New Photography Books: “Ballet – Arthur Elgort”

Following his career-spanning monograph The Big Picture, Arthur Elgort pays homage to his first love and eternal muse in this new collection of photographs. While glimpsing ballet through Elgort’s lens we are taken not to the front of the stage but behind the scenes, where the hard work is done.

Arthur Elgort Ballet - Steidl Book - May 2020

On this journey through the hallways and rehearsal spaces of some of the world’s most distinguished ballet schools, including the New York City Ballet and the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, we see previously unpublished images of legends such as Balanchine, Baryshnikov and Lopatkina. The perfection of the prima ballerina disappears in these quiet photographs where the viewer is able to witness the individual dancers’ natural glamor as they work to perfect their craft.

Elgort’s snapshot style allows the pain and pleasure of one of the world’s most beloved forms of expressive dance to be seen with beauty.

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Global: Police Violence In America, China Trade & Pushkin’s Lockdown

A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week: Police violence, race and protest in America, How will China’s Belt and Road Initiative survive? (10:30) And, Alexander Pushkin’s productive lockdown (23:10).

Travel: “The Amazing Luxurious Villas Of Tuscany” (Architecture)

Tuscany, Italy is an Incredible Land With Beautiful Landscapes, Where Striking Historical Villas Dominate the Vineyards, Olive Groves and Sunflowers Fields. A Hilly Region Rich in Agriculture, Tuscany Was the Home of the Etruscan Civilization, and Later the Birthplace of the Renaissance. It’s Known for Charming, Historic Towns Like Siena, Florence, Cortona and Lucca, Tuscany Offers the Best in Culture, Scenery and Serenity. (Part 1 below)

Top New Travel Videos: “Islandia 8K” In Iceland By Vadim Sherbakov (2020)

Filmed and Edited by: Vadim Sherbakov

Islandia is a non-narrative two minutes short drone film about primal beauty of Iceland.

Islandia – is a Latin name for Iceland and relative to the old language since this film portraits primordial and rough nature of Iceland. For the short duration of the film, you will be transported to a place that easily could be a million years ago. From unbelievable landscapes and vast valleys to painting-like terrain and majestic waterfalls and lakes – this film shows the unparalleled beauty of Iceland and its unearthly glory.

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Fiction: “Hercule Poirot” Created 100 Years Ago In 1920 By Agatha Christie

From Open Magazine (May 29, 2020):

Hercule Poirot
Hercule Poirot

And with The Mysterious Affair at Styles (published a 100 years ago, in 1920) Christie would introduce readers to Monsieur Hercule Poirot, an old Belgian detective who resembled Holmes superficially (‘eccentric detective, stooge assistant’, as the author would admit in her autobiography later) but whose psychological insights and near-mystical idiosyncrasies would make him arguably the most successful and beloved literary sleuth of all time.

IN 1916, THE 26-year-old Agatha Christie finished writing her first detective novel at Dartmoor, a quiet upland in Devon, UK, known for its beautiful granite hilltops. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had published The Hound of the Baskervilles, in 1902, which would become one of the most widely read Sherlock Holmes adventures—and the story was set in this same corner of the world, Dartmoor.

Books like Murder on the Orient Express (1934), The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)  and Death on the Nile (1937) remain some of the bestselling murder mysteries in the world today, over eight decades after their original publication (Christie’s net sales for all of her books combined are over two billion now).

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News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious