“A performing arts center can sometimes feel intimidating. What we do with our community engagement programs is give people a taste. Sometimes that will open the door for someone to come see a show or enroll their child in one of our arts education programs.”
The Wars Over The Singular ‘They’ Have Been Raging For Centuries
“For some word purists, the singular they is the linguistic equivalent of an ingrown hair, but for others, the solutions for getting around the problem are way messier. … It may be the most controversial word use in the English language – because it highlights a hole in the language where a better-fitting word should go. … And there has been a lot written about it. Here’s another piece of tinder to throw on the fire.”
An Outsider Artist’s Disneyland-In-Detroit
“[Dmytro] Szylak’s installation is hardly noticeable from the sidewalk in front of his former home, but if one approaches from the alley and garages of Klinger and Sobieski Streets, Hamtramck Disneyland looms like a Cubist carnival.”
‘The Interpretation Of Dreams’, 1,700 Years Before Freud
“Enter Artemidorus of Daldis, the world’s first true dream researcher. He was a citizen of Ephesus during the second century A.D. … He did what any good researcher would do: he went out into the field, and gathered dreams. … Artemidorius made himself into an empiricist of fantasy, and he compiled his findings in a book called the Oneirocritica, or the Interpretation of Dreams.”
When Zora Neale Hurston And Langston Hughes Took A Road Trip
“Here on St. Joseph Street [in Mobile, Alabama], on July 23, 1927, one of the most fortuitous meetings in American literary history occurred. … When Hurston invited [Hughes] to join her expedition – in her little car, nicknamed ‘Sassy Susie’ – Hughes happily accepted.”
‘Library Anxiety’ – It’s A Real Thing For College Students, And (As Always) Librarians Are There To Help
“The phenomenon, which involves feeling intimidated, embarrassed, and overwhelmed by libraries and librarians, was first identified by Constance A. Mellon in 1986.” The problem is worse in 2016, with a generation who grew up with the web: “As soon as you need to use scholarly resources, Wikipedia isn’t going to cut it.”
Finally, We’re Getting A Better Idea Of What Peter Zumthor’s New LACMA Building Will Look Like
“The Swiss architect has been working with LACMA Director and Chief Executive Michael Govan for years on an ambitious and controversial new building to hold the museum’s permanent collection. But details – architectural and financial alike – have been hard to come by” – until now. Christopher Hawthorne has a look.
Intellectuals Are Smart. What They Aren’t Is Typical
“My point is that people who specialize in the life of ideas tend to be extremely atypical of their societies. They — we — are freaks in a statistical sense. For generations, populists of various kinds have argued that intellectuals are unworldly individuals out of touch with the experiences and values of most of their fellow citizens. While anti-intellectual populists have often been wrong about the gold standard or the single tax or other issues, by and large they have been right about intellectuals.”
Who Created This Mysterious ‘Moon Ballet’?
“The picture of two ballet dancers soaring across a simulated lunar crater comes from the set of Destination Moon, a 1950 space adventure film. But the dance is not in the film. The context of the photograph is unknown, and the identity of the dancers a mystery — one that William Higgins, a radiation safety physicist at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois, has been trying to solve since he first stumbled across the photo seven years ago.”
So How Good Is The New Harry Potter Book, Anyway?
“The appeal of all fantasy, including Rowling’s original series, comes from answering the question “What if?” What if magic existed? What if an owl delivered an invitation (to you!) to learn magic at a secret school? What if jelly beans came in every flavor, including earwax? What if you had to die to save the world?”
Is The Availability Of Cheap Airfare Ruining Europe’s Great Cities?
“Tourists are conquerors who disguise themselves as friends, which often makes them difficult to deal with, no matter how much money they spend.”
Director Ava DuVernay Hits A Milestone For Film – And Yeah, It Matters
“DuVernay’s career has been one marked by firsts: first black woman to win Sundance’s best director prize; first black female director nominated for a Golden Globe; first black female director with a film nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. So it’s not surprising that she would be the first to break the budget barrier.”
Why Is So Much Sound Art So Bad?
“Duchamp was a genius. He could put a noise in a ball of string and hey presto, it was art. He made it look easy – well, he made everything look easy – and yet many daft and self-indulgent sound works are only “art” at the most glib level as sadly exposed by the National Gallery’s exhibition Soundscapes last summer, in which only Philipsz rose above the banal.”
American TV Seems More Diverse. Is It?
“There’s a prevailing notion that—in a pop culture climate ruled by Scandal and Empire and an industry flipping a middle finger to any #OscarsSoWhite malfeasance—television is in the midst of a Golden Age of diversity. But is that really the case?”
