhyperlinkno2009111665754AMMondayNovNovember611/16/2009 11:57:54 AM6339395147400000002009112071142AMFridayNovNovember711/20/2009 12:11:42 PM633942979020000000moviesThe Twilight Saga: New Moon reviewed.Dana Stevensnotruenomenuhyperlinkno2009111963219PMThursdayNovNovember1811/19/2009 11:32:19 PM6339425233900000002009111963219PMThursdayNovNovember1811/19/2009 11:32:19 PM633942523390000000recycledWhy vampire movies always break all the vampire rules.Christopher Beamnotruenomenuhyperlinkno2009111960501PMThursdayNovNovember1811/19/2009 11:05:01 PM6339425070100000002009111960501PMThursdayNovNovember1811/19/2009 11:05:01 PM633942507010000000recycledWhen have we not been in the midst of a vampire craze?Christopher Beamnotruenomenuhyperlinkno2009111960440PMThursdayNovNovember1811/19/2009 11:04:40 PM6339425068000000002009111960440PMThursdayNovNovember1811/19/2009 11:04:40 PM633942506800000000recycledVampires suck. Grady Hendrixnotruenomenuhyperlinkno2009111960239PMThursdayNovNovember1811/19/2009 11:02:39 PM6339425055900000002009111960239PMThursdayNovNovember1811/19/2009 11:02:39 PM633942505590000000cultureboxDo books really need Hollywood-style trailers?Troy Pattersonnotruenomenuhyperlinkno2009111863039PMWednesdayNovNovember1811/18/2009 11:30:39 PM6339416583900000002009111863039PMWednesdayNovNovember1811/18/2009 11:30:39 PM633941658390000000artThe surreal, high-concept showmanship of Urs Fischer.Ben Davisnotruenomenuhyperlinkno20091118112725AMWednesdayNovNovember1111/18/2009 4:27:25 PM63394140445000000020091118112725AMWednesdayNovNovember1111/18/2009 4:27:25 PM633941404450000000familyThe best preschool programming on TV is Nick Jr.'s Yo Gabba Gabba!Bret Asburynotruenomenuhyperlinkno2009111893129AMWednesdayNovNovember911/18/2009 2:31:29 PM6339413348900000002009111893129AMWednesdayNovNovember911/18/2009 2:31:29 PM633941334890000000poem"Consciousness"Ellen Wehlenotruenomenuhyperlinkno2009111770618AMTuesdayNovNovember711/17/2009 12:06:18 PM6339403837800000002009111770716AMTuesdayNovNovember711/17/2009 12:07:16 PM633940384360000000the audio book clubMeghan O'Rourke, Troy Patterson, and Katie Roiphe discussRaymond Carver's "A Small Good Thing" and "The Bath."Meghan O'Rourkenotruenomenuhyperlinkno2009111695111AMMondayNovNovember911/16/2009 2:51:11 PM6339396187100000002009111695111AMMondayNovNovember911/16/2009 2:51:11 PM633939618710000000spacerbooksPhilip Roth's The Humbling. Judith Shulevitznotruenomenuhyperlink20091115111816PMSundayNovNovember2311/16/2009 4:18:16 AM6339392389600000002009111665419AMMondayNovNovember611/16/2009 11:54:19 AM633939512590000000spacermoviesRoland Emmerich's 2012.Dana Stevensnotruenomenuhyperlink2009111342704PMFridayNovNovember1611/13/2009 9:27:04 PM6339372642400000002009111342704PMFridayNovNovember1611/13/2009 9:27:04 PM633937264240000000spacermoviesFantastic Mr. Fox reviewed.Dana Stevensnotruenomenuhyperlink2009111290625PMThursdayNovNovember2111/13/2009 2:06:25 AM6339365678500000002009111290625PMThursdayNovNovember2111/13/2009 2:06:25 AM633936567850000000spacertelevisionThe many charms of Glee.Troy Pattersonnotruenomenuhyperlink2009111175021PMWednesdayNovNovember1911/12/2009 12:50:21 AM6339356582100000002009111175021PMWednesdayNovNovember1911/12/2009 12:50:21 AM633935658210000000spacertv clubMad Men: The TV Club has been sold to McCann-Erickson.Mad Men: The TV Club has been sold to McCann-Erikson.Patrick Radden Keefe, John Swansburg, and Julia Turner true0nofalsemenuhyperlink200981352719PMThursdayAugAugust178/13/2009 9:27:19 