Toss a file and you’ll hear the sound of crumpled paper hitting a wastebasket rim. Lock your iPhone and you’ll hear a padlock snap. As Apple sound designer Hugo Verweij explained at a recent developer conference, “it’s like using a universal language that is already understood by everyone.” – Wired
Meet The Man Who Invented The Languages For ‘Game Of Thrones’
It took David J. Peterson about six weeks to create Dothraki and a summer in a subsequent year to create Valyrian — and, as with Elvish and Klingon before them, those languages have taken on a life beyond the work they were created for. Indeed, there are now more British people who understand Valyrian than do Scots Gaelic. – The Times (UK)
33 Lessons From 33 Pros On How To Succeed As A Dancer
“Dance Magazine spoke to 33 people from all corners of the industry” — among them Paloma Herrera, Judith Jamison, Liz Lerman, David Dorfman, Meredith Monk, Donald Byrd, and Trey McIntyre — “to get their advice on the lessons that could help us all, no matter where we are in our careers.” – Dance Magazine
No One Can See Or Touch These Objects But Ordained Ethiopian Priests. The British Museum *Might* Take Them Out Of Storage And Loan Them To Ethiopia
The objects are called tabots, they’re plaques meant to respresent the Ark of the Covenant, and their presence is what makes an Ethiopian church a sacred space. The British Museum has 11 of them, most of them looted by soldiers after the 1868 Battle of Maqdala; since no layperson may see them (including museum curators), they’re kept in a locked basement. The government of Ethiopia has requested their return; a spokesperson says “the suggestion of a long-term loan of the tabots may be discussed.” – The Art Newspaper
Spoiler Alert: Does Knowing The Ending Of A Story Ruin Or Enhance Enjoyment?
A 2013 study Offers some answers: “After sneakily revealing the end of short stories when describing them to test subjects, he found that their enjoyment of the fictional narratives actually increased – a conclusion that perhaps isn’t so surprising if you think about how many times you’ve watched your favourite movie or read your favourite book.” – Aeon
Theatre For Deaf Kids And (Especially) Their Hearing Parents
Director Paula Garfield, mother of two deaf children and deaf herself, created Horrible Histories: Dreadful Deaf “just as much for hearing parents as for their deaf children. It’s a chance for parents and children to experience a BSL-led show together, and for parents in particular (who Garfield explains are often ‘terrified’ when they discover their child is deaf) to see deaf actors happily go about their business, utterly at home in the spotlight.” – The Guardian
How To Reshuffle The Historical Great Books Canon
The “great anthology” collections of books drew readers’ attention to books of the past. But most of the works chosen were from the historical mainstream. How to change it? A couple of publishers are creating new anthologies and purposefully picking writing from outside the tradition. – Vox
Staff At Another New York City Arts Mecca Move To Unionize
Following in the footsteps of workers at MoMA and the New Museum, employees of the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) have signed a formal petition to join United Auto Workers Local 2110. “While they haven’t yet posed any official demands, several workers [are] alleging worsening working conditions including the reduction of benefits, 401k matching, and healthcare, in addition to transforming full-time jobs to hourly part-time jobs, which render workers ineligible for benefits.” – Hyperallergic
NYTimes Executive Editor: Most Local Newspapers Will Die Within Five Years
Dean Baquet: “The greatest crisis in American journalism is the death of local news . . . I don’t know what the answer is. Their economic model is gone. I think most local newspapers in America are going to die in the next five years, except for the ones that have been bought by a local billionaire.” – Fast Company
Upon Further Consideration: Maybe New Plans For LACMA Aren’t So Bad
Justin Davidson: “I, too, joined the scoffer’s chorus when the latest designs emerged in March, but the longer I’ve spent studying these paltry materials and pacing the site, the more promise I feel the project has.” – New York Magazine
Bradley Cooper Talks About Music, Directing, And GaGa
“When Cooper talks about A Star Is Born being deeply personal, you can see why. It’s about art that crosses cultural lines, it’s about a love of music, and it’s about the conflict between art and fame, the way celebrity can box you in and interfere with artistic goals — like his desire to direct.” – Philadelphia Inquirer
