“[Researchers] have found that the uniquely peculiar way that Danes speak” – mangled consonants and 40 different vowel sounds – “seems to make it difficult for Danish children to learn their native language – and this challenges some central tenets of the science of language.” – The Conversation
Why Writers Need Agents
Writers need agents more than agents need writers. They have needed them since the late 19th century, when an increasingly literate public fed by the magazines and single-volume prints made possible by the invention of Linotype printing created a lucrative industry. – The Guardian
San Francisco Ballet’s Executive Director Up And Quits
“Kelly Tweeddale, the former symphony and opera executive who was hired in 2019 as executive director of the San Francisco Ballet, stepped down from the post on Monday, June 28, after less than two years on the job. An announcement from the company gave no reason for the decision.” – San Francisco Chronicle
A Battle Between Under-40s And Over-40s At Publishing Houses
“The distinction really is between social media natives who don’t really treasure free speech because they’ve had a lifetime’s worth and think it’s overrated, and people of an older generation who didn’t have access to the means of cultural production and needed the patronage of newspapers and publishing houses to get their voices heard.” – The Observer
How To Tell If You’re Part Of A Cult
It is language that can best clue us in as to whether an organization we have joined is a cult or is at least engaging in cultlike behavior to extract resources out of its members. – The New Republic
Louise Bourgeois And Her Exploration Of Pain
“The subject of pain is the business I am in,” Louise Bourgeois once remarked. Like Emily Dickinson whose business was “circumference,” Bourgeois circled her subject all her life. – The Yale Review
An Intimacy Coordinator Explains How Exactly He Works On Set
“Your boundaries can change given the person, given who’s in the room, given I’m on a sofa not a bed, that changes how I feel about how we’re shooting this scene. Consent is very specific to the context and the moment, and if anything changes, that can change consent level.” (podcast plus transcript) – Slate
A New American Heroine: Sapphire’s ‘Push’ At 25
Tayari Jones: “The miracle of Sapphire’s gift is that she weaves her sharp social commentary and critique into the fabric of this story without shredding its fibres. This is a novel about people and their problems, not problems and their people..” – The Guardian
Broadway’s ‘Harry Potter And The Cursed Child’ To Be Cut By Half
Before the pandemic, the award-winning hit played in two parts running a total of more than five hours. As theaters reopen, Cursed Child will remain as it was in Europe and Australia, but in North America it will be reduced to a single part, length as yet undetermined. – The New York Times
YouTube Buys Naming Rights For New 6000-Seat Theatre In LA
The 6,000-seat performance venue at the Hollywood Park sports and entertainment complex in Inglewood, Calif., will be called “YouTube Theater.” – Variety
LA’s Echo Theater: 25 Years As A Hotbed Of Offbeat New Work
Artistic director Chris Fields: “We’ve had a very simple system at the Echo. We read a play every week amongst ourselves and talk about it. If we respond, we’ll do a public reading. … Actors would invite other actors, many of them new transplants to L.A., and so we really started to develop our network. And that really trickled down over the years.” – Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
To Protect Your Orchestra Players From COVID, Change Their Layout: Study
A study undertaken over the past season by the Utah Symphony and University of Utah researchers found that a new seating arrangement could reduce the spread of aerosols by a factor of 100. The key principle? The equivalent of making a smoker sit by the window. – Smithsonian Magazine
Lyric Opera Of Chicago Sees Reason, Will Have Intermissions
About six weeks after announcing that, as a COVID safety measure, it would eliminate intermissions when it resumes live performances — and just over a month after critic Chris Jones issued the cry “Let the people pee without missing a note!” — the company has reversed course. – Yahoo! (Chicago Tribune)
Philadelphia’s Annenberg Center Changes Name
“Penn Live Arts is the new moniker for the group and series long known as the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. The switch comes as the major arts presenter evolves to become more closely integrated with Penn students, faculty, and curriculum, and as it plans to increase the number of presentations it does in locations beyond its campus at 36th and Walnut Streets.” – MSN (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Suffering Under The Weight Of Happiness
Wanting to copy the happiest people in the world is an understandable impulse, but it distracts from a key message of the happiness rankings—that equitable, balanced societies make for happier residents. – The Atlantic
No Surprise: How AI Is Choosing The Next Pop Stars
Musiio is just one of many hi-tech firms changing the way songs are categorised, playlisted and promoted, to eventually reach the ears of millions. They’re fast, efficient and get attention for unheard-of acts. – The Guardian
Inimitable
It is my privilege to partner a new Myrios Classics CD: Mozart’s two most important four-hand piano sonatas, importantly performed by Kirill Gerstein and Ferenc Rados. – Joseph Horowitz
The Basic Tensions Between Individualism And The Greater Good
Do we want conflicting disconnected atoms or thriving autonomous individuals? And what role do culture and society have in their formation? – 3 Quarks Daily
“Banksy: Genius Or Vandal” Raises Ire Of Banksy Fans
The exhibition will take over a “secret” location in L.A. to be disclosed to ticket holders in July. – Los Angeles Times
Emmy Nomination Voters Shouldn’t Miss These Shows
If the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences wants to avoid a Hollywood Foreign Press Association-style meltdown, it really has to prove itself with these nominations. NPR’s Eric Duggans offers some institution-saving suggestions for the voters – and for the rest of us. – NPR