“Developers, neighbors, city-planners and Burqueños are eyeing the property, imagining what those 18 buildings can house, what opportunities they present—and who will benefit.”
The Evolution of ‘Dancing at Lughnasa’
David Ward recounts what he found among the 3,100 items about the play in the Brian Friel archive at the National Library of Ireland.
Marc Platt, 100, Veteran of Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo, Broadway, and Hollywood
He was one of the few Americans to dance with the legendary troupe (he had to Russify his name) before making his name in such landmarks as the original Broadway Oklahoma and the films Tonight and Every Night and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
In Search Of The Real John Updike
“He forgot to kiss the bride at his first wedding. He rarely drank and avoided drugs. He was plagued by his deep love for an overbearing mother. He was a poor family man. Even the arc of his career was marked by a strange blandness.”
Student Figures Out How US Government Could Save $400 Million By Changing A Font
“In what can only be described as an impressive piece of research, a Pittsburgh schoolboy has calculated that the US state and federal governments could save getting on for $400m (£240m) a year by changing the typeface they use for printed documents.”
The Touchy Business Of Ranking Great Composers
It’s true that ranking composers ought to be just a bit of fun, but it’s astonishing how touchy people get on the subject.
Why Are Books Less Shareable In The Age Of E-Books?
“It is a paradox: Books that traveled around the world via interlibrary loan in the 20th century paper era are safeguarded locally in the Internet age.”
Goodbye “Toy Story.” “Frozen” Is Now The Highest-Grossing Animated Film In History
“The Disney film, which won the 2014 Oscar for best animated feature, has now earned $1.072-billion internationally, beating Toy Story 3‘s record-holding $1.063-billion and making it the highest-grossing animated feature in history. The film is also now the tenth highest grossing film in box-office history.”
Famed Nobel Scientist Freeman Dyson: We Have More Information, Not More Understanding
“I’ve now been active for something like 70 years, and still I use the same mathematics. I think the main thing that’s changed as a result of computers is the magnitude of databases. We now have these huge amounts of data and very little understanding. So what we have now — I forget who it was who said this — are small islands of understanding in a sea of information. The problem is to enlarge the islands of understanding.”
Art-Flipper Stefan Simchowitz Attacks Jerry Saltz For Calling Him Out As An Art-Flipper
“You are a disfigured meat grinder of over inflated, self deluded, petty and insular insults, whose limitations are those of many, whose minds have closed to their once great imagination for hope of a brighter and better future. You are the cynic, but ultimately you are less than that.”
Detroit Bankruptcy Creditor Demands Extensive Records Of DIA Artwork
“Bond insurer Syncora is seeking a broad swath of documents, including century-old records detailing the museum’s transfer to city ownership and documents specifying donor restrictions on all of the museum’s 66,000 works.”
Lorenzo Semple Jr., Creator of TV’s ‘Batman’, Dead at 91 (Kapow!)
This obituary would be about the man who wrote the scripts for Papillon, The Parallax View, Three Days of the Condor and the like – if he hadn’t seen “the absurdity in the character of a wealthy bachelor who enjoyed dressing up as a bat to fight crime.”
New York State Approves Tax Breaks for Live Theater Investors
The 25% tax rebate (up to $4 million) “will be granted to shows that ‘tech’ in the state before they embark on a national tour.”
Stephen Colbert Sees Off #CancelColbert As Only He Can
“The #CancelColbert push didn’t pick up steam until last Thursday, after Stephen Colbert had taped his final show of the week. That means we had to wait for what seemed like forever for the comedian to respond. It was, of course, worth the wait.” (includes video)
How Stand-Up Comedy Was Born
“Charles Dickens thought Americans weren’t very funny. ‘They certainly are not a humorous people,’ he wrote in 1868, ‘and their temperament always impressed me as being of a dull and gloomy character.'” That was before burlesque and vaudeville …
Top Posts From AJBlogs 04.01.14
Up and Coming Meet the Masters
AJBlog: Dancebeat | Published 2014-04-01
Stepping Up: Judith Dolkart Leaves Barnes Foundation for Addison Gallery Directorship
AJBlog: CultureGrrl | Published 2014-04-01
The Roots of “Noah,” and More on San Diego
AJBlog: CultureCrash | Published 2014-04-01
San Diego Opera Staves Off Its Own Execution (At Least For A While)
“Rather than close shop and begin selling assets on April 14, the day after its fourth and final production of “Don Quixote” closes at the Civic Theatre, the opera is giving itself two additional weeks to re-evaluate its financial condition, consider additional options and possibly find a way to go forward for at least another season.”
International Competition Launches To Design New Helsinki Guggenheim
“The architectural competition is being co-organised with the Finnish Association of Architects and has been partly sponsored by the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland. It also has the support of the City of Helsinki and the Finnish government.”
NEA: New Numbers On How Many Artists In America
“The federal agency reports that, in 2013, 2.1 million workers had, as their primary occupation, a job that fell into the “artist” category (including musician, writer, and designer). Another 271,000 or so reported their second job—the one where they put in fewer hours than their main job—fit that description.”
Study: People Fill In Visual Information That Isn’t There
New research “suggests that humans are equipped with ‘serially dependent’ visual perception, a process that uses prior stimuli and current information to construct the scene in front of us.”
Arts As Diplomacy? Sounds Good, But…
“Can culture can reach those parts that diplomacy cannot? Can it improve relations between nations? And what are the consequences of asking it to?”
New York Philharmonic Announces New Residency In Santa Barbara, CA
“Including the Santa Barbara and Vail projects, the Philharmonic has now committed to three multiyear summer residencies.”
Why Are the Soldiers in Returning-Soldier Stories Never Women?
“They’ve deployed alongside men as soldiers in three wars, and since the 1990s, a significant number of them are training, fighting and returning from combat. But stories about female veterans are nearly absent from our culture. It’s not that their stories are poorly told. It’s that their stories are simply not told in our literature, film and popular culture.”