No Labor Day

The Stone Breakers, Gustave Courbet, 1849-50 (destroyed 1945)/FORMERLY DRESDEN STATE ART COLLECTIONS

At least no labor for me — I’m taking today off. Courbet’s tireless (and, alas, lost) pair will labor in my place. Back Tuesday.

Tuned In Tuned In

From Midfield, Obama Throws Long

In a way, the big challenge in Denver tonight was not Barack Obama’s but Invesco Field’s. For days, we’ve heard reports of hand-wringing among Democrats and pundits over Obama’s decision to hold the speech in a stadium. What if it made him seem too presumptuous? What if it looked too showboaty?

As opposed to what—a standard …

Instant Houses

Burst*oo8, Douglas Gauthier & Jeremy Edminston /LACAYO

I’ve checked in a few times this summer with “Home Delivery”, the Museum of Modern Art show about prefabricated housing, an idea whose time is always coming but never quite comes. This is what I had to say about it recently in Time.

Tuned In Tuned In

Vacation Robo-Post: Favorite Simpsons Quotes

The title explains itself. I have long believed that there is a Simpsons quote appropriate to pretty much every situation in life, and life has yet to prove me wrong. Who among us, in times of trouble, has not called on the help of Jeebus?

So what’s your favorite? I think it’s hard to improve on “Here’s to alcohol: The cause of—and …

How to Fake A Vermeer

Christ at Emmaus, Han Van Meegeren, 1937/MUSEUM BOYMANS

Did the world need two new accounts of the Han Van Meegeren story? He was the 20th century Dutch forger who turned out a succession of phony Vermeers that for a time were widely accepted. Hard to say, but this summer the world got two of them anyway: The Forger’s Spell by Edward …

Tuned In Tuned In

Vacation Robo-Post: Reruns

TV critics have a big blind spot. We’re constantly focusing on the new stuff. That means, for starters, that people like me write a lot about shows when they premiere, then let them go as they stay on the air.

But it also means that we ignore something that it a huge part of ordinary people’s TV-watching experience: reruns. We all hate …

Tuned In Tuned In

The Hillary Speech

A couple quick from-vacation thoughts to kick off discussion:

I have no idea whether Hillary Clinton’s endorsement speech helps Barack Obama politically or not. But simply from a standpoint of televisual interest, it’s funny that people have talked about this speech as a dread moment of great risk for Obama.

Why? Modern conventions are …

Monster Movie

Myra, Marcus Harvey, 1995/WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

The U.K. is in a bit of an uproar over art this week. To encourage tourism to London for the next Olympics, in 2012, the Brits produced a video that was screened recently in Beijing. In a montage of images of London’s cultural scene, someone decided to include a brief glimpse of Marcus …

Tuned In Tuned In

Vacation Robo-Post: Drinking in Moderation

Unless Robo-James and his comrades have overthrown the humans, the Democratic National Convention has begun by now, with the Republicans up next week. That means the general election, and next month brings the first Presidential debate.

If the primary debates are any guide, we can make a good guess as to the content of the debate …

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