“Despite the terrible moniker, and the scorn of modernists and traditionalists alike, minimalism is triumphant. You can hear the echo of its pounding beats, static harmonies and slowly shifting patterns everywhere in the wider world of music, from TV commercials to film scores to pop music.”
The Massacre Of French Cartoonists Will End Up Strengthening Art Itself
“Artistic forms — be they performance, installation, or more traditional methods of image-making — have come to the fore as a way of answering violence, challenging the official routes of art distribution.”
Michigan’s Oldest Opera Company To Lose Its Longtime Director
“‘Die Frist ist um,’ Lyall said, paraphrasing The Dutchman’s opening line, ‘The time is up,’ in Richard Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman. ‘I wasn’t asked to leave,’ he said. ‘This was strictly, 100 percent, my choice.'”
Cultivating A Youthful Orchestra (And Classical Music Audience)
“Despite the graying of the classical music audience — or perhaps because of it — American orchestras and major music institutions are chasing youth with ever more ambitious programs to reach, and teach, the next generation of players.”
Julianne Moore Says She’s Not A Brave Actress (Her Directors Disagree)
David Cronenberg, on one ickily Cronenbergian moment in his Maps to the Stars: “That scene definitely freaked out several actresses. With Julie it wasn’t even a discussion.”
Here’s How Robots Will Take Over The World (Really)
“Yes. I think eventually, robots will take over your job. If you work in the fast food industry, I think at this point the whole restaurant could just be run by robots. I’m not trying to insult fast food workers – I’m just trying to tell the truth. A robot can make some chicken nuggets and a robot can take your order. Robots can clean up and they don’t make many mistakes.”
Will Cable TV Rates Go The Way Of Airline Add-On Fees?
“Several studies have shown that, contrary to many peoples’ intuition, the unbundling of cable service could actually lead to slightly higher prices for fewer channels.”
The Paris Magazine Massacre And The Right To Commit Blasphemy
Jonathan Chait: “The Muslim radical argues that the ban on blasphemy is morally right and should be followed; the Western liberal insists it is morally wrong but should be followed. Theoretical distinctions aside, both positions yield an identical outcome. The right to blaspheme religion is one of the most elemental exercises of political liberalism. One cannot defend the right without defending the practice.”
The Charlie Hebdo Shooters Aren’t Defending Islam, They’re Degrading It
William Saletan: “The fantasy of these terrorists, like those who previously bombed Charlie Hebdo and attacked a Danish cartoonist, is that they’re honoring Islam. But they aren’t. They’re disgracing it. When you murder people in the name of Allah, you fulfill the most pernicious of all Muslim stereotypes. You do so not in ink, but in blood. Your crime sows fear of all Muslims. You don’t avenge the caricature. You are the caricature.”
Charlie Hebdo’s Most Controversial Religious Covers, Translated And Explained
“While they’ve mocked everything from Sept. 11 to Michael Jackson, Charlie Hebdo has riled up the most controversy when covering religion, particularly the Prophet Mohammed – whom many Muslims believe it is forbidden to depict.”
AP Takes Down “Piss Christ” Image After Complaints About Censorship Double Standard
In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shootings, the Associated Press released a statement: “None of the images distributed by AP showed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. It’s been our policy for years that we refrain from moving deliberately provocative images.” Then a conservative magazine observed that Andrés Serrano’s notoriously controversial photograph was available via AP …
London Actor Dies During Rehearsal For “Dante’s Inferno”
“Khan Bonfils, who played key villains in two recent James Bond films and Jedi master Saesee Tiin in Star Wars: Episode 1 The Phantom Menace as well as the King of Siam in the 2000 revival of The King and I at the London Palladium, collapsed during rehearsals for the Craft Theatre Company’s upcoming production at The Rag Factory.
Barnes Foundation Names New CEO
“The Barnes Foundation has selected Thomas Collins, head of the resurgent Pérez Art Museum in Miami, to be its new chief executive and president.”
