PicoBlog

How do you know when art has worked its magic?  Because I’ll walk through a museum and I’ll feel like I have a conspicuous, floating question mark bobbing above my head. Does everyone here know I absolutely do not know what I’m looking at?  Sometimes, it’s a dense article or some jewelry artifact that sends that same blurry blob of unknowing or maybe detachment my way. I admire these artistic expressions, but I find that I sometimes just observe them, appreciate them from afar, but don’t necessarily connect or resonate with them.

Guest post by Sandra L. Glahn, author of Nobody’s Mother: Artemis of the Ephesians in Antiquity and the New Testament. When a woman goes into labor these days, friends and relatives usually cheer, celebrate, and bring gifts. But in first-century Ephesus, such celebrations would have been tempered by trembling, appeasing idols, and offering gifts to gods—especially Artemis. Whereas childbirth is always risky, childbirth in the ancient world was positively deadly. Childbirth was the number-one killer of women ages 15-29.

As anyone could have guessed after listening to the podcast I recently did with David Klion, I’ve been very eager to see new adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune. I did so yesterday and it lived up to all my hopes for it. David’sreview in The New Republic mirrors my own reaction. David and I will be doing a podcast about the movie in the near future. One of the most interesting comments on the movie came from Samuel R.

For decades, Vanessa Beecroft has been pushing the boundaries of art, fashion, and the line dividing the two. Born on April 25, 1969, the Italian-American artist primarily focuses on performance art but also dabbles in photography, sculpture, and painting. Her work has been exhibited in numerous well-established museums, such as the MoMA, the Guggenheim, the Art Institute of Chicago, and even the JFK Airport. Beecroft grew up in a strict vegan household, resulting in a rocky relationship with food.

Since I started Slowpoke I have been thinking about ways to incorporate other voices - specifically those of artists - into my newsletters. What I have come up with is what you are looking at today. As always, I want to present recommendations for music to check out, but this new idea involves going a bit deeper and finding out more about the person making the recommendations. For my first foray into this format, I have chosen Ethan Lee McCarthy to help me highlight some new music - alongside baring his soul.

Since the 75-year-old King began treatments for cancer three weeks ago, the public has had several glimpses of him in photographs and videos. But it emerged this week that privately he has sought spiritual guidance from his longtime friend, Archimandrite Ephraim, Abbot of the Greek Orthodox Vatopedi monastery on Mount Athos. “Yes, he has been in contact since the diagnosis and I believe he’ll overcome it,” the 67-year-old abbot told a Greek newspaper.

Full disclosure: After receiving a press release about the eviction of Piemonte Pizza, I went to the shop to take pictures, introduce myself, and talk to the owner, Nusret Oner. Before I knew it, I was treated to a free slice of pizza, a drink, and some oven-fresh seasoned flatbread. So if you want to question my journalistic integrity, this is the story to do it on. The food was excellent, and the family that runs the shop is simply amazing.

Attention Turkish TV Obsessed fans - the next show we’re recapping is As the Crow Flies (Kuş Uçuşu), now available on Netflix in the US. Each episode is an adrenaline-fueled hour, and with short seasons, you can binge to your heart's content, either in subtitles or dub! What's it about? A young fan named Asli Tuna infiltrates the life of seasoned news anchor Lale Kiran. But as Asli’s admiration turns into an obsession, we get an inside look at the dark, competitive side of the news industry, where every step forward can mean stabbing a back… or two.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu the third and possibly most influential and successful of the Ashikaga Shogun, architect of the Golden Pavilion, and whose villa location became the namesake of the Muromachi Period, was born on this day, September 25, 1358, exactly 100 days after the death of Ashikaga Takauji, the first Seii Taishogun of the Muromachi Shogunate, and this was seen as auspicious. Ashikaga Yoshimitsu’s father, the second Shogun, Yoshiakira, died of illness during a campaign while his son was still ten.