“A red chalk sketch from around 1512 CE, long believed to be a self-portrait by Leonardo da Vinci, has a glowering, bearded man’s face emerging from a swarm of brown spots. … New research may have identified the fungal culprit, which could assist in [the artwork’s] protection.”
‘Makerspaces’ And ‘Fab Labs’ At Public Libraries Offer Tools, Materials, 3-D Printers
“We saw the laser scanner and the laser cutter, which can etch metals, or cut cardboard, wood, paper, and even pumpkins, one of which Adam passed around. There was a wire bender, named Fender Bender Rodriguez. There was a milling machine that can make prototypes of wood or plastics or even soft aluminum.” Not to mention 3-D printers named Kevin Spacey, Johnny Pie, and Maria the Metropolis.
What Research Psychologists Have Learned About Fighting Writer’s Block
“In real life, having your poetry criticized by T.S. Eliot could cause you to doubt your poetic gifts. But imagining it in a dream has the opposite effect.”
What Would Douglas Adams (‘Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy’) Have Made Of Politics In 2016?
As he wrote, “Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.” “It’s worth asking: Was Adams political in any orthodox – or unorthodox – way? And what would Adams make of the American political scene these days?”
Here’s Where Opera Is Thriving
“The companies are all flexible in terms of venue and budget, and bring the audience much closer to the art form than most forms of traditional opera presented in theaters with thousands of seats. They all offer extremely affordable ticket options combined with well curated interesting programming.”
High School Production Of ‘The Producers’ Forced To Remove Swastikas
“After someone posted a rehearsal photo on social media last week showing giant Nazi flags over the Tappan Zee [High School] stage, some parents were offended, and let the administration know they were offended.”
The Cat Video Festival Has Been Put To Sleep
“After hosting four purr-fectly successful Internet Cat Video Festivals, the Walker [Art Center] is quitting cats … ‘We think that cat videos will live on without us, and we’re really excited for other people to take up the mantle and program their own festivals’.”
Is Burnout Really Depression By Another Name?
“Medicine has long separated burnout from depression, qualifying the former as more exhaustion-related rather than a clinical psychological problem characterized by chronic anxiety and feelings of sadness, but a recent study … indicates it might be time for us to rethink that division.”
How ‘War Horse,’ Which Just Closed, Changed British Theatre Forever
“No one expected a hit — it started with actors running around a National rehearsal room in 2005 with cardboard horse heads and newspaper tails — but a hit it became.”
Can Netflix (And Other Streaming Services) Bring About Pay Equality?
“Millennials, as a charming side effect of their wondrous sense of entitlement, don’t take any shit. Secondly, the future of the entertainment industry clearly lies in streaming, and real-time metrics do not lie. This will not just affect women, but people of color, gender-identity, and age. There won’t be any arguing with the amount the public loves and appreciates THEIR people and THEIR shows and THEIR movies.”
Turns Out Disney Movies Don’t Care About The Struggles Of Poor Kids
“Four percent of the total number of primary characters, meaning three main players in the 100 children’s movies surveyed, could be classified as ‘poor.’ In comparison, roughly 25 percent of American children live in poverty.”
House Of Cards Loses Its Shock Value As The Bizarre 2016 Election Drags On
“While House of Cards tells us that politics is run by corrupt yet effective politicians — whose policy disagreements are settled by a measure of wits — our own political system makes dumpster fires look put together.”
Making Van Gogh’s Sunflowers Sunny Again
“A key question that is being examined is whether the varnish of the Amsterdam painting could safely be removed. … This coating was probably added in 1927, to help protect the surface. The varnish has aged since then, leaving a brownish tinge and dulling Van Gogh’s sparkling colours.”
BP Will End Its Sponsorship Of The Tate
But, like, *totally* not because of massive, yearslong protests or anything: “The spokesman, David Nicholas, said it was ‘a commercial decision’ prompted by the collapse in oil prices.”
Despite Good Year, The Met’s Credit Rating Doesn’t Rise
“‘The potential return to a stable outlook will likely require increased donor support for endowment, ongoing improvement in operating performance, and improved unrestricted liquidity,’ Moody’s said in the report.”
Los Angeles Has A Huge New, One Might Say Game-Changing If One Were Inclined To Hyperbole, Gallery Downtown
“Once the new, on-site locally sourced, seasonal-everything restaurant opens this summer, the place is gonna be rife with blowouts and air-kissing. In other words, the scene here is the bluest of blue chip. Thankfully for us scrubs, the art part will be gloriously free.”
When ‘Taxi-Dance’ Halls Brought Ballroom Steps To The Masses
“Immigrants from all over flocked to the dance halls to overcome the loneliness in their new lives with the help of the taxi-dancers.”
The Studies Are Agonizingly Clear, But What Should Publishing Actually *Do*?
“I’m all too often agitated by the seeming intractability of the question I believe at the root of much if not all of this: what is the future of America? Or rather, what is America?”
An Actor Takes On The Nasty Underbelly Of The Online Fan Community
Oh, and her advocacy worked: “BroadwayWorld posted a lengthy response to the concerns expressed, saying that not only had the company made it easier to report abusive comments, but that it had also taken steps to separate chat boards from the rest of its content, had added moderators, and would host a benefit concert to raise awareness about online bullying.”
The Art Hoe Collective Does A Lot Of Its Gallery Work Using, Well, Tumblr
“The art world as it is right now is extremely elitist — art galleries and museums, especially, epitomize all the worst parts of exclusion and the shutting out of one people in favor of the raising up of another based on a single narrow definition of what is acceptable.”
Louis Meyers, Co-Founder Of South By Southwest, Dead At 60
“In 1986, Meyers and [Ronald] Swenson were part of an Austin contingent that traveled to the New Music Seminar, a trip that planted the seeds for a New Music Seminar-sponsored convention in Austin the following spring. ‘When the seminar people backed off of doing an event, he and I were the ones who talked (Chronicle editor and publisher) Louis [Black]and Nick [Barbaro] into doing the thing,’ Swenson said.”
Thomas Adès On His New Partnership With Boston Symphony
“There’s the feeling that if you can focus these activities in one place, then instead of making just a little pile of sand that blows away, you can build something more. For five or six years I had the Aldeburgh Festival, and then it became time to close that chapter, and I’ve been affiliated with nobody since that time. Now there is a place where I can build something with bricks again, instead of with sand!”
Data: The World’s Most Literate Country Is…
“The factors we examined present a complex and nuanced portrait of a nation’s cultural vitality”, and that “what the rankings strongly suggest … is that these kinds of literate behaviours are critical to the success of individuals and nations in the knowledge-based economics that define our global future”.
A Black Dancer’s Frustrating Search For Ballet Shoes
“Eric Underwood was on tour last summer in the south of Italy when he had finally had enough.” In store after store, he couldn’t find ballet shoes to match his skin, and he was tired of buying beige shoes and covering them with pancake makeup.