PM63385781239000000020091111105552AMWednesdayNovNovember1011/11/2009 3:55:52 PM633935337520000000spacerdvd extrasHow John Cassavetes' Shadows changed American movies forever.Elbert Venturanotruenomenuhyperlink2009111171132AMWednesdayNovNovember711/11/2009 12:11:32 PM6339352029200000002009111171132AMWednesdayNovNovember711/11/2009 12:11:32 PM633935202920000000spacerbooksNabokov's The Original of Laura (Dying Is Fun).Aleksandar Hemonnotruenomenuhyperlink2009111070614AMTuesdayNovNovember711/10/2009 12:06:14 PM6339343357400000002009111070614AMTuesdayNovNovember711/10/2009 12:06:14 PM633934335740000000spacerpoem"Daily Threads"Wyn Coopernotruenomenuhyperlink2009111070417AMTuesdayNovNovember711/10/2009 12:04:17 PM6339343345700000002009111070417AMTuesdayNovNovember711/10/2009 12:04:17 PM633934334570000000spacermusic boxThe music of the castrati.Jan Swaffordnotruenomenuhyperlink200911912841PMMondayNovNovember1311/9/2009 6:28:41 PM633933701210000000200911912841PMMondayNovNovember1311/9/2009 6:28:41 PM633933701210000000spacerbooksTwo books about the revolutions of 1989.Anne Applebaumnotruenomenuhyperlink200911884609PMSundayNovNovember2011/9/2009 1:46:09 AM633933099690000000200911965745AMMondayNovNovember611/9/2009 11:57:45 AM633933466650000000spacertv clubMad Men: Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.Mad Men: Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.Patrick Radden Keefe, John Swansburg, and Julia Turnertrue2234998nofalsemenuhyperlink200981352719PMThursdayAugAugust178/13/2009 9:27:19 PM63385781239000000020091111105552AMWednesdayNovNovember1011/11/2009 3:55:52 PM633935337520000000spacermoviesA Christmas Carol reviewed.Dana Stevensnotruenomenuhyperlink200911635624PMFridayNovNovember1511/6/2009 8:56:24 PM633931197840000000200911635624PMFridayNovNovember1511/6/2009 8:56:24 PM633931197840000000spacertelevisionA journey through the Travel Channel.Troy Pattersonnotruenomenuhyperlink200911610306PMFridayNovNovember1311/6/2009 6:03:06 PM633931093860000000200911610306PMFridayNovNovember1311/6/2009 6:03:06 PM633931093860000000spacerthe book clubOn Denialism and the role of science in America.On Denialism and the role of science in America.Chris Mooney and Michael Specter true2234855nofalsemenuhyperlink2009115121440PMThursdayNovNovember1211/5/2009 5:14:40 PM633930200800000000200911665454PMFridayNovNovember1811/6/2009 11:54:54 PM633931304940000000spacermoviesRichard Kelly tries to direct a mainstream movie in The Box.John Swansburgnotruenomenuhyperlink2009116104915AMFridayNovNovember1011/6/2009 3:49:15 PM6339310135500000002009116104915AMFridayNovNovember1011/6/2009 3:49:15 PM633931013550000000spacermoviesSorry, I didn't like Precious.Dana Stevensnotruenomenuhyperlink200911574246PMThursdayNovNovember1911/6/2009 12:42:46 AM633930469660000000200911574246PMThursdayNovNovember1911/6/2009 12:42:46 AM633930469660000000spacerarchitectureAugustus Saint-Gaudens, America's greatest public sculptor.Witold Rybczynskinotruenomenuhyperlink200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000spacertelevisionThe new V reviewed.Troy Pattersonnotruenomenuhyperlink200911322922PMTuesdayNovNovember1411/3/2009 7:29:22 PM633928553620000000200911323051PMTuesdayNovNovember1411/3/2009 7:30:51 PM633928554510000000spacerpoemDoes casual talk have a place in poetry?Robert Pinskynotruefalsefalsemenuhyperlink200911393348AMTuesdayNovNovember911/3/2009 2:33:48 PM633928376280000000200911393348AMTuesdayNovNovember911/3/2009 2:33:48 PM633928376280000000spacerbooksTwo biographies of Ayn