Carol Jones, consultant at Britain’s The Audience Agency, offers what she sees as a simple formula for measuring and assessing success.
Alastair Macaulay Does An Exegesis Of The Sugar Plum Fairy
“People who’ve never been to any ballet, let alone The Nutcracker, have heard of her. Yet who is she? And why does she dance?”
The Power Broker Behind The Scenes For Those Seeking A Voice In Hollywood
The lawyer Nina L. Shaw plays a behind-the-scenes part at getting artists a voice in their films – and getting them a bigger piece of the pie as well. Filmmaker Ava DuVernay (Selma, 13th) says, “She’s really a bit of a consigliere in all things.”
UBC Professor Steven Galloway Apologizes In Statement
The much-respected director of a University of British Columbia writing program “was fired as creative writing chairman in June under a veil of secrecy.” The action galvanized star Canadian writers who rose in his defense. “He said in the statement issued Wednesday by his lawyers that the ‘harm flowing from UBC’s conduct’ has reached such a level that he asked his counsel to provide clarity. Galloway confirms that he was accused of sexual assault but says the only complaint substantiated by a former judge’s investigation was that he had an affair with a student.”
The Science Of On-Screen Chemistry
A director explains how focus group scores affect every shot in the final product. “Let’s not be naive. Creating chemistry is a massive job shared by hundreds of smart people, some of them utterly cynical about how to compel an audience with a thrilling, romantic tale told directly to your pocket.”
Zaha Hadid Died, And That Was A Tragedy – And Now A Libertarian Man Has Taken Over Her Firm
They call him the Trump of architects, and here’s why: “Abolish social housing, scrap prescriptive planning regulations and usher in the wholesale privatisation of our streets, squares and parks. That was the message delivered by Patrik Schumacher, director of Zaha Hadid Architects, to a stunned audience of architects and developers at a conference in Berlin last week.”
Hurray For Moana, And Also, There Are A Lot Of People Waiting For Their Own Moana Moment
Disney, whatever you may think of its ways, has a powerful place in children’s lives – especially the emotional lives of little girls who love the Disney princesses. But there’s still no Latina princess. What’s going on? (Read this one all the way through. The last paragraph is a real kicker.)
Shanghai Wants To Be International Cultural Capital. But Already There Are Issues
“The cultural transformation of Shanghai has been astonishing. But it risks threatening the kind of complex, nuanced and sustainable engagement that a lively arts sector needs. If local government can encourage affordable spaces for young artists and help promote a climate in which artists and art professionals can thrive, then this most dynamic of cities might truly have it all.”
Think The Critics Decide Whether Or Not You’re An Artist? Nope. It’s The IRS
“It is all well and good to say that artists need to be businesslike, rather than bohemian, but those who want the IRS to accept work-related deductions (price of materials, studio rent and insurance, travel expenses, advertising and promotion, photography, postage, shipping and other costs) on their federal tax returns do not have a choice. Because, if the IRS believes someone isn’t really in business, those deductions will not be allowed.”
Japan’s Theatre Of Old People – A Golden Perspective Born Of Many Years
Yukio Ninagawa “founded Saitama Gold Theater and held an open audition for people aged 55 and over, from whom he chose 48 for the troupe — there are now 38, with an average age of 77. Although he conceived it to stage one particular work, word of the troupe spread and they soon found themselves doing more shows and earning praise from critics, both domestically and abroad.”
Chicago MoCA Plans $16 Million Renovation – A Restaurant And A “Commons”
There will be a “hybrid lounge-workshop-performance space inside the museum called the Commons, which is being designed by the Mexico City design team Pedro y Juana, with custom furniture that can be flattened and hung on the walls when not in use. The space will also feature plant-shaped lamps, some with actual greenery, hanging from the ceiling. This gathering space will be free to the public, whether or not they pay the $12 suggested admission fee to see exhibitions. “Audiences today want a space where they can come together and interact