Paul Frommer, the linguist who created from scratch the language spoken by the inhabitants of the planet Pandora in the hit films, talks about constructing a usable and credible vocabulary and grammar and about how a community (of Earthlings) has developed around teaching and communicating in Na'vi. - Salon
Across broad landscapes of science and technology, the past is eating the present, progress is plunging, and truly disruptive work is hard to come by. Despite an enormous increase in scientists and papers since the middle of the 20th century, the number of highly disruptive studies each year hasn’t increased. - The Atlantic
Stephanie Ybarra is resigning, effective March 31, to become a program officer at the Mellon Foundation. Taking over as interim artistic director is Ken-Matt Martin, whose firing by the Victory Gardens board last June, and the ensuing turmoil, was 2022's biggest story in US regional theater. - MSN (The Baltimore Sun)
Observing the company's worrisome slump in ticket sales and Peter Gelb's announced plans to focus more on contemporary works and reduce the number of performances (especially of revivals), Parterre Box contributor Dawn Fatale suggests further ways to get the FOMO factor working in the Met's favor again. - Parterre Box
"The Muslim Public Affairs Council has published a statement urging reinstatement of an art history professor who was fired from Hamline University in Minnesota after showing her class Medieval paintings depicting the Prophet Muhammad." Indeed, MPAC said she should be thanked for "educating students … in a critically empathetic manner." - Artnet
He started with the then-fledgling Off-Off-Broadway company as managing director in 1975. Since then, with artistic director Lynne Meadow, Groves has led MTC to operate two theaters, on and off Broadway, producing works that have won a total of 28 Tonys and seven Pulitzers. - The New York Times
Scuttling reports from last week of secret talks over a deal, premier Kyriakos Mitsotakis restated his nation's longstanding position that the ancient sculptures, having been stolen by Lord Elgin in the 19th century, are not Britain's to return and belong to Greece by right. - Reuters
"An article in the $1.7 trillion Omnibus Appropriations Bill passed on 22 December … paves the way for the Biden administration to rejoin and finance the UNESCO organisation — the United Nations culture and education body — as well as pay the huge debt accumulated in membership dues." - The Art Newspaper
The Banshees of Inisherin and Everything Everywhere All at Once each received five nods: one for lead performance (Colin Farrell and Michelle Yeoh, respectively), three for supporting performances, and best ensemble, the union's equivalent of Best Picture. With four nominations, Ozark led the TV categories. - The Guardian
Are thought, argument, and debate really dying? The picture painted in the media is of a horrified, unqualified yes. But it’s a big country out there. Is wokery crushing free inquiry everywhere? - The New Republic
A parade of well-known actors participated in the readings on Riverside Drive along the West 80s, including John Leguizamo, Ellen Burstyn and Chris Rock, whose Broadway debut was in a Guirgis play. - The New York Times
Overall, 2022 was a good year for independent bookshops in the UK and Ireland, who saw their number climb to a 10-year high. According to the Booksellers Association (BA), there are now 1,072 independent bookshops in the UK and Ireland, up 45 on the tally of 1,027 for 2021. - The Guardian
Ask someone how she thinks and you might learn that she talks to herself silently, or cogitates visually, or moves through mental space by traversing physical space. - The New Yorker
The Vancouver House is a 490-foot high-rise teetering on a narrow base, twisting and expanding as it rises. The torquing tower serves as a new gateway to the city, appearing like a half-formed archway that frames the skyline and British Columbia’s North Shore Mountains beyond. - Bloomberg
A 2009 study, for instance, found that newborns react to beats — i.e. they anticipate the downbeat of rhythmic patterns, which tends to support the theory that our ability to perceive rhythms is inborn and not learned. - Ludwig Van
