QUOTE: "There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things." - Machiavelli
miniQUIZ: Name the first on screen kiss. Answer later.
GEM FROM THE PEN: Of dance critic for the Dallas Morning News, Margaret Putnam (a very nice lady by the way) and as always, I preface it with, I'm not making this up: "Dorman's production teems with originality... "Two pairs of women take turns supporting each other in handstands belting out 'My Way' upside down." ... Now for what I feel is serious and real dance news: Only a few of Cambodian "old masters" of native dance survived the killing fields of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge (another one of those post WWII holocausts, like Rwanda that the media treats as invisible). The good news is that Pot's attempt to wipe out Cambodia's culture failed, and as of 1997 about 50% of the classical Khmer Ballet repertory - centuries old dances based on the traditional folklore have been saved. And they have been saved by very lucky survivors of this holocaust. But like everything else this takes support & $$$. It's an uphill fight. Musea salutes as our Camp Champ all the dance masters who are furthering this rich culture. (World Press Review)
UPDATES: Musea has written that car designs have lost their originality. Paul Goldberger for Architectural Digest writes: "The real problem with automobile design today is not that the cars aren't good but that they're all the same... We have purged cars of almost all of the details that made them so distinctive, and so much fun, twenty, thirty, and forty years ago."
Musea wrote in our article The Box, that in the future we'll all have a single box : phone, tv, radio, computer, library, etc. Then for a lark, we suggested they'll later put all this in the stem of your glasses. Don't hold your breath. Sony PC Glasstron has 2 .7 inch screens with 1.5 million pixels each that you can connect to a PC as a screen or a VCR to watch TV, and comes with stereo headphones too. (PC Magazine)
Musea asked you readers where did Pavoratti's Grammy showstopper Nessum Dorma come from. Stephano, editor of the zine The Opera Vagabond writes that it was from the 3rd act of Puccini's opera Turandot and is often used as his encore.
Musea talks about the new city ideas. They'd better get here quick. Living and breathing in Rome today is equal to smoking 13 cigarettes a day! Paris is not much better and they're toying with the idea of FREE public transportation. We agree! (CondeNast Traveler). And Norway, to reduce pollution and revive ailing downtowns, has outlawed the construction of new malls, or any new large shopping centers. WE SALUTE THEIR WISDOM!
BEST TV: Well, I'll give it to corporate art. They have stumbled on a plethora of good cartoon shows all at once. And they all seem high grade: Dilbert (corporate rat race laughs) King of The Hill (very real G 'arlen' Tx family) The PJ's (Eddie Murphy & some great characters) The Family Guy (smart writing) The Simpsons (an April episode featured Jasper Johns - how cool is that?) . But honestly our fav is FUTURAMA : a one-eyed Peggy Bundy, a frozen popsicle from our time, and the greatest new character on TV, the Robot Bender and you've got a hit!
And speaking of TV, Michael Moore is back on with his great corporate bashing (and perhaps the only liberal allowed on TV) with a new show. The papers report that one episode will have a group of people who have lost their larynxes from smoking called the Voice Box Choir, serenading at the homes of tobacco execs. (DMN) P.S. Readers note: May is a sweeps months so look for some better TV all month.
WRITING : "To produce a mighty book you must choose a mighty theme." Herman Melville. ... In the 'it doesn't add up dept.': did you know that an old rule of thumb in the publishing industry is that every equation included in a book halves the number sold? (The Economist)
FILM: For Fanatic Fans only: Here are our pix for the 3 best scenes in all filmdom, where male meets female for the first earth shaking time: The Hairy Ape , Laura, and Bride Of Frankenstein (and only the female sees for the first time award to City Lights) We'll say no more. See them and you'll understand.
Answer to our miniQUIZ is the 1896 Vitascope film in which the kiss was the entire subject of the film,. The May Irwin - John C. Rice Kiss and that was the title of the movie (E. Toulett)
The Lakewood Theater is doing a first Thursday of each month, all kinds of art showcase (similar to our Art Revolutionary Festivals) . Fo/mo/info/ 214-827-Lake.
ARCHITECTURE: One of the most unusual cathedrals in the world is the Catedral de Sal in the tiny town of Zipaquira, Colombia. It has been chiseled by miners out of a working salt mine more than 500 feet below the earth. Artisans have carved pietas along the tunnels, with a sacristy big enough for 8,000 worshipers and an altar made of a 16 ton block of salt!
INTERNET: We have 2 sites we highly recommend and that can't wait for our upcoming intro to the Internet, article: Musea columnist Gregory K.H. Bryant's site at: http://knightmayor.com/gkhb and a site against ads as much as we are at http://www.adbusters.org. Yet as fascinating as the internet is, Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago reminds us "The vast majority of our fellow humans are not even aware of the existence of these technologies. They still don't have the basic benefits of the industrial revolution: drinking water, electricity, schools, hospitals, roads, railways, refrigerators, and cars. If nothing is done, the information revolution also will pass them by."
TAKE CARE AND THANKS FOR READING MUSEA.
