Holiday Gift Guide: Music, Book & Theater Edition

It's the giving season again! And if you're a procrastinator like me, then you're still trying to get your holiday gift shopping list together. So let me help you expedite that process! Here are my top gift recommendations for the art lovers in your lives:

Music:

Florence + The Machine's Ceremonials

Florence Welch is a rock-pop machine and Ceremonials is one of my favorite albums of the year. While lacking the raw, punk-like energy of the bands first album, Lungs, the new album is a more polished and whole achievement. All the songs sound connected and they flow to form a broodingly beautiful album that still makes you want to dance and sing along with at the top of your lungs. It's my wonderfully odd dark, upbeat soundtrack to the upcoming winter season. I couldn't recommend it to you more--buy it as a gift for yourself and your moody loved ones!

Books:

The New York Times Magazine Photographs

Aperture and The New York Times Magazine present this awesome photo book that surveys the photography published by the magazine over the years. The New York Times Magazine Photographs is this holiday season's ultimate coffee table book.

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

From the Pulitzer Prize winning author who gave us Virgin Suicides and Middlesex comes a new novel about Madeleine--a 1980s college student deconstructing 19th Century English novels with marriages at the center of their plots. She finds herself examining not only fictional marriage plots but also modern love and relationships. As an English major, this is the book I bought as a holiday gift for myself to read over my winter break. But if it's anything like Eugenides' previous novels, I suspect that it'll be popular with a diverse range of readers.

Theater Tickets:

Tickets to live shows make for the best gifts; you're giving entertainment and helping to create singular memories. So this year, consider giving the gift of theater! Already seen Sleep No More (a few times)? Looking for another off-Broadway gem? Go see New York Theatre Workshop's production of Once, a musical based on the film of the same name. This insanely popular show has been recently extended to January 15th. Get your tickets before they sellout!

Once
Based on the Film Written & Directed by: John Carney
Directed by: John Tiffany
Book by: Enda Walsh
Lyrics by: Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová
Movement by: Steven Hoggett
Featuring: David Abeles, Claire Candela, Will Connolly, Elizabeth A. Davis, Steve Kazee, David Patrick Kelly, Cristin Milioti, Anne L. Nathan, Lucas Papaelias, Andy Taylor, Erikka Walsh, Paul Whitty, J. Michael Zygo

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Pulitzer Prize Winners! [Why Not?]

This has nothing to do with anything geeky, but it's awesome anyway, so here ya go! The 2009 Pulitzer Prize Winners! Congrats New York Times on picking up five awards.

After the jump, the complete listing of the winners PLUS explanations as to why they won


JOURNALISM:

Public Service - Las Vegas Sun

Awarded to the Las Vegas Sun, and notably the courageous reporting by Alexandra Berzon, for the exposure of the high death rate among construction workers on the Las Vegas Strip amid lax enforcement of regulations, leading to changes in policy and improved safety conditions

Breaking News Reporting - The New York Times Staff

Awarded to The New York Times Staff for its swift and sweeping coverage of a sex scandal that resulted in the resignation of Gov. Eliot Spitzer, breaking the story on its Web site and then developing it with authoritative, rapid-fire reports.

Investigative Reporting - David Barstow of The New York Times

Awarded to David Barstow of The New York Times for his tenacious reporting that revealed how some retired generals, working as radio and television analysts, had been co-opted by the Pentagon to make its case for the war in Iraq, and how many of them also had undisclosed ties to companies that benefited from policies they defended.

Explanatory Reporting - Bettina Boxall and Julie Cart of the Los Angeles Times

Awarded to Bettina Boxall and Julie Cart of the Los Angeles Times for their fresh and painstaking exploration into the cost and effectiveness of attempts to combat the growing menace of wildfires across the western United States.

Local Reporting -
Detroit Free Press Staff
and
Ryan Gabrielson and Paul Giblin of the East Valley Tribune, Mesa, AZ

Awarded to Detroit Free Press Staff, and notably Jim Schaefer and M.L. Elrick, for their uncovering of a pattern of lies by Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick that included denial of a sexual relationship with his female chief of staff, prompting an investigation of perjury that eventually led to jail terms for the two officials.

and

Awarded to Ryan Gabrielson and Paul Giblin of the East Valley Tribune, Mesa, Ariz., for their adroit use of limited resources to reveal, in print and online, how a popular sheriff’s focus on immigration enforcement endangered investigation of violent crime and other aspects of public safety.

