“Sid Caesar is a mysterious and complex man who seems to have been singled out by the gods to set two all-time records, one of dubious and unenviable distinction: to have set the high-water-mark for sustained comic brilliance over a long period of years, and to have ingested enough booze and pills to kill the Lippizaner stallions.”
Weight Shame and Eating Disorders in Ballet – It Hasn’t Gotten Better
Katie Colombus: “I so wanted to say that times had changed. … I thought back to those days, when at least one in four of the girls in my institute were either anorexic or bulimic, and the rest had fairly serious aspirations of joining either side. … But I don’t think we have moved forward.”
Maggie Estep, Slam Poet Of Post-Punk Feminism, Dead At 50
“An East Village bohemian when the neighborhood contained more discarded syringes than million-dollar condos, Ms. Estep became a regular at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, one of the incubators of the slam poetry movement.”
Beautiful British Columbia – Where They’re Killing The Band
“Every single step that they [the board and the school administration] have taken is counterproductive to music education,” he says. “It was like an abusive relationship. You only take so much for so long and then you ask, “Why am I killin’ myself here?”
Amazon’s Secrecy Problem (And It Really Is a Problem)
George Packer: “Perhaps a sector that monetizes information is more likely to become obsessed with protecting it than if the product were oil or cars. But even in this atmosphere, Amazon is reflexively, absurdly secretive … From Amazon’s point of view, there might be nothing to be gained from greater openness … But I would argue that a culture of secrecy is bound to end up harming the institution itself.”
Publisher Recalls All Copies in India of Controversial Book on Hinduism
“Penguin India has agreed to recall and destroy all remaining copies of a book on Hinduism by a leading American academic … Wendy Doniger’s book The Hindus: An Alternative History had been the subject of a legal challenge claiming the text was offensive to Hindus.
Sex, Lies and Hinduism: Why A Hindu Activist Targeted Wendy Doniger’s Book
“Dinanath Batra has arm-twisted … Penguin India into recalling and destroying American scholar Wendy Doniger’s book, The Hindus: An Alternative History. Here’s why he has a problem with it.”
If There Is a Cure for Love, Should We Use It?
“Breaking up is hard to do. If drugs could ease the pain, when should we use them, asks neuro-ethicist Brian D. Earp.”
Director of Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera Resigns After Seven Months
“Recently hired general director Rob Tannenbaum has resigned as head of the Sacramento Region Performing Arts Alliance – the merged organization formed out of the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera … for ‘personal and professional reasons’.”
Researchers Attempt To Quantify “Cool” (It Ain’t What It Used to Be)
The overarching concept to which the word “cool” once referred is no longer what the colloquial usage of the word “cool” now refers.
Here’s The First West End Theatre Production To Raise £1 Million By Crowdsourcing
“Jamie Hendry Productions, which is producing the show, set out to raise £650,000 using an online platform the company created specially for the project, with investment available at £1,000, £2,500 or £5,000.”
What Might George Gershwin Have Accomplished If He Hadn’t Died At 38?
There seems no outer limit to what he might have accomplished; the trajectory he dreamed of was always, only up.
Binge TV Watching As “Restorative Experience”
“The term ‘restorative experiences’ was coined by University of Michigan psychologist Stephen Kaplan. He wanted to understand why walks in the park, or even looking at a picture of a landscape, can recharge your mental batteries.”
How Fast Can You Read? Here’s A Test
“If you maintained this reading speed, you could read War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy in 11 hours and 1 minute,” I am told. Well, I think if I maintained that speed, my brain would combust, and I was cheating a bit…
Why The Literary “Hatchet Job” Prize Doesn’t Work In Today’s Culture
“The Hatchet Job – as all self-styled rebellions and expressions of naughtiness do – relies on the idea of a flourishing literary culture, peopled with literary colossi wielding influence with every metaphor they scrutinise, pontificating weekly in seemingly endless literary sections, dominating the stage on television arts shows, venerated across the land. Oh. Right.”
Arts World Welcomes Nomination Of Jane Chu To Lead NEA
Chu “has a reputation for fundraising prowess and executing major projects in times of fiscal uncertainty.”
