You may be familiar with the brilliant work of Argentinian filmmaker Fernando Livschitz from his opening credits film for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert or his wild video Buenos Aires Inception Park, but his crazy short Perspective will blow your mind.
As I have probably mentioned a few times, one of my favorite places in Philly is the amazing Philadelphia Museum of Art. In fact, I usually drag every out of town visitor there whether they express any interest in going or not. Most folks are surprised to discover that the PMA is home to one the world’s great art collections and also one of the biggest “scandals” of the 20th century art world—Marcel Duchamp’s readymade work “Fountain”.
This year marks the centennial of the surrealist prankster’s scandalous artwork, a urinal on which the artist inscribed the name “R. Mutt.” To celebrate the work’s 100th anniversary, the Philadelphia Museum of Art unveiled an exhibition called Marcel Duchamp and the Fountain Scandal, which includes photographs and publications from the time, as well as more Duchamp readymades from their collection. As part of the exhibition, artist Richard Gabriele created a replica of the infamous urinal and turned it into a mini golf course outside the museum.
The Marcel Duchamp and the Fountain Scandal show runs until December 1st.
The Bookseller/Diagram Prize For Oddest Book Title of the Year, usually just called the Diagram Prize, is awarded each year to the book that voters think has the most unusual title. This year’s shortlist was recently announced by the British publishing trade magazine The Bookseller. Voting ends on July 21st, and the winner will be announced on July 28th, so cast your vote here. Choose from the wonderful shortlisted titles below:
Nipples on My Knee by Graham & Debra Robertson
An Ape’s View of Evolution by Peter Andrews
Love Your Lady Landscape by Lisa Lister
Renniks Australian Pre-Decimal & Decimal Coin Errors: The Premier Guide for Australian Pre-Decimal & Decimal Coin Errors, edited by Ian McConnelly
The Commuter Pig-Keeper by Michaela Giles
The Winds of Winter, the long awaited next book in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice series doesn’t seem to be forthcoming, however we loyal fans will have to continue to make do with the HBO TV series Game of Thrones. I’d be fibbing if I said that I wasn’t chuffed that the new season starts this week. It looks like we’ll finally see a monumental collision of all the story lines. Meanwhile,the current issue of Time magazine is featuring an extraordinary photo shoot of some of the primary cast members by photographer Miles Aldridge.
The very popular location-aware travel guide app Detour usually cost $5, but for the rest of this summer it’s absolutely free. With 16 U.S. and international cities currently covered, including NYC, Boston, San Francisco, Rome, Berlin, Barcelona, and Paris, the audio walking tour app offers discrete hour-long guided tours narrated by local experts. Along with more than 150 separate walks, the app also features augmented reality that allows users to reveal historical location data. Check it out for yourself here, but don’t wait because the free offer ends on September 4, 2017.
Here’s another quick list from my recent reading pile.
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh : If you are a fan of the inimitable Shirley Jackson, run, don’t walk, to your nearest bookstore for a copy of this mesmerizing, disturbing, and hilarious novel.
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead : Well earned winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, this painful meditation on America’s original sin will break your heart. I’m not kidding; it will bring you to tears over and over again.
Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters : It’s a shame that Winters’ frighteningly realistic alternative history of the U.S. was totally overshadowed by Whitehead’s masterpiece. In any other year, it would have found a wider audience. If this book is not quite beach reading for you, check out Winters’ fantastic The Last Policeman trilogy, a pre-apocalyptic detective story.
Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz : This novel-within-a-novel is a clever mash-up of an Agatha Christie-style whodunit and a modern amateur detective novel.
A Horse Walks into a Bar by David Grossman : I have to admit that I was disappointed in this award-winning short novel. In fact, I found it to be grating and tedious. Just saying.
The Hollow Man ; The House of Fame & Deep Shelter by Oliver Harris : Although I was late to the party on British writer Oliver Harris, I’ve caught up by reading everything available in the States. His main character is brilliant, despicable and completely hilarious. Each novel is an over-the-top roller-coaster ride around contemporary London.
For some reason, I receive requests for reading recommendations from followers of TBTP. It may be because I’m in the book trade, who knows why. Anyway, I thought that I would share a short list of books that I have read recently—or I’m still slogging through. My lazy reading habits include having three or four books “going” simultaneously. Literary tastes are subjective, so I’m including some titles that I found to be meh, or at least disappointing.
Autumn by Ali Smith : A poignant, heartbreaking, but beautiful exploration of the subjective human experience of time and the fragility of relationships. Smith’s latest novel is the first in a four-part series, with each book named for a season.
Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu : This head-spinning, sci-fi epic meditation on humanity, technology, morality, and progress will test your endurance and reading stamina, but the trilogy is well worth the commitment. And for those of us in the West, it’s an eye-opening introduction to contemporary Chinese literature.
October: The Story of the Russian Revolution by China Miéville : This chronicle of one of the pivotal events of the 20th century is educational and entertaining without the usual academic pretensions. And, yes, it’s written by the master of post-modern sci-fi/fantasy China Miéville. If history sounds to dry for summer reading, get lost in his extraordinary novel The City and the City.
Seven Brief Lessons On Physics by Carlo Rovelli : I’m one of those folks who reveres science, but struggles with the complexity of the subject. This book makes mind-bending topics such as quantum mechanics, relativity, and elementary particles surprisingly understandable and even fun. Rovelli’s language is accessible, clear, even poetic.
Leaving Berlin by Joseph Kanon : A compelling story of espionage set in post-war Germany during the Berlin Airlift that manages to incorporate political ambiguity, car chases, celebrity intellectuals, gun fights, and tragic romance. My only quibble is that the novel at times seems to reach for too many Cold War cliches.
A Gambler’s Anatomy by Jonathan Lethem : I am usually a huge fan of anything that Lethem writes, but this is a big meh.
Theft By Finding Diaries 1977-2002 by David Sedaris : It seems like he left out all of the funny stuff.
The public library in Brest, France has launched its first Bibliambule. This hammock-equipped, bookmobile scooter is designed to make reading fun this summer for the Brestois. Created by Z’Ambules of Paris, the clever scooters are already in use in by libraries in Lyon and Paris. Brest’s Bibliambule carries mainly children’s literature and Young Adult books, along with seven cozy reading hammocks.
Last January, I posted a story about RESIST! magazine, which was launched to coincide with the women’s marches against the illegitimate Trump regime. The editors Françoise Mouly and Nadia Spiegelman issued a second edition of the protest magazine on the 4th of July in an expanded format. This edition, which will be available for free at select comic bookstore and bookshop outlets and for order online, reflects on the ongoing national nightmare through the eyes of progressive artists and writers.
Travel Between The Pages 