" an art form that is usually in good condition when first discovered because floors are the first area to be naturally buried over time. But once exposed, mosaics become especially vulnerable to damage by root growth, animals, and humans." - Hyperallergic
"I danced some fabulous ballets and fabulous roles. And yet there’s hundreds more like me — thousands maybe. We might be exceptional in one way: You reached the top level of your career, and you have these pinnacle moments onstage. But at the end of the day, we’re all a gang. We’re all a crew, we’re all a posse...
"Today's sex scenes are first and foremost fun — as ideally sex itself should be — and emphasize the truthful over the tasteful. In some cases, you'll see likable, relatable characters revealing perverse predilections. … Other moments make for embarrassing yet endearing waypoints en route to real intimacy. … Other filmmakers bulldoze the boundaries of which bodies the culture...
"Major publishers have created special collections to promote first-time authors and ethnic minorities while new publishing houses are opening the field to a larger spectrum of writers, styles, and subject matter. … In parallel, writing workshops and graduate degrees in creative writing – once seen as a North American concept – are popping up around the country and acting...
"In the early 1970s, long before the rise of lesbian or gay-friendly acts such as K.D. Lang, Melissa Etheridge, Ani DiFranco and the Indigo Girls, Ms. Dobkin was writing and recording songs that celebrated lesbian life. … music history in 1973 when she released Lavender Jane Loves Women, generally considered the first full-length album by, for and about...
"From Judas and the Black Messiah to H.E.R.'s 'I Can't Breathe,' from the canceling of podcasts to the toppling of monuments to oppression, from White Fragility to Ibram X. Kendi's How to Be an Antiracist: Thanks to the culture we shared in a year unlike any other, the world looks, for better or worse, at least a little different."...
"A violin found in an attic in Italy has been confirmed as a priceless instrument made by Giuseppe Guarneri 'filius Andreae' in c.1705. The age of the wood was confirmed using dendrochronology, and the researchers were even able to prove it came from the same tree as the wood in an already-identified violin by the same maker." - The...
"In a new decision issued by the IPO Cancellation Division, a trademark owned by street artist Banksy has been declared invalid. … The attorney who represented the opposing party in the case" — a greeting-card company — "said 'the real nail in the coffin' that led to the ruling was 'the public comments of Banksy and his lawyer'."...
" quirky 104-year-old Manhattan specialty store that has long been a haven for aspiring artists as well as a purveyor of scripts, will reopen next month with a new location, a new look, and a new team of starry owners — the Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, as well as the show's director, Thomas Kail, lead producer, Jeffrey Seller, and...
What might sound like general pep-talk fodder for the averagely scheduled person is actually just pragmatic paraphrase for Midori, whose prodigious musical talent was merely the first movement in a career that has extended into music education, community outreach and arts advocacy. - Washington Post
Mega-mogul Barry Diller’s $260 million, 2.4-acre pet project and civic mitzvah, near 13th Street in Hudson River Park, is the architectural equivalent of a kitchen sink sundae, with a little bit of everything. Who knows what it will feel like when crowds arrive this weekend. I suspect they will be enormous. - The New York Times
Currently the sales revival is uneven across venue types, with aggregate sales for symphonies and concert halls the lowest compared to the equivalent month in 2019. -TRG
Until recently, it would have been possible to walk across town and replicate the experience with Van Gogh’s Starry Night Over the Rhône—to stand on the banks of the river and gaze out at the same vista that met the artist’s eye over 130 years ago. For the first time in many years, Arles’ skyline is changing, with the...
Like so many businesses, the movie theater industry has been ravaged by the economic effects of the pandemic. Theaters were starved of audiences when lockdowns went into effect, and studios delayed new releases or, in some cases, put them out on streaming services. Some chains have shut down and others have declared bankruptcy. AMC Entertainment’s chief executive, Adam Aron,...
It was a Cambridge professor of literature, almost a century ago in the aftermath of World War I, who pioneered a view of cognition we can recognize as strikingly modern, and who appreciated what we are only now beginning to rediscover: the great potential of interactions between the narrative arts and brain science. - Nautilus