How Goodreads Became A Successful Social Networking Site
“We launched the site thinking it would be a good way to find books through your friends. We didn’t fully anticipate the strength of the communities that cropped up, where people were friending not just people they knew in real life but people they had been meeting on the site.”
Why Writers Are Epic Procrastinators
“Most writers manage to get by because, as the deadline creeps closer, their fear of turning in nothing eventually surpasses their fear of turning in something terrible. But I’ve watched a surprising number of young journalists wreck, or nearly wreck, their careers by simply failing to hand in articles.”
Germany to Create Independent Center To Find Nazi-Looted Art
“Germany will set up an independent center to comb museum collections for art looted by the Nazis, the country’s culture minister said, shortly before representatives for the son of an art dealer tied to Hitler disclosed another hidden cache of paintings.”
Ballet Grand Dames to Today’s Dancers: Quit Yer Bellyachin’ (We Danced Through the Blitz)
“Two grandes dames of [British] classical ballet” – Gillian Lynne and Beryl Grey – “have ridiculed repeated claims that today’s dancers are driven to exhaustion and starvation and say pushing them to the limit is the nature of the art.”
Dance Critic to Grand Dames: Quit Yer Kvetchin’ (Today’s Dancers Are Better Than You Were)
Judith Mackrell: “There’s no doubting the heroic stamina and toughness of generations like theirs but it is important to point out that ballet has itself got tougher. In the 21st century, dancers – like athletes and sportspeople – are pushed to higher levels of achievement, speed and strength. They also dance a much more varied repertory than Lynne and Grey ever did.”
‘There’s a Sort of Roundhead Bullshit Around Culture’, Says New Almeida Director Rupert Goold
“I’m a populist, basically. I think a lot of culture is boring, and I like people to have a good time at my shows. There’s a sort of Roundhead bullshit around culture: the more serious and difficult it is, the more it hurts you and your audience, the more worthwhile it is. It’s a form of bullying.” (Note to Americans: “Roundhead” = “Puritan”)
Ancient Viking Code Deciphered – And It Says ‘Kiss Me’
Yes, that’s what it says. The scholar who deciphered it compared the runic code it uses, and the small items the code is inscribed on, to text messages.
The Science of Winning and Losing
“What makes a champion? Why do some wilt in high-pressure competition, while others rise to the occasion? Drawing on science, psychology, sports and economics, authors Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman explore the anatomy of building champions.” (podcast)
Now You Can Experience the Nasty Stench of Cities Throughout History
“What did Paris smell like in the mid-18th century? Try skunked red wine, wet cats, and gingivitis-tinged sputum, all bubbling in an open sewer on a record-setting summer’s day.” Sniff for yourself, at an exhibit now in San Francisco.
And What Does The New Artistic Director of the Ground Zero Center Have in Mind?
David Lan: “What we’re really not doing is transplanting the Young Vic to downtown Manhattan, but we are starting from the same position we started 14-15 years ago. Let’s think about who is there, let’s think about the work we want to make, let’s think who we want to talk to.”
Sid Caesar, 91, TV Comedy’s Great Pioneer
“In a career spanning seven decades, the tall, brooding and comically uninhibited Mr. Caesar became one of the greatest live wires of television history.”
Sid Caesar’s Five Funniest Moments
Enjoy these highlights from Your Show of Shows. (video clips)
Top Posts From AJBlogs 02.12.14
“The Creative Economy,” and Malcolm Cowley
Source: CultureCrash | Published on 2014-02-12
Will Venice Get An Islamic Art Museum? Free?
Source: Real Clear Arts | Published on 2014-02-13
Flying with Broken Wings
Source: Dancebeat | Published on 2014-02-13
Under the Influence: Pawel Althamer’s States of Consciousness at New Museum (with video)
Source: CultureGrrl | Published on 2014-02-12
And
Source: Engaging Matters | Published on 2014-02-12
Obama Nominates Jane Chu For NEA Chairman
“Chu has led the Kansas City’s Kauffman Center since 2006. She was an executive at the Kauffman Fund for Kansas City from 2004 to 2006, and VP of external relations for Union Station Kansas City from 2002 to 2004. She also has degrees in visual arts, piano performance and music education.”