Cultureteca 17.07.15

A new feature here at Culturedarm, Cultureteca ought to prove a weekly collection of stuff on and off the internet: snatches of music, videos humorous or otherwise, snippets of literature, sometimes art, architecture, or photography, and topical sporting moments, alongside assorted other diversions. There will be no standard format, no compulsion to include something on every subject each week. And that lack of structure should, in this instance, make everything more exciting even than it already sounds.

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‘Cultureteca’?

The suffix ‘-teca’ can be used to refer to any collection of things.

The etymology of the suffix stretches back to the Ancient Greek ‘θήκη’ (‘theke‘), which could signify a box or chest, a tomb, or the sheath of a sword. ‘θήκη’ stemmed from ‘τίθημι’ (‘tithemi‘), meaning to place or to put. In today’s Greek, ‘θήκη’ (‘thiki‘) means case, sheath, or holster. But the suffix ‘-θήκη’ (‘-thiki‘) indicates some sort of storage, collection, or exhibition.

In French, the suffix ‘-thèque’ works in the same way, as in the words bibliothèque, filmothèque, and glyptothèque (for a collection of sculptures). And likewise from the Latin variant ‘-theca’ comes ‘-teca’, a common suffix in Spanish and especially Italian, where we find ludoteca (for a playroom or games room), pinacoteca (art gallery), paninoteca (sandwich shop), and enoteca (specialist wine shop/cellar).

In English, ‘-theque’, ‘-theca’, and ‘-teca’ have all occasionally been added to nouns. Perhaps the Latin ‘-theca’ is found most frequently; although the best-known formulation is surely ‘discotheque’.

Deciding which form to use here proved especially complex, because ‘theque’, ‘theca’, and ‘teca’ have meanings beyond their respective utilisations as a suffix. ‘Theque’ has a narrow medical usage as ‘an aggregation of nevus cells in the epidermis’. ‘Theca’ has various uses within a broader biological context, all carrying the sense of an external case, sheath, or cell. An easy misspelling, ‘Techa’ can refer to a river in the Urals; while ‘techa’ in French can be a vulgarism, something like ‘cunt’ or ‘pussy’.

In Italian, ‘teca’ – from the Latin ‘theca’ – indicates a small reliquary, a container for relics. And in Spanish the suffix ‘-teca’ has been used in an entirely separate relation, to identify several Central American ethnicities, including the Aztec (‘azteca’) and Zapotec (‘zapoteca’) people.

Alas, with ‘Culturetheque’ already appropriated by several institutions, and ‘Culturedtheque’ too similar and clunky, I have ultimately gone with ‘Cultureteca’. I was close to ‘Culturedarm Miscellany’, and thought of various other things like ‘Culturedarm Weekly Mix’ or ‘Box of Culturedarm’ – and these would have saved us all this etymological bother. Perhaps I’ll change my mind and switch to ‘Culturedarm Miscellany’ – but ‘Cultureteca’ is pretty catchy, so for the time being I’m pleased enough.

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Wimbledon Pressers, Jennifer Lawrence Trailers, and Paint-on-Glass Pushkin

The BBC put up a short ‘Best of the press’ video at the beginning of the week, showcasing some of the funnier moments from across Wimbledon 2015‘s post-match press conferences. That video is watchable here; but for those without the relevant access, I have embedded some of the high-and-lowlights below. For instance, here a reporter asks Tomas Berdych how he feels heading into the quarter-finals of the men’s draw – despite the fact he has just lost his fourth-round match to Gilles Simon in straight sets:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU1QpPAD9gc

Here a thoroughly obnoxious question is levelled at Caroline Wozniacki, concerning her former partner Rory McIlroy:

Serena Williams’ post-second-round press conference was halted by a fire alert:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOgEerBCv7U

And while Serena dispatched with Maria Sharapova in their semi-final – with Sharapova giving an irritated and apparently now expunged response to journalists who questioned her strategy – Serena’s final opponent, Garbine Muguruza, was lighthearted following her victory over Agnieszka Radwanska:

Staying on sport, with Bayern Munich looking set to complete the signing of Juventus and Chile midfielder Arturo Vidal, Thomas Muller was questioned about his prospective teammate. Asked first what he was most looking forward to on his side’s visit to China, Muller responded, ‘Another question please’. When he was then asked about Vidal, Muller laughed and suggested they return to the first question:

Thomas Müller will nix sagen, oder doch? 😄 #ssnhdhttps://t.co/mA0OdjSAkk

— Sky Sport News (@SkySportNews) July 16, 2015

Several trailers and teasers have appeared over the past month ahead of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, due to be released on 20 November:

And this week saw the first trailer for the latest David O. Russell, Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, and Robert De Niro project: Joy, scheduled for release around the turn of the year. I saw Silver Linings Playbook again a few months ago, and my admiration only grew for all of the performances in that film; but on the other hand, I thought American Hustle was hopeless, and it is hard to tell from the trailer which way Joy will go:

Finally on the video front, Open Culture highlighted this 1997 paint-on-glass animation by Alexander Petrov, based on Pushkin‘s unfinished dramatic poem Rusalka:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js6biCftfks

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Sacri Cuori, Young Thug, Tame Impala, Wilco: A Music Roundup

I interviewed Jolie Holland at the start of the week, and on Wednesday evening saw her play in York before writing a review of what was a wonderful performance. Reading through other interviews with Jolie, among other things they turned me on to the Italian group Sacri Cuori. Working with American musicians including Marc Ribot, Howe Gelb, David Hidalgo, and Steve Shelley, and featuring the voice of Carla Lippis, their latest album Delone came out in May:

To some extent the music news this week has been dominated by Young Thug, who was first arrested on Wednesday on the dubious grounds of making ‘terroristic threats’ – apparently after threatening a mall cop earlier in July. His home was subsequently raided, and he was charged on one count of cocaine possession, one count of marijuana possession, and three counts of gun possession, before being released after posting $10,000 bail. At the same time, he and Cash Money label head Birdman have been implicated as part of a conspiracy to kill Lil’ Wayne, whose tour bus was shot at in April. Thug has still found time to release ‘Pacifier’, a track from his upcoming album Hy!£UN35 (aka HiTunes):

The week has also seen an acclaimed new album from Tame Impala, entitled Currents. And Wilco today unexpectedly released a cat-covered album called Star Wars, which is available for free download, and can be streamed via YouTube: