“As a teenager he was a lonely Irish exile in south London, with limited expectations. That early life in England was changed completely by his contact with the Ovalhouse theatre club, an arts organisation he still supports and that later also helped develop the careers of playwright David Hare, actors Tim Roth and Meera Syal and musician Nitin Sawhney.”
Archives for May 2016
A ‘Surprise Book’ And A Switch In Narrative Styles For Author (And Bookstore Owner) Louise Erdrich
“I think we’re at a really interesting place in literature. And probably in our cultural life, too. So we’ve had maybe thirty or forty years of reliable birth control in this country, right? And that has changed everything.”
If You Love Role Playing Games, Try These ‘LitRPG’ Books
“I’ve given up on childish fantasies of finding the One True Sword, or destroying the Ring of Power — those are myths. But video games are real. I’ve turned dollars into in-game gold, I’ve read the wikis, I’ve spent hundreds of hours grinding, I’ve abandoned work and family responsibilities, and I’ve ultimately quit in frustration.”
The Easiest Way To See The ‘Hamilton’ Cast Is On The Softball Fields
Raise a bat to freedom: There’s a Broadway Show League, and the Hamilton cast and crew (unsurprisingly) like to win.
Inside The Music Treasure Trove Of A Genre Buster Who Died Too Young
“What what the paper archives make clear, through [Arthur] Russell’s personal notes — often written in small music-composition notebooks — is how much he sought to incorporate a conscious sense of openness and flexibility into his work. Some of his most useful notes, probably from the early 1980s, deal with ‘World of Echo.’ Here he wrestled with the idea of form and completeness in fascinating ways, often using the notation ‘p Idea’ (the p may have stood for parenthetical).”
Spanish Police Arrest Seven People Suspected Of Stealing Paintings By Francis Bacon
“The paintings were stolen last July, along with other valuables belonging to the owner, who is reported to have been a close friend of Bacon. The works, which comprise portraits and landscapes, are yet to be recovered.”
How To Be Successful At City Ballet
“Miriam Miller’s arms move like liquid. But when she was a student at the School of American Ballet, a teacher used to tell her that they looked as if they came out of a washing machine — in other words, shapeless. Ms. Miller, a member of New York City Ballet, laughs about that now. At just 19, she has already performed in roles that more experienced dancers still dream about.”
In An Ongoing Legal Battle, Netflix Denied The Right To Stream Two Movies
“The ruling could bring either an appeal (the judge has already refused a Netflix bid for a stay) or some other bold move by Netflix that cuts against Wiles’ decision. Before the ruling was announced, Netflix filed additional papers that asserted that the bankruptcy court lacked constitutional authority to compel Netflix into amendments to its agreements.”
Spotlight On The Curator As David Hockney Paints A Portrait
“There are moments when your thoughts slide elsewhere. Then you have existential thoughts. If I’m not concentrating on me, will I look less like me? It does make you think about what you represent in a way that you never do if you’re having a photograph taken.”
What Does Hamilton’s Lafayette (And Jefferson) Do On Sundays?
“When the 34-year-old rapper and actor, who grew up in Oakland, Calif., moved here about two and a half years ago for a little show called ‘Hamilton,’ he probably figured there would be plenty of time for exploring. He was wrong.”
Will The Changes To Australia’s Book Industry Destroy Australian Literature?
“Overseas publishers are going to make the financial gains in Australia. If Australian publishers are making less money, they’re going to go out of business. Publishers, editors, publicists, designers, sales people – the list of who works in a publishing company goes on forever. Their jobs are lost. And of course, Australian authors, booksellers and the printing industry are hugely affected.”
Why Is One Of The World’s Greatest Art Collections Hiding In Port Containers And Warehouses?
“With their controlled climates, confidential record keeping and enormous potential for tax savings, free ports have become the parking lot of choice for high-net-worth buyers looking to round out investment portfolios with art.”
