Tag Archives: Reviews

Previews: Country Life Magazine – Nov 29, 2023

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Country Life Magazine – November 29, 2023: The latest issue features seasonal wine, medieval homes and our annual Christmas gift guide…

Claus for celebration

Embrace the festive spirit, with bells on, in Amie Elizabeth White’s magical A to Z of Christmas

Well, isn’t that just the icing on the biscuit?

There’s always a reason to biscuit, discovers Katy Birchall

A modern guide to table manners

Catch up on the etiquette of for-mal dining with Annunciata Elwes

Sip, sip, hooray!

Accessories to aid your festive entertaining, with Amelia Thorpe

I’ll have a side of drama, please

Flambé is back on the menu as Tom Parker Bowles argues for the return of tableside cooking

What to serve when

Nicola Arcedeckne-Butler has a tipple idea for every occasion

I go to pieces

A puzzled Ben Lerwill explores the enduring appeal of the jigsaw

He who pays the piper

Octavia Pollock finds a pig in a poke has gone for a burton

Christmas gifts

Hetty Lintell’s perfect present picks for everyone in your life

Editors’ choice

Country Life’s section editors reveal their festive fancies

John Lewis-Stempel’s favourite painting

The Nature writer selects a work in praise of the Southdown sheep

Glory of the garden

Tiffany Daneff marvels at floral creations from Rachel Siegfried

Hitting the sweet spot

How did marzipan take Britain by storm, asks Matthew Dennison

Raise your glass

Mary Miers on fears for the craft of stained-glass window making

Mastered in every detail

Jeremy Musson explores the houses of Henry James novels

Native breeds

Kate Green on Aylesbury ducks

International Art: Apollo Magazine – December 2023

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Apollo Magazine December 2023: The new issue features Best in show: art at the Kennel Club; The magnificent art of Marisol; The rise of the Renaissance woman, and more…

The rise of the Renaissance woman

Christina J. Faraday

The Chess Game (detail; 1555), Sofonisba Anguissola. National Museum, Poznan

Among the art-gallery going public, is anyone still unaware that there have always been women artists, even before the 19th century? Perhaps a few still think that women first picked up their paintbrushes around the time they started campaigning for the vote. Certainly, the further back you go, the more surprising it may seem – given the limitations placed on women – that some were nonetheless able to build successful artistic careers. But beginning in earnest with the National Gallery’s blockbuster Artemisia Gentileschi exhibition of 2019, a flurry of shows has put the names of various Renaissance women in lights. Just this year, we have had ‘Lavinia Fontana: Trailblazer, Rule Breaker’ at the National Gallery of Ireland, ‘Mary Beale: Experimental Secrets’ at Dulwich Picture Gallery, ‘Artemisia Gentileschi: coraggio e passione’ at the Palazzo Ducale in Genoa, and ‘Sofonisba Anguissola: Portraitist of the Renaissance’ at the Rijksmuseum Twenthe in Enschede, to name only a few.

December 2023 | Apollo Magazine

December 2023 | Apollo Magazine

Previews: The Progressive Magazine – December 2023

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theprogressive Magazine December 2023/January 2024:

Tunnels for Safety and Tunnels for Death

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An underground nuclear arsenal in Israel dwarfs the tunnels alleged at a Gaza hospital.

It’s one thing to burrow beneath the ground, digging to construct a tunnel for refuge, a passage of goods, or to store weapons during a time of war. It’s quite another for a small child to use one hand to dig their way out of the rubble that has collapsed on them. 

Vox Populist: Planet Wins; News Wins

Words from populist author, public speaker, and radio commentator Jim Hightower. 

Which Path Will You Choose?

Editor’s Note for the October/November 2023 issue. 

Gen Z Is Taking the Reins

A variety of young candidates are signing up to run for elected office at local, state, and national levels.

Art: Spirit and Invention – Drawings by Giambattista and Domenico Tiepolo

The Morgan Library & Museum (November 27, 2023) – The Morgan is home to one of the world’s largest and most important collections of drawings by Giambattista Tiepolo (1696–1770) and his eldest son Domenico (1727–1804), with more than 300 representative examples of their lively invention and masterful techniques.

Spirit and Invention: Drawings by Giambattista and Domenico Tiepolo

October 27, 2023 through January 28, 2024

Combining highlights from the Morgan’s collection with carefully selected loans, this exhibition will provide a comprehensive look at the Tiepolos’ work as draftsmen, focusing on the role of drawing in their creative process and the distinct physical and stylistic properties of their graphic work. At the core of the collection and exhibition are substantial groups of Giambattista’s drawings that relate to major ceiling fresco projects of the 1740s and 1750s.

