Category Archives: Culture

Interview Podcasts: 68-Year Old “Fresh Air” Host Terry Gross (New Yorker)

The New Yorker Politics and More PodcastsDavid Remnick has appeared as the guest of Terry Gross on “Fresh Air” a number of times over the years, talking about Russia, Muhammad Ali, and other subjects. Hosting “Fresh Air” for nearly forty-five years, Gross is a defining voice of NPR, and is perhaps the most celebrated interviewer of our time. 

In October, 2019, the tables turned, and Gross joined Remnick as his guest for a live interview at The New Yorker Festival. They spoke about how she first found her way to the microphone, the role of feminism in establishing NPR, the limits of her expertise, and what she has had to give up to prepare for serious conversations day after day.

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Fine Art: 79-Year Old Renowned Stage Director Robert Wilson On Monet’s “Water Lilies” (Video)

Musée d'Orsay logoHailed as “a towering figure in the world of experimental theater” by the New York Times Waco, Texas-born Robert Wilson has created singular works in the realms of opera, performance, video art, glass, architecture, and furniture design since 1963. Prolific yet exacting in his approach to staging, light, and direction, Wilson has been honored with numerous awards for excellence including a Pulitzer Prize nomination, the Golden Lion of the Venice Biennale, and an Olivier Award. He is also the founding director of The Watermill Center, a laboratory for the arts and humanities in Water Mill, New York.

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Timelaspe Travel Videos: “Holika” In India At Holi Festival By Kevin Clerc

Filmed, Sound Design, Voiceover Script and Directed by: Kevin Clerc

Voiceover Artist | Arvind Mehra
Music: “What Happened to You” by The Cage

The Holi festival, also known as the Hindu Celebration of colors, is celebrated every year by millions of persons by throwing pigments of colors on people’s faces. Originally the Holi festival celebrated the fertility of the land, today the participants rejoice for the abundant crops and the defeat of evil.

Holika Cinematic Poems Timelapse Short Film by Kevin Clerc Face du Monde January 2020

Holika was a demoness in Hindu Vedic scriptures, who was burnt to death with the help of God Vishnu. The story of Holika Dahan (Holika’s death) signifies the triumph of good over evil. Holika is associated with the annual bonfire on the night before Holi.

Last March, I had the opportunity to go to India and participate at the Holi Festival in Varanasi. Taking part of this holy celebration and being able to film it was in my bucket list.

Holika Cinematic Poems Timelapse Short Film by Kevin Clerc Face du Monde January 2020

Located on the left bank of the Gange river, the city of Varanasi is considered one of the oldest inhabited city in the world and probably one of the holiest cities of India.

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Video Interviews: 67-Year Old Singer David Byrne

David Byrne is burning down the house on Broadway. His show “American Utopia” is a smash hit, but that isn’t the only reason the former frontman for the Talking Heads is so happy. Serena Altschul talks with Byrne about his love of performing, his growing affinity for collaboration, and his optimism, apparent in his “Reasons to Be Cheerful,” a platform that spotlights ways in which the world is getting better.

Books On Aging: “Old Man Country” – Thomas R. Cole

Old Man Country My Search for Meaning Among The Elders Thomas R. Cole December 2019The book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom, as he encounters twelve distinguished American men over 80 — including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the world’s most famous heart surgeon. In these and other intimate conversations, the book explores and honors the particular way that each man faces four challenges of living a good old age: Am I still a man? Do I still matter? What is the meaning of my life? Am I loved? 

We aspire to live in a country where old men are celebrated as vital elders but not demeaned if they become ill and dependent. We aspire to maintain health as well as maintain dignity and fulfillment in frailty. Old Man Country helps readers see and imagine these possibilities for themselves.

Review of book in Houston Chronicle

Readers will come to see how each man — even the most famous — faces universal challenges. Personal stories about work, love, sexuality, and hope mingle with stories about illness, loss and death. This book will strengthen each of us as we and our loved ones anticipate and navigate our way through the passages of old age.

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New Arts & Culture Books: “Federico Fellini – The Book Of Dreams” (Rizzoli)

Federico Fellini The Book of Dreams Rizzoli 2020The volume will be released to coincide with the centenary of Federico Fellini’s birth (January 2020), which will be celebrated in Italy with a traveling exhibition on the director that will start its journey from Milan in December 2019.

A highly colorful journey into the boundless territory of a genius’s imagination, this is a work that added a fundamental element to the study of Federico Fellini and his creative experience. From the late 1960s until 1990, the great director used this diary to represent his nocturnal visions in the form of drawings or, as he himself described them, “scribbles, rushed and ungrammatical notes.”

About The Author

Sergio Toffetti, born in Turin in 1951, is president of the Museo Nazionale del Cinema and has published essays on Italian and international cinema, and on the conservation and restoration of film. Felice Laudadio is president of the Fondazione Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome. He has overseen numerous cinema events, such as MystFest, EuropaCinema, and RomaFictionFest. Gian Luca Farinelli has been director of the Cineteca of Bologna since 2000. In 1986 he created, together with Nicola Mazzanti, Il Cinema Ritrovato an event dedicated to the history of cinema and the activity of film libraries. Together with Martin Scorsese, Raffaele Donato, Thierry Frémaux, and Alberto Luna he founded the World Cinema Foundation, which brings together about twenty great international directors for the restoration of third-world films.

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Video Interview: 89-Year Old Psycholinguist Jean Berko Gleason Discusses Culture & Language (PBS)

The Development of Language Jean Berko Gleason BookPsycholinguist Jean Berko Gleason is a professor emerita at Boston University and a pioneer in the field of children’s language. Even as a child, Berko Gleason loved and connected with language. It also made a big impression on her how much her older brother, who suffered from cerebral palsy, struggled to be understood. Berko Gleason shares her Brief But Spectacular take on language.

Arts & Culture: “Must-See Museum Exhibitions In January 2020” (Sotheby’s)

Later this month, Jacques-Louis David’s Neoclassical masterpiece of Napoleon crossing the alps will travel to New York for the very first time. Displayed at the Brooklyn Museum alongside Kehinde Wiley’s contemporary reinterpretation, both works in this unprecedented pairing reflect the unique conditions of their respective times.
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It’s just one of January’s must-see exhibitions, chosen by Tim Marlow, the Design Museum in London’s new director and CEO. Don’t miss this and other exhibitions opening this month in Basel, Cornwall, and Los Angeles.

Art Videos: Vincent Van Gogh’s Route Crossing Europe (1853-1890)

Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam logoVincent van Gogh (1853-1890) is one of the world’s most loved artists. His paintings, drawings and letters inspire people of all ages. His work can be admired in numerous museums around the world. Many places where the artist lived and worked can be visited, from the Netherlands to the South of France. About 25 organisations and museums in the Netherlands, Belgium and France have joined forces under the name Van Gogh Europe. Together they are actively engaged in maintaining and promoting Van Gogh’s heritage.

Van Gogh Museum