“As usual, Google used its backpack-like Street View Trekker, the same hardware it used for its expeditions into Nepal, the Grand Canyon, and the Galapagos Islands, for taking these images. So if you don’t have a trip to Jordan planned anytime soon, you can now take a virtual hike around Petra and explore sites like the Treasury, the Street of Façades, and the Monastery.”
Ethical Dispute Or Cultural Difference? Figuring Out ‘Moral Relativism’
“Because the term ‘moral relativism’ is closely associated with this subjectivist picture of morality, it elicits understandable hostility. How can we earnestly hold our moral commitments if we give up on the aspiration to objectivity regarding morals, to getting them right rather than wrong? I think there is another way to understand what moral relativism involves, which does not require us to give up our aspiration to objectivity. Let me use an example.”
The Man Whose Bad Handwriting Gave Us The Dollar Sign
He was, it turns out, a wealthy Irish businessman in New Orleans who went broke financing the American Revolution.
Balanchine Is Getting A Hollywood Biopic
“David K. Israel is adapting Elizabeth Kendall’s acclaimed book Balanchine & the Lost Muse: Revolution & the Making of a Choreographer [for] Gulfstream Pictures … Set against the backdrop of the Russian revolution, the film tells the coming-of-age story of Balanchine, during his tenure at Mariinsky Theater and school where he met his muse, Leda Ivanova.”
Toronto Symphony Reports 57 Percent Increase In Fundraising
“The symphony ended the 2014-15 season with a small surplus of $135,781, its second in a row, on total operating expenses of $27,952,748. This positive report follows earlier surpluses reported for the National Ballet of Canada, the Canadian Opera Company and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.”
Opera Colorado Comes Back From Austerity With A New Plan For Audiences
“Anything we’re doing outside the opera house is to engage a different audience. It’s not about bringing this audience we have out into the community.”
Denver Wants To Reimagine What Its Performing Arts Center Can Be
“The city believes it has to adapt the site, since audiences for the traditional arts have tapered off. At the same time, people want more informal and engaging cultural experiences.”
Sound Without Barriers: Recording Contemporary Music
“No longer do composers require the endorsement of a large corporation to get their music recorded and released as they did 50 years ago; as a result, the diversity and quality of the recordings that listeners have at their fingertips has never been greater.”
Public Battle Over Leadership Of San Francisco African-American Arts Center
“In San Francisco, a call last week for the dismissal of the executive director of the African American Art and Culture Complex has created a firestorm, adding a public relations challenge to already-existing tensions around mission and finances.”
Dmitri Hvorostovsky Talks About His Brain Cancer Treatment, Recovery, And Return To The Opera Stage
“I’ve turned half-bald. Lost all hair on the back of my head. At a US hospital in Rochester I underwent a mighty biopsy under general anesthesia. … In fact, I had holes drilled in the base of the skull. If you bring your hand close enough to the irradiated area, you will feel it is warmer than others. Occasionally, when blood rushes to this place, I have strong pulsations there. Feel[s] pretty close to hearing music.”
Paris’s Hit Staging Of ‘Singin’ In The Rain’ Coming To Broadway
“The [Théâtre du] Châtelet production …, based on the 1952 movie, is directed by Robert Carsen, designed by Anthony Powell and choreographed by Stephen Mear. It faithfully reproduces the dialogue and action of the film, with its songs by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed, and its famous splash-in-the-puddles, rain-drenched dance solo for Gene Kelly.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 11.23.15
A Recipe For Trouble At New York City Museum
When more than a half dozen people shake their heads in disbelief at a museum announcement, and make a point of asking me what I think, I’d say it was time to weigh in publicly. … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2015-11-23
Sugarcoating Gonzales-Torres’ Candy: Crystal Bridges Updates from NW Arkansas Business Journal And Me
What has Alice Walton’s generously endowed startup, which just celebrated its fourth anniversary, been up to lately? … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-11-23
Monday Recommendation: Terell Stafford
From his emergence in the early 1990s, Terell Stafford’s conception has drawn on the modern jazz trumpet tradition at large. He has evidently not felt the need to pattern himself on individual predecessors. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-11-23
Sushi for one
I have two good friends who are singletons and claim to actively prefer living alone. It’s hard for me to believe that this avowed preference is anything more than a sign that they’ve yet to meet Mister or Miss Right – which I’m well aware is nothing more than a complete failure of imagination on my part. … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2015-11-23
A Unique Friend
Any regular Seattle Opera attendee might remember hearing several slightly tenorial shouts of Bravo! after an aria or at the end of a performance, a sound that carried over even the most tumultuous applause. … read more
AJBlog: OperaSleuth Published 2015-11-23
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3-D Printers Are Going To Revolutionize Pretty Much Everything
“If we’re going to use physical ‘documents’ the way we use paper ones—glancing at them for an hour, or perhaps only a moment, then tossing them aside—we’ll need printing material to be recyclable, even biodegradable. Imagine the 3-D printing equivalent of a Post-it note! What’s more, we need our intellectual culture to evolve. Right now, we don’t value or teach spatial reasoning enough; “literacy” generally only means writing and reading.”
Just Exactly Where Is Vermeer’s ‘Little Street’? An Art Historian Knows
“While various theories had been suggested for the location of the painting over the years, Grijzenhout was the first researcher to consult an arcane document from 1667, about a decade after the work was painted.”
Why Do We Try To Reassure Kids That Life Will Be Safe When It’s Clearly So Unsafe And Tragic?
“As a parent I understand that desire to try to keep our offspring in a safe space, but it’s illusory. Life is not safe. The world is full of cruelty, both random and intentional. The world is also full of beauty and I’ve found the trick is to try to concentrate on finding the joy among the rubble, rather than sticking our fingers in our ears, singing lalala and claiming that life is undilutedly sweet.”
The Arts In Britain: Survey Says They’re Still Male, Still White, Still Middle-Class
“The survey reinforced the recent findings of the Warwick Commission, which found that arts and culture was being ‘systematically removed’ from the state education system, and that arts audiences were predominantly white and middle class. Both factors were contributing to the creative sector becoming a closed shop, particularly to those from black, asian and ethnic minorities (BAME) and less affluent backgrounds.”
Artificial Intelligence: Can We Figure Out What To Do With It Before It Figures Out What To Do With Us?
“If artificial intelligence can be achieved it would be an event of unparalleled consequence – perhaps even a rupture in the fabric of history. A bit of long-range forethought might be a moral obligation to our own species.”