“Women are not tapped for power jobs in Hollywood. Their numbers trail far behind the percentage of females in executive positions in other heavily male-dominated endeavors, including the military, tech, finance, government, science and engineering. In 2013, 1.9 percent of the directors of Hollywood’s 100 top-grossing films were female, according to a study conducted by USC researcher Stacy L. Smith. In 2011, women held 7.1 percent of U.S. military general and admiral posts, 20 percent of U.S. Senate seats and more than 20 percent of leadership roles at Twitter and Facebook — and both companies now face gender-discrimination lawsuits.”
Our Relationship To Depictions Of Death, From Painting To Instantly Released Video
“When you see death mediated in this way, pinned down with such dramatic flair, the star is likely to be death itself and not the human who dies. The fact that a photograph exists of a man being shot in the head in Vietnam is easier to remember than Lem’s biography or even his name.”
Is Brad Bird Of Incredibles And Ratatouille (And Tomorrowland) Fame Pretty Much An Ayn Rand Objectivist?
“How has Bird been able to get away with labelling the majority of his audience inferior cogs who are only impeding their superiors? Being a legitimately brilliant director helps.”
Should Opera Singers Stop Providing Printed Translations?
“In hearing the texts we focused on the words, their meanings and — importantly — their ideas on their own. We listened attentively during these spoken passages and then, with the texts fresh in our minds, we listened more actively to the music that both singer and pianist produced. And, as Blythe wanted, we were looking at her and she at us.”
What We Look At: Big Data Suggests That Applying Filters To Pictures Increases Our Interest In Them
“Overall, controlling for things like a user’s follower count and the popularity of the larger stream in which a given photo sits, “filtered photos are 21% more likely to be viewed and 45% more likely to be commented on” than unfiltered ones. As for which filters have which effects, the authors examined five.”
Police Shut Down Controversial Venice Biennale Project
“The provocative project, created inside a long-unused Catholic church, serves as Iceland’s national pavilion for the 56th Venice Biennale and was intended in part to highlight the absence of a mosque in the historic heart of Venice, a city whose art and architecture were deeply influenced by Islamic trade and culture.”
Nina Simone Heirs Allege Sony Music Operates A Piracy Ring
According to his legal papers, “By operating a subsidiary that massively pirates Nina Simone recordings, at price points generally lower than those at which Sony sells her RCA recordings, [this] has the natural tendency to displace Sony’s sales, thereby depriving Claimants of the full royalties they would otherwise earn under the New Artist Agreement.”
English National Ballet Announces An Ambitious New Home
“English National Ballet (ENB) is to move to a new “state of the art” home in east London, its artistic director Tamara Rojo has announced. The company will share the building – on the new London City Island development, close to the Canning Town railway interchange – with the English National Ballet School.”
“Pirates Of Penzance” Has Just Broken UK Moviecast Box Office Records
“It has so far taken more than £600,000 at the UK box office, from a single screening on May 19, with around 400,000 people watching it. The previous record for an opera was the Metropolitan Opera’s broadcast of Franz Lehar’s The Merry Widow earlier this year, which took £504,000 in total.”
PJ Paparelli, 40-Year-Old Director Of Chicago’s American Theater Co. Dies On Vacation
“Both Paparelli and his theater company — the two were inseparable — were at their creative peak. During Paparelli’s seven-year tenure, ATC produced a slew of highly regarded world premieres, including that of Ayad Akhtar’s “Disgraced” which moved to Broadway and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama.”
Study: Innovators Have Easier Time Justifying Bad Behavior
“Refining earlier research, a newly published study finds innovative people are indeed more likely than most to cross ethical boundaries—but only after they have been engaged in creative work. According to a research team led by Ke Michael Mai, a creative frame of mind enables one to come up with compelling justifications for bad behavior.”
Rich Universities Get Richer – But Are Poor Students Being Left Behind?
“The gap between wealthy colleges and the rest of the pack is clearly wide, and getting wider each year, leading some to question if these rich universities need much of the public aid they receive. And if they are receiving public money, should they be doing more to enroll a higher percentage of low-income students?”
Iconic Dance Teacher Maggie Black, 85
“From the 1960s to the ’90s, Ms. Black’s classes were studded with star dancers and choreographers from American Ballet Theater, New York City Ballet, the Joffrey, Dance Theater of Harlem, the Paul Taylor Dance Company and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Among them were Twyla Tharp, Trisha Brown, Eliot Feld, William Forsythe, Gelsey Kirkland, Tina LeBlanc, Lar Lubovitch, Natalia Makarova, Kevin McKenzie, Ohad Naharin, Lawrence Rhodes and Martine Van Hamel.”
Broadway About To Hit Record Box Office For 2014/15 Season
“Thanks in part to the box-office drawing power of Hugh Jackman, Bradley Cooper, Helen Mirren, Larry David, Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick and other celebrated performers, Broadway’s on-track to report that grosses and attendance rose by about 8 percent from 2013-14. After 51 weeks, Broadway’s sales of $1.33 billion are already a record. Given that attendance is 12.8 million and exceeds 200,000 a week, it’s almost certain to top 13 million for the first time when official results come out early next week.”
Our Audience As Community? Not Necessarily
“Community requires connection. Without interpersonal relationships, a community is just a group. Community requires generosity. Without an element of giving, it is hard to imagine members being invested in the collective and future well-being of the group. Community requires space. Without a place (virtual, physical) in which people can connect and contribute, it will be much more difficult for these things to take place.”
The New York Times Has Always Reviewed Every Hollywood Movie In General Release. Until Now…
“Because of the increasing volume of new films released each year, the Times is no longer able to guarantee reviews of all New York theatrical releases,” A.O. Scott, the Times’ chief film critic, wrote companies in an email obtained by Variety.
Los Angeles Master Chorale Hires New Director
“The group chose Jean Davidson after a national search because of her work with top artists such as Yo-Yo Ma and Laurie Anderson as well as her track record at New York Live Arts since 2011. Davidson was instrumental in the creation of the group, formed through a merger of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and the Dance Theater Workshop.”
Protests Over Tony Awards’ Intent Not To Televise Some Awards
“Creative Arts Awards, including Best Original Score, Best Book of a Musical and others such as Scenic Design, Lighting Design, Orchestrations and more, are typically handed out off the air. Clips from winners’ acceptance speeches are then shown during a commercial break, and videos later surface on the Tony Awards YouTube channel.”
Las Vegas – Where The City’s Orchestra Is Growing Like Crazy
“The orchestra has increased the number of performances next season from 11 to 19, presenting some programs over two days rather than one evening (including Sunday matinees).”