The Science Behind Why We’re Neurotic
“Highly neurotic individuals do not avoid action despite acknowledging its usefulness, the data suggest. Rather they represent action less favorably and inaction more favorably than emotionally stable individuals do.”
How A New Ivory Ban Is Worrying Musicians
“Under new regulations that began to take effect in February, musical instruments that have even the smallest amount of ivory are banned from entering the U.S. unless it can be proved that they were purchased before 1976. That includes any violin bows with a small piece of ivory at the tip, and also some bassoon bells and piano keys.”
Here’s The Problem With Local Public Discussion Of The Arts
In truth I could substitute “transportation” or “education” or “economic development” for “the arts” in that sentence and it would still be true, but maybe my standard for “fruitful conversation” is impossibly high.
Breaking: Minnesota Orchestra Rehires Osmo Vanska
“Sources reported that Vänskä was hired on a two-year contract to rebuild the orchestra. Vänskä held the post for 10 years before resigning last October during the longest labor dispute in the history of U.S. orchestras. His previous contract extended through 2015.”
Warhol’s Lost Home Computer Art (Yes, On A Commodore Amiga) Found
“The artworks, made by Warhol as part of a collaboration with Commodore Amiga, had been stranded on Amiga floppy disks for almost twenty years after the artist saved them in the mid-1980s. They were only discovered and rescued from their obsolete format thanks to the chance viewing of a YouTube clip.”
What Scientists Learned From A 115-Year-Old Woman: The Possible Limits To Human Life?
“In the twilight of her life, about two-thirds of the white blood cells remaining in her body at death originated from just two stem cells, implying that most or all of the blood stem cells she started life with had already burned out and died.”
Jeffrey Kahane Resigns As Music Director Of LA Chamber Orchestra
“Kahane, 57, is the ensemble’s fifth music director since the group was founded in 1968. He assumed his post in 1997. The conductor, who is an L.A. native and currently lives in Santa Rosa, Calif., is also an accomplished pianist and continues to perform and conduct with ensembles around the world.”
Ben Heppner Retires From Singing
“At his peak during the 1990s, Heppner was in demand around the world as one of the few tenors able to succeed in the demanding heroic tenor roles of German opera, as well as in Italian works such as Verdi’s Otello and Puccini’s Turandot.”
Series-Production Standoff: “House of Cards” Versus The State Of Maryland
“The California-based production company has postured long enough since the end of the legislative session, with threats to tear down the sets, pack up the soundstages in Joppa and move to Georgia or Pennsylvania.”
Should Theatre Have Ratings Like The Movies Do?
For the most part, live theater — even that mass audience magnet, the Broadway musical — has managed to escape such labeling, with presenters convinced theater audiences tend to be sophisticated enough to do whatever “pre-screening” they might think necessary on their own, especially if they’re planning to “take the kids.”
Opera And Dance Would Seem To Be Natural Allies. Why Aren’t They?
“Partly, this is due to the specialization of the two forms over the course of the nineteenth century, and the resulting theatrical requirements of each.”
Well, Here’s One Good Thing Coming Out Of Russia’s Annexation Of Crimea: Antiquities Looting Is Being Addressed
“Russia’s annexation of Crimea, a region rich in archaeological sites that are routinely targeted by looters, has thrust illegal excavations around the shore of the Black Sea onto the political agenda. Mikhail Piotrovsky, the director of the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, which has run archaeological digs in Crimea for decades, addressed the topic in a presentation to the Russian parliament in March, shortly after the peninsula voted to join Russia.”
This Will Be Britain’s Most Viewed Piece Of Public Art
“Artist Richard Wilson jammed a cardboard plane into a plastic hamster ball and bowled it along the floor, saying to engineers: ‘This is what I want! The result? An enormous 77-tonne aluminium artwork” called Slipstream that will be a centrepiece of Heathrow Airport’s new Terminal 2.
The ‘Fun Home’ Trip To South Carolina: A Report
“McNerney said the performances were not meant to be an insult or a challenge to lawmakers. They were meant to expose students to accomplished artists. ‘I hope they won’t punish us for presenting a piece of artistic work.’ And, he added, ‘not a cent of state money was used to support this’.”
How Disney Movies Serve The Gay Agenda (The Real One)
“Through both its corporate practices and the content of its films, Disney for decades has implemented the so-called ‘gay agenda’ – which is to say, helping make the world a more accepting place.”
Why Do Some People Hate Céline Dion So Much?
“‘The most wholly repellent woman ever to sing songs of love,’ spewed Cintra Wilson, ‘I think most people would rather be processed through the digestive tract of an anaconda than be Céline Dion for a day.’ Bitch, excuse me? We’re not talking about Bernie Madoff or the Abu Ghraib torture team.” Novelist Mary Gaitskill has a go at figuring it out.
The Blue-Eyed Blond Who Convinced All London He Was Taiwanese (For A While)
“George Psalmanazar claimed to be a kidnapping victim who was snatched from Formosa (now known as Taiwan) by a Jesuit named Father de Rode of Avignon.” And that’s just the start of it …
The Dallas Opera Loses Longtime Artistic Leader
“Jonathan Pell, The Dallas Opera’s artistic director, has been the company’s resident taste-maker for three decades, making important decisions about everything from which operas get staged to who stars in them. This morning, TDO announced that Pell will be leaving the company at the end of this year. Well, sort of leaving.”
Much Ado About Nothingness: Was Shakespeare An Atheist?
“The atheist Shakespeare theories” – which have been around for about a century now – “may be gaining currency, but … he has been called everything from a closet Catholic to an apologist for the Protestant state religion; the truth, one suspects, is murkier.”
What We Forget About Shakespeare: He Was An Actor First
Many of the encomia written for his 450th birthday “will likely omit or only fleetingly mention one fact: Shakespeare’s first acts of creation were not poems or plays, but the characters he gave life to as a struggling actor. This is no small omission.”
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Australian Ballet’s Longest-Serving Principal Dancer Retires
Lucinda Dunn ended her 23-year career with the company with a performance of the title role in Manon last night at the Sydney Opera House.
Why Choreographer Wayne McGregor Collaborates With Neuroscientists
“When we think about images, we tend to only think about visual images. There are different types of images: acoustic, kinesthetic. … What we concentrate on when we are making choreography is how we can do things differently. That is what the neuroscientists have been helping us with.”
Toronto Symphony Lands A New Star CEO
“Several sources on the front lines of the cultural business say the TSO deal has been made, the contracts have been drawn up and the staff know Jeff Melanson is on board. That’s a huge step forward because he is known as a great fixer — and there’s no organization more in need of a big fix than the TSO.”
FCC Caves On Net Neutrality
“The Federal Communications Commission will propose new rules that allow Internet service providers to offer a faster lane through which to send video and other content to consumers, as long as a content company is willing to pay for it, according to people briefed on the proposals.”
What’s The Point? Speedreading App Makes You Faster But Who Cares If You Don’t Understand What You Read?
“While it’s irresistibly alluring to feel as though you’ve suddenly stumbled on an ultimate life hack that enables you to consume knowledge at the pace of a legendary savant, it also makes you feel a bit like an epileptic robot.”