“Some of the world’s most glorious sights can only be experienced if you crane your neck. Jonathan Glancey looks up.” (And the Sistine Chapel didn’t even make the cut.)
The World’s Biggest Street Dance Competition
“Dancers from all over the world compete in the international tour of Juste Debout in the hope that they will get the chance to battle in the preliminary rounds in France and perform at the finals in Paris. This year, for the first time, the judges are all women who have previously won in the four main categories: popping, locking, hip-hop and house.” (video)
How ‘Bookchat’ Came To Devour Literary Discourse
“There are listicles of books or about books: there was even one recently about ‘The Top Ten Squirrels in Literature.’ There are interviews and aspirational how-tos. There are publicity statements, which are circulated and regurgitated into light critical opinion – as much as any book review. There is the relatively new phenomenon of the author self-testimonial: upon publication of his novel, the author will write a piece about writing the novel.”
If Belgium Has A Terrorism Problem, This Author/Playwright Has Part Of The Solution
“‘We have to mix,’ he says. The 39-year-old playwright grew up the son of Moroccan immigrants in Brussels. His comedy Djihad, about young Belgians going off to fight in Syria and becoming disillusioned along the way, has been playing to sold-out audiences for more than a year now.” (includes audio)
NPR Appears To Be Fighting The Future (And It’s Not Pretty)
“NPR can’t promote NPR One — the lauded, loved app that is basically the future of NPR — to what is literally the group of people that would be most interested in it, NPR radio listeners. NPR is investing substantially in developing podcasts — but it isn’t allowed to tell radio listeners where to find them or how they can listen to them. This seems dumb to a lot of people, both inside and outside public media.”
The Violin Thief Who Stole A Strad And Got Away With It
“The fact that Johnson could play the instrument publicly is less a show of daring than a symbol of how far he had fallen. The hotshot violinist, once a standout, was so anonymous that he could play a stolen Stradivarius – and no one noticed.”
The Ticket Lines For “Hamilton” Have Gotten Completely Out Of Hand (And A Hotel Takes Action)
At around 6:30 Wednesday morning, hotel security from the neighboring Marriott Marquis shooed the line it had tolerated for months from its property, saying, according to fans in attendance, they were “banned.”
She Wasn’t Just The Topless Cellist: Restoring Charlotte Moorman To Her Place In The Post-War Avant-Garde
“Why are Charlotte Moorman’s contributions … so underappreciated and relatively unknown today? … Because she was a woman, because she was married, because she was naked, because she was a performing artist with a ‘repertoire’ rather than a ‘practice'” … ?
Moralizing Museum Art? Peter Plagens Responds To Holland Cotter
“There’s not a kind of art on Earth now or in the past whose societal context doesn’t include great evils. Do we need to be told in wall text or brochures–in order to look at the art–that Victorian England was a quagmire of exploitation, that Napoleonic France was nasty, that whatever dynasty in China wasn’t exactly democratic…”
Venice Declared As Europe’s Most-Endangered Heritage Site
“Europa Nostra and the EIB Institute – following a firm recommendation from an international advisory panel of experts – decided that the Venice Lagoon in Italy should be declared the most endangered heritage site in Europe, given the paramount importance of this heritage landmark to Europe and the world, as well as the complexity and magnitude of the challenges posed.”
Why Our Movie Theatres Are About To Be Awash In Animated Movies
“Animated films still offer the largest risk/reward equation in the movie business. It’s the most profitable movie genre, averaging a 36 per cent return over the past decade, according to analysis by SNL Kagan. Science fiction and fantasy films, with a 26 per cent profit margin, took a distant second place, while dramas and comedies barely broke even. Yet animation is the most expensive genre.”
It Survived Dictatorship, Sanctions, And War, But Iraq’s Music And Ballet School Might Not Survive Low Oil Prices
“The teachers are still receiving salaries, but funds for instruments and equipment are drying up, leading to the cancellation of performances and raising concerns that the school – which has always recruited based on talent alone – may one day only serve the wealthy or close altogether.”
The Science Behind The Darkest Black Ever Created
“The darkest shade of black isn’t a pigment at all – it’s a material called Vantablack that’s made up of billions of carbon nanotubes clustered together, and it reflects so little light that were you to spread it over a piece of wrinkled tinfoil, the wrinkles would disappear.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 03.17.16
The Weight of Failure
Gravity is greater on Planet Freelance than on Planet Employee, and failure is heavier for a freelancer than for a company employee. During 20 years of employment in organizations and … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2016-03-17
The Importance of Play
Failure and success tend to go hand in hand. One can’t experience one without the other. Failure is how we learn, how we grow, how we change, and ultimately, how … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2016-03-17
The dominant problem
Most of us would admit that our work comprises a complex bundle of interconnected problems. Each day we attack the particular problems in front of us (or the problems that pop up or pop into … read more
AJBlog: The Artful Manager Published 2016-03-17
Teaching controversial topics in class, and guns
At the Chronicle of Higher Education, Erik Gilbert writes that academics should calm down about college campuses being moved by legislation to allow the concealed carry of firearms. He concludes: People who are terrified by … read more
AJBlog: For What It’s Worth Published 2016-03-17
Buoyant about Met Breuer: My Q&A with Metropolitan Museum President Daniel Weiss – Part II
The last of the Metropolitan Museum’s “Five-Year Strategic Goals,” listed in the Mission Statement of its latest annual report, is to “to enable greater transparency, efficiency, collaboration and communication” … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-03-17
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Romania Wants To Buy Its Most Famous Sculpture (And Wants To Crowdfund Part Of The Cost)
“Culture Minister Vlad Alexandrescu said Thursday the government will pay 5 million euros ($5.65 million) of the 11 million-euro price for “Wisdom of the Earth.” It will ask the public to donate the rest.”
Protesting The Museum To Make It Moral
“That museums are now targets says something about their newly perceived status. Once considered standoffish, genteel and politically marginal, they are now viewed as being emblematically engaged players within the power network of global capitalism. And some are seen as using that status badly.”
Another Day, Another Ancient Sculpture Seized By The Feds From Asia Week New York
“Federal agents seized an ancient Afghan statue from a Manhattan gallery Wednesday morning, part of a string of seizures that began Friday and have coincided with Asia Week festivities in New York.”
Having Killed The Mass-Market Paperback Of ‘Mockingbird’, HarperCollins Will Discount Trade Paperback For Schools
“HarperCollins will offer a discount on its trade paperback of Harper Lee’s 1960 classic To Kill a Mockingbird through retail accounts that sell directly to schools. The announcement came days after the news broke that the cheaper, mass-market paperback edition, which is popular in schools, would be discontinued next month.”
European Museums Begin Turning To American-Style Philanthropy
“Governments in Europe are cutting back their support of museums, and so these museums are adapting the American model and increasingly are turning to private citizens and corporations for donations. They are looking both to their own citizens, and to Americans who are fond of certain major European museums.”