Augmented Reality: Pokémon Go Could Be The Start Of A Transformation In Children’s Games And Learning
“While electronic games have traditionally caused kids to retreat to couches, here is one that did precisely the opposite. … If done right, some say the technology Go introduced to the world could bring back the kind of outdoor, creative, and social forms of play that used to be the mainstay of childhood. Augmented reality, it stands to reason, could revitalize the role of imagination in kids’ learning and development.”
Queens Without Borders: A Berlin Drag Show Offers Welcome And Aid To Queer Refugees
The project’s organizer, an Australian expat whose drag name is Olympia Bukkakis, “describes the show, with a bit of a cringe, as ‘conceptual drag,’ where specific themes are explored through various acts. It features a mixture of ‘punk, alternative queens’ along with refugees new to the city, incorporating belly dancing, burkas, and gender-bender performance art.”
Tales Of John Waters’s First Feature-Length Talkie, ‘Multiple Maniacs’
When the film went before a board of censors 50 years ago, says Waters, “the woman cried when she saw it, and she sent it to the judge. He said, ‘My eyes were insulted for 90 minutes, but it’s not illegal,’ which was the whole point of the movie! To make something that wasn’t illegal yet.”
Disney Fires Director Of ‘Frozen’ Musical
“Disney Theatrical Productions and director Alex Timbers have parted ways on the brewing Broadway production of Frozen. ‘Making the tough calls when creating a new Broadway musical is never easy, but this was especially painful,’ said Thomas Schumacher, the president and producer of Disney Theatrical Productions, in a statement. ‘Alex Timbers is one of the most exciting and innovative theater directors I know.'”
Haruki Murakami Is Not, In Fact, Dead
“Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami was the subject of a hoax on social media today, as a Twitter account seemingly belonging to his Japanese publisher Shinchosa tweeted a message claiming he had died.”
Luxury-Goods Billionaire Sets Plans For Private Museum In Paris
“Last month, the Paris City Council approved the project, which calls for transforming the building into ‘The Pinault Collection, Bourse de Commerce’ and filling it with art from Mr. Pinault’s collection of more than 3,000 works by contemporary artists like Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Gerhard Richter, Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, Agnes Martin and Cy Twombly. The interior is to get a makeover by the Japanese architect Tadao Ando.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 08.04.16
Trump, The Tenor, And Fascism
While I applaud the urge to dump on Trump (for so many reasons), trying to associate him with fascist sympathies because his campaign plays one of the most famous arias on the planet is a yuge overreach. … read more
AJBlog: diacritical/Douglas McLennan Published 2016-08-04
On proper attire for attending the theatre
We have links to two stories today, Elisabeth Vincentelli asking that people try a little harder to look decent when they attend the theatre, … and Alexis Kleinman in rebuttal – with the arts already having problems of being exclusive, why exacerbate by imposing a dress code? … read more
AJBlog: For What It’s Worth Published 2016-08-04
Young Chekhovathon for Chekhovaphiles (of all ages)
A bit of a sucker for aesthetic marathons, … an all-day Chekhov-fest sounds just my thing, and so it was. … read more
AJBlog: Plain English Published 2016-08-04
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‘Most Concert Halls And Opera Houses Are Just Too Big,’ Says New York Times Chief Classical Critic
Anthony Tommasini: “Inevitably, a sense of separation, of sound traveling across distance, affects performances in spaces the size of most concert halls. Less imposing halls need to be found for the symphonic repertory.”
Elena Doria, 90, Longtime Director Of Met Opera Children’s Chorus
“A soprano who joined the Met in 1966 as a member of its adult chorus, Ms. Doria took the helm of the children’s group in 1986. For the next 23 years, until she stepped down in 2009, she superintended her charges – who ranged in age from about 5 to the early teens – through weekly classes at the opera house, through stage rehearsals and, like an operatic Momma Rose, from the wings at every performance.”
Conductor Myung Whun Chung Cleared Of Embezzlement Charges At Seoul Philharmonic
The charges, which many observers considered fabricated, arose from the stormy end of Chung’s tenure as music director and his conflicts with the orchestra’s notoriously combative former president, who was forced to resign at the end of 2014.
New York City Ballet Dancer Talks About Her Opening Night On Broadway (In ‘Cats’)
“[Georgina] Pazcoguin, currently on leave from City Ballet, recently spoke about opening night, Sunday, at the Neil Simon Theater – the nerves! – the differences between ballet and Broadway and what it’s like to become Victoria. What follows are edited excerpts from that interview.”