Smarmy, round-shouldered and sporting a haircut that makes his head look just a little asymmetrical, Ohio Gov. John Kasich cuts a striking pose in his weekly video addresses. Checking these out gets you close to the Governor’s mansion in that way that Facebook gets you close to your friends — that is to say, very and not at all.   

There’s a lot to be celebrated about Cincinnati’s varied theater scene, but one of the coolest aspects might not be immediately obvious: Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s stock in trade is shows that were written four centuries ago. So how is that cool? Well, let me count the ways. Let’s consider actors, plays and outreach.  

Comic book culture is embedded in our collective imaginations like never before, inspiring a slew of Hollywood blockbusters like Batman and Superman (for starters), as well as a number of gritty independent films, such as American Splendor, Ghost World and Road to Perdition. The genre also attracts all manner of craftsmen to explore it as a new medium, from Michael Chabon to Kevin Smith to Stephen King.   

“It’s beauty in a whole different way, shocking at first, but so meaningful,” says Litsa Spanos, whose gallery, Art Design Consultants Inc., will show the traveling photography exhibition The SCAR Project from Sept. 29-Oct. 2. The show presents photographer David Jay’s life-size prints of young women whose struggles with breast cancer have left them scarred but valiant.  

No guts, no glory. No risk, no reward. These clichés generally hold true for Cincinnati Ballet’s annual season opener — its modern-leaning, mixed-bag New Works showcase — but they seem more apt than usual. This year’s Kaplan New Works Series, which opened on Thursday night at the Ballet’s own intimate Mickey Jarson Kaplan Studio, delivers on its titular promise — four of the five new works were world premier.  

Cincinnati’s Riverfest fireworks once fired the starting gun for local theater, but already several theaters have shows onstage. This week Cincinnati’s major theaters open their first productions of 2011-2012, launching a fall offering an unusual number of award-winning shows.  

What is “new music” within the classical music genre? Philip Glass’ Cello Concerto, which receives its world premiere at the Cincinnati Symphony next year? CCM composer Michael Fiday’s “9 Haiku” for flute and piano performed last year by concert: nova? Leonard Bernstein’s 1937 Trio Sonata that gets its first local performance by the Morgenstern Trio in March? And is there even an audience for contemporary music?  

The fall season’s museum show that has attracted the most advance interest — because of its ambitiousness and its timeliness — is the Contemporary Art Center’s Realms of Intimacy: Miniaturist Practice from Pakistan, which opens Sept. 23 and continues until an as-yet-not-finalized January date.  

I moved to Cincinnati a little over eight years ago. Now I’m moving to Chicago to return to academia and to give myself a much-needed span of time to turn inward and concentrate on improving my art and my writing.  

“I've had the opportunity to learn patience,” says Tod Swormstedt, founder of the American Sign Museum. He’s talking about a problem that other Cincinnati arts organizations and supporters of planned festivals, theater renovations and other projects have to share — how to raise money as the Great Recession grinds on.