Five albums in seven sentences

Roar, the 2010 EP from Dirty Gold, may be the ultimate summer album (especially the song "California Sunrise"). I wish these guys put out a full album!

The Beginnings Stages of..., the debut album of Dallas's Polyphonic Spree, contains one of my most joyful memories.

The Live version of Bjork's Vespertine is even more transcendent than the studio original.

I know it dates me to recommend My Bloody Valentine's Loveless, but for many many people my age the album never gets old. Don't even consider listening to it on your laptop--it needs decent speakers at a bare minimum.

I'm not a huge fan of LCD Soundsystem per se, but I sure am a huge fan of Sound of Silver.

Importing Medieval Buildings

From Atlas Obscura, here's a long but interesting essay on the late 19th/early 20th century trend of rich Americans importing entire medieval buildings from Europe.

More paintings with funny captions

I should be more of an adult and not laugh at this stuff. But, well, too bad. (It's N completely SFW.)

Paris after the attacks

Here's an angle of the Paris recovery story I wouldn't have thought of: while The Louvre is open, almost nobody is there. Here's a photo from a few days ago that shows only about 10 people in front of the Mona Lisa. There are usually hundreds of people in this gallery at any time.

The ol' Dallas-Houston rivalry.

While the MFAH is in the middle of its Rothko retrospective, the DMA is opening a Pollock retrospective.

This seems appropriate in a number of ways.

Two stories (and a novel) on art theft

A man recently sent a ransom demand for a stolen Klimt painting. It was stolen 18 years ago.

Here's a summary of a 1961 art heist--and the following trial--so weird and famous it made it into a James Bond movie. Spoiler: the thief (or was he?) was convicted for stealing the frame...but not the painting.

If you like your art heist adventures more on the fictional side, don't forget Donna Tartt's novel The Goldfinch.

"Paris must become a little less charming"

Ian McEwan, author of Atonement, is currently living in Paris. He sent this note the day after the recent attacks.

Reading poetry

A 20-step guide.

Study tip: do more with your notes

While there are a lot of different note-taking systems, and I have no idea which works best for you, I do know a few things:

1.   Every expert out there agrees that taking notes during lectures, presentations, and discussions is good for retention and understanding.

2.   They also agree that the sooner and more often you review your notes, the better. If the first time you look over your class notes is right before a test, days or weeks after you took the notes, then the notes are likely to be completely useless. You should review and rework your notes in the first 24 hours after you take them.

3.   The sooner you find what works for you, the better. Dartmouth College has an excellent page at their Academic SkillsCenter. Spend some time going through it.

High school art collection?

I'm not usually a fan of bandwagons, but this program at Woodlands High seems like a great idea for Carnegie. They have a trust that actually acquires and maintains art for the school. The student body gets to vote on which pieces they buy each year.

Auction update

As expected, a Modigliani painting sold tonight for a lot of money. Around $170 million.

What are you doing Thursday evenings?

Or in our case, Thursday afternoons?

The Tate will be live streaming (should that be one word, o Millennials?) performances from the museum on Thursdays from November 19 - December 10.

You can also see archived performances from past years of the series.

Thanks to Lynn for sending this to me!

Terracotta Daughters

French artist Prune Nourry made 116 life-sized "Terracotta Daughters" to highlight the plight of women in China. After traveling the world, the sculptures have been buried to "sleep" for 15 years.

This piece, which I'd not heard about until this week, stands as a great example of how artists use works from the past in very powerful and not-at-all-derivative ways.

Advice for anyone who ever takes a class. At a school. Or other school-like place.

This Captain Awkward blogpost deals specifically with behavior in a grad school seminar. But it applies, to all of us, and it's really worth reading a few times.

Thanks to my friend Molly for sharing this--I didn't know anything about Captain Awkward until she posted this.

Fun video!

Like animation, owls, Russian, and/or short videos?

Try this one. A former Art History student sent it to me.

*Updated. I had a bad link before, but not it should work.*

A quick read on auctions

As the fall art auction season gets underway tonight, there's sure to be some news on big sales. The New York Times has this piece on how auctions work.

There's also a more detailed (and, to me, more readable) explanation in Sarah Thornton's Seven Days in the Art World.

Pride and Prejudice and Erotica

This week in English class we've been talking about Gilbert & Gubar and feminist readings of 19th century English novels. And the same week I come across, for the first time, "Jane Austen Erotica." (Totally SFW.)

Dang.