At least, according to readers. (Yes, yes, everyone hated the end of Gone Girl.) Think of Atonement, for example: “‘I’ve never been more mad at an ending to a book, and will never read another word Ian McEwan writes as a result,’ wrote Brenda M. ‘Why would I ever trust a writer who has so much contempt for his readers?'” – Washington Post
It’s Probably Not Possible To Live A Contemplative Life Any More
The contemplative life hits us as a kind of sudden derangement, ripping us out of the fabric of life, driving us into libraries, bookstores, and campus events in desperate efforts to meet fellow travelers. But when we get there, we find that our eccentricity, roughness, and lack of training in academic gentility make such relationships impossible. Letters go unanswered, invitations withheld, applications rejected. – Chronicle of Higher Education
What We Could Learn From A Theatre That Is Inclusive Of Everyone
“Inclusion is not a final destination – it is something that enables greater creativity and brings greater value. I think it allows us to have different conversations around what that value is and where you might find it.” – The Stage
As Museums Sell Off Art, Will There Be Enough Buyers?
“The market generally loves deaccessioned works; museum provenance adds the lustre of validation, and consequently monetary value. But will there just be too many of these works on the block in the coming months? … And, with an inevitably smaller market due to the [COVID] crisis, can prices be sustained?” – The Art Newspaper
James Randi, Magician Who Debunked Magic And The Paranormal, Dead At 92
“An inveterate skeptic and bristly contrarian in his profession, Mr. Randi insisted that magic is based solely on earthly sleight of hand and visual trickery. He scorned fellow magicians who allowed or encouraged audiences to believe their work was rooted in extrasensory or paranormal powers. In contrast, [he] cheerfully described himself as a ‘liar’ and ‘cheat’.” He made something of a second career out of exposing (and fending off lawsuits from) psychics and faith healers; he spent much of his MacArthur “genius grant” on attorney fees. – The Washington Post
How The Arts Deploy Fear In The Nerve-Wracking Year 2020
“[A package exploring] how fear informs the culture that we consume. … Chronicle classical music critic Joshua Kosman tells us how music can stoke terror in us with just a few notes. Chronicle theater critic Lily Janiak shows us how fear can be used to our advantage. And Chronicle movie critic Mick LaSalle explains how we’ve been living in a time of fear for 20 years, with a two-decade span of film that’s been reflecting the concerns around us.” – San Francisco Chronicle
The Confusing Messages From Our Screens
Less than two weeks before our quadrennial democratic experiment in terror, division, heartbreak and the art of the possible, our home screens are sending wildly mixed messages about democracy in action — how it was, how it is, how it should be and how we might save America from itself. – Chicago Tribune
Oh My But It’s Tempting To Hope Science Can Explain Life (Can It?)
By cracking the genetic code, we have become able to harness the machinery of living cells to do our bidding by assembling new macromolecules of our own devising. As we have gained an ever more accurate picture of how life’s tiniest and simplest building blocks fit together to form the whole, it has become increasingly tempting to imagine that biology’s toughest puzzles may only be solved once we figure out how to tackle them on physics’ terms. – Nautilus
Adobe Is Using AI To “Fix” Video Of You Dancing (So You Look Better)
Like autotuning in music, which corrects your pitch, the dance AI adjusts your images in video so you’re actually keeping up with the beat. – Protocol
Landscape Architects Unveil Plan To Save National Mall’s Tidal Basin
The Tidal Basin connects centuries of American history and includes memorials to Thomas Jefferson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Jr. Some 1.5 million people walk along the basin’s rim during the annual Cherry Blossom Festival each spring. But with increased car and foot traffic, the ground underneath is dipping. As sea levels rise, the walkways flood daily. – NPR
Queen Arthur? 8-Year-Old Swedish Girl Pulls Ancient Viking Sword From Lake
“I felt something in the water and lifted it up. Then there was a handle and I went to tell my dad that it looked like a sword,” Saga told the broadcaster Sveriges Television. – BBC
Ruth Falcon, Soprano Who Became Leading Voice Teacher, Dead At 77
From the mid-1970s through the ’90s, she had a career at most of the world’s top opera houses, but in 1991 she began the job for which she’ll be remembered: teaching singing at the Mannes College of Music in Manhattan. Among her students, there and in her private studio, were Deborah Voigt, Sondra Radvanovsky, Nadine Sierra, Kate Lindsey, and Danielle de Niese. – The New York Times
Theatres Remain Dark In The US – Some Are Blaming The Actors Union
“Some theater professionals say Equity’s lockdown could effectively kill off the entire industry — an industry that generated about $17 billion in ticket sales in 2017, according to a March study from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the National Endowment for the Arts.” – Fort Myers News-Press
Planet Word, New Museum Devoted To Language, Opens In D.C.