Rand.Johann Harinotruenomenuhyperlink200911270133AMMondayNovNovember711/2/2009 12:01:33 PM633927420930000000200911270133AMMondayNovNovember711/2/2009 12:01:33 PM633927420930000000spacerfictionSaving Face: A chick-lit novel written in real time. With your help.Saving Face: A chick-lit novel written in real time. With your help.Dahlia Lithwicktrue0nonomenuhyperlink200991044637PMThursdaySepSeptember169/10/2009 8:46:37 PM6338819799700000002009103052440PMFridayOctOctober1710/30/2009 9:24:40 PM633925202800000000spacerthe spectatorTroubling new revelations about Arendt and Heidegger.Ron Rosenbaumnotruenomenuhyperlink20091030123755PMFridayOctOctober1210/30/2009 4:37:55 PM63392503075000000020091030123755PMFridayOctOctober1210/30/2009 4:37:55 PM633925030750000000spacertelevisionA TV critic journeys through the cheerful hell of exercise shows.Troy Pattersonnotruenomenuhyperlink20091030115719AMFridayOctOctober1110/30/2009 3:57:19 PM63392500639000000020091030115719AMFridayOctOctober1110/30/2009 3:57:19 PM633925006390000000spacermoviesParanormal Activity reviewed.Dana Stevensnotruenomenuhyperlink20091030113741AMFridayOctOctober1110/30/2009 3:37:41 PM63392499461000000020091030113741AMFridayOctOctober1110/30/2009 3:37:41 PM633924994610000000spacergalleryThe surprising beauty of portraits on gravestones.Camilo Jose Vergaranofalsenomenuhyperlink2009103070817AMFridayOctOctober710/30/2009 11:08:17 AM6339248329700000002009103070817AMFridayOctOctober710/30/2009 11:08:17 AM633924832970000000spacermusic boxIs it OK to like Chris Brown's new single featuring Lil Wayne?Jonah Weinernotruenomenuhyperlink20091029104759AMThursdayOctOctober1010/29/2009 2:47:59 PM63392410079000000020091029104759AMThursdayOctOctober1010/29/2009 2:47:59 PM633924100790000000spacermoviesMichael Jackson's incredibly moving This Is It.Dana Stevensnotruenomenuhyperlink2009102875421PMWednesdayOctOctober1910/28/2009 11:54:21 PM6339235646100000002009102875421PMWednesdayOctOctober1910/28/2009 11:54:21 PM633923564610000000spacercultureboxHow the AvantGrand, Yamaha's new electronic piano, improves upon a 300-year-old instrument.Chris Wilsonnotruenomenuhyperlink2009102855548PMWednesdayOctOctober1710/28/2009 9:55:48 PM6339234934800000002009102993048AMThursdayOctOctober910/29/2009 1:30:48 PM633924054480000000spacertelevisionFinally, a great comedy about fantasy football.Troy Pattersonnotruenomenuhyperlink2009102834409PMWednesdayOctOctober1510/28/2009 7:44:09 PM6339234144900000002009102834409PMWednesdayOctOctober1510/28/2009 7:44:09 PM633923414490000000spacercultureboxWe have a winner! The results of Slate's Significant Objects contest.notruenomenuhyperlink20091027124459PMTuesdayOctOctober1210/27/2009 4:44:59 PM63392244299000000020091027124459PMTuesdayOctOctober1210/27/2009 4:44:59 PM633922442990000000spacerdvd extrasThe quaint pleasures of "On the Road With Charles Kuralt," now on DVD.Seth Stevensonnotruenomenuhyperlink2009102793520AMTuesdayOctOctober910/27/2009 1:35:20 PM6339223292000000002009102793520AMTuesdayOctOctober910/27/2009 1:35:20 PM633922329200000000spacerpoem"Thoreau's Beans"David Rodericknotruenomenuhyperlink2009102770356AMTuesdayOctOctober710/27/2009 11:03:56 AM6339222383600000002009102770458AMTuesdayOctOctober710/27/2009 11:04:58 AM633922238980000000spacerbooksJeffrey L. Sheler's Prophet of Purpose: The Life of Rick Warren.Alan Wolfenotruenomenuhyperlink2009102671200AMMondayOctOctober710/26/2009 11:12:00 AM6339213792000000002009102671200AMMondayOctOctober710/26/2009 11:12:00 AM633921379200000000spacertelevisionA