Archives for December 6, 2013

Today’s Top AJBlog Posts

AJBlogs Posted: December 6, 2013 1:22 pm

Catholic school choir director is charged with pimping
Source: Slipped Disc | Published on 2013-12-06

Settlement Sentiment: Judge Offers Ray of Hope for Detroit Institute
Source: Culturegrrl | Published on 2013-12-05

New Donor Gift: Allen & Co. Returns Name To JALC
Source: Real Clear Arts | Published on 2013-12-05

Art Within Bounds: When Is It Censorship, and When Is It Simply Saying “No Thanks?”
Source: New Beans | Published on 2013-12-05

From Erica Sipes: Twitter in the concert hall?
Source: Sandow | Published on 2013-12-05

Wayne Brown Leaving NEA To Head Michigan Opera Theatre

MUSIC Posted: December 6, 2013 11:18 am

Prior to working for the NEA, Brown was producer of music programs for the Cultural Olympiad in Atlanta and managed music events associated with the 1996 Olympics. He also is the former executive director of the Louisville Orchestra.

Hannah Arendt’s Failure Of Imagination

WORDS Posted: December 6, 2013 10:00 am

Richard Brody: “Her mechanistic view of Eichmann’s personality, as well as her abstract and unsympathetic consideration of the situation of Jews under Nazi rule, reflect her inability to consider the experiences of others from within.”

Saudi Religious Police Ban Arabic Equivalent Of Twilight

WORDS Posted: December 6, 2013 9:30 am

The kingdom’s Committee for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue has ordered bookstores to remove from their shelves the popular fantasy novel HWJN, about a young djinni who falls in love with a human woman. Among the Committee’s objections: the young woman’s use of a Ouija board.

Alexander Payne’s Issue With Fathers

MEDIA Posted: December 6, 2013 9:00 am

Says the director of this fall’s Nebraska (and of The Descendants, Sideways, and Election), “I think many of us have experiences with fathers who … are loving, they are nice, but somehow they’re on another planet and you wonder your whole life, ‘What is that planet that my father is on?’.”

Gallery Manager Pleads Guilty To Possessing Looted Antiquities

VISUAL Posted: December 6, 2013 8:30 am

For nearly two decades, Aaron Freedman helped run the Manhattan gallery of Indian art and antiquities dealer Subhash Kapoor, who Federal agents say “is by far the biggest smuggler, in terms of numbers of antiquities stolen and their market value, that we have seen.”

Swiss Government Opens Inquiry Into Art Stash Given To UNICEF

VISUAL Posted: December 6, 2013 8:00 am

“The authorities here are investigating the transfer to UNICEF in Germany of one of Europe’s largest and finest private art collections, a vast trove amassed by Dr. Gustav Rau, an eccentric collector and philanthropist who died in 2002.”

Bolshoi’s Chief Conductor Explains Why He Quit

MUSIC Posted: December 6, 2013 7:30 am

Vasily Sinaisky said that he and former Bolshoi general director Anatoly Iksanov, who was replaced in July, “did our job hand in hand, and I was absolutely happy. Now, the new general manager – Mr. Urin – is a completely different person.”

Will This Be The Conductor Who Finally Ends Israel’s Ban On Wagner?

MUSIC Posted: December 6, 2013 7:00 am

In a brief essay, Asher Fisch, a native-born Israeli and a protégé of Daniel Barenboim, explains how he believes his mentor went wrong in his 2001 attempt to break the Jewish state’s longstanding Wagner taboo – and how he hopes to succeed. Says Fisch, “It’s up to me, and it’s waiting to happen.”

Explaining What Happened At The Bolshoi Ballet

DANCE Posted: December 6, 2013 1:58 am

Ismene Brown, a London dance journalist who has been following and often translating the Russian media’s extensive coverage and knows some of the players, gives inside info and analysis of the Filin attack, the trial, and the whole affair’s effects on the company.

Probing The Unknowable Mysteries Of The Brain

IDEAS Posted: December 6, 2013 1:34 am

“Is the brain a sort of quantum computer? What is consciousness? Marcelo Gleiser’s brain is buzzing with big questions after participating in a conference that asked if quantum physics plays a role in how we think.”

“My God, We Don’t Watch Our Own Movies!” Say The Coen Brothers

MEDIA Posted: December 6, 2013 12:51 am

Andrew O’Hehir: “Over the years the Coens have developed a routine that lies somewhere between practiced shtick and a psychological coping mechanism. Ethan, the younger, shorter, lighter-haired brother, delivers brief responses, often glib or acrid in tone, and then the taller, older and more loquacious Joel bails him out, expounding generously on the original question or diverting it into friendlier terrain.”

Will Sundance Turn This Arizona Dude Ranch Into An Artists’ Colony?

Uncategorized Posted: December 6, 2013 12:45 am

Rex Ranch in Arizona is poised to become an ambitious artists’ retreat, if a Sundance Institute executive can come up with the money to buy the 50-acre former dude ranch by the middle of December.”

Nelson Mandela’s Legacy To The Arts

PEOPLE Posted: December 6, 2013 12:37 am

“Many people know that Nelson Mandela’s life inspired novels, poems, plays and films, but few people know how powerful his effect on the theater was and how powerful the theater’s effect was on him.” A tribute from playwright Emily Mann, director of Princeton’s McCarter Theater.

Actor Christopher Evan Welch, 48

PEOPLE Posted: December 6, 2013 12:33 am

“Recognizable to many by his unruly mop of brown hair, … [Welch was] an in-demand character actor who appeared in everything from Shakespeare to The Sopranos, including films by Woody Allen, Steven Spielberg and Charlie Kaufman.”

Egypt’s “People’s Poet”, Ahmad Fouad Negm, Dead At 84

PEOPLE Posted: December 6, 2013 12:28 am

“[He] was one of Egypt’s best colloquial Arabic poets of the second half of the twentieth century, and was known [as] … one of the main voices of opposition since 1967, when he wrote his famous poems on the Six Day War. His fiery words expressed Egyptians’ and Arabs’ anger towards milestone events such as the 1967 defeat against Israel and the 1979 peace treaty with Israel.”

See Nelson Mandela’s Only Feature Film Performance

PEOPLE Posted: December 6, 2013 12:04 am

No, documentaries don’t count. He appeared in one feature film (and you’ve probably heard of it). Can you guess? Or remember?