Customers were fascinated. “They didn’t ask for a specific movie, just something to play on their VCRs. People weren’t sleeping – they would rent 10 movies at a time, only to bring them back the next day, jonesing for more.”
Why A West Virginia NonProfit Is Promoting Artisans As An Economic Development Strategy
“Art just can’t be reduced to a commodity good. We also know that artists and creative placemaking have to be at the core of what we’re doing to rethink our economy in West Virginia.”
The Trouble With Travel Snapshots
“On the one hand, we have been encouraged to believe that we are no longer the sum of our products (as we were when we were still an industrial economy) but the sum of our experiences. On the other, we lack the ritual structures that once served to organize, integrate and preserve the stream of these experiences, so they inevitably feel both scattershot and evanescent. We worry that photographs or journal entries keep us at a remove from life, but we also worry that without an inventory of these documents … we’ll disintegrate. Furthermore, that inventory has to fulfill two slightly different functions: It must define us as at once part of a tribe (‘people who go to Paris’) and independent of it (‘people who go to Paris and don’t photograph the Eiffel Tower’).”
Petra, The Ancient City Carved From Desert Rock, Had Gardens, Fountains, And A Swimming Pool, Archaeologists Find
“Recent excavations at Petra have revealed a startlingly advanced irrigation system and water storage system that enabled the desert city’s people to survive – and to maintain a magnificent garden featuring fountains, ponds and a huge swimming pool. The engineering feats and other luxuries attest to the ancient Nabatean capital’s former splendor and wealth some 2,000 years ago.”
Want Creative Kids? Give Them Things That Will Bore Them
“Boredom is where creativity is born. Boredom is not the enemy. Boredom is the friend. Boredom is what gives rise to ‘What happens when I take a picture between my fingers? What happens when I turn the camera sideways?’”
A Great Broadway Tradition, Lost: Sneaking In For Act Two
“There was a time when ‘second-acting’ – sneaking into a Broadway theater at intermission before the second act – was as common as the cigarette break in the middle of a musical. It was a time-honored rite of passage, practiced by generations of starving actors and students of the theater. … But today, when security is ultravigilant and shows are under pressure to sell out night after night, the practice has all but gone dark.”
Fire Closes Paris’s Mogador Theatre
The blaze began on Sunday morning (Sept. 25) under the theatre’s stage; it damaged the stage floor and scenery for the upcoming, and now postponed, production of Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera.
Star Of UK’s Favorite Soap Fired For Anti-Indian Twitter Rant (He’s From Pakistan)
“[Marc Anwar joined the cast of Coronation Street] as Sharif Nazir in February 2014 as a member of the first Muslim family on the cobbles. The Sunday Mirror published screenshots of messages posted on his private Twitter account that appeared to hit out at India over Kashmir … They also referred to Indian people as [redacted].”
The Payoff For Theatre That Stays Small And Local
“It seems the smaller the community, the more space there is to expand and embellish local narratives. Mixing one part fiction, one part myth, and one part truth, these narratives flourish in the festivals, parades, and plaques that have become the cultural landmarks of a city five miles north of Boston.”
The Superhuman Demands Of Singing Tristan
“Young singers usually build their careers by taking on gradually longer and more demanding roles. But the metallic colors and lower vocal center of gravity of prospective Tristans often make them an awkward fit for traditional young tenor repertory.”
A Sneaky Idea To Ship Bikes Safely By Disguising Them As Televisions
Apparently, delivery companies value flat-screen TVs more than bikes.
Yes, Let’s Keep On Talking About Who ‘Gets’ To Write What, And Why
“A writer has the right to inhabit any character she pleases — she’s always had it and will continue to have it. The complaint seems to be less that some people ask writers to think about cultural appropriation, and more that a writer wishes her work not to be critiqued for doing so, that instead she get a gold star for trying.”
Rolling Stone Sells Almost Half Of Itself To An Investor From Singapore
“BandLab’s investment provides Rolling Stone with the opportunity to expand into the live event, hospitality and merchandising businesses in Asia—areas where BandLab has experience. Its flagship product is a digital platform for creating and sharing music.”
This Week in Understanding Audience: Baby Boomers Reinvent The Movie Experience
This week: Baby boomers are breathing new life into movie theatres… Dance clubs are languishing as millennials stay away… Netflix reveals at what point we get hooked on TV series… How the audience changes when admission is free… The Ticket bots strike again on Broadway.
Five Stories/Trends From This Week’s ArtsJournal: How The Arts Speak To Real Life
This Week: Why is it so hard to tell if American theatre is thriving or not?… Have art and technology had a falling out?… Perhaps TV is the solution to our political polarization… The music industry seems to be finally getting it together… A cautionary tale about getting swallowed up by the online world.
Highlights From This Weekend’s AJBlogs 09.25.16
Man Down! We’ve Lost Andrew Sullivan: The Battle For The Real World Is Coming For You
Is reality just a construct of the online world or is the online world merely an overlay on reality? Every new technological advance that extends our reach also imposes previously unnecessary decisions about how and …read more
AJBlog: diacritical/Douglas McLennan Published 2016-09-23
Pap goes the easel: Painting After Postmodernism, Belgium-USA
It’s being billed as a “manifesto exhibition,” and the curator, my friend, the art historian and filmmaker Barbara Rose, is happy to … read more
AJBlog: Plain English Published 2016-09-25
They Could Have Danced All Night
New York City Ballet opens its fall season (September 20 to October 16) with four new ballets. New York City Ballet’s Indiana Woodward in Lauren Lovette’s For Clara. Photo: Paul Kolnik The New York City … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2016-09-24
New York City Ballet opens its fall season (September 20 to October 16) with four new ballets. New York City Ballet’s Indiana Woodward in Lauren Lovette’s For Clara. Photo: Paul Kolnik The New York City … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2016-09-24
John Coltrane At 90
There are so many options that it is difficult to know what to bring you today to observe the great saxophonist John Coltrane’s (1926-1967) 90th birthday. Among Coltrane’s hundreds of recordings and videos, no doubt … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-09-23
There are so many options that it is difficult to know what to bring you today to observe the great saxophonist John Coltrane’s (1926-1967) 90th birthday. Among Coltrane’s hundreds of recordings and videos, no doubt … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-09-23
Can An Old Dance Theatre Do New Tricks?
“The theater looks a certain way, the curtain goes up on a company, and whatever happens on a stage can be vastly different from week to week. However, the experience itself of attending the Joyce has grown to be somewhat regular, and this is a way to challenge that.”
Even After 20 Years, ‘South Park’ Gets Thrown Together On The Fly Each Week
Said co-creator Trey Parker one day earlier this month: “There are times where we go, ‘How do we tell Comedy Central we don’t have a show?’ This is one of those.” Dave Itzkoff watches how they pull it off.