“Casanova’s Europe” reveals a refined and visually seductive culture on the cusp of modernity—one characterized by pleasure seeking, movement across boundaries, and self-invention. Casanova himself inhabited many roles—entrepreneur, social climber, spy, author, and translator of the Iliad. But he was also a cheat and a libertine. So read the online tease for an MFA’s exhibition…
All posts in July 2018
Flights of Fancy Getting your wines in a row
Why is a set of wines arranged in a particular order for tasting purposes referred to as a flight? Even the venerable Oxford English Dictionary doesn’t seem to know – its editors don’t give an example of the word used in this way. But we might be going in the right direction if instead of…
One Weird Trick The Value of a Slosh
“Try this one weird trick” those trashy online ads plead — promising to help you lose that belly fat, regrow a bumper crop of lustrous hair, outwit the market, or jump start the dead battery that once powered your sex life but hasn’t produced ignition since the Reagan administration. Snapping at clickbait like a famished…