William Smith

Jimmy Kimmel is back, not only unrepentant but glorying in his new role as the people’s champion of “free speech” against the “un-American” tyrant in the White House.

Recent stories of note: “Is a Vermeer self-portrait hiding behind his ‘sleeping maid’ at the Met?” Martin Bailey, The Art Newspaper Recent research by the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s conservators has uncovered further evidence of a hidden self-portrait of Johannes Vermeer in his painting The Sleeping Maid (1656–57), Martin Bailey reports. The likeness was originally reflected in a framed mirror in the background of the painting, a device found in other works of the Dutch Golden Age.

On August 24, at the Wende Museum in Culver City—a few blocks from where Victor Fleming shot Gone with the Wind—the pianist Gloria Cheng played a short recital of mid-century and new compositions as part of the current season of Salastina, a local chamber ensemble. The performance ranged from works by the formidable Pierre Boulez to pieces by film composers such as John Williams and Randy Newman.