A fresh look at the style, function, and material properties of these working drawings has yielded new insights into their purposes. Most significantly, the exhibition presents for the first time extremely rare pen studies for Tiepolo’s magnum opus, the ceiling fresco above the staircase of the Würzburg Residenz of 1752, and a group of bold sketches newly connected with his ceiling fresco of 1754 at the Venetian church of Santa Maria della Pietà.

Other sections of the exhibition highlight the introduction of Domenico to the family workshop, the exchanges between father and son, and the great series drawings by both: Giambattista’s fantastic heads and figures seen di sotto in su, and Domenico’s drawings of animals, biblical scenes, and contemporary life.

The exhibition will end with a wall including striking examples from Domenico’s late Punchinello series. October 27, 2023 through January 28, 2024

Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – Dec 4, 2023

Dancers and musicians can be seen practicing in the Juilliard School at night.

The New Yorker – December 4, 2023 issue: The new issue‘s cover features Sergio García Sánchez’s “Ready to Soar” – The artist discusses rhythm, rigor, and the linguistic capabilities of art.

How Jensen Huang’s Nvidia Is Powering the A.I. Revolution

A portrait of Jensen Huang made of computer chips.

The company’s C.E.O. bet it all on a new kind of chip. Now that Nvidia is one of the biggest companies in the world, what will he do next?

By Stephen Witt

The revelation that ChatGPT, the astonishing artificial-intelligence chatbot, had been trained on an Nvidia supercomputer spurred one of the largest single-day gains in stock-market history. When the Nasdaq opened on May 25, 2023, Nvidia’s value increased by about two hundred billion dollars. A few months earlier, Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s C.E.O., had informed investors that Nvidia had sold similar supercomputers to fifty of America’s hundred largest companies. By the close of trading, Nvidia was the sixth most valuable corporation on earth, worth more than Walmart and ExxonMobil combined. Huang’s business position can be compared to that of Samuel Brannan, the celebrated vender of prospecting supplies in San Francisco in the late eighteen-forties. “There’s a war going on out there in A.I., and Nvidia is the only arms dealer,” one Wall Street analyst said.

Why Trump’s Trials Should Be on TV

Why Trumps Trials Should Be on TV

The conduct of the trials, their fairness, and their possibly damning verdicts will be at the center of the 2024 election. Transparency is crucial.

By Amy Davidson Sorkin

On November 6th, Donald Trump emerged from a New York City courtroom, where he had testified in a civil trial alleging that he and others in the Trump Organization had committed fraud, and gave himself a great review. “I think it went very well,” he told reporters. “If you were there, and you listened, you’d see what a scam this is.” He meant that the case was a scam and not that his company was. “Everybody saw what happened today,” he went on. “And it was very conclusive.”

How to Play a Nazi

Sandra Hüller photographed sitting in a chair by Mark Peckmezian.

The German actress Sandra Hüller probes characters with unusual depth. But to portray a Fascist wife, in “The Zone of Interest,” she reversed her usual approach—and withheld her empathy.

By Rebecca Mead

In “Anatomy of a Fall,” Hüller stars as a successful novelist accused of murdering her husband. The camera often lingers on her face as it shifts like quicksilver between playfulness, defiance, and evasion.Photograph by Mark Peckmezian for The New Yorker

The New York Times Magazine – Nov 26, 2023

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THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (November 17, 2023): The latest issue features Was Peace Ever Possible in the Israel-Palestine Conflict?; Finding a Moral Center in This Era of War; The Beatles Are Still Charting the Future of Pop. It Looks Bleak – Their latest song points toward a future where no golden goose need ever stop laying, and more…

Was Peace Ever Possible?

Thirty years ago, a negotiated settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seemed achievable. The story of how it fell apart reveals why the fight remains so intractable today.

MODERATED BY EMILY BAZELON

Finding a Moral Center in This Era of War

By David Marchese Photograph by Mamadi Doumbouya

Phil Klay, as both a participant and a writer, has been thinking deeply about war for a long time. In his two acclaimed works of fiction, the book of short stories “Redeployment,” which won a 2014 National Book Award, and the novel “Missionaries” (2020), and in the nonfiction collection “Uncertain Ground: Citizenship in an Age of Endless, Invisible War” (2022), Klay has interrogated, to profound effect and with a deeply humane and moral sensibility, what war does to our hearts and minds, individually and collectively, here and abroad. “I’m interested in the kinds of stories that we tell ourselves about war,” says Klay, who is a 40-year-old veteran of the Iraq war. 