“The interactive museum fills three floors of the historic Franklin School with play spaces, games and videos screens — lots of video screens — that invite visitors to think about the origins and evolution of English, to explore the unique qualities of other languages and to play with words by reading, singing and speaking. … With a decidedly middle-school-students-on-spring-break vibe (most obvious in its bathroom humor), it is a descendant of science centers rather than the Smithsonian facilities that line the Mall.” – The Washington Post
‘Its Idealism Is As Inspiring Its Naiveté Is Disquieting’: Philip Kennicott On Planet Word
“[It] inhabits essentially the same universe as most of the museums that preceded it a century ago: It hopes to raise up the discourse, and spread the blessings of the educated and elite to those who hope to be educated and elite. … Everything is up to date in this museum of video screens and touch panels except its founding principle, which is the old noblesse oblige.” – The Washington Post
Quibi’s Founders, Jeffrey Katzenberg And Meg Whitman, Explain Why And How It’s Closing
Katzenberg: “There was no question that keeping us going was not going to have a different outcome, it was just going to spend a whole lot more money without any value to show for it.” Whitman: “Most entrepreneurs just keep on going [until] they literally run out of money and we just didn’t think that was the right thing to do.” – Deadline
Quibi Shuts Down After Six Months
“Quibi, the mobile-first streaming service to specialize in original shows with short five to 10-minute-long episodes, is shutting down its business operations and selling its assets little more than 6 months after launching. … It was an abrupt ending for a company founded by big names in entertainment and business worlds and seemed poised, at one point, to reinvent the streaming TV game.” – NPR
Missing Jacob Lawrence Painting Found After Neighbor Visits Met Museum
“Last week a friend of mine went to the show and said, ‘There’s a blank spot on the wall and I believe that’s where your painting belongs,’ ” she continued. “I felt I owed it both to the artist and the Met to allow them to show the painting.” – The New York Times
Edgar Allan Poe Letter Pleading For $40 Sells For $125,000
“Here he’s writing to a magazine editor basically begging for money. The person behind these incredible psychological thrillers and macabre tales was in fact struggling and could maybe relate to the chaos around him.” – Baltimore Sun
Pandemic Has Turned American Theatre’s Ecosystem Upside-Down, And That Might Be A Good Thing
“COVID-19 is the great disruptor, forcing long overdue introspection and reinvention. … Theatres with lovely large venues, lots of seats, and the wherewithal to attract large numbers of people to pay large amounts of money to view virtuosic work may now be at the bottom of the theatrical food chain. Meanwhile, nimble, itinerant companies that don’t rely on ticket sales for viability may surface as the new sages.” – HowlRound
Keith Jarrett Reveals He’s Had Two Strokes And May Never Perform Again
“I was paralyzed. My left side is still partially paralyzed. I’m able to try to walk with a cane, but it took a long time for that, took a year or more. … I don’t know what my future is supposed to be. I don’t feel right now like I’m a pianist. That’s all I can say about that.” – The New York Times
Weird Oily Substance Smeared On Artefacts In Berlin Museums; Weird Conspiracy Theories Reportedly Involved
“Objects including Egyptian sarcophagi, stone sculptures and 19th-century paintings held at the Pergamon Museum, the Alte Nationalgalerie and the Neues Museum sustained visible damage during the attack on 3 October. … German media have linked the museum island attack to conspiracy theories pushed through social media channels. … One such theory claims that the Pergamon Museum is the centre of the ‘global satanism scene’.” – The Guardian
Australia Announced A $250M Arts Rescue Package In June, and 80% Of It Still Hasn’t Been Allocated
At a Senate hearing on Wednesday in Canberra, officials at first weren’t able to say at all how much of the aid had been distributed to struggling arts organizations. Later, they said that just under $50 million had been allocated, all of it to film and television; meanwhile, those who work in live performance and visual art grow ever more desperate. – The Guardian