Category: Culture Corner

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    Book Review: Compass by Mathias Énard (New Directions, 2015; translated into English, 2017) Bernie Langs There are novels that are categorized as literature and not merely as fiction, and then there are the geniuses of literature and the masterworks of the genre. Reading these masterpieces of literary creation, we enter a process of joyful sublimation…

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      Television review: The Defiant Ones (HBO documentary) Bernie Langs Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre, featured in HBO’s documentary “The Defiant Ones” (promotional photo: HBO) The HBO television network changed the landscape of TV programming for the better and for many years has offered innovative, well-written, and imaginative shows and documentaries that leave the cliché…

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      Ubiquitous Art Bernie Langs I have of late—but wherefore I know not—lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises, and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air—look you, this brave o’erhanging firmament, this majestical…

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    Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism and the 2016 Presidential Election Bernie Langs I am close to finishing a masterpiece of historical and philosophical discussion written by Hannah Arendt (1906 – 1975), The Origins of Totalitarianism. My purpose in writing about this book is not to convince anyone to read it, because it is an…

  • CULTURE CORNER

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    Film and the Tyranny of the Repeating Day: Edge of Tomorrow and Groundhog Day By Bernie Langs “Carpe Diem” or “Seize the Day” is the banal, clichéd rallying war cry that commencement speakers send off the graduating classes of universities into the world. Yet once in the rhythm of the work day, we very quickly…

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    An interview with famed vocalist and vocal coach Dorian Holley (Part One of Two) By Bernie Langs Looking over the resume of Dorian Holley, one marvels at the long list of names of the biggest successes in popular music for whom he has served as a back-up vocalist, background singer, or studio recording partner. He…

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    An Interview with Richard Torregrossa, Author of Terminal Life: A Suited Hero Novel and Cary Grant: A Celebration of Style By Bernie Langs  Several years ago, I was checking the blurbs of recommended articles and reviews indexed by the Arts & Letters Daily web site as I do every day. The site recommended a review…