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.”
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.”
What Happened To The Theatres Of Shakespeare’s Time?
“William Shakespeare would be amazed at what we can learn about his world all these centuries later, just by walking around London for three or four hours and taking careful note.”
Taking The Kafkaesque Out Of Kafka
Whoever utters “Kafkaesque” has neither fathomed nor intuited nor felt the impress of Kafka’s devisings. If there is one imperative that ought to accompany any biographical or critical approach, it is that Kafka is not to be mistaken for the Kafkaesque.
When (If) Civilization Is Destroyed, What Do We Want To Leave Behind?
“In the event that life as we know it is truly upended, the survivors will have to rebuild our civilization. Given everything humanity has learned over the past hundred thousand years, what information should we leave them?”
Has Philosophy Lost Its Way?
“I’ve imagined Plato shuddering at a certain conception of the field he helped to shape. Would he likewise shudder at having been left so far behind by that field?”
ATT To Jump Into Crowded Netflix Streaming Territory
“The move comes amid rapid growth in online video services. AT&T, a telecoms giant, already offers TV content through its U-Verse service, which competes with more traditional cable TV providers. With online video, though, it could attract customers of Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and other services — including people who’ve stopped paying for traditional broadcast, cable or satellite TV.”
Liverpool Arts Center Replaces Paid Staff With Volunteers
“Those affected were all really upset. They were very angry. The advertising for the volunteers says they will pay travel expenses and people will get work experience out of it.”
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How I Review Music (One Critic’s Roadmap)
“Admittedly, no one actually bestowed upon me the ability to be a new music critic. Such is the greatness of the internet: anyone can hang out a shingle.”
Happy 450th Birthday Shakespeare (Here’s How He Became So Famous)
“It is only Shakespeare whose language and characters have taken on a life of their own, enabling his work constantly to accommodate itself to the new. There is a quotation for every occasion, a character parallel for every figure in public life.”
Not Your Imagination – Movie Quality Depends On What Time Of Year It’s Released (Here’s The Data)
“In summation: January through April movies are terrible; summer movies are better; autumn movies are better than January movies but worse than summer movies; and holiday season movies are best of all.”
The Nashville Symphony Seems To Be Recovering Slowly But Steadily
“The Nashville Symphony has paid off $2.5 million of its restructured $25.3 million debt. … However, with $22.8 million of debt on its books and labor negotiations looming with musicians, there’s still work to be done, including reaching its fundraising goal.”
We Found Shakespeare’s Personal Dictionary on eBay!, Say Book Dealers
“For more than half a century, many scholars have believed that Shakespeare consulted a 1580 dictionary published in London called An Alvearie, or Quadruple Dictionarie.” Now a pair of antiquarians claim they’ve found that very volume, complete with Shakespeare’s own handwritten notes. Naturally, some scholars disagree. Robinson Meyer runs down the arguments for and against.