Historically, Many Civilizations Have Collapsed. This Time Might Be Different
In the past, civilization often declined gradually. Also, sometimes the decline was good for some members of society as their rulers were overthrown. But we live in a much more interconnected world, and our fates are intertwined. – Aeon
‘Out’ Magazine Has Been Stiffing Freelancers, And Its Top Editor Is Threatening To Quit
“Over the past year, the magazine has been locked in a bizarre intra-company battle between writers and photographers with a web of companies and individuals all seemingly blaming each other for the missed payments.” – The Daily Beast
Columbus Dance Theatre Has Funding Taken Away By Local Council
“Amid a year of turmoil, the Columbus Dance Theatre will enter its 2019-20 season without support from the Greater Columbus Arts Council. … Spokeswoman Jami Goldstein said of Columbus Dance Theatre that ‘the concerns included missed deadlines, a balance of payroll taxes owed dating back to 2012, increased debt, negative net assets, leadership misconduct and lack of board recruitment and oversight.'” – The Columbus Dispatch
The Louvre’s Attempts To Get Works Loaned For Its Leonardo 500 Show Aren’t Going So Well
First of all, there’s the on-again, off-again attempt by Italy’s new-ish nationalist government to make da Vinci and the Louvre show a cultural battleground. But there are also the perpetually uncertain status of loans from the Hermitage (again, politics), the fact that works on wood are too fragile to travel, and the mysteriously missing Salvator Mundi. – The Art Newspaper
Making Opera With Homeless People In England’s Rust Belt
“A charity which helps tackle homelessness and mental health issues has been hailed for changing people’s lives. Streetwise Opera runs musical groups in [the North Yorkshire city of] Middlesbrough, giving the singers confidence to move on with their lives.” (video) – BBC
Funding Cuts Force UK Theatres To Earn More Of Their Budgets
The most recent annual survey data from NPOs found they continued to make more of their own income through ticket sales and other activity in 2017/18, with earned income representing 55% of total revenue and generating £889.6 million. This represented a 4.8% increase on the previous year. – The Stage
A NY City Ballet Star Returns – Unannounced And Under A Cloud
Brian Siebert: “In short, this rushed, business-as-usual reintroduction of Amar Ramasar won’t do, though I understand the company’s desire to downplay it.” – The New York Times
Have Music Copyright Suits Gotten Out Of Hand?
There’s been a surge in copyright claims ever since Marvin Gaye’s family sued Robin Thicke over the single Blurred Lines in 2015. “The odds of getting sued in this day and age are so high, we’re going to get to a point where nobody can write anything – because everything will be derivative of something else. – BBC
Transcending The Biological: Consider The Pointe Shoe
“Pointe shoes are a strangely enduring anachronism that epitomises the enduring desire for ballerinas to embody the unnatural, to portray an illusion. And their intention as a tool to evoke ethereal beings is in direct contrast with their actual biological impact on very real humans.” – Aeon
The Good Knife
I’d never had a knife in my life like the new nakiri. It was crackling sharp (though not for long), but something else made it exceptional: the calm ease with which the knife held my hand, as well as the uncanny confidence it gave me. Once the blade came within range of a leek or rolling radish, it knew what to do. – Jeff Weinstein
Musicals I … (fill in the blank)
Here is a real meme, plucked from the Web over the weekend, filled out, and posted solely for your amusement. – Terry Teachout
New Financing, New Partners: Woodstock 50 Is On Again?
Perhaps. The music festival, planned to commemorate the iconic original fifty years ago, has been plagued by financing and organizational issues. But after a favorable court ruling and new partners, organizers say it’s on again. – New York Magazine
‘Bound To Win’: Jill Lepore On The Evolution Of The Presidential-Candidate Memoir
“Before the nineteen-sixties, the books Presidential candidates wrote weren’t usually memoirs; they were collections of speeches.” Now? “Sometimes Presidential candidates write books about their vision for the country; sometimes they write books about themselves. And then, sometimes, their vision for America is a vision of themselves.” – The New Yorker