“Lately, scientists have come up with an intriguing hypothesis for why some people keep failing at long-term planning — they view their future selves as strangers. In fact, the more you view your future self as a distinct entity from your current self, the more likely you are to put off tasks (like saving for retirement) that will benefit you in the long term.”
Archives for December 2015
Legacy Preserved: Owners Of Canada’s Largest Independent Bookstore Pass It On
Winnipeg’s McNally Robinson Booksellers became Canada’s largest independent bookstore by offering a fun, stimulating place for booklovers.
Record US Box Office In 2015
This year’s total will be about $200 million ahead of the previous record of $10,919,694,802 set in 2013. And it’s 7.2% ahead of the 2014 mark of $10,356,099,042, which declined 5.2% from 2013.
The Smithsonian Says It Won’t Alter Bill Cosby Art Exhibition
“Eddie Burke, a spokesman for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art, said Wednesday that the exhibit will close as scheduled on Jan. 24. He says no changes will be made to a posted disclaimer that says the museum does not condone Cosby’s alleged behavior.”
Why This Theatre Critic Loves British Christmas Pantomimes
Lyn Gardner: “Sometimes friends look at me with sympathy when they ask if I’m on the annual panto patrol. But it’s a great art form that creates a special bond between performers and audience – and helps keep many theatres in the black.”
I Rediscovered Reading This Year And Read A LOT Of Books. Here’s What I Learned
“Finishing every book you start is not just annoying — it’s counter-productive. There will never ever be enough time to read every worthwhile book. Even spending almost every spare second reading, there were titles I returned to the library, spines woefully uncracked.”
The Old Penn Station That Got Torn Down Wasn’t Really So Great (Anymore)
“Its demolition is the stuff of New York legend, an act of architectural vandalism so unspeakable that it gave rise to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, saved Grand Central Terminal and upended the city’s development priorities. … [Yet] the Penn Station that was torn down between 1963 and 1966 was scarcely the building it had been a half-century earlier.”
‘They Can’t Cage Your Mind’: New York Public Library Brings Spoken-Word Poetry To Rikers Island – And Inmates Love It
“They had been pried from their favorite television shows to attend – of all things – a poetry reading. Some nice people from the public library, they were told. Then came the poet: unshaven, in his early 20s, dark hooded sweatshirt, dark T-shirt, dark ball cap slung backward on his head. Some men leaned forward, elbows on their knees. Expressions shifted to curiosity: This was not what they were expecting.”
What Science Fiction Movie Or Novel Is Most Prescient Today? A Debate
“This year, NASA confirmed the existence of liquid water on Mars, raising the possibility of Martian life; a genetically engineered animal can now be sold for human consumption, as in a tale by Margaret Atwood; and a Silicon Valley research institute was formed to create a computer with the intellectual ability of a human, and to confront the threat such artificial intelligence poses to humanity. …”
The Subversively Comical Adult Coloring Books Of The Early 1960s
“‘This is my suit. Color it gray or I will lose my job,’ reads a caption next to a picture of a man getting dressed for work” in 1961’s Executive Coloring Book. “The coloring books that followed managed to cover, between them, a selection of the decade’s neuroses: national security, the red scare, technology, sex, mental illness. … There were coloring books that made fun of communists and coloring books that made fun of people who were scared of communists.”
Why Doesn’t The Metropolitan Opera Perform On Sundays?
“Peter Gelb, the company’s general manager, who has broached the idea of performing on some Sundays to attract bigger audiences, said in a recent interview that he had not yet been able to reach the necessary agreements with members of the Met’s work force to make it happen.”
Egypt Shuts Down Two Arts Venues And A Publisher
“In the first raid, on Monday, government agents seized papers and computers at the Townhouse Gallery and the affiliated Rawabet Theater before suspending the organization’s activities … On Tuesday, officials and police officers raided Merit, the publishing house, arresting an employee and confiscating equipment.”
Robert Wilson Dishes: Lady Gaga Is A ‘Genius’, Marina Abramovic Will Be ‘A Footnote’, The Audience Can ‘Get Lost’
He’s not really being that rude about Marina: “She’ll have a place in history for having done something. She disagrees, but I don’t think the work is meant to be reproduced. She’ll have an influence.” On Gaga: “The concentration, the power she has, it’s total. … She should do Medea.” On theatre staging: “You don’t have to understand every second. I think that’s the problem. Let the audience get lost. It’s OK.”
