With nearly 1,500 artworks on display, there is a lot to see at the Royal Academy of Arts (RA) Summer Exhibition 2022. If you want a taste of what’s on show then here is a quick tour. The theme chosen by the exhibition’s coordinator, Alison Wilding RA, is Climate. It begins outside, where a large-scale immersive installation by Spanish artist Cristina Iglesias brings nature and water to the courtyard. Inside, the artworks are spread over 11 rooms, including two galleries of prints selected by Grayson Perry RA.
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Reviews: ‘Top Audiobooks’
July Picks
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin
Read by: Jennifer Kim and Julian Cihi
Length: 13 hrs, 52 mins.
Speed I listened: 1.7x–1.8x
I haven’t savored listening to a book in recent memory quite as much as I did this novel. It’s about two friends — Sadie Green and Sam Masur — who meet as kids in Los Angeles and then reconnect at MIT, where they begin developing experimental video games together. The lead characters (and let’s throw in the supporting ones too) are at times completely relatable, at times bittersweet, and almost always completely heartwarming. The book is mostly read by Kim except for a short fever dream by Cihi. Kim’s delivery might be monotone in places, but I found it steady, deliberate, and clear, so I didn’t have to miss a moment.
The Church of Baseball, by Ron Shelton
Read by: The author
Length: 8 hrs, 12 mins.
Speed I listened: 1.75x
Does there have to be a book about the making of 1988’s Bull Durham? Probably not. Did I get a kick out of this trip down memory lane with the movie’s writer-director? I did. It’s rare you get a glimpse into the making of a Hollywood movie in minute detail, and this one’s pretty soup to nuts, down to Shelton hiring the on-set script supervisor. These kind of books always start and end with the idea that everyone in Hollywood is crazy, and it’s good to be reminded of that. To that end, here, Kevin Costner’s agents tried to prevent him from starring as Minor League Baseball star Crash Davis, which turned out to be one of his most iconic roles. Shelton has a knowing but aw-shucks vibe that makes great company even if his performance of dialogue scenes from the original script could use more oomph.
Hollywood Ending, by Ken Auletta
Read by: Jonathan Coleman
Length: 19 hrs, 41 mins
Speed I listened: 2x
A darker addition to July’s “Hollywood Is Crazy Files” is this gripping account of Harvey Weinstein’s rise to and fall from power. You’re probably familiar with many of the sordid details in this book, and at 20 hours, it isn’t short. Still, I couldn’t turn off this compendium of the disgraced movie producer’s unbelievable behavior, from his rampant spending on hotel rooms to his truly despicable treatment of so many women. Auletta’s reporting is mostly firsthand, and hearing it cumulatively is jaw-dropping. As the narrator, Coleman is deadpan and direct enough to sometimes make you forget you aren’t listening to an actual thriller. Also kudos to the drippingly ironic title.
Village Views: Geiranger In Western Norway (4K)
Geiranger is a village in western Norway, at the head of Geirangerfjord. The Norwegian Fjord Center has multimedia on the history of the region and its inhabitants.
Video timeline: 00:00 Opening 00:28 Best view of the geiranger Fjord 01:04 Waterfalls and Mountain all around the Village 02:48 The Seven Sisters Waterfall 04:51 Farm Villages 06:16 Aerial View of Geiranger
Part of the steep Trollstigen mountain road weaves through the village, connecting to Flydalsjuvet lookout, which has views over the fjord. The fjord’s waterfalls, including the Seven Sisters, the Suitor and the Bridal Veil, are visible by boat.
Covers: TLS / Times Literary Supplement – July 22, 2022
The Times Literary Supplement (TheTLS) featuring @ambermedland on Jean Rhys; @joemoransblog on Britain’s housing inequality; @maryanneclark60 on the first true-crime play; @colincraiggrant on In the Black Fantastic; @bjkingape on the science of dogs – and more.
Morning News: Financial Protests In China, Ukraine HIMARS Rocket Launchers
Property developers are going belly-up, home-buyers are not paying mortgages, protests after a banking scandal have been quashed. We ask about the instability still to come.
Ukraine’s new HIMARS rocket launchers are proving exceedingly effective against Russian forces. And a look at Britain’s world-leading collection of diseases-in-a-dish.
Front Page: Wall Street Journal – July 20, 2022
Putin Says Russia Will Honor Europe Gas Commitments
Russian President Vladimir Putin also warned that flows via the Nord Stream pipeline could be curbed soon if sanctions prevent additional maintenance on its components.
Cover Preview: National Geographic – August 2022
How the spirit of ancient Stonehenge was captured with a 21st-century drone
Photographer Reuben Wu took innovative risks to show one of the world’s most-photographed sites in a new light.
Reuben Wu, a British photographer and visual artist based in Chicago, was first introduced to National Geographic as most people are: When he was a child, he enjoyed looking at the magazines his father subscribed to for decades.
He dreamed of seeing his photographs in the same magazine—and even on the cover. So when National Geographic asked him to photograph an iconic monument he knows well, he was ready to work.
Walking Tour: Dubrovnik In Southern Croatia (4K)
Dubrovnik is a city in southern Croatia fronting the Adriatic Sea. It’s known for its distinctive Old Town, encircled with massive stone walls completed in the 16th century. Its well-preserved buildings range from baroque St. Blaise Church to Renaissance Sponza Palace and Gothic Rector’s Palace, now a history museum. Paved with limestone, the pedestrianized Stradun (or Placa) is lined with shops and restaurants.
Hiking Tour: Laugavegur Fimmvörðuháls, Iceland
Fimmvörðuháls is the area between the glaciers Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull in southern Iceland.
Video timeline: 00:00 Intro 2:21 Landmannalaugar 7:59 Álftavatn 9:59 Hvanngil 12:52 Emstrur 15:28 Volcano Huts 16:06 Valahnúkur 17:39 Thórsmörk 22:06 Baldvinsskáli 24:11 Skógafoss 24:50 Guide
The route between Skógar and Thórsmörk goes through this pass and is one of the most popular walking routes in Iceland, despite being 22 kilometres long and involving 1,000 metres of climbing.
National Geographic: The Bermuda Triangle Myth
The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil’s Triangle, is an urban legend focused on a loosely-defined region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean where a number of aircraft and ships are said to have disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
For centuries, scientists have struggled to explain why hundreds of ships disappear when they reach the Bermuda Triangle. This area in the Atlantic Ocean is home to approximately 300 vessels, with several of these ships capsizing under mysterious circumstances. Today, experts are diving into these crystal clear waters to visit some of the abandoned shipwrecks and determine why they never made it to dry land.
Boomers Daily 