The challenge of designing a new building for Sandy Hook Elementary School fell to Svigals + Partners; the result seems almost cheery.
Ancient Egyptian Texts Collected And Published In English For First Time
Other than The Book of the Dead, few of the texts that have survived from the age of the pharaohs have been accessible to the general reader. “Tales of shipwreck and wonder, first-hand descriptions of battles and natural disasters, songs and satires make up [a new] anthology, titled Writings from Ancient Egypt.”
After A Decade Of Fluff: How The UK Fell In Love With Brainy Quiz Shows
“The appeal of tough TV quizzes is that sometimes, we want to be taxed. The lowest common denominator doesn’t always have to win. Difficult things can be fun. That competitive element, a touch of showing off on the sofa, doesn’t hurt either.”
Kung Fu Is Fading Away In Hong Kong
“The kung fu culture that [Bruce] Lee helped popularize – and that gave the city a gritty, exotic image in the eyes of foreigners – is in decline. Hong Kong’s streets are safer, with fewer murders by the fierce crime organizations known as triads that figured in so many kung fu films. And its real estate is among the world’s most expensive, making it difficult for training studios to afford soaring rents.”
Julian Fellowes On Writing ‘Downton Abbey’ Singlehandedly And What Happens To The Crawleys After The Finale
“Far more of those houses survived than people realize, and often with the families that were in them. It’s often down to luck, and the cleverness of the people in charge. … My own belief is that Mary, whether you like her or dislike her, is a hard worker, and she’s practical.”
Is There Anywhere In The US Where People Speak With A ‘Generic’ American Accent?
Well, there are places where people think they do. Linguists may beg to differ.
Italy To Give Every 18-Year-Old €500 To Spend On Culture
“In a scheme that gets underway on September 15th, every Italian resident [born in] 1998 will be given a ‘culture bonus’, which they can use to buy books, concerts tickets, theatre tickets, cinema tickets, museum visits and even trips to the country’s national parks.”
Report: Consumers Are Mostly Not Buying Or Renting Digital TV Shows
“46 percent of consumers have ever bought or rented a digital movie or TV show, according to GfK’s recent Home Technology Monitor. In contrast, 86 percent of consumers have rented or bought a DVD or Blu-ray in the past, and 78 percent have done so with a VHS tape.”
Let’s Have A Frank Word About Book Reviews
“The nightmare reviewer is the reviewer who has some sort of agenda that precludes him or her responding sincerely to the book. Often that agenda is seeming clever and/or taking someone who has received more than her fair share of attention down a notch. But again, there are people who are just on a different wavelength from you, and it’s not that they misunderstand your book — it’s that they really in their heart of hearts don’t like it. That’s actually fair.”
What Should We Do With Art Whose Message Hasn’t Endured (Or Is Now Offensive)?
“People who denounce the cultural cleansing of ISIS and the Taliban are often just as likely to demand the removal of old-fashioned artwork from their own public spaces. Our Western reasons are far more sensible: We want the removal of murals and paintings that perpetuate dangerous racial or gender stereotypes (noble “natives” leading European explorers, contented cotton pickers in the U.S. South, socialist-realist mothers clasping babies behind their warrior men…). These are no longer valuable; indeed, they are offensive and may cause harm.”
Bad Puppy! The Alt-Right Clique That Tried To Hijack Sci-Fi’s Hugo Awards
The Hugo awards ceremony “only represents tiny, insular, politically motivated cliques taking turns giving their friends awards,” Larry Coreia, a ringleader of the Puppies, argued in 2015. Because of this supposed conspiracy — for which there continues to be no real evidence — he felt justified in helping organize an actual conspiracy of his tiny, insular, politically motivated clique to flood the ballot with conservatives.
The Al Qaeda Leader On Trial For Destroying Timbuktu’s Treasures
“al Mahdi is not on trial for the amputations, beheadings, torture, and rapes associated with the “holy war” waged by al Qaeda, ISIS, and their offshoots. Al Mahdi is on trial for massacring history.”
Research: Reading Fiction Makes Us More Perceptive
“Habitual engagement with others’ minds — even fictional ones” can bolster the sort of awareness that is essential for empathy, write psychologists David Kidd and Emanuele Castano of the New School for Social Research. Their study is published in the journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts.
Death By Bagpipe
Two years after the man’s death, doctors say they have solved the medical mystery. In a report published Monday in the medical journal Thorax, a team of five UHSM researchers coined a new term for the man’s condition. “Bagpipe lung.”
How Washington’s National Mall Became The National Mall
“In the beginning, before Washington had been designated the nation’s capital, much of the Mall was an empty lowland along the Potomac, made yet marshier by the Tiber Creek, which flowed into the river not far from where the Washington Monument stands today.”
The Toothless Old Critics? (Were It Ever Thus)
The decline of intellectual life has been a trope of intellectual life since Socrates, who, Plato tells us, believed writing “will create forgetfulness in the learners’ souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves.” More than 2,000 years later, the terms have shifted, but not the argument.
Would You Like To Own Truman Capote’s Ashes? Bid Here!
The bidding is up to $2,750 so far, and the cremains themselves come from the estate of one of Johnny Carson’s ex-wives. (We are not making this up.)
Michelle Obama As Pop-Culture Figure (And Pop-Culture Critic)
“While I am first lady, I wasn’t first lady my whole life. I’m a product of pop culture. I’m a consumer of pop culture, and I know what resonates with people. I know what they’ll get a chuckle out of and what they think is kind of silly. And whenever my team approaches me with ideas and concepts, we’re usually like, ‘Is this really funny? Are people going to understand it?'”
The Godfather Of Cuban Ballet Dancers In The States
“[Pedro Pablo Peña] came to Miami in 1980 on the Mariel Boatlift. … Over the years, he has gained a reputation for running a safe haven for Cuban dancers when they touch down in America. ‘They are able to continue their career in the United States. I offer to help with everything.’ Peña gives them a spot in his Cuban Classical Ballet of Miami or helps them contract with other companies. He also provides housing and a surrogate family for those with no local relatives.”
Yannick’s Successor At The Rotterdam Phil Will Be –
– the youngest person ever to hold the chief conductor position at the orchestra, which has a history of appointing young maestros who go on to major international careers. Lahav Shani, now 27, starts the job in 2018, the Rotterdam Philharmonic’s 100th anniversary year.
Judge Rules That Peter Doig Didn’t Paint The Painting He Says He Didn’t Paint
“Doig, whose paintings sell for millions of dollars, ‘absolutely did not paint the disputed work,’ U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman said, adding that … the evidence shows another man with a similar name, Peter Edward Doige, a now-deceased carpenter who dabbled in painting, was the creator of the painting.”
Hard-Won Grace: Four Looks At Indian Classical Dance
Specialists in four genres – Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Kathak, and Mohiniattam – offer demonstrations of their art. (videos)
Top Posts From AJBlogs 08.23.16
Why Aren’t We Driving Self-Driving Cars Yet? It’s All About The Culture
Driverless cars are here and they work and by all accounts they make driving safer than when humans are piloting. So why aren’t they already in showrooms? Not so fast. It’s not just about whether … read more
AJBlog: diacritical/Douglas McLennan Published 2016-08-23
Ten years after: The Fantasticks and me
From 2006: As for me, I’m the gray-headed drama critic of The Wall Street Journal and a resident of the Upper West Side of Manhattan, none of which I anticipated when I was sixteen. … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2016-08-23
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Rio Olympics TV Audience Way Down, Streaming Way Up (Sounds About Right)
“Nielsen data showed an 18% decline from the 31.1 million who watched the 2012 Games in London. But online streaming of live video on NBC’s apps reached 2.7 billion minutes, nearly double the amount for all previous Olympic Games.”
The ‘Sweeney Todd’-In-A-Pie-Shop Production Is Coming To The States
“The production, from the Tooting Arts Club, originated in 2014 at Harrington’s Pie and Mash Shop in London, where audience members sat at tables … and [later] transferred to a cocktail lounge in the West End.” In New York, they’ll be using an actual Off-Broadway theater, though they’ll reproduce a pie shop inside.