National Reporting - St. Petersburg Times Staff

Awarded to the St. Petersburg Times Staff for “PolitiFact,” its fact-checking initiative during the 2008 presidential campaign that used probing reporters and the power of the World Wide Web to examine more than 750 political claims, separating rhetoric from truth to enlighten voters. (Moved by the Board to the National Reporting category.

International Reporting - The New York Times Staff

Awarded to The New York Times Staff for its masterful, groundbreaking coverage of America’s deepening military and political challenges in Afghanistan and Pakistan, reporting frequently done under perilous conditions.

Feature Writing - Lane DeGregory of the St. Petersburg Times

Awarded to Lane DeGregory of the St. Petersburg Times for her moving, richly detailed story of a neglected little girl, found in a roach-infested room, unable to talk or feed herself, who was adopted by a new family committed to her nurturing. (Moved into contention by the Board from within the Feature Writing category.

Commentary - Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post

Awarded to Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post for his eloquent columns on the 2008 presidential campaign that focus on the election of the first African-American president, showcasing graceful writing and grasp of the larger historic picture.

Criticism - Holland Cotter of The New York Times

Awarded to Holland Cotter of The New York Times for his wide ranging reviews of art, from Manhattan to China, marked by acute observation, luminous writing and dramatic storytelling.

Editorial Writing - Mark Mahoney of The Post-Star, Glens Falls, NY

Awarded to Mark Mahoney of The Post-Star, Glens Falls, N.Y., for his relentless, down-to-earth editorials on the perils of local government secrecy, effectively admonishing citizens to uphold their right to know.

Editorial Cartooning - Steve Breen of The San Diego Union-Tribune

Awarded to Steve Breen of The San Diego Union-Tribune for his agile use of a classic style to produce wide ranging cartoons that engage readers with power, clarity and humor.

Breaking News Photography - Patrick Farrell of The Miami Herald

Awarded to Patrick Farrell of The Miami Herald for his provocative, impeccably composed images of despair after Hurricane Ike and other lethal storms caused a humanitarian disaster in Haiti.

Feature Photography - Damon Winter of The New York Times

Awarded to Damon Winter of The New York Times for his memorable array of pictures deftly capturing multiple facets of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.

LETTERS, DRAMA and MUSIC:

Fiction - Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (Random House)

Awarded to “Olive Kitteridge,” by Elizabeth Strout (Random House), a collection of 13 short stories set in small-town Maine that packs a cumulative emotional wallop, bound together by polished prose and by Olive, the title character, blunt, flawed and fascinating.

Drama - Ruined by Lynn Nottage

Awarded to “Ruined,” by Lynn Nottage, a searing drama set in chaotic Congo that compels audiences to face the horror of wartime rape and brutality while still finding affirmation of life and hope amid hopelessness.

History - The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed (W.W. Norton & Company)

Awarded to “The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family,” by Annette Gordon-Reed (W.W. Norton & Company), a painstaking exploration of a sprawling multi-generation slave family that casts provocative new light on the relationship between Sally Hemings and her master, Thomas Jefferson.

Biography - American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham (Random House)

Awarded to “American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House,” by Jon Meacham (Random House), an unflinching portrait of a not always admirable democrat but a pivotal president, written with an agile prose that brings the Jackson saga to life.

Poetry - The Shadow of Sirius by W.S. Merwin (Copper Canyon Press)

Awarded to “The Shadow of Sirius,” by W. S. Merwin (Copper Canyon Press), a collection of luminous, often tender poems that focus on the profound power of memory.

General Nonfiction - Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon (Doubleday)

Awarded to “Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II,” by Douglas A. Blackmon (Doubleday), a precise and eloquent work that examines a deliberate system of racial suppression and that rescues a multitude of atrocities from virtual obscurity.

Music - Double Sextet by Steve Reich, premiered March 26, 2008 in Richmond, VA (Boosey & Hawkes)

Awarded to “Double Sextet,” by Steve Reich (Boosey & Hawkes), premiered on March 26, 2008 in Richmond, VA, a major work that displays an ability to channel an initial burst of energy into a large-scale musical event, built with masterful control and consistently intriguing to the ear.

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I Lego NY WINS [Cool!]

Just stumbled upon illustrator Christoph Niemann's foray into the Art of Lego. These are incredibly clever and mostly only understood if you know New York, but eh, they're awesome anyway. Couple of my favorites below!





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