Everybody Knows Flo From Progressive. Who Is Stephanie Courtney?

Stephanie Courtney gets makeup for her character Flo.

A polo shirt, a white apron and a retro hairdo changed an actor’s life forever.

Arts/History: Smithsonian Magazine – December 2023

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Smithsonian Magazine (December 2023) – The latest issue features ‘Can A Robot Replace the World’s Greatest Artists?; A tiny reindeer enjoys its day in the sun; In Ukraine, war reshapes a Holocaust Memorial; the Rebirth of a Lost American Wine Region, and more…

Why Collectors Fall Head Over Heels for the ‘Inverted Jenny’ Stamp

Inverted Jenny

One of the rare 24-cent misprints sold at auction this week for a record-breaking $2 million

The Real History Behind Empress Joséphine in Ridley Scott’s ‘Napoleon’

Vanessa Kirby as Joséphine and Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon in Ridley Scott's Napoleon​​​​​​​

A new Hollywood epic traces Napoleon Bonaparte’s rise and fall through his checkered relationship with his first wife

Retirement: Barron’s Magazine – Nov 27, 2023

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BARRON’S MAGAZINE – November 27, 2023 ISSUE:

15 Stocks to Buy Around the World, From Our Roundtable Experts

15 Stocks to Buy Around the World, From Our Roundtable Experts

Global turmoil has created opportunities, especially in emerging markets and commodities.

A Golden Age of Vaccines Is Here. What It Means for You.

A Golden Age of Vaccines Is Here. What It Means for You.

Pharmaceutical companies are currently developing vaccines for a range of purposes, from preventing disease to treating cancers.Long read

One Auto Stock to Buy Now to Split the EV Difference

One Auto Stock to Buy Now to Split the EV Difference

The transition to electric vehicles has hit a speed bump, but Vontier shares should benefit no matter what kind of car you drive.4 min read

5 Pros Offer Their Top Year-End Financial Tips

5 Pros Offer Their Top Year-End Financial Tips

We asked financial advisors to share their most surprising year-end financial-planning or investing moves.Long read

The New York Times Book Review – November 26, 2023

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THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW (November 26, 2023): This week’s issue features  Michael Cunningham’s “Day.”; the 2023 Notables list, “Kantika”, “The Nursery.” and “Western Lane” , because it’s a finalist for the Booker Prize, which will be announced on Sunday.

A Pandemic Novel That Never Says ‘Pandemic’

This illustration shows three people sitting at a table, but the image is broken up into three panels, giving the appearance that the three people are in the same space, but alone and at different times.

Michael Cunningham’s “Day” peeks into the lives of a family on one specific April date across three years as life changes because of Covid and other challenges.

By Caleb Crain

DAY, by Michael Cunningham


Michael Cunningham’s new novel, “Day,” visits a family on April 5 in 2019, 2020 and 2021 — before, during and after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, which shadows the book although the words “Covid” and “pandemic” never appear.

‘Western Lane’ Finds Solace From Grief on the Squash Court

In Chetna Maroo’s debut novel, an adolescent girl mourns the death of her mother in the empty reverberations between points.

By Ivy Pochoda

WESTERN LANE, by Chetna Maroo


At the start of Chetna Maroo’s polished and disciplined debut, Gopi, an 11-year-old Jain girl who has just lost her mother, stands on a squash court outside London. She isn’t playing. Instead, she’s listening to the sound of the ball hitting the wall on the adjacent court, “a quick, low pistol-shot of a sound, with a close echo.” It is not so much the shot itself that Gopi is hearing, but that echo, the empty reverb, the lonely response as the ball’s impact gives the striker a split second to retreat to the T, the center of the court, and prepare to counteract her opponent’s responding shot.

Previews: The Economist Magazine – Nov 25, 2023

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The Economist Magazine (November 25, 2023): The latest issue features The Climate report – Some progress, must try harder….

Progress on climate change has not been fast enough, but it has been real

And the world needs to learn from it

The agreement at the conference of the parties (cop) to the un Framework Convention on Climate Change, which took place in Paris in 2015, was somewhat impotent. As many pointed out at the time, it could not tell countries what to do; it could not end the fossil-fuel age by fiat; it could not draw back the seas, placate the winds or dim the noonday sun. But it could at least lay down the law for subsequent cops, decreeing that this year’s should see the first “global stocktake” of what had and had not been done to bring the agreement’s overarching goals closer.

Lessons from the ascent of the United Arab Emirates

How to thrive in a fractured world

In Argentina Javier Milei faces an economic crisis

The radical libertarian is taking over a country on the brink