Instead of the traditional towers, “ninety-six hand-painted gold lanterns encrust the roof of the Australian Islamic Centre in Newport. Fitted into each lantern is a different coloured glass that filters light into the mosque through triangular shaped skylights. As the sun moves through the day, the lanterns illuminate a different colour. In the morning yellow streams in, representing paradise. Through the middle of the day, blues (symbolising sky) and greens (nature) filter in. In the afternoon the lanterns draw in red (blood for strength).”
De-Queering, And Re-Queering, Sappho
There’s a centuries-long (millennia-long, really) tradition or scholars and writers trying to remove the small-l lesbianism from the great poetess of Lesbos. Lesbian classicist Ella Haselswerdt looks at those attempts and takes them apart, if not down.
Digital Reproductions Versus Real Art – Here’s Why This Battle Matters
“A danger arises when amateurs and bogus experts aren’t able to tell the difference between what’s real and what’s reproduced. Worse, they might see the digital copy and decide that it is not worth the effort to see the original. They might not think that the work is better, but it is unarguably more convenient to access.”
Are Humans Fundamentally Selfish Or Cooperative? Wrong Question, It Turns Out
“Those options are derived in large part from philosophy and classical economic theory, rather than data. In a new paper, researchers have flipped the script, using observations of simple social situations to show that optimism, pessimism, envy, and trust, rather than selfishness and sacrifice, are the basic ingredients of our behavior.”
Every Literary Plot, Ever, In Alphabetical Order
Okay, maybe not every single one. Boris Kachka: “There’s William Wallace Cook’s chart-crazy Plotto, first published in 1928; there’s crisp guides like Christopher Booker’s The Basic Seven Plots and Ronald B. Tobias’s 20 Master Plots; there’s even a couple of computer programs – many, over centuries, have tried to count the ways to tell a story. With a little help from those, here is a far-from-comprehensive encyclopedia of every archetypal plot we know.”
Hulu Didn’t Fail To Make Free Online TV Work, It Succeeded In Killing It
Will Oremus: “After eight years, Hulu is turning off its free TV service. Viewers will now be required to sign up or log in to its subscription service, Hulu Plus … The reason, I suspect, is not that the service failed to achieve Hulu’s goals, but that it succeeded. And by Hulu’s goals, I mean the goals of its corporate owners: Disney-ABC, NBC Universal, Fox, and now Time Warner.”
Robert Page, Revered Symphonic Choral Conductor, Dead At 89
“For all of conductor Robert Page’s accolades, there may be no better example of his prowess in choral music than this: He improved a Robert Shaw choir.”
Three Saints In One Portrait – It All Depends On Where You Stand
“From the left, Saint Francis of Assisi decked on his Franciscan order habit clutches a crucifix with a hand bloody with stigmata; from the right, Saint Francis of Paola holds a paper that reads ‘Charitas.’ And looking straight on, there’s a weeping Saint Peter looking up at a blue sky where his airy halo mingles with the clouds.” The trick is an effect called anamorphosis.
Has Los Angeles Become A Hotbed Of Contemporary Music?
“A grassroots new music community (or as ‘grassroots’ as anything which is tied to higher education can be) is in a true dialogue with the larger artistic culture, and the promise of the LA Philharmonic to make Los Angeles a contemporary musical destination seems to have finally taken root. An LA aesthetic has emerged, and I can’t help but notice a bit of pioneering Wild West in the raucous brew.”
Is Putting Shakespeare Into Modern English Really A Good Idea?
Linguist John McWhorter and Rutgers professor Jack Lynch, author of Becoming Shakespeare: The Unlikely Afterlife That Turned a Provincial Playwright into the Bard, discuss the ‘sacrilege” issue. (podcast)
‘La Bohème’ At Attica State Prison
“One man perches literally on the edge of his seat, listening with his whole body; his chest seems to swell with the singers’ every breath. Afterward, I’m not surprised when he says that, before today, ‘I didn’t know that Latinos do opera,’ but ‘for a brief fifteen minutes, I was up there, I was singing.'”
The Courtroom Battle Over Kafka’s Archive Has Been Decided Once And For All
An eight-year legal struggle between the National Library of Israel, which claims the papers based on instructions in the will of Kafka’s friend Max Brod, and the daughters of Brod’s secretary Esther Hoffe, who insist that Brod gave their mother the papers to do with as she liked, has been ended with a decision by Israel’s Supreme Court.
Arts And Culture’s Contribution To UK Economy Is Up By 15 Percent In One Year, One-Third In Five Years
“Since 2010, the culture sector’s economic contribution has grown by 33%, from £20.3 billion to £27 billion in 2015. The sector is now worth 1.6% of the UK’s entire economy … The government estimates the cultural sector’s worth to the UK economy has grown by 15% alone between 2014 and 2015.”
Hey – Real Diversity Isn’t About “Reflecting” Your Community
“Instead of focusing on how to make our organizations reflect our community, what if we found ways for our organizations to be more accountable — or accountable, period — to the communities we serve?”
Brazil’s Leading Choreographer On Creating The Movement For The Olympics’ Opening Ceremony
Deborah Colker: “I wanted everything to bleed together. Like here in Brazil, where everyone is surviving and sharing together. Samba, funk – a style specific to Rio, born in Rio – and passinho, which combines breakdance and hip-hop, and maracatu, from northern Brazil. I mixed all of this.”
Pianist André Watts Has Prostate Cancer
“‘It’s André’s wish that we be straight about that,” said his manager Linda Marder … “Men of a certain age have this problem.’ Survival rates are very high. The diagnosis was made only weeks ago, … [and Watts] has been to the Mayo Clinic to determine treatment.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 08.08.16
This Week In Audience – Pondering How To Connect Art To A Larger World
Why should anyone care what we wear to the theatre? … Big Data is helping indie bookstores thrive … Are our concert halls too big for the experiences we want? … Some thinking on how to connect artists to the larger world … The politics of demographics and aging. … read more
AJBlog: AJ Arts Audience Published 2016-08-07
Solitude
A few months ago, a friend informed me that he was including my Mister Blister on an upcoming program of unaccompanied violin music called “Solitude.” … read more
AJBlog: Infinite Curves Published 2016-08-08
Ystad Report # 2
When bassist Avishai Cohen’s and his trio wrapped up their concert after midnight on Sunday, the 2016 edition of the Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival became history. For this listener, the festival’s five days of music … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-08-08
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Is Your Theatre Investing In Local Businesses? Here’s How
“We are regularly asking for local businesses to fund our work as sponsors and then we take the funds raised and distribute them elsewhere through corporate and online spending. Local arts organizations have to start taking seriously the role they play in the development and strength of their own local economies.”
When Visitors Get A Little Too Hands-On With Exhibits
“Officials in the museum community say that no plan to protect exhibits is foolproof, and that the recent episodes reflect the balance that museums seek between making their collections accessible to visitors and keeping them secure.”
CBS Misses The Memo On Diversity
“The network has repeatedly been criticized by viewers and advocacy groups for its formula of casting mostly white actors in leading roles while nonwhites are largely relegated to supporting characters. They charge that CBS, which promotes itself as ‘America’s Most Watched Network,’ does not accurately reflect the look of America.”
Love In Translation: The Fascinations, Frustrations, And Landmines Of Mastering Your Partner’s Mother Tongue
New Yorker staff writer Lauren Collins recounts some of the countless surprises she experienced with French after she relocated to Geneva with her husband, Olivier.