All Your Songs Are Belong To Us
“Freed from the anguish of choosing, music listeners can discover all kinds of weird, nettlesome, unpleasant, sublime, sweet, or perplexing musical paths. These paths branch off constantly, so that by the end of a night that started with the Specials, you’re listening to Górecki’s Miserere, not by throwing a dart, but by following the quite specific imperatives of each moment’s needs, each instant’s curiosities.”
What Happens When A Regular Person’s Tweet Goes Viral?
“I think the Internet is like a broken slot machine. I didn’t put any money into it, I received all of its flashing, shrieking, beeping cacophony when I hit its jackpot, and no money came out. I wondered why I’d believed in this system at all.”
Why The U.S. Needs That Remake Of Roots [VIDEO]
Blame 40 years of relentless pop culture parodies.
Those Glasses In The Museum Are An Artwork Of Genius
“This is what genius looks like now. We live at a moment when the difference between art and not-art is so small and subtle that where you put something can change it from stuff to concept, thing to idea, a £20 pair of glasses to a million-dollar artistic masterpiece.”
Tacoma Supporters Raise $7 Million To Save, Buy Their Public Radio Station
“It took 17,000 supporters of the Tacoma-based public radio station less than five months to donate the money. A fund-topping $500,000 matching contribution came from a collection of businesses and individuals.”
Gary Numan: The Old Music Business Sucked. We Need This Revolution!
“There are a lot of people who are really frightened about what’s going on at the moment. I’m the opposite. I think it’s an amazing time. It’s a golden era for bands. You’ve just got to be aware. You’ve got to be savvy with the technology that’s coming and adapt it to you, or you to it, whatever it might be. I’m optimistic, because I’m sure there are other things coming that are going to be really useful. But most of it involves direct access to fans.”
These Chicago Ballerinas Mixed Ballet And HipHop And Millions Are Watching
“After Frostine Shake proved that ballet should welcome all body types, a new group of young women are getting loads of love online for showcasing an entirely new form of dance, mixing ballet with hip-hop.”
Wikipedia Is A Wonder. But It’s Also Dangerous…
The problem with Wikipedia is not so much its reliability – which is, for most purposes, perfectly OK – as its increasing ubiquity as a source of information. “Wikipedia, despite being noncommercial, still poses many of the dangers of a traditional monopoly, and we run the risk of living in an information monoculture.”
How A 17-Year-Old Started Her Own Dance Company
“I always enjoyed teaching, but a part of me wanted more. I wanted to be my own boss, to train the students differently, participate in competitions and create a family environment for every class. I wanted to have my own dance company. I learned how during my Grade 11 co-op placement at Kinetic Fitness.”
Read A Newly Translated Story By Pushkin
“To the question of whether he had ever fought a duel, he replied drily that he had, but did not go into the details, and it was clear that such questions displeased him. We supposed that some unfortunate victim of his terrible skill lay on his conscience. However, it never entered our heads to suspect him of anything like cowardice. There are people whose appearance alone removes such suspicions. An unexpected incident amazed us all.”
Our Best Chance Of Getting People To Pay Attention To Climate Change? Science Fiction
“Our most persuasive medium for shifting opinion on climate change seem to be a certain kind of novel, and a certain kind of documentary film — specifically, the kind of doomsaying we find in Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. Truth is always stranger than fiction, but only fiction can frame life events as teachable moments.”
A Shocking Discovery Deep In A French Cave Raises Big Questions About Our Ancestors
“I think we have several lines of evidence showing that the cognitive abilities and behaviors of Neanderthals were complex. But we had no direct evidence of their ability to build. That changes the picture for me. It’s puzzling to find such structures so deep inside the cave.”
Donmar Warehouse To Build A Pop-Up Theatre For Its All-Women Summer Shakespeare Season
“The Donmar Warehouse is building a temporary theatre for an all-female Shakespeare trilogy that will see, on some days, Dame Harriet Walter performing the demanding roles of Brutus, Henry IV and Prospero back to back. … A quarter of the tickets will be free to under-25s in a new initiative called ‘young and free’.”