“‘The entire world seems to be terrified of ISIS, so we want to laugh at them, expose their hypocrisy and show that their interpretation of Islam does not represent the overwhelming majority of Muslims,’ says Maen Watfe, 27. ‘The media, especially the western media, obsessively reproduce ISIS propaganda portraying them as strong and intimidating. We want to show their weaknesses.'”
A Rabbi And An Atheist Talk Good And Evil
And they didn’t walk into a bar, they walked into the 92nd St. Y. They’re Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic magazine, and Rabbi Geoffrey Mitelman, founder of Sinai and Synapses, “an organization that aims to bridge the gap between scientifically grounded views and spiritual belief.”
The Striking Revamp Of Chile’s Pre-Columbian Museum
“Pre-Columbian galleries are often overstuffed, musty affairs — a million clay shards in endless vitrines. But the Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art brings drama to the works in its collection, which are just divine.”
How Much Does It Cost To Audition For ‘Jeopardy’?
“FYI: ‘Jeopardy’ doesn’t pay for anything; you even pay for your own transportation and lodging in L.A. if you’re taping an episode.”
Why Sampling Music Is A Creative Act
“Among sampling musicians, discovery has the same creative status as invention. DJs always want to play something that listeners don’t already know but that they will immediately like, and hip-hop producers have inherited this attitude. In a world saturated with recordings, creating more music ex nihilo is not the valuable service to humanity that it once was. I make sample-based music because I feel like it’s more worthwhile to identify existing sounds that have been overlooked, to bring them to fresh ears, and to give them fresh meaning in new contexts.”
No New Thinking In Gardner Museum Heist
“When opened in 1903, the Gardner was, for a time, the largest privately-owned museum in the United States and boasted priceless canvases by Rembrandt, Degas, Vermeer, and other masters. Yet when the museum was hit in 1990, there wasn’t even a central fire-alarm system. The fire alarms were independent buzzing wall models, like those ones homeowners can buy at Walmart or Home Depot.”
London Might Be Pricing Dance Out. Can New Buildings Help?
“London is thriving as a world capital of dance, but there’s a danger that this may change. As in New York – once a creative playground because of its cheap rents and empty loft spaces – the rising price of property may soon drive the talent away.”
What Charlie Brown And Charlie Hebdo Have In Common
“Whatever could Charlie Brown and Charlie Hebdo have to do with each other? What could link Charles Schulz, the very definition of a cartoonist who hated provocation, with a publication whose very mission was to offend? And what could the editors of Charlie Hebdo, known for being bête et méchant (stupid and mean), ever have seen in Peanuts?”
How Do Young Musicians’ Brains Develop?
Learning a sport develops gross motor skills “like how to kick a ball,” while music training develops fine motor skills, “like the way you draw a line. They’re complementary. Both are necessary and important.”
How Santiago Calatrava’s Glorious Boondoggle At The World Trade Center May Be His Waterloo
“[He] was commissioned to design an architectural extravagance at ground zero. He succeeded, an accomplishment that threatens to destroy his reputation.”
Harper Lee Does Want Second Book Published, Says Alabama State Agency
Joseph Borg, head of the Alabama Securities Commission: “We made a determination that Ms. Lee, based on our interview with her, was aware that her book was going to be published. She wanted it to be published. She made it quite clear she did.”
Rupert Goold Says The American Model Of Creating New Musicals Is Better Than The British One
The English director, “whose production of Made in Dagenham is currently running in the West End, said that, unlike the US, the UK’s musical theatre scene is ‘led by a producing model that is dictated by the size of our theatres’ and added that musicals should originate from writers and composers who have stories they need to tell.”
Here’s What’s Getting Audra McDonald Back On Broadway (Since “‘Night, Mother” Didn’t Work Out)
She’ll be starring in a new musical, directed by George C. Wolfe and choreographed by Savion Glover, about the making of the 1921 all-black musical that launched Josephine Baker’s career.
How A Movie About Kremlin Corruption Became A No. 1 Hit in Russia
“It says something about Russia’s messy, fitful return to dictatorship that, in the week after the murder of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, the best performing movie in the country, beating out Focus and Cinderella this past weekend, was a thriller whose villain works deep within the Russian government.”
The Problem With The Enlightenment(s)
“The greatness of the Enlightenment lies less in its ideals, than in our efforts to realize them. The tragedy of the Enlightenment lies there too. … It was a set of abstract philosophical ideals, but it was also a lived historical experience, full of ordinary disappointments and irregularities” – it was, like a centaur, an impossible combination. “We know what a centaur should look like, but we never see one in real life.”
Why Lawyers Object To Making Legal Briefs Briefer
The federal judiciary plan “would pare back the word-count limit from 14,000 to a svelte 12,500. The idea has gotten a thumbs-down verdict from some lawyers … but it won cheers from dozens of bleary-eyed appellate judges.” (Mind you, for the attorneys, it’s not just about billable hours.)
Top Posts From AJBlogs 03.12.15
Arts organizations and the quest for data
AJBlog: For What It’s Worth Published 2015-03-12
Buyer of Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi Identified
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2015-03-12
Hard Times at Haverford: Recent Travails of Daniel Weiss, Metropolitan Museum’s Incoming President
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-03-12
Charlie Parker, 8/29/20 – 3/12/55
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-03-12
Jazz, by the numbers
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2015-03-12
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Author Terry Pratchett, 66
He was the UK’s bestselling author of the 1990s and sold more than 85m books worldwide.
Record Global Movie Box Office In 2014 Fueled By Huge Surge In China
“Global box-office revenue climbed to $36.4 billion, according to an annual report Wednesday from the Motion Picture Assn. of America. And much of the growth came from one country: China. The world’s most populous nation saw its box-office revenue jump 34% to a staggering $4.8 billion last year, making it the first foreign market to cross the $4-billion threshold.”
Here’s How Big Los Angeles’ Creative Economy Is
“The report compiled figures on jobs and pay from 2013 for a dozen creative industries that include not just arts and entertainment but also advertising, publishing and three manufacturing and product sales fields: fashion, furniture and toys. Thus defined, the report said, creative sector payrolls accounted for 406,900 jobs in L.A. and Orange counties in 2013 — 12.5% of the region’s economy as a whole.”
This Week’s Copyright Ruling Against Pharrell Was Based On Sheet Music? In 2015?
“Owing to the specifics of copyright law, the jury was instructed to base its decision on the sheet music, a fact that reflects how inadequate copyright law is when it comes to contemporary songwriting and production practices. In 2015, the arrangement of notes on a sheet of paper is among the least integral parts of pop music creation.”
Barbara Hannigan: Gender Is Not A Trait Of Conducting An Orchestra
“Conducting is one of those few final frontiers in which there is a dearth of women. For me, though, the issue is much more complicated than a call of “We need more women conductors!” It is musicianship, psychology and technical skill all bound together in a rare type of leadership that is elusive. It is neither male nor female.”
Now Even The State Of Alabama Is Worried About Harper Lee
“Responding to at least one complaint of potential elder abuse related to the publication of Go Set a Watchman, investigators interviewed Ms. Lee last month at the assisted living facility where she resides. They have also interviewed employees at the facility, called the Meadows, as well as several friends and acquaintances.”