“Yes, beauty is only skin deep. Yes, we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Yes, critics shouldn’t disparage people for their God-given physical features. But we live in a visual age. Magazines — not to mention theater, opera, and dance companies — would be out of business if they pretended otherwise. Or do you think it’s a coincidence that there are no unpleasant-looking people on Good Morning America?”
Spun-Off Time, Inc. Faces Long, Difficult Road
“What was once a jewel in terms of profit and stature is now a drag on the share price of Time Warner, its parent company, and is being spun off with little ceremony and a load of debt. Absent the diversified portfolio of Time Warner, Time Inc. will be going it alone with more than 90 magazines and 45 websites in a market that views print as a thing of the past.”
Stop Reader-Shaming People (It’s Stupid, Counterproductive, And Doesn’t Work)
“What’s wrong with reading for fun? Especially at a time when publishers are laying off staffers and bookstores are closing, why condemn others for what they choose to read?”
It’s Time To Stop Training So Many Actors For Work They Won’t Be Able To Find
Susan Elkin, The Stage‘s Education and Training editor: “Nobody embarks on medical training, an accountancy degree or business management training in the knowledge that she or he is highly unlikely ever to be able to make a living from it. It simply isn’t how training and work operates in a sensible world.”
What If Streaming Music Doesn’t Work Out?
“If you kill the idea of downloads, ring the death knell of the shiny disc, and streaming becomes ubiquitous, great! But, what if we only reach a combined total of say, 20-40 mil subs in the U.S.? Then what? It won’t be sustainable.”
Audra McDonald Criticized For Tony Speech
“I’m sure that you were not personally judging me and other concerned parents when you thanked your parents for not putting you on Ritalin.But damn it, you’re not making it any easier to live with our hard decisions. There’s anxiety and then there’s Audra-induced anxiety, which is more dramatic and accomplished than the regular sort.”
Spielberg Wants To Make Tony-Winning LBJ Play Into Miniseries
All The Way won statuettes for best play and best leading actor – Bryan Cranston, already a hot television property for starring in the just-concluded Breaking Bad. “Spielberg wants Cranston to reprise his role in a drama that begins with the Kennedy assassination, and spans the first year of Johnson’s administration,” including passage of the Civil Rights Act.
When I Met The Apartheid-Era Assassin I’m Now Playing Onstage
“Eugene de Kock was the head of South Africa’s death squad, which tortured and killed opponents of apartheid. Matthew Marsh, now playing De Kock in A Human Being Died That Night, recalls an astonishing meeting with the assassin in a Pretoria jail.”
The Problems With French Cinema, From a Producer Who Really Knows
Richard Brody talks with Marin Charmitz, who has produced films by directors from Godard, Resnais, Chabrol, and Malle to Kieslowski, Kechiche, and Kiarostami.
How The Arts Should Use Data (At Least Asking The Question)
“If we are to measure cultural participation, then we should clearly know exactly what it is we are measuring. We should also be open to the many empirical forms of cultural participation that exist whether we say they do or not.”
Cincinnati Symphony Light Show Sells Out In 12 Minutes
“Tickets to the laser light show set to symphony music, scheduled for Aug. 1-3 in Washington Park, became available online at 8 a.m. Monday via Ticketmaster. They were gone by 8:12 a.m., said Meghan Berneking, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra spokeswoman.”
Study: Where You See Art Matters
“Our results suggest that time and context constitute more than framing dimensions for the experience of art,” the researchers write in the online journal PLoS One. “Context affects the experience of art.”
How We Got The Best Collection Of Letters On The Web
Shaun Usher was a freelance copywriter when a set of assignments for a client, a stationery retailer, gave him the idea to start Letters of Note.
National Ballet Of Cuba Dancers Defect In Puerto Rico
At least six and possibly eight performers left the company following a performance in San Juan this weekend – and they’re already booked to dance at a benefit in Miami this coming weekend.
Introversion: It’s Not What You Think It Is
“Quick Quiz: Which of the following are signs of introversion? Highly sensitive. Deep Thinker. Reflective. Introspective. Intelligent. Negative emotions. Socially Anxious. Defensive. Vulnerable. Always prefers solitude over social interaction. Answer: Not a single one.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 06.09.14
Making the old new (2)
Why don’t more performers add ornaments to old music the way its original interpreters did?
AJBlog: Sandow | Published 2014-06-09
The Ojai Music Festival and Uri Caine
AJBlog: CultureCrash | Published 2014-06-09
How To Curate A Folk Art Show Where There’s Little Tradition For It
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts | Published 2014-06-09
Opera and arts education
AJBlog: For What it’s Worth | Published 2014-06-09
[ssba_hide]
David Nadien, Ex-Concertmaster For The NY Phil, Dead At 88
“Concertmasters are typically poached from other orchestras or promoted from within the ranks, but Mr. Nadien, then 40, was a freelance commercial musician. Although Bernstein described him as ‘an extraordinary violinist,’ he had almost no experience playing with a major symphony orchestra.”
Guess What? Making Live Theatre Is Hard
“Lots and lots of Americans have never seen a musical or a play on Broadway. How to make them care?”
Family Commissions Symphony For Former Canadian Prime Minister’s 75th Birthday
“If you’re Joe Clark’s family, you commission a Canadian composer to write a symphony for the National Arts Centre Orchestra and surprise him by announcing it during an NAC concert on his 75th birthday.”
New Book Genre: The Extreme Reading Memoir
“The merchandising of reading [today] has a curiously undifferentiated flavor, as if what you read mattered less than that you read. In this climate of embattled bibliophilia, a new subgenre of books about books has emerged, a mix of literary criticism, autobiography, self-help, and immersion journalism: authors undertake reading stunts to prove that reading – anything – still matters.”
The Teen Whisperer: How Novelist John Green Attracted Legions Of Devoted Young Fans
“His protagonists were sweetly intellectual teen-age boys smitten with complicated, charismatic girls. Although the books were funny, their story lines propelled by spontaneous road trips and outrageous pranks, they displayed a youthfully insatiable appetite for big questions: What is an honorable life? How do we wrest meaning from the unexpected death of someone close to us? What do we do when we realize that we’re not as special as we thought we were?”