A Statistical Analysis Of What Bob Ross Painted On TV
“I used an algorithm to divide the entire set of 403 paintings from “The Joy of Painting” into clusters of similar paintings. I wanted to know whether it was possible to identify the 10 basic paintings featured on the PBS series. To do this, I ran a k-means clustering analysis of the paintings.3 The results were mixed.”
Can Standardized Tests Predict Success? The Short Answer Is Yes
“We know as well as anything we know in psychology that IQ predicts many different measures of success.”
The Remarkable Neville Marriner At 90
“Given his work ethic and the fact that it’s only 4pm, Marriner could probably conduct a quick opera and record a string quartet before the day’s out. Doubtless there’s more coming from the Academy of you-know-where conducted by you-know-who.”
American Library association’s Most Challenged Books Of 2013
“The erotic romance book Fifty Shades of Grey is infamous for its scenes involving bondage, sadism and masochism, but the most troublesome literary content in 2013 was language like pee-pee, poopy, wedgie and Dr. Diaper.”
Michael Kaiser To Become Co-Chairman Of IMG Artists
“Mr. Kaiser, who steps down as president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Sept. 1, will become co-chairman of IMG Artists, the performing arts management agency, IMG announced on Monday.”
Pediatricians Warn About Kids’ Use Of Touch Screens
“The American Academy of Pediatrics is unequivocal: If your kid is under 2, no screens. For older kids, two hours a day, max. But the AAP doesn’t differentiate between activities; education apps, base-jumping videos, first-person shooters, ebooks, Sesame Street, and The Shining are all thrown into the same bucket. It’s all just screen time.”
Could A Hotel Help Revive LA’s Theatre Street?
“The theaters’ fates appear to be turning around, having bounced off rock bottom and ridden (and contributed to) a wave of revitalization in the heart of the country’s second largest city. Perhaps the most promising re-launch is the United Artists Theater, which has been incorporated into the recently opened Ace Hotel.”
Stephen King, Reckless Twitter User
“So many of King’s tweets contained spoilers that the author began to capitalise the film, TV show and books he was exposing.”
Simon Brault Named New Head Of Canada Council For The Arts
“Brault, CEO of the National Theatre School in Montreal, a former vice-chair of the Canada Council’s board and a co-founder of Quebec’s annual Journées de la culture (Culture Days), will assume the job June 26 for a five-year term, the Canada Council said in a news release.”
It’s Record Store Day (And After A Rough Few Years They’re Doing Pretty Well)
“We live in a time when running a record store or shopping at a record store is cool in popular culture. People are looking for that experience, which they can’t get from the latest downloading or streaming service.”
Low-Income Housing Doesn’t Have To Be Ugly. Look At Vienna…
“Vienna’s system, which produces proportionally far more subsidized housing each year than New York’s private developers do, proves that architecture does more than slather a varnish of luxury on otherwise basic shelter.”
Inga Saffron Of Philadelphia Inquirer Wins Pulitzer Prize For Criticism
“The Pulitzer committee wrote that Saffron’s writing ‘blends expertise, civic passion, and sheer readability into arguments that consistently stimulate and surprise’.”
Annie Baker’s ‘The Flick’ Wins Pulitzer For Drama
A three-hour play “drama that prompted an abundance of head-scratching and some audience walkouts during its off-Broadway run last year,” The Flick “follows the employees of a single-screen movie theater as they clean, converse and otherwise pass the time silently in front of the big screen.”
Donna Tartt’s ‘Goldfinch’, Dan Fagin’s ‘Tom’s River’, Vijay Seshadri’s ’3 Sections’ Win Lit Pulitzers
Tartt’s novel, Fagin’s general nonfiction work and Seshadri’s volume of poetry were joined by prizewinners Margaret Fuller: A New American Life by Megan Marshall (biography) and The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832 by Alan Taylor (history).
Guest Artist With L.A. Phil Collapses And Dies Before Rehearsal
Jeff Dinsmore, of the Philadelphia choir The Crossing, was warming up before a Disney Hall rehearsal for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s upcoming performances of Louis Andriessen’s De Materie when he collapsed and died. Dinsmore was 42.
Fred Ho, 56, Composer, Saxophonist, Activist
“Mr. Ho, who was of Chinese descent, considered himself a ‘popular avant-gardist.’ He was inspired by the Black Arts movement of the 1960s and by the ambitious, powerful music of African-American bandleaders including Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Sun Ra and especially Charles Mingus. But he rejected the word jazz, which he considered a pejorative term imposed by Europeans.”
San Diego Opera Isn’t 100% Doomed (Yet)
“The company’s board of directors met Friday afternoon and voted to keep an April 29 deadline for the opera’s closure. But the board also formed a special committee of six members to explore alternatives to shutting down. … The special committee will focus on the retention of consultants, [the board chair] said, but she didn’t explain the purpose of those consultants.”
L.A. Moves To Unfreeze $7.5M In Frozen Arts Money
The funds, from a levy on developers to pay for public art and/or performance, have been accruing unspent since a 2007 City Attorney ruling that the money had to be spent within one block of the construction that generated it – which, depending on the location, isn’t always realistic.
Choreography From The Dancer’s Viewpoint
“It’s not always discussed, but dancers are as integral to the creative process as choreographers. That notion gives Sara Mearns, the fearless and ravishing principal at New York City Ballet, reason to pause: ‘I think I’ve had maybe two questions before about my point of view.’”
Passover, The Jewish Holiday For Goyim
“Every spring, restaurants, churches, and student organizations invite non-Jews to relive the Israelites’ exodus from bondage. How did such an exclusive feast come to have seats for so many different faiths? … Does it dilute the real essence of Passover to turn the seder into a general celebration of freedom and a call for universal justice? Is it really that commendable to dip one’s toe into millennia of someone else’s tradition?”
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Sr. Specialist, Communications & Marketing, The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
Serves as Center’s strategic communications and marketing expert, member of leadership team. Helps develop and manage communications and brand strategies, manages marketing consultations for grantees. … [Read More...]
Cubicles: How We Got Them And What They Mean
“The design was intended to increase the power of ordinary workers; in practice it came to do something quite different, or at least that’s how it felt to many people.”
The ‘Failed Intellectual’ Who Became Twitter’s Favorite Nihilist
Or, how a soon-to-be-former German professor (he gave up on getting tenure) acquired more than 67,000 followers for his “compendium of utopian negation”. (Sample: “The Tickle Me Werner Herzog doll I got for Christmas only laughs when I tell him the universe isn’t utterly indifferent to our pain.”)
The Penguin Dance Is Sweeping Saudi Arabia
“In a land where a strict interpretation of Islamic law means movie theaters and many other diversions are banned, nightclubs are unthinkable and the weight of tribal custom is heavy, Saudis in large numbers are discovering the thrill of a little sidekick-sidekick bunny-hop.”
An Art Market That Keeps Redefining Itself (As It Should Be)
“The end of art has repeatedly been announced. But there is no end: art is always open to new developments. Every serious collection has to face this challenge.”
John Luther Adams Wins Pulitzer For “Become Ocean”
The work, premiered on June 20, 2013, by the Seattle Symphony and published by Taiga Press/Theodore Front Musical Literature (BMI), was described in the citation as “a haunting orchestral work that suggests a relentless tidal surge, evoking thoughts of melting polar ice and rising sea levels.”