Tonya Pinkins Quits Off-Broadway ‘Mother Courage’ – And Her Lawyer Won’t Let Her Say Why
“In an email, she wrote that she had drafted a statement detailing her reasons for leaving the show, but that her lawyer had discouraged her from sharing it. ‘I’m not even sure I want to tell it,’ she wrote.”
Tiny Malibu Radio Station Was Going To Be NPR’s Smallest Affiliate – Until …
KBUU, the low-power FM station in the isolated L.A. beach community, had gotten a surplus NPR satellite dish and lots of support from two larger area public radio stations (whose signals don’t reach Malibu), and was set to go – until NPR unexpectedly denied permission, apparently at the request of another nearby affiliate (whose signal doesn’t reach Malibu).
Top Posts From AJBlogs 12.29.15
The arts, effective altruism, and data
The Seattle Times reports “With millennial philanthropy money flowing, arts groups miss out” … Read the whole thing, as they say, but I think there is a fair bit of confusion in the piece, and the place of the arts in effective altruism, and the role of data. … read more
AJBlog: For What It’s Worth Published 2015-12-29
Expanding Our Art Horizons
In recent years, some museums have begun a push to build their collections in Latin American art and to show more of it in special exhibitions, too. Much of the emphasis has been on modern … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2015-12-29
Sad face
Several family shows I’ve seen this month are happy to dance with the dark. … Each may send you out sadder but wiser. Growing up is full of fear. Sometimes people leave you. Nature may not survive our greed. Happy holidays! … read more
AJBlog: Performance Monkey Published 2015-12-29
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Why Our Most-Loved Culture Doesn’t Win Awards (Oscars, Emmys, Etc…)
“This is an odd phenomenon when you think about it: There is one group of movies we honor, and a different one we actually enjoy (assuming box office receipts are indicative of public favor). The same can be said for recorded music, and, to an increasing extent, Broadway shows.”
How Sound Defines The Architecture Around Us
“Often the sound of a place is so pervasive that we stop noticing what we hear. Or we think the sound could not be otherwise — that is, until we, say, turn off the buzzing overhead lights.”
There’s Tech Money In Seattle. But The Arts Aren’t Attracting It
“With the explosion of tech in recent years, we’ve not seen an explosion in revenue, in contributions or ticket sales. I’m not aware of anyone who lives within a tech-bubble community that’s had spectacular success in attracting those dollars.”
How The Ford Foundation Decided To Change What It Was Doing
“Was it better to be bold and risk failure, or to give money to a project that had a good chance of success? And how soon would success have to happen in order to count—five years? Ten? Was it better to be patient or impatient?”
Fire At Museum Of Portuguese Language In São Paulo
“The cause of the fire is being investigated. The museum, which is located in a century-old building, houses historic texts about the evolution of the Portuguese language. Officials said that the loss of ancient documents may be minimised as there are backups of many texts.”
Martin Luther, Communications Technology Pioneer And Marketing Genius
“He used new media to circumvent the traditional gatekeepers and ordered structures of legitimacy and communication. Luther used the printing press to create a grass-roots movement four centuries before anyone would have understood the term.”
In Praise Of The Unsung Understudy
“To see an actor other than Miranda step into [the title role of Hamilton] is to be aware in a different way of the risk and the danger and the promise of the historical moment, and the theatrical one. It is also a salutary reminder to all theatregoers to embrace the understudy, in whatever show he or she appears, in whatever role he or she is cast. See the understudy take his shot. It might be revolutionary.”
Study: Doing Things Alone Can Enrich The Experience (But Many Don’t Believe It)
“As expected, they expressed less interest in visiting the art gallery alone, and anticipated having a worse time, as compared to those who were in a group when they were approached. But reality didn’t match their predictions.”
Five Court Cases That Could Change The Business Of Art
“Do wealthy collectors with art advisors have a duty to investigate authenticity and research provenance, or can they do what they’ve always done and rely on what a reputable gallery tells them?”