The RP’S Weekly Web Gems: The Politics of Beauty

Last week, the RP began a new “Weekly Web Gem,” The Politics of Beauty. While we may occasionally opine on the relative attractiveness of certain current Republican candidates (declared and undeclared, male and female) for the presidency, the primary focus will be on the politics of art, literature, music and culture. Really, anything is game. As always, we welcome your feedback!

Check out this (quick) story from COLORS Magazine about a British bloke’s political memorabilia collection. Martin Parr always “hated Mrs. Thatcher and couldn’t believe anyone would collect things about her, so [he] did.” The RP loves the Saddam Hussein watch collection. COLORS Magazine consistently challenges notions of beauty, politics, art and culture. Check it out here.

Ordinary Israelis, ordinary Palestinians. Two photo booths and a roaming photo truck. 7,000 individual portraits. The large black-and-white portraits have been appearing in Bethlehem and Ramallah as part of an international project to allow people to make art and/or political statements. Learn more and view some of the photographs from The Washington Post.

If there are any of you left out there that still eat Freedom Fries and refuse to say “rendezvous,” “ménage à trois”or “café au lait,” the incomparable David McCullough’s latest book, The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris, is for you. The American experiment owes more to France and the French than most Americans even remotely understand. In fact, we would not, McCullough argues, even “have a country without the French, who have permanently and profoundly shaped us.” Read the review from The New York Times. Of course, you could just read the new, um, “non-fiction” reflections of Dick Cheney instead.