Yesterday I got to tour the Treasure Rooms at the Menil. Well, four out of five of them. They are even more amazing and magical than I expected.
My host was a friend and former Carnegie student who now works at the Menil. I often remind students that they're there 10% for their education and 90% for my entertainment. That holds true after graduation as well.
Showing posts with label Personal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Personal. Show all posts
If classical music puts you to sleep..
If classical music puts you to sleep, then you might be excited about Max Richter's new piece. "Sleep" is an eight-hour piece (apparently the longest classical composition ever) that's meant to be played while people sleep. The premiere will happen at an overnight performance where the audience will listen in beds, presumably asleep.
(By coincidence, I put on a Richter album last night to help me fall asleep. I can vouch for this guy's talent.)
(By coincidence, I put on a Richter album last night to help me fall asleep. I can vouch for this guy's talent.)
A personal note...
...to whoever changed the name on my door. That's very sweet. It's been a good year.
Little reminders
A number of you have asked about the little quotation cards I have in front of my desk. They're reminders to myself, which I ignore more than I care to admit.
"The readiness is all" comes from Hamlet. Hamlet tells his friend Horatio that he has a bad feeling about this fencing match he's about to go through. Horatio says that Hamlet should put it off if something's not right. And Hamlet replies "if it be now [and "it" is death] 'tis not to come; if it be not to come it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come; the readiness is all".
"This is water. This is water" comes from David Foster Wallace's brilliant and beautiful 2005 commencement speech at Kenyon College. Unless it will get you in trouble or cause bodily harm, read it. Right Now.
"Breathe, smile, and go slowly" is advice from Zen master Thich Nhat Hahn. And now that I look it up I see that I have it backward. He actually says "Smile, breathe and go slowly." I don't think Thay will mind.
"Transcend" is just my own single-word advice to myself. Some days one word is all we can handle.
"The readiness is all" comes from Hamlet. Hamlet tells his friend Horatio that he has a bad feeling about this fencing match he's about to go through. Horatio says that Hamlet should put it off if something's not right. And Hamlet replies "if it be now [and "it" is death] 'tis not to come; if it be not to come it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come; the readiness is all".
"This is water. This is water" comes from David Foster Wallace's brilliant and beautiful 2005 commencement speech at Kenyon College. Unless it will get you in trouble or cause bodily harm, read it. Right Now.
"Breathe, smile, and go slowly" is advice from Zen master Thich Nhat Hahn. And now that I look it up I see that I have it backward. He actually says "Smile, breathe and go slowly." I don't think Thay will mind.
"Transcend" is just my own single-word advice to myself. Some days one word is all we can handle.
Follow-up on Taj Mahal
So I told Amanda I was going to start calling her "my favorite wife." She said that was fine, and she's going to start calling me "her future ex-husband." So there's that.
Juxtaposition
Personal note: we start Power of Art next week. I fear Art History 2.0 will not be as fanatical about Simon Schama as 1.0, and I fear it will make me like them less. There, I said it.
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