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Analyzing The 17-Year Cicadas’ ‘Grand Magic Insect Symphony’ — And Joining In

"Only the males can vibrate a section of their abdomen called the tymbals to make either phaaaaaroah drone sounds or chchchchhwhhhs noise waves, depending on the species. For any mating to happen, though, the females must respond with a quiet but audible flick of their wings, leading the males on to successive sounds only if this flick happens at...

What Our Comparisons Of Humans To Animals Say About Us

Calling a person an animal is usually a comment on their unrestrained appetites, especially for food (‘like a hungry animal’), for sex (‘they went at it like animals’), and for violence (‘they’re like wild animals’). We also have purpose-made insults comparing people to specific kinds of animal: pig, chicken, rat, cow, slug, snake, cockroach, bitch, etc. - Psyche

Jazz Trombone Great Curtis Fuller Dead At 88

"Mr. Fuller was among the dozens of musicians to emerge from the fertile mid-century jazz scene of Detroit, where he learned to play intricate, fast-paced bebop lines on the unwieldy slide trombone. When arrived in New York in the mid-1950s, he immediately became a major figure in the hard-bop movement." He played with many of the greatest jazz...

Interpol Debuts A New App To Track Stolen Art

Last week, the global crime-fighting group debuted a new app that aims to make the process of identifying and reporting stolen works as simple as swiping on a smartphone. After downloading the free app—called ID-Art—users can upload images or input keywords to search for information about specific missing objects. - Smithsonian

Nobel Committee Was Nervous About Giving Prize To Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Fifty years on (as is the rule), documents on the deliberations for the 1970 prize have just been made public, and some committee members were genuinely concerned that awarding the Soviet dissident writer, who had already spent time in the gulag, would put him in danger. While Solzhenitsyn did win that year, he didn't collect his medal until after...

Archaeologists Object To Plans For New Floor For The Colosseum

Experts including Rossella Rea, the former director of the Colosseum, have raised concerns about the project’s €15m ($18.2) price tag, and claimed that the new floor will obscure views of the Colosseum’s subterranean bowels. - The Art Newspaper

San Diego Symphony Has A New $85 Million Outdoor Venue

The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, located on the downtown waterfront, seats up to 10,000 people and (because it's San Diego and they can) will be used year-round. It hosts a livestream with selected orchestra members on May 21 and will have its first full orchestra concert, under music director Rafael Payaré, later this summer. - The San Diego...

NPR Is Starting To Put Its Most Popular Podcasts On Traditional Radio

The traffic started out the other way, of course, with over-the-air programs being released as or adapted into podcasts. "But podcasting has turned into an incubator of sorts for new radio shows, with several now making their way to local airwaves. … Starting out as a podcast offers show creators a chance to explore and experiment while also building...

Hollywood Is Now Producing Companion Podcasts To Movies And TV Series

Why? Money, of course: to put it in business-speak, the companion podcast "offers a new way for creators to diversify IP assets." What's the draw? "People want to spend more time thinking and talking about the shows that they're watching, whether they're binge-watching it or watching it once a week," says HBO's director of podcasts. "It's on their mind,...

‘There’s Something Going On’ — Who Will Really Be Running LA’s MOCA?

"As the Museum of Contemporary Art prepares to reopen after a historic pandemic closure, it finds itself in the midst of restructuring, moving director Klaus Biesenbach into the role of artistic director and hiring an executive director to co-run the institution with him. But The Times has spoken with more than two dozen people including current and former MOCA...

As Broadway Prepares To Reopen, Here’s How It Will (And Won’t) Be Operating Differently

"Ticket-buyers are being told they will be required to wear face masks (although it's not clear how changing advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention might affect that expectation). Theaters will have upgraded HVAC systems with virus-trapping filters. Most ticketing will be digital. And theaters are reserving the right to impose a variety of safety protocols" —...

Bayreuth Festival: Christian Thielemann May Have Lost His Other Job, Too

At the beginning of this week it was announced that the conductor (who was, when he was younger, hailed as a new Herbert von Karajan) was not offered a contract renewal at the orchestra and opera house in Dresden. It turns out that his term as music director at Wagner's own opera house in Bayreuth expired on Jan. 1,...

St. Paul’s Cathedral In London Is Running Out Of Cash And Could Close

With the pandemic having cut off the revenue from tourist admissions, the landmark's income is down by 90%. The engineer in charge of maintenance and upkeep says the 300-year-old building is "rotting" and all renovation projects have been halted; there's little to no money for the professional choir that sings services; the Dean of the Cathedral said frankly, "If...

Tech Versus Big Journalism

A war is on between the tech titans and a relentless generation of largely digital-native reporters looking to speak truth to power while racking up Twitter followers in the process. Depending on whom you ask, the great Tech vs. Media Standoff of 2020–21 is either a “fake fight” between “20 people and 500 other people,” all quick to take...

SAG/AFTRA Sign First Agreement On Social Media Influencers (What Does That Mean?)

The Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists' national board voted to adopt its first-ever agree­ment for influencers—personalities and performers paid to promote products and services on networks like Instagram and TikTok, plus non-networked websites. In addition, those side hustles are no longer prohibited for current members of SAG-AFTRA. - Dance Magazine

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