Welcome to Conversation Pieces, where Flavorpill curates five articles from the past week that you should read. Some are long, others are short. Some are from major publications, others aren’t. The only thing all these articles have in common is that they’re interesting. This week we examine the legacy of Barbie’s boyfriend, Ken, whether the internet reduces your ability to feel pleasure, the nervous history of public speaking, what you can learn from a spiteful homeless man, and more. After the jump, find something exciting to discuss this weekend in the home, at the bar, or on the street.
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The National Archives knows how to build suspense, releasing juicy tidbits from Richard Nixon’s papers morsel by juicy morsel. The latest batch of missives from the 37th president reveals an aesthetic side to the famously gruff politician, who despised news media and had a “personality problem with the public.” Something of a traditionalist, Nixon railed against the progressive art and architecture promoted by the Kennedy set.
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Read through hundreds of Vincent van Gogh’s revealing letters online, now translated into English with a drawings appendix.
The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam commissioned the ambitious Vincent van Gogh: The Letters project, an extensive and richly annotated archive searchable by chronology, place, and correspondent. Interactive tabs on the letter-viewing screen allow scrolling between the original text, facsimile images of the letters, and English translations.
The most in-depth function is filed under Concordance, lists, bibliography on the top right of the screen. Here, hyperlinks lead to historical persons and digital images of the artworks specifically referenced by van Gogh — all the cultural scraps that influenced the artist’s beautiful and tortured inner world.
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The AP reports an amusing anecdote on Andy Warhol’s forgotten archives, 610 boxes of junk and treasure currently being sorted by the Warhol Foundation in Pittsburgh. So far, the findings have bordered on the pedestrian (taxi cabs receipts), the revolting (old Campbell’s soup, a piece of crusty wedding cake), and the thrilling (a nude Jackie O photo, $17,000 in cash). After the jump, we take bets on what else the mother lode will reveal. Read More »