Helgi Tomasson (And The Rest Of Us) Celebrate His 30 Years With San Francisco Ballet
“What Tomasson has done here over these three decades is to transform a respected regional American ballet company into an international-caliber organization that commands worldwide respect for the depth of its repertoire and its superb technical standards. In fact, the S.F. Ballet’s history of the past 30 years has rendered the term ‘American regional company’ rather outdated.”
You Know It’s Oscar Season When The Historical-Accuracy Hit Squads Show Up
“Over the past several weeks, it seems that almost every major awards contender has had some kind of high-profile accusation flung at it over its misappropriation of the truth. It happens every year, of course …, but this time, it’s reached comically epidemic levels … These movies are not documentaries, nor are they acts of journalism. (And even documentaries don’t always need to be totally accurate – just ask Werner Herzog.)”
So Why *Do* Women Cry More Than Men?
“We can intuit that men cry less often than women owing to social conditioning; crying doesn’t really fit in with our image of stereotypical manhood, after all, and that’s no doubt a partial explanation of why men are more likely to hold in their tears. But men may also be biologically built to shed fewer tears.”
Can A Video Game Help Rape Survivors?
“An upcoming Oculus Rift experience tracks a character’s recovery following a sexual assault – aiming to enable empathy, even therapy, for survivors and outsiders alike.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 01.07.15
Picturing Mary: It Could Have Gone Another Way
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2015-01-07
Museum-Commercial Gallery-Museum: John Elderfield’s Head-Spinning Revolving Door
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-01-07
Other Places: The Latest On Young Louis Armstrong
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-01-07
We’re all wild about Harry: Paul Levy loves a Birtwistle masterpiece
AJBlog: Plain English Published 2015-01-07
Reflections on a Conference
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2015-01-07
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YA Author Tries A Kickstarter To Fund Her Writing, People Freak Out, Other Writers Respond
“Writing takes time. Having the time to write takes money. You can’t get around that. Publishers pay advances. Most of the time it’s not enough to fully support you, but $7k is still a standard advance for a lot of authors.”
Creating The Sounds Of Giant Steps And Cow Burps For ‘Into The Woods’
“One falling tree managed to land directly on a very expensive microphone. Audiences can hear that in the movie.”
The San Francisco Symphony Is Loving Its Chance To ‘Break Out’ Of The Big Concert Hall
“It’s an informal party setting for ages 21 and older, with the audience seated on faux leather benches set up between two stages. A half dozen well-attended bars serve exotic drinks: Mad Monk (Dolin Dry Vermouth, Benedictine, St. George Absinthe, orange peel) and dubious snacks (truffle-scented popcorn).”
Selma, Alabama, Doesn’t Have A Movie House Anymore, So ‘Selma’ Is Showing In An Auditorium
“While the Walton thrived as a community playhouse, it stopped showing movies, which created a kind of cultural segregation for the city: for two decades, to see a first-run blockbuster, Selma residents were forced to drive nearly 40 miles to Prattville, a Montgomery suburb that, unlike Selma, was majority white and affluent. For many, the drive was not just costly and time-consuming, but often dangerous.”
Grant Park Festival In Chicago The Very Model Of A Modern Major Summer Classical Music Fest
“One hot-weather classical enterprise that remains impervious to change, justifiably so, is the Grant Park Music Festival.”
House Of The Artist Now Known As ‘Mr. Turner’ Saved For Restoration By A Last-Minute Grant
“Turner, one of Britain’s greatest painters, designed the building as a retreat from his central London studio and as a permanent home for his elderly father, a retired wigmaker and barber, who looked after the house and garden.”
Gunmen Storm Satirical French Newspaper And Kill 12 People, Including Cartoonists
“A number of prominent editors and cartoonists [were] killed on Wednesday, including the cartoonists Stéphane Charbonnier, known as ‘Charb,’ and Jean Cabut, who signs his work ‘Cabu.’ He said that the cartoonists Georges Wolinski and Bernard Verlhac were also among the victims.”