Archives for January 28, 2014

Lost Rembrandt Found In Edinburgh Museum Vault

VISUAL Posted: January 28, 2014 5:16 am

“The etching, which had previously been catalogued as a copy of the portrait, is now thought to be by far the most valuable after detective work by an expert at the Edinburgh gallery.”

Why No One At All Pays Any Attention To The Canadian Screen Awards

MEDIA Posted: January 28, 2014 4:56 am

“At a glance, there are about 4,000 nominations. Little wonder it takes about a week of events to hand them all out (the gala event happens in March, during March Break, naturally, when a bunch of people have fled the country) and it takes loads of time to read and assess them. As a result, days later, broadcasters begin issuing press releases announcing that they have garnered hundreds of nominations. Nobody reads these releases because, you know, life is short.”

Scotland Lays Out A Ten-Year Plan For Culture

ISSUES Posted: January 28, 2014 4:43 am

“The draft does not make any major new promises from Scotland’s non-departmental public body for the arts, but seeks to set out its core priorities in a more accessible language than previously.”

Royal Ballet Plucks The English National Ballet’s Star Dancer

DANCE Posted: January 28, 2014 4:32 am

Vadim Muntagirov is the ENB’s lead principal, a 23-year-old Russian whose talents have earned him comparisons with a young Nureyev. The defection is a huge coup for the Royal Ballet, still smarting from the loss of its leading female principals Tamara Rojo and Alina Cojocaru to the ENB.

UK Critic’s Circle National Dance Awards Call Out The Best In British Dance

DANCE Posted: January 28, 2014 4:21 am

“More than 200 nominations of companies, choreographers and performers were received from the dance critics and the 40 short-listed for the awards came from a wide spectrum, both geographically and by genre, including the breakthrough of three nominees from flamenco.”

Actors Meet To Discuss Erosion Of Broadway Tour Pay

THEATRE Posted: January 28, 2014 4:07 am

“Actors shared personal stories about life on tour and financial challenges, but there were no formal proposals or negotiating strategies offered that might lead to higher salaries, according to the three members at the meeting.”

The Virtual Reality Headset That Will Change The Way We Experience Movies

IDEAS Posted: January 28, 2014 3:59 am

“When the first Oculus prototype popped up in summer of 2102, everyone raved about how it would revolutionize the way we play videogames. But it’s got all the components to change the way we watch films, or create an entirely new kind of visual experience.”

Google’s Plan To Build A Brain

IDEAS Posted: January 28, 2014 3:37 am

“Basically, the idea is to mimic the biological structure of the human brain with software so that it can build machines that learn “organically” — that is, without human involvement.”

We Love Music – 28.5 Million Tune In To Grammys

MUSIC Posted: January 28, 2014 3:27 am

“That would be a slight increase over last year’s 28.4 million viewers and the second-biggest Grammy audience since 1993.”

Fabricator Pleads Guilty To Selling Knockoff Jasper Johns Art

VISUAL Posted: January 28, 2014 3:24 am

A former New York foundry owner once popular with artists pleaded guilty Monday to charges that he tried to sell phony knockoffs of a sculpture of Jasper Johns’ classic 1960 “Flag” painting and the sculptures of two other artists, ending a weeklong trial that featured testimony by Johns.

This Lit Festival Actually Drew 220,000 People

WORDS Posted: January 28, 2014 1:04 am

“India’s Jaipur Literature Festival can claim to be one of the biggest in the world – and certainly the most fun. Vijai Maheshwari reports on the big speakers, controversies, and hits from this year.”

Pete Seeger, 94

PEOPLE Posted: January 28, 2014 1:02 am

“For more than 50 years, Mr. Seeger roamed America, singing on street corners and in saloons, migrant labor camps, hobo jungles, union halls, schools, churches and concert auditoriums. He helped write, arrange or revive” some of the best-known folk and protest songs in modern American history.

A Squirrel Takes the Newbery Medal, A Train Engine Takes the Caldecott

WORDS Posted: January 28, 2014 12:59 am

Kate DiCamillo’s Flora and Ulysses, the story of a young girl’s friendship with a magic squirrel, and Brian Floca’s Locomotive, about the beginnings of the transcontinental railroad, have won this year’s John Newbery and Randolph Caldecott Medals, America’s highest honors for children’s literature.

Ballet Gets Its Own Prime-Time Drama Series

DANCE Posted: January 28, 2014 12:55 am

It’s called Flesh and Bone, it will center on an ambitious and disturbed young ballerina (wonder where they got that idea), and it features some serious ballet talent in front of and behind the camera. Leading the project is a longtime producer for Quentin Tarantino. (Make of that what you will.)

Quentin Tarantino Sues Gawker For Posting Leaking Script

MEDIA Posted: January 28, 2014 12:52 am

Last week Tarantino called off his project The Hateful Eight after copies of the screenplay were leaked an began circulating around Hollywood. Within two days, Gawker Media’s site Defamer revealed plot points and posted links to the complete script. So the furious director is taking Gawker to court.

Gawker’s Response to Tarantino’s Lawsuit: He Totally Wanted This

MEDIA Posted: January 28, 2014 12:50 am

John Cook lays out a five-point response to Quentin Tarantino’s lawsuit over the public leak of his screenplay to The Hateful Eight, arguing that the filmmaker made the affair into a news story himself.

Even William S. Burroughs Couldn’t Have Imagined William S. Burroughs’s Life

PEOPLE Posted: January 28, 2014 12:47 am

Peter Schjeldahl gives us the high points, low points, and odd points (he pulled a Van Gogh with his first boyfriend, was a practicing Scientologist for several years, and always made sure his home had an orgone accumulator).

Why People Have So Much Trouble Recognizing Their Own Incompetence

IDEAS Posted: January 28, 2014 12:45 am

“‘The best lack all conviction,’ wrote the poet W. B. Yeats, ‘while the worst are full of passionate intensity.’ Turns out he wasn’t just describing Europe after World War I. He was describing any given Wednesday.”

Great Classic Movies and Their Godawful Trailers

MEDIA Posted: January 28, 2014 12:43 am

Rear Window, The Graduate, Pulp Fiction – they may hold up through the years, but their trailers most definitely do not. Could this be why there’s now a fad to remix them, like The Sound of Music as a horror flick and The Shining as a rom-com? Adrienne LaFrance explains.

Carlos Acosta Meets Christiane Amanpour

DANCE Posted: January 28, 2014 12:41 am

The CNN superstar interviews the Royal Ballet superstar as he begins to wind down his ballet career. (He says he may do classical dance for only one more season.) (video)

How to Stage a Convincing Swordfight

THEATRE Posted: January 28, 2014 12:38 am

Stunt coordinator Richard Ryan, currently working on the Donmar Warehouse production of Coriolanus, walks us through the process.