Weekend Bites: Art After Occupy, Samuel Beckett’s Birthday, Matthew Specktor’s Playlist, Jessica Francis Kane, and More

Samuel Beckett was born on April 13th, 1906. Since this is his birthday weekend, here’s a video of puppets doing Waiting for Godot. Matthew Specktor gives us a playlist for American Dream Machine. Jessica Francis Kane talks with Matthew Birnbaum at VQR. Want to read an interview with James Wood? Of course you do! “Crabapple’s work and story is not just about infusing politics into visual art; she represents an alternative to the mechanism through which many young artists today […]

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Poetry in Motion: Sympathy for Notre Dame Football from Great Irish Writers

This week, Notre Dame woefully dongs its bell tower, with each member of the proud college’s football phalanx feeling like a true Quasimodo.   A crushing 42-14 defeat in Monday’s bowl-game-of-all-bowl-games to Forrest Gump’s alma mater inspired many an armchair Lombardi nationwide to – in ways both fair and callous – damn the Fighting Irish as faux-contenders.  “Unfit to the cleats of several squads arguably more deserving of BCS title game contention,” says some easily imagined surly grump.

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