“Using Google Earth, researchers have discovered an archeological gem in northern Kazakhstan—more than 50 previously unknown geoglyphs of different geometric shapes and sizes sprawled across the landscape. Geoglyphs are large designs created on the surface of the ground, usually made by arranging stones or sculpting the earth.”
Tech Companies Begin To Understand That Changing The World Isn’t Just About Tech, It’s Politics Too
“A new generation of tech companies, however, have made Silicon Valley’s political needs less theoretical, and more immediate. They are taking on pre-existing, real-world industries. (The purely virtual ideas — search, portals, email — have been taken.) It’s harder to ignore politics when you’re changing the world, not just the web. And so these companies — Uber and Airbnb are the most obvious — have found a sweet spot where founders’ disdain for politics and regulators meets the smartest political strategy money can buy.”
A Remarkable Career: Soprano Magda Olivero Dies At 104
The spell she cast could win over even skeptics like Schonberg, who began his review of her now-legendary Met debut by inexplicably claiming, “It wasn’t Magda Olivero’s evening, as it turned out.” But he then went on to aver, “It was history come to life last night, as the soprano, despite her age, gave us a feminine, fiery, utterly convincing Tosca.”
Two Lancaster, Pa. Museums Merge (No Hostile Takeovers Involved)
“The Demuth Museum and the Lancaster Museum of Art will merge into one museum at two locations. … The museums will not change their names, nor will they unite under an umbrella title, Lampe said, because the community has strong ties to both museums. … [but] they will be a single 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with one staff and one board of trustees.”
At Least It Worked: Delaware Art Museum Will Pay Off All Its Debt (With Money From Raiding Its Collection And Endowment)
“On Wednesday, museum officials announced they would retire [its] remaining $19.8 million in debt by the end of this month. The cost: Two masterpieces and at least another $5 million subtracted from the institution’s investment fund.”
Hilary Mantel Is Not An Assassin, She’s A Fiction Writer, Okay?
“Lest Americans think we have cornered the market on boneheaded, reductive and entirely symbolic political arguments, the British are currently discussing whether Hilary Mantel – the two-time Booker Prize-winning author of Wolf Hall – ought to be investigated for fantasizing about killing a dead woman.”
How a Second Language Trains Your Brain for Math
The key is executive function, and you’ll find it in the basal ganglia.
Maria Callas’s House In Athens To Become Opera School
“Dubbed the Maria Callas Opera Academy, the project was a long-term goal of soprano Vasso Papantoniou and her husband, writer Vassilis Vassilikos. Yesterday at a gala concert, the artistic director of the Greek National Opera Myron Michailidis announced the organization would support the construction plans.”
Remembering The Remarkable Christopher Hogwood
“Hogwood’s scholarship, symbiotically related to his performances, is just as important as his music-making, and he leaves an outstanding legacy of books, articles, and lectures that are required reading and listening for anyone interested in Handel, Haydn, or the wider story of how music relates to social and cultural contexts from the baroque to the 21st century. To talk to Hogwood was to encounter a mind and personality of inspirational perspicacity, intellectual clarity, and delicately mischievous wit.”
Why America Celebrates Ignorance (There’s Big Money In It)
“For starters, there’s more money to be made from the ignorant than the enlightened, and deceiving Americans is one of the few growing home industries we still have in this country. A truly educated populace would be bad, both for politicians and for business.”
Survival Guide: How Artists Can Protect Themselves In Gentrifying Cities
“How can artists fight for cities? By joining forces with people artists might not have considered natural allies before: community activists working on non-art issues like civil rights, police brutality, affordable housing.”
The Top Ten Most-Produced Theatre Productions In America Over The Past 20 Years
Here’s a list of most-produced plays from each year. Yazmina Reza and John Patrick Shanley had a good decade…
US Forest Service Wants To Require Permits For Taking Pictures In National Parks??
“New rules being finalized in November state that—across this country’s gloriously beautiful, endlessly photogenic, 193 million acres of designated wilderness area administered by the USFS—members of the press who happen upon it will need permits to photograph or shoot video.”
