Graham Beck decided to try it. After consulting with loved ones, he determined to use online video to learn to draw, overcome road rage, listen better, and butcher a chicken.
Proposed Guggenheim Helsinki Is On Again
Plans for a Finnish branch of the Guggenheim empire have been very controversial, and the project has been called off and restarted before. But now land has been set aside and the architectural competition to design the new building is on.
The Early Buzz On What To Pay Attention To At Sundance
Sundance is a filter as well as a spotlight and a megaphone for lots of new things.
UAE Censors Turn ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ Into a Mess
Think about it: Take all the sex, drugs and profanity out of that screenplay, and what’s left? Only three-quarters of the film, that’s what – not quite enough to make sense.
Fairfax County, Virginia Saves Arts Center From Foreclosure
The suburban D.C. county made a deal with Wells Fargo to cut in half the $60 million owed on the Workhouse Arts Center, built in a former prison in Lorton, and then assumed the remaining debt for the county.
Of Course That Ancient Chinese Scroll We Sold Was Authentic, Says Sotheby’s
“Sotheby’s said Tuesday that an ancient calligraphy scroll the auction house sold in September for $8.2 million was authentic, despite recent claims by a group of Chinese art historians who insisted it was likely a 19th-century reproduction.”
Can Britons Save the Red Telephone Box?
“People in the United Kingdom are racing to save a beloved icon, in a mission that in some ways resembles efforts to save the giant panda in China, or the polar bear in the Arctic.”
There’s an Art Jihad in Uzbekistan
“Jihad” has become a loaded word, but a group of video artists in the Central Asian republic are “using it to brand their own subversive, humorous criticisms of the overpowering central state.”
Take a Little Tour of London’s New Jacobean Theatre
A video visit to the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, the candlelit 340-seat replica of the sort of indoor venue where Shakespeare’s late plays would have been performed during the winter. Shakespeare’s Globe, which built and operates the Wanamaker, opened it this past weekend.
“Print” Is A Concept That Used To Be Dictated By The Tools We Had (So…)
“Really, the idea of an immutable and unchangeable text dates only to the printing press. Before that, every scribe tasked with producing a tome thought he was an author. Like movie producers dabbling with plot, it was difficult for the hand-copiers of text not to make a tweak here or there. Books were ever-changing. Stories evolved. And that was the way things were until Gutenberg’s time.”
Research Suggests That Musicians And Artists Have Longer Life Expectancy
“For those born in the 18th century or first half of the 19th century, the life expectancy of musicians and writers who made it to age 50 was roughly in line with that of the upper class. This suggests—but does not prove—that the health benefits of creative activity may have been just as effective then as they are today.”
Net Neutrality Ruling – The End Of An Open Internet?
“Internet users will probably not see an immediate difference with their service. Consumer advocates, though, warned that higher costs to content providers could be passed on to the public, and called the ruling a serious blow against the concept of a free and open Internet.”
Should Rap Lyrics Be Used As Evidence In Court?
Rap lyrics and videos are turning up as evidence in courtrooms across the country with alarming regularity.
Cirque du Soleil Wants to Start Creating Broadway-Style Musicals
“Cirque du Soleil is looking to diversify its repertoire by expanding into Broadway-style shows and is creating a new division called Cirque du Soleil Theatrical that will be headed by Las Vegas theater impresario Scott Zeiger.” (Their one previous venture into that field didn’t go so well.)
British Museum Broke (and Maybe Smashed) Attendance Records Last Year
There were 6.7 million visits in 2013, up 20% from 2012 and up 13.5% from the previous record year, 2008.
Do Shorthand Reviews Keep You From Attending Theatre?
“In a world where arts criticism has almost universally been reduced to star ratings, it’s almost certainly the case that many theatregoers make their buying decisions on the bluntness of the rating rather than the nuance in the review.”
L.A. Dance Project Gets A Glamorous New Home
“L.A. Dance Project, launched in 2012 by star choreographer Benjamin Millepied, announced Monday that its new home venue will be the Theatre at Ace Hotel, an ornate, Spanish gothic-style auditorium that’s at the base of a newly-opened boutique hotel in a 1927 structure built by Hollywood royalty.”
US Appeals Court Strikes Down Net Neutrality
“The 2-1 ruling upheld the FCC’s right to regulate broadband access, but the court called into question the FCC’s authority to impose rules that dictate how broadband providers manage traffic on their networks.”
So Much For An Open Internet
“The FCC’s rules were the only thing keeping Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from picking winners and losers online. Musicians and other artists depend on the ability to compete alongside the biggest companies; we know what it’s like when just a few powerful corporations control our access to audiences.”
Julie Taymor – Out From Under The Web
This was Ms. Taymor’s first return to the theater since being fired from “Spider-Man” nearly three years ago. She knew that, fairly or not, eyes would be trained on Brooklyn to see how she fared. Or, to put it another way, there was “a big Spider-Man hanging over this.”