show about the people who actually buy guns.Troy Pattersonnotruenomenuhyperlink2009102350126PMFridayOctOctober1710/23/2009 9:01:26 PM6339191408600000002009102350126PMFridayOctOctober1710/23/2009 9:01:26 PM633919140860000000spacermoviesAmelia reviewed.Dana Stevensnotruenomenuhyperlink2009102341606PMFridayOctOctober1610/23/2009 8:16:06 PM6339191136600000002009102341606PMFridayOctOctober1610/23/2009 8:16:06 PM633919113660000000spacermoviesWhy I'll never watch another Lars von Trier movie.Dana Stevensnotruenomenuhyperlink2009102255657PMThursdayOctOctober1710/22/2009 9:56:57 PM6339183101700000002009102255657PMThursdayOctOctober1710/22/2009 9:56:57 PM633918310170000000spacercultureboxIs Antichrist director Lars von Trier a misogynist?Jessica Winternotruenomenuhyperlink2009102225623PMThursdayOctOctober1410/22/2009 6:56:23 PM6339182018300000002009102225623PMThursdayOctOctober1410/22/2009 6:56:23 PM633918201830000000spacermoviesBow down before the awesomeness of Tony Jaa in Ong Bak 2.Grady Hendrixnotruenomenuhyperlink2009102224219PMThursdayOctOctober1410/22/2009 6:42:19 PM6339181933900000002009102224219PMThursdayOctOctober1410/22/2009 6:42:19 PM633918193390000000spacertelevisionFlashForward was a genius idea for a show. Too bad it's flailing.Troy Pattersonnotruenomenuhyperlink2009102152054PMWednesdayOctOctober1710/21/2009 9:20:54 PM6339174245400000002009102160449PMWednesdayOctOctober1810/21/2009 10:04:49 PM633917450890000000spacerculture gabfestSlate's Culture Gabfest on Balloon Boy, circumcision, and Monty Python. Stephen Metcalf, Jody Rosen, and Julia Turnernotruefalsefalsemenuhyperlink2009107111940AMWednesdayOctOctober1110/7/2009 3:19:40 PM63390511180000000020091028113456AMWednesdayOctOctober1110/28/2009 3:34:56 PM633923264960000000spacermusic boxCreed is totally underrated.Jonah Weinernotruefalsefalsemenuhyperlink2009102193024AMWednesdayOctOctober910/21/2009 1:30:24 PM6339171422400000002009102193024AMWednesdayOctOctober910/21/2009 1:30:24 PM633917142240000000spacerpoem"The Horses"Rachel Richardsonnotruenomenuhyperlink2009102073440AMTuesdayOctOctober710/20/2009 11:34:40 AM6339162088000000002009102073529AMTuesdayOctOctober710/20/2009 11:35:29 AM633916209290000000spacerbooksDonald Kagan's Thucydides: The Reinvention of History.Anthony Graftonnotruenomenuhyperlink20091019105725AMMondayOctOctober1010/19/2009 2:57:25 PM63391546645000000020091019105725AMMondayOctOctober1010/19/2009 2:57:25 PM633915466450000000spacer30830nono72/070212_Video_NewsLitFlyout.gifhttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage72/070212_Video_NewsLitFlyout.gif3083011http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009112421159PMTuesdayNovNovember1411/24/2009 7:11:59 PM6339466871986365362009112421159PMTuesdayNovNovember1411/24/2009 7:11:59 PM6339466871986365362009112421159PMTuesdayNovNovember1411/24/2009 7:11:59 PM633946687198636536P false2007214105020AMWednesdayFebFebruary102/14/2007 3:50:20 PM6330704702000000002007214105020AMWednesdayFebFebruary102/14/2007 3:50:20 PM633070470200000000ALfalsefalse20054732236PMThursdayAprApril154/7/2005 7:22:36 PM63248484156000000020091124111743AMTuesdayNovNovember1111/24/2009 4:17:43 PM633946582630000000Songs you've got to hear.2NA=1154&NC=1211&DI=4098&PS=68100&PI=7315MixingDeskfalsefalsespacernotembeddedmixing deskRascal FlattsJody RosenThe kings of Midwestern prom rock.noRascal FlattsThe kings of Midwestern prom rock.notruenotochyperlinkno20094121357PMWednesdayAprApril144/1/2009 6:13:57 PM63374192037000000020094121357PMWednesdayAprApril144/1/2009 6:13:57 PM633741920370000000mixing deskPrince's New AlbumJody RosenA new protégé and a lot of love for Salma Hayek.noPrince's New AlbumPrince's new album reviewed.noAttention, Target shoppers. The new release by Prince, a three-CD package titled Lotusflow3r, is now on sale exclusively at the discount retailer for just $11.98. It's a bargain, especially when you consider the alternative: Those wishing to download the records—Lotusflow3r and MPLSound, a pair of Prince solo discs, and Elixer, the debut by Prince's new protégé Bria Valente—can do so at lotusflow3r.com for the not-so-low price of $77.truenotochyperlinkno200933174718AMTuesdayMarMarch73/31/2009 11:47:18 AM633740824380000000200933174718AMTuesdayMarMarch73/31/2009 11:47:18 AM633740824380000000mixing deskJody RosenWho's winning, who's losing, and why.Media criticism.A wartime lexicon.Military analysis.The law, lawyers, and the court.Oral argument from the court.Opinions about events beyond our borders.Gossip, speculation, and scuttlebutt about politics.Notes from the political sidelines.The thinking behind the news.Songs you've got to hear.nonotruenotochyperlinkno200771941226PMThursdayJulJuly167/19/2007 8:12:26 PM633204583460000000200771941226PMThursdayJulJuly167/19/2007 8:12:26 PM633204583460000000mixing deskGeezers Need ExcitementJody RosenOld-people cover bands, hip-hop rock stars, Manu Chao, and Miranda Lambert.noGeezers Need ExcitementOld-people choirs.noYoung at Heart Choir, "Fix You"The Zimmers, "My Generation"Last year, the Young @ Heart Chorus out of Northampton, Mass., stirred a minor Internet sensation when a performance video was posted to YouTube. Young @ Heart's members are all senior citizens, ages 71 to 93, and their repertoire consists entirely of rock-era songs. The YouTube hit was a version of Coldplay's "Fix You"—the group has sung everything from "You Can't Always Get What You Want" to "Hey Ya." It sounds like a gimmick, and a cheap one at that, but the "Fix You" clip was extraordinary, not least because of the grave, graceful lead vocal performance by chorus member Fred Knittle, who has a heart condition and sang with a breathing tube attached to his nose. Adding to the poignancy was the fact that the song was originally a duet with another Young @ Heart member, Bob Salvini, who died shortly before the performance. But Knittle and company completely transcended kitsch, as well as the insipidities of Chris Martin's lyric. Young @ Heart's "Fix You" is touching and dignified. Most importantly, it's a fine piece of music.truenotochyperlinkno20076740431PMThursdayJunJune166/7/2007 8:04:31 PM63316829071000000020076740431PMThursdayJunJune166/7/2007 8:04:31 PM633168290710000000mixing deskjTunesPaul CollinsThe insanely great songs Apple won't let you hear.nojTunesThe insanely great songs Apple won't let you hear.no"Killer Tune" is just that: It sounds like the Killers, and it is killer. It's one of the most popular iTunes downloads for the band Straightener—but you haven't heard it.truenotochyperlinkno2007123124850PMTuesdayJanJanuary121/23/2007 5:48:50 PM6330515333000000002007123124850PMTuesdayJanJanuary121/23/2007 5:48:50 PM633051533300000000200310753453AMTuesdayOctOctober510/7/2003 9:34:53 AM632011016930000000200310753453AMTuesdayOctOctober510/7/2003 9:34:53 AM632011016930000000falsetruetruetruetruetruetrue200391914214PMFridaySepSeptember139/19/2003 5:42:14 PM631995757340000000200391914214PMFridaySepSeptember139/19/2003 5:42:14 PM631995757340000000