“The Coen Brothers are no help and never will be. Go ahead and ask them. Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross recently tried. She asked them how they write their films. ‘It’s mostly napping,’ Ethan Coen answered. The Coen brothers have been evading answers for about 30 years.”
Lost Rembrandt Found In Edinburgh Museum Vault
“The etching, which had previously been catalogued as a copy of the portrait, is now thought to be by far the most valuable after detective work by an expert at the Edinburgh gallery.”
What’s Behind America’s Fascination With Apocalypse?
America is a nation rooted in Apocalypse. The very foundation of the nation is tied to the End Times. Apocalypse is in America’s DNA.
Don’t Expect MOOCs To Replace College, But So What?
“In the end of the day, a lot of us are really in it for innovation, for really changing the access that people have. Most of our students right now would never ever be able to go to a physical campus, and now we can reach them with education at home, and also the ability to be very contemporary.”
Exploring The Line That Doesn’t Exist Between Ballet And Modern
“Whenever you start counting, there is broad agreement that from the later decades of the 20th century forward, no proverbial line between modern and ballet has been drawn on the marley flooring of a dance stage.”
Why Are American Theatre Critics So Besotted By “Original Practices” Shakespeare?
My guess is that “original practices” – which, when done in London or at Stratford, is part of a larger conversation about the classics – is a bigger sell on Broadway due to the increasingly elite nature of its audiences.
Is Quebecois Film Better Than Canadian English-Language Movies?
“‘Maybe we are stronger because we have nothing to lose,’ [director Louise Archambault] says. ‘We can’t compare, so we don’t feel we have to compete with Hollywood. We do it in French and hope it will find an audience. We just dive in. We don’t think.'”
Should Theatres Open Rehearsals To The Media?
“it turned out to be a really good idea, as the adrenalin goes up, and we pick up a vibe from the audience and learn about timing.”
Is This The Writing Career Of The Future?
“I’ll always be doing some variation of this current schedule: working primarily for an organization I really believe in, assisting someone I respect and admire who provides me with challenging and well-paid work, and working on my own personal projects as a writer.”
The Oscars Aren’t Exactly Awesome To Black Filmmakers
Or actors, screenwriters, costumers … “The number of black nominees through history stands at about 125.”
What’s a ‘Brutal Comedy’? One That Wins Awards, Of Course
“While ‘American Hustle’ and ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ have the kind of grandiose titles, A-list actors and based-on-a-true-story subject matter associated with prestige dramas, they are, at their best, flamboyantly savage comedies.”
Car Bomb Explodes Outside Cairo Museums
“The scale of damage to the Museum of Islamic Art’s collection is unclear as efforts to catalogue the damage are being hampered by concerns over the structure’s stability.”
No One – Aside From Photographers Of London – Loves The Shard
“Despite the stunning design by the Italian architect Renzo Piano and glamorous marketing, almost a year after its opening the building remains practically a shell.”
Would You Pay £1,200 For A Seat At The National’s King Lear?
British theatres reserve a certain number of (very good) seats for members. As government subsidies fall, will the demands of members harm the theatres’ programming?
Yes, We Can Calculate The Exact Time Monet Painted Certain Pieces [VIDEO]
Just ask an astrophysicist and his team.
Got Romantic Notions About French Cuisine? Think Again
Supermarkets and one hospitality company dominate the food in France, and “in a recent survey, one-third of French restaurants acknowledged serving frozen products that they had simply reheated.”
Smaller Music Groups Benefited From The Minnesota Orchestra’s Lockout
“Some music directors say the lockout triggered their increases; others say they don’t know the cause. But they agree that the silence from Orchestra Hall kindled a new appreciation of classical music — wherever it was performed.”
Night At The Museum (Well, The Art Institute)
“‘I hear things,’ says Jerry Zollicoffer, the museum’s protection services manager. ‘Most of the time it’s just the building settling.’ Most of the time.”
Marilyn Horne At 80
“Her hair is white, her gait a tad unsteady, and she underwent treatment for pancreatic cancer in 2006 and 2007, but her build is still solid, her skin firm, her voice strong, her eyes twinkling, and her cancer gone. When she comes out on stage, she’s used to dominating it, even if her performance these days is devoted less to the operas of Rossini and more to singing the praises of her three grandchildren, Daisy, Henry and Alex.”
How Netflix Is Taking Over TV
“The true threat to HBO and the cable business model is that NetFlix can transcend the television itself, offering you shows on all your devices.”
Charge: Orchestras Are Hostile To Women
“Women still tell me they find orchestras can be hostile, can undermine them deliberately, that executive directors can be sceptical.”
Irish City Bans A Play For Being Blasphemous
Christians have forced the cancellation of play at a Northern Ireland theatre because it supposedly mocks the Bible, it has emerged.
Classical Music Dying? It Isn’t A Very Sound Argument
“The most exciting music being created today is not the product of a single compositional aesthetic or the work of just one segment of the population. (Pick your prejudice and throw it away.) It cannot be contained geographically or be hermetically sealed up in impenetrable genre boxes.”
Osmo Vanska Will Perform With The Minnesota Orchestra This Season
“Some concerts are drawn from a self-produced season that musicians put together. Others were assembled from scratch. Neu said that he, CEO Michael Henson and a group of musicians worked on the program.”
Admission To 9-11 Museum Will Be Expensive!
“At $24 per person, the new museum will be in the same league as the Museum of Modern Art ($25) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (suggested admission of $25). That’s some stiff competition for an institution that has a very focused subject: the terrorist attacks of 1993 and 2001.”