Boris Johnson, that’s who. After all, he’s got to do something with London’s Olympics park.
Archives for February 2014
Here’s the Internet’s Most Internet Sentence
Matthew J.X. Malady did the research so we don’t have to. (Spoiler: One of the runners-up was “Like us on Facebook.”)
Mothers, Sons, AIDS, Terrence McNally, and What a Difference 25 Years Make
McNally’s 1988 play Andre’s Mother is a cry of rage and pain by a man who just buried his lover at his lover’s ever-disapproving mother. His new Broadway outing, Mothers and Sons, “dramatize[s] the head-spinning changes in gay America since that earlier play, affecting not only same-sex couples but also people like [that still-disapproving mother].”
Paul Gauguin May Have Escaped Syphilis By the Skin of His Teeth
“Four human teeth found buried outside Paul Gauguin’s hut in the Marquesas Islands are almost certainly those of the artist … But the discovery throws into question an almost universally held belief among art historians – that the French painter suffered from syphilis.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 02.27.14
Scorning the Great American Novel, and Assessing Beck
AJBlog: CultureCrash | Published 2014-02-28
Fundraising Tactic Worked!
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts | Published 2014-02-27
Corcoran Confusion: Bungled Rollout of Its “Wonderful News”
AJBlog: CultureGrrl | Published 2014-02-27
Minimum Viable Product
AJBlog: The Artful Manager | Published 2014-02-27
Droit de suite
AJBlog: For What it’s Worth | Published 2014-02-27
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Ten Ways Theatre Has Changed (And How To Adapt)
“A venue has four walls, but that doesn’t mean that your whole audience has to fit inside them.”
Revitalizing Alvin Ailey (How Do You Make It Work?)
“Here was a company of astonishing dancers who continually circled the globe. But their repertoire did not always live up to their talent and range. The quandary? How do you maintain the Ailey’s identity, yet at the same time grow with the art form? How do you balance both the racial and “post-racial” nature of the world in dance terms?”
How 5.5 Million People helped Harry Manx Get His Stolen Guitar Back
His rare guitar went missing at Chicago’s O’Hare airport. So he wrote a post about it on Facebook and…
Where Do New Ideas Come From? Here’s How The Brain Makes Them
“How does our thinking leap beyond our existing knowledge to make new ideas? The answer is that we blend multiple ideas that are already in our minds, and these blends contain new ideas that didn’t exist before.”
UK Actors Union Asks Arts Council England To Tackle Growing Artists-Working-For-Free Issue
“Our members have told us that low and no pay work is a growing problem… and action must be taken, including by ACE, before the culture of working for free becomes so endemic that many artists are forced out of the profession.”
Is Music A Real Language?
“How the brain processes musical discourse is not well-understood. Is music a language? If not, how can we still use it to communicate?”
Analyzing Movies By The Numbers To See How They Work
“One disquieting finding from my research is that this year’s lead actors average 85 minutes on screen, but lead actresses average only 57 minutes.”
England’s Cathedral Choirs Endangered As Church Budgets Tighten
“Many of the 48 cathedrals in England and Wales are suffering as low interest rates hit investments and the cost of maintaining and repairing historic buildings rises.”
Guggenheim Responds: Our Security Guards Make More Than $10/hour
“The security officers employed by the Guggenheim, who comprise the majority of our front line security team, are paid competitively with their peers at other museums with comparable operating budgets and substantially more than the $10 quoted. As well, our Guggenheim security officers receive a benefits package that we offer to all our full time employees.”
Dying Art: Greece’s Last Movie Poster Painter
“When silent films took off in the 1920s, Hollywood studios employed graphic designers to convey the glamour and excitement of new releases, and handmade billboards came to adorn theaters around the world. The rise of the automobile helped spur a booming industry of painted highway billboards across America, Europe, Africa and in Asia. But in an era of mass-produced printing, the practice has been all but snuffed out.”
The Oscar Ballots (What The Voters REALLY Think)
“‘Gravity’? I’ve seen better things at planetariums,” while Julia Roberts “was horrendous” and Meryl Streep gave “a bottom-drawer performance” in “August: Osage County.”
More Than 800 Migrant Workers Have Died In Construction Of Qatar’s World Cup Stadia. Architect Zaha Hadid Makes A Statement:
“I have nothing to do with the workers,” said Hadid. “I think that’s an issue the government – if there’s a problem – should pick up. Hopefully, these things will be resolved.”
Frank Gehry Rebuffs Request To Change Design Of National Mall’s Eisenhower Memorial
The project “received yet another setback last week when its architect, Frank Gehry, rebuffed calls from the Commission of Fine Arts to revise his designs.”
What, Exactly, Is The Authority On “Proper” English?
“It doesn’t mean that it is part of Standard English or any other recognised dialect. Still, if George W Bush can misunderestimate some things and Sarah Palin can refudiate others, then, like, whatever.”
“Fifty Shades” Passes 100 Million Books Sold
“Vintage Books announced Wednesday that sales for E L James’ sexually explicit trilogy have reached 100 million copies and have spent 100 weeks on The New York Times’ paperback best-seller list.”
Why Do So Many Foreigners Win Oscar’s Best Director?
“Over the last 20 years, 11 winners of the best director Academy Award — arguably second in prestige to best picture at Tinseltown’s biggest annual show — have been from outside the United States.”
Federal Court Orders YouTube To Take Down ‘Innocence of Muslims’
It was the video that launched a thousand riots (and, just maybe, in part, the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi). The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered Google to remove all copies of the anti-Muslim potboiler from YouTube – on copyright grounds. (And it’s on copyright grounds that Google will appeal.)
‘Innocence of Muslims’ Got Yanked Because of Copyright? What Was the Court Thinking?
Eugene Volokh explains the ruling point by point.
‘This Is Like Finding a Vermeer’: Rare Medieval Korean Paintings Turn Up in Honolulu Museum’s Basement
A group of Korean curators was examining uncatalogued works in the vaults of the Honolulu Museum of Art when they identified two ink-on-silk paintings from the late 16th century, an era from which little Korean art survives.
U.S. Congress Considers Bill on Artists’ Resale Royalties
“The American Royalties Too Act (ART for short) recommends that artists should receive a flat 5% of the resale price for works sold at auction for more than $5,000.”