Next Round In The Fight Over The Detroit Institute’s Art
“The key question is whether the grand bargain — $815 million pledged by foundations, state government and the DIA to bolster city pensions and shield the art from sale by transferring ownership of the museum to an independent nonprofit — represents a reasonable proxy for the value of the collection in the overall context of the city’s plan.”
Pennsylvania Ballet Under The New Regime
“Last year, PA Ballet asked art consultant Michael M. Kaiser to study their organization top to bottom and make some recommendations. As a result, they dropped an executive director, an artistic director, plus the ballet master and mistress – and hired the 38-year-old, Madrid-born [Ángel] Corella to take their company to bigger and better places. Now, the public gets to bear witness to the new leader’s new direction in about three weeks.”
How TV Helped Advance LGBT Rights
“In the first instalment of Talking TV, … Tom Brook reports on how television has been at the vanguard of changing perceptions of gay people – especially in the US where the proliferation of gay and lesbian TV characters has arguably created a climate more receptive to the idea of gay marriage.” (video)
Restoration Of Unfinished Leonardo Da Vinci Painting Now On View
Leonardo began work on The Adoration of the Magi in 1481 and abandoned it a year later. “The current restoration project, which began three years ago, has removed much of the dull, oxidized varnish as well as traces of past restoration attempts, revealing many previously hidden details, facial expressions and subtleties of light and shadow.”
Prehistoric Cave Art In Spain To Remain Open For Limited Viewing
The Altamira caves, which had been closed since 2002 out of worries that moisture and body heat from tourists could ultimately damage the 18,000-year-old paintings, were opened earlier this year to a maximum of five visitors for one hour per week. Researchers say there’s been no perceptible damage to the art, and the experiment will continue for at least five more months.
Theater Folk In L.A. Say Entire Scene Needs Overhaul
“A group of theater artists in Los Angeles is calling for major changes in the city’s stage industry, saying that companies are relying on outdated modes of doing business and that union rules over artist compensation, especially at small venues, need revision.”
What the Marshmallow Test Really Teaches About Self-Control
“Over the last 50 years, the ‘Marshmallow Test’ has become synonymous with temptation, willpower, and grit. Walter Mischel’s work permeates popular culture.” In a Q&A, Mischel discusses “what the [test] really captures, how schools can use his work to help problem students, why men like Tiger Woods and President Bill Clinton may have suffered ‘willpower fatigue'” – and whether to worry if your pre-schooler flunks the test.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 09.24.14
A Question to Nobelist Kandel Reveals A Big Gap At the Met
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts | Published 2014-09-25
The Roots of Author Jeff Hobbs
AJBlog: CultureCrash | Published 2014-09-24
Learning to Be Local
AJBlog: Engaging Matters | Published 2014-09-24
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Texas School District Bans Six Books (And On Banned Book Week, Too!)
“Objections were raised to Pulitzer winner David Shipler’s non-fiction title The Working Poor, because it includes a reference to a woman who was sexually abused as a child and had an abortion. Narrated by a dog, Garth Stein’s The Art of Racing in the Rain was criticised for a sex scene, and Alexie’s award-winning novel for its strong language. Also suspended were Jeannette Walls’s memoir The Glass Castle and Hermann Hesse’s classic novel Siddhartha.”
Conductor Christopher Hogwood Dies At 73
“Hogwood worked with many leading orchestras around the world and was considered one of the most influential exponents of the early-music movement. The conductor founded the Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) in 1973 and directed the academy across six continents for some 30 years.”
Barbican Cancels “Human Zoo” Project After Protests
Exhibit B came under attack for its alleged racist portrayal of black African people, with campaigners demanding its withdrawal from the Barbican programme. The Barbican confirmed today that it had been forced to cancel the remaining performances due to “the extreme nature of the protest and the serious threat to the safety of performers, audiences and staff”.
Amid All The Electronic Clutter, Is It Possible To Be Contemplative?
“With so much of our lives embedded in our ever-changing social media feeds, we are increasingly afraid of being out of touch, of missing out on our friends’ lives, of losing our cool, our edge. That fear goes to our very core of human consciousness, playing into our inbuilt survival drives.”