“BookReels, a dedicated interactive website that allows publishers and authors to post multimedia visuals ranging from animated book covers to trailers, is now available for readers as a unique way to preview and browse books.”
Now Even VICE Is Writing About Arvo Pärt
“For several years, he has been the most widely-performed living classical composer, but that is just the beginning. Thom Yorke, PJ Harvey, Rufus Wainwright, Nick Cave, and Keith Jarrett all claim him as a major influence. Lupe Fiasco, heavy metal bands, and Berlin DJs frequently sample his works. His music lurks behind scenes in There Will Be Blood, Fahrenheit 9/11, and Gravity, just to name a few of his film credits.”
David Lang: I Wrote A Piece For 1,000 Singers Because I Saw A Football Match In London
“Everyone in the stadium started to sing, and I found myself in the middle of a giant 38,000-strong choir. There was a huge repertoire of songs for every emotion – joy, defiance, taunting, encouragement, elation – and many hilarious ones of imaginatively lewd sexual ridicule. … We are not nearly so clever at our sporting events in America.”
Why Has Good Taste Gone Out Of Fashion?
“As the idea of good taste is ridiculed, bad taste has been embraced in its place. We are comfortable showing that we know what is bad, but all too quiet about what is good.”
Rem Koolhaus: Architecture As “Endless Calculation”
“The ceiling used to be decorative, a symbolic plane, a place invested with intense iconography. Now, it has become an entire factory of equipment that enables us to exist, a space so deep that it begins to compete with the architecture. It is a domain over which architects have lost all control, a zone surrendered to other professions.”
Hachette Lays Off 3% Of Staff Amid Battle With Amazon
“A representative from Hachette denied that the layoffs [of 28 staffers] were in any way connected to its dispute with Amazon.”
Amazon May Be Facing War With Two More Major Publishers
“Amazon.com Inc.’s sales contracts with some of the world’s biggest publishers, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins, are next up for renewal, signaling that skirmishes over e-book pricing are set to spread.”
Federal Judge Throws Out Harper Lee’s Suit Against Museum
“U.S. District Judge William H. Steele of Mobile dismissed the case in a one-sentence order after lawyers for both Lee and the Monroe County Heritage Museum filed a joint motion seeking to end the suit. Lee last year accused the museum of taking advantage of her work by selling souvenirs and using the title of her only published book as its website address.”
Senegal Government Shuts Down Art Exhibition On Homosexuality In Africa
“The move comes several weeks after an attack on the Dakar gallery by Muslim fundamentalists … ‘Precarious Imaging: Visibility and Media Surrounding African Queerness’ opened at Raw Material Company on 11 May, but a day later, the non-profit art centre was vandalised and the building damaged.”
The Contradictory (Anti-)Patriotism At The Heart Of ‘Saving Private Ryan’
John Biguenet reconsiders Speilberg’s D-Day movie – including its notoriously sentimental prologue and epilogue – and what it means to say about battlefield morality.
20-Year-Old Sarasota Ballet Dancer Killed In Bicycle Accident
“Pedro Pupa, a corps de ballet dancer with the Sarasota Ballet, died Wednesday night from injuries after he struck a delivery truck that police say turned in front of him while he rode his bicycle … near The Ringling museum.”
What Happens To The Brain During Spiritual Experiences?
“When practitioners surrender their will, activity decreases in their frontal lobes, suggesting that speech is being generated from some place other than the normal speech centers.” Welcome to the study of neurotheology.
Why People Laugh
“Laughter is universal, but we know very little about the reasons we do it. Dr. Robert Provine has been studying the social and neurological roots of laughter for 20 years, and has come to surprising conclusions about how we operate as human beings.” (video)
Sergei Polunin And Choreographer Settle Suit Out Of Court
The mercurial young ballet star (followed in short order by his colleague and mentor, Igor Zelensky) abruptly bolted from a London production of Peter Schaufuss’s Midnight Express last year. Schaufuss sued both men for breach of contract; they have now arrived at a confidential settlement.
If You Want To Really Understand ‘Ulysses’, Read About Its Obscenity Trial
“Joyce used an unapologetically forward-thinking brand of Imagism in service of the filthiest writing ever seen in a literary magazine to that point. … Obscenity was the lifeblood of Ulysses, the proof that it truly comprehended all human experience.”
Watching ‘Richard III’ With Bashar al-Assad
NPR correspondent Deborah Amos “recount[s] a trip to the Damascus Opera House with the Syrian president to watch a performance of Richard III – a performance where he knowingly slapped his knee in laughter when Baldrick wins an election with 99 percent of the vote.” (video)
Top Posts From AJBlogs 06.05.14
Making the old new (1)
How can older classical music — all those familiar masterworks — sound contemporary? Because most of the time they don’t.
AJBlog: Sandow | Published 2014-06-05
Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos: Not to be counted out yet
AJBlog: Condemned to Music | Published 2014-06-06
My Q&A with Timothy Potts: Reinstalling the Getty Museum’s Antiquities (and more on the Getty Bronze)
AJBlog: CultureGrrl | Published 2014-06-06
Songwriters Struggle in the Digital Age
AJBlog: CultureCrash | Published 2014-06-05
The Crocker’s Big Secret: A Good News Story
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts | Published 2014-06-06
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The Montreal Symphony Gets A New $4 Million Organ
“It is an imposing instrument with 83 stops (types of sounds) and 6,489 pipes—more than 25 tons of high-octane power, brilliance, flexibility and coloristic variety. But the organ’s highest achievement is how beautifully it blends into the aural fabric of the orchestra and, a few quibbles aside, how well it sounds in the pleasingly reverberant 1,900-seat hall.”
Still A Big Issue: Artists Getting Paid
“Although it sometimes seems hard to believe, the payment of artists remains a major issue, not just here in the US but also in the UK, as the Paying Artists reports make clear.”
US Justice Department To Reconsider Music Licensing Rules
“New technologies have dramatically transformed the way people listen to music. The system for determining how songwriters and composers are compensated has not kept pace, making it increasingly difficult for music creators to earn a living.”
Revealed: Head Of Toronto’s Sony Center For The Performing Arts Was Investigated Over Failed Deal
“These latest revelations come as Dan Brambilla and the theatre’s board of directors are being scrutinized over a scathing audit report that uncovered a long list of alleged accounting irregularities in connection with a multimillion-dollar renovation, including allegations of sole-source contracts and missing documents.”
Recollections Of Warriors, Redeployed Into Dance
“During naval service in the Middle East, Paul Hurley lost a leg. Now he’s joined a dance company. … But what he’s involved in” – choreographer Liz Lerman’s Healing Wars – “is more than a dance.”
A Yelp For Arts Workers To Discuss Employers
“By encouraging artists to share employment experiences, the Who pays artists? website aims to expose the companies which underpay creatives as well as draw attention to industry best practice. And already, Australian artists are sharing their stories, both good and bad.”