Kanye West\u2019s Year of Breaking Bad
John Caramanica | The New York Times
\u201cRupture has long been the axis around which Mr. West\u2019s career has turned\u2014where most artists seek to create smooth narratives about themselves and get everyone else to play along, he instead prefers disruptive leaps, quick reframing and firebrand positioning. Stasis is his kryptonite.\u201d
John Berger\u2019s Rare Art Criticism
Elisa Wouk Almino | Hyperallergic
\u201cBerger\u2019s art criticism succeeds, I think, because of its tangibility \u2014it is grounded in human experience, specific historical events, and always the physical marks on the artworks. In art writing, these qualities are rare, as enough of it panders to an art market which has given every indication of carrying on with business as usual under Trump.\u201d
The Erasure of Islam From the Poetry of Rumi
Rozina Ali | The New Yorker
\u201cRumi has helped the spiritual journeys of celebrities\u2014Chris Martin, Madonna, Tilda Swinton\u2014some of whom incorporated his work into theirs. Aphorisms attributed to Rumi circulate daily on social media, offering motivation… Rumi is often described as the best-selling poet in the United States. He is typically referred to as a mystic, a saint, a Sufi, an enlightened man. Curiously, however, although he was a lifelong scholar of the Koran and Islam, he is less frequently described as a Muslim.\u201d
George Michael and Carrie Fisher: The Week in Pop-Culture Writing
The Murakami Effect
Stephen Snyder | Literary Hub
\u201cMurakami\u2019s work begins and ends in translation. He creates fictions that are both translatable and embody translation in their themes and methods. His work moves between languages and cultures (and, perhaps particularly, into and out of English) with relative ease and fluidity, with few textual and stylistic impediments or difficult cultural contexts, but, rather, various mechanisms and textual markers that seem to invite and insist on translation as both theme and practice.\u201d
Anxiety and A Series of Unfortunate Events
Scaachi Koul | Buzzfeed
\u201cThe orphans in Unfortunate Events , though they had each other, had lost both of their parents and were largely left on their own. There was never a reason for them to be hopeful, or to expect anything good, because nothing good came. It wasn\u2019t a cheerful way to live, but at least they were prepared. And I wanted to be prepared for what is, still, inevitable: that people die, and that you will, at some point, be left to fend for yourself; that no one is responsible for you, and people will fail you at every turn. Everyone becomes an orphan at some point. At least by reading, I could find a way to feel less alone in my fears.\u201d
Hidden Figures and the Power of Pragmatism
The Undefeated | Soraya Nadia McDonald
\u201cBesides communicating about the power of common interests, Hidden Figures demonstrates why sneering dismissively at \u2018identity politics\u2019 or using the term as a pejorative amounts to little more than hogwash. When you stand in the way of progress for women and people of color, you are only hobbling yourself.\u201d
Emma Stone\u2019s La La Land Performance Transcends Its Biggest Flaw
Caroline Framke | Vox
\u201cMia is the platonic ideal of an onscreen struggling actor. Nothing about this series of events is unexpected, interesting, or unique to her personality. The only glimmers of individuality to be found come during her first, truncated audition when Mia briefly wells up with sharp, devastated tears; crying on cue is an actor staple, but the breadth of emotions we see flicker across Mia\u2019s face in the span of a few seconds is impressive, a testament to Stone\u2019s talent.\u201d
Netflix\u2019s One Day at a Time Is Unpretentious, Artful, and a Pure Delight
Matt Zoller Seitz | Vulture
\u201cThe series still feels like comfort food. That\u2019s because the newness of Penelope and her world is nestled within the tradition of the stage-bound, multi-camera, shot-before-a-live-audience comedy, as well as within the more specific Norman Lear tradition of creating major characters that represent distinct political viewpoints without denying their humanity, then pitting them against each other in verbal combat without giving up on the idealistic notion that there\u2019s common ground to be found somewhere if you look hard enough.\u201d
Kate Beckinsale Is a Legit Movie Star
K. Austin Collins | The Ringer
\u201cBeckinsale\u2019s best roles emphasize this lack of likability. Her peculiar talent is an uncanny ability to seem like she\u2019s all surface, no depth. At least, that\u2019s what we\u2019ve seen when certain directors let her take that idea and run with it. Hence the miracle of her collaboration with Stillman, whose The Last Days of Disco (1998) gave Beckinsale her first seriously great role, and whose more recent Love & Friendship is a comparably rich, virtuosic turn almost 20 years later. Beckinsale is a presence who seems most alive when a director doesn\u2019t take her intelligence for granted\u2014which is rare.\u201d<\/p>\n