Things were better before there were facts. — (Anon. Buzzfeed Journalist).

Concerning his critical appraisal of the “spring clean” of Chartres Cathedral: Martin Filler is likely a typical American blowhard (and the French grandees are right to scoff at his claims), but I appreciate his accurate description of Frank Gehry in the The New York Review of Books.

It is axiomatic among architectural editors and art directors that if a building is not very good, then one should use images of it at sundown; if it is worse than that, show it reflected in water at twilight. This perhaps explains why several publications, including Architectural Digest, Vanity Fair, and The New York Times, have depicted Gehry’s newest work in a dim crepuscular glow, rising above its shallow pools and dramatic stepped cascade. Recourse to special photographic lighting does address one of the Fondation Louis Vuitton’s basic shortcomings, however, for in a city where it is overcast much of the time, a glass-skinned structure such as this is bound to look rather dull quite often.

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I’m surprised there was ever a market for ghost-written autobiographies.

It would be more apt to characterize the careers of Beyoncé, Gaga, and the like as having achieved a “partial Madonna.” Ms Ciccone is the original.