“The insidious thing was that when he was away from the oboe, his fingers worked just fine. It was only when he performed that his fingers got confused and stiffened. Practicing longer and harder only made the task-specific disorder worse.”
Is There A Specifically American Style Of Stand-Up? (Asks A Brit)
Brian Logan: “‘This is an American-style hour,’ says Ari Shaffir at the top of his Edinburgh festival show. ‘So there’s no theme and no crying.’ So is that the American style of comedy? … I’ve seen a handful of US acts this first week on the [Edinburgh] fringe, and it’s interesting to note the features that, to some degree, make them distinctive.”
PEN America Creates New $50,000 Award For Foreign Authors
“The PEN/Nabokov award, supported by the Vladimir Nabokov Literary Foundation, replaces another award with the same name but a different remit. It will go to a writer born or residing outside the US, either writing in or translated into English to honor ‘an outstanding body of work over a sustained career’. “
Athletes At The Ancient Olympics Didn’t Get Medals, They Got Victory Odes
“Forget medals, Wheaties boxes, interviews on Good Morning America, or corporate sponsorships: The ancient Greeks celebrated their Olympic champions with poetry.”
The Abuse On Twitter Isn’t Accidental – It’s Built In
“Despite its integral role in popular culture and in social justice initiatives from the Arab Spring to Black Lives Matter, Twitter is as infamous today for being as toxic as it is famous for being revolutionary. And unless you’re a celebrity — or, as it turns out, the president of the United States of America — good luck getting help.”
When Does Digital Photo Editing Go Too Far?
“Just as doping in sports has sullied a pursuit where no one is supposed to cheat, editing tools like Photoshop are increasingly casting suspicion over an industry where no picture is supposed to lie.”
How To Survive A Book Emergency (Without An E-reader)
“I called AAA and waited for them to arrive and fix my flat tire. I waited. And I waited. And I waited some more. And suddenly I realized, to my horror, that I didn’t have any reading material in the car.”
Britain Resorts To Crowdfunding To Restore The ‘UK Sistine Chapel’
“Such is the impact of the 4,200 sq m of decoration, the Painted Hall has been dubbed the UK’s Sistine Chapel. But it was – and remains – so overwhelming that, according to legend, elderly sailors pleaded to be allowed to eat their dinners somewhere less grand.”
Two Years After Life-Threatening Crisis, Atlanta Symphony Reports Budget Surplus
“The ASO announced yesterday that it closed the 2015-16 fiscal year with a budget surplus for the second straight year. ASO spokeswoman Tammy Hawk said the final budget numbers won’t be released until a final audit is complete. In addition, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Musicians’ Endowment Fund has raised over $20 million and is expected to reach its $25 million goal this year.”
Why Do Some Composers Want To Write Music To Drive Us Crazy?
“Satie knew that the prospect of performing this composition was so daunting, he wrote a note above the score that said one should “prepare oneself beforehand, in the deepest silence, by serious immobilities. It’s as if he knew he had devised an art piece that is a cudgel to lay up against the side of the listeners’ heads with a force and fervor they can’t deserve.”
Who’s Really Buying Vinyl Records? Old Lonely People, Mostly
“Those who have recently purchased a vinyl album are most likely to be aged between 45 and 54, apparently. In fact, those in the 18-24 age group are the least likely. It is not just an act of hoarding by hobbyists, either – it has emotional significance: older vinyl buyers are slightly more likely to keep their feelings to themselves (56% of vinyl buyers versus 53% of all UK adults) and enjoy being alone (69% of vinyl buyers versus 66% all UK adults).”
Why The Music Industry Is Going To War Against Internet Platforms
“Rampant piracy is the narrative being pushed by the music industry in its letter to Congress, but the truth is more complicated. Read between the lines of the letter, and a larger, more lucrative and familiar problem appears: The royalties that an artist or songwriter gets each time a stream of their song is played are declining.”
Hollywood (And Jared Leto) Have Ruined Method Acting
“Leto’s stories [of his behavior on the Suicide Squad set] show how going to great lengths to inhabit a character is now as much a marketing tool as it is an actual technique – one used to lend an air of legitimacy, verisimilitude, and importance to a performance no matter its quality. Leto’s Joker is the latest evidence that the prestige of method acting has dimmed – thanks to the technique’s overuse by those seeking award-season glory or a reputation boost, as well as its history of being shaped by destructive ideas of masculinity.”
Could Software Generate Journalism (Or Even A Good Facsimile Of It)?
“What about telling a story? Not like cookie-cutter data chunks turned into sentences, but a tale with a lot of context and information. Could an algorithm someday write a breezy 2,000-word article like this one? Nobody can currently claim that throne, but one company that appears to be closer to that goal than most is an Israeli firm called Articoolo.”
The Monkey-Selfie Copyright Case Is Back In Court, With A Primatologist Weighing In (Guess On Whose Side)
Five years ago in Indonesia, a crested macaque named Naruto found a photographer’s unattended digital camera and took what became known worldwide as the “monkey selfie.” Last year, PETA filed a lawsuit arguing that Naruto was legally the creator of the image, which should be considered its intellectual property. PETA lost the first round, but the appeal is now in court.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 08.11.16
How Do You Test For The Arts?
It’s a more difficult question than you might think. There’s a maxim in the education world that only subjects that are tested are funded. Thus the imperative for arts education champions to get the arts included in required standardized tests. … read more
AJBlog: diacritical/Douglas McLennan Published 2016-08-11
Rewind: Another Look at William Merritt Chase
Do we need to become reacquainted with William Merritt Chase? I’m afraid we do. … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2016-08-11
2016 Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival: Further Impressions
Nearly as old as jazz itself, Svend Asmussen celebrated his 100th birthday in February. The Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival honored him in a concert … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-08-11
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Theatre Repertory Companies Have Mostly Disappeared. But When You Experience Them…
“Seeing plays in repertory sparks conversations in the mind between shows, between periods. And it’s also distinctly satisfying — sometimes even astonishing — to watch an actor you’ve seen in, say, a Shakespeare tragedy performing a day or so later in a classic American musical.”
You Pay A Real Emotional Price To Be A Stage Actor
“It’s a highwire act, live performance, the psychological stresses of which one medical study has likened to ‘a small car crash’. That might explain the adrenaline rush actors feel immediately after coming off stage, and the strange hangover that can come the next day.” Kate Fleetwood, Michelle Terry, and Ben Miles tell what it’s like.
The Choreographer Who Made Herself A YouTube Superstar
“In an era when dance has exploded thanks to social media, [Tricia] Miranda wanted to share her dance moves, unfiltered, with the rest of the world. So in 2014, she hired a videographer to tape her dance studio in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, with students performing her signature moves.” Her first video racked up 27 million views, a later one 41 million, and her YouTube channel now has a million subscribers.
Sydney Opera House To Get $156 Million Upgrade (Is That Enough To Fix The Acoustics?)
The bulk of the spending in the four-year, A$202 million project, funded by the New South Wales state government, will be for a renovation to fix the notoriously bad sound in the opera house’s concert hall.
Dances With Cows: High (Agri-)Culture In Vermont
“A Vermont ballet group brings whimsical performances outside to farms around the state. The Farm to Ballet Project raises money for agriculture while widening the audience for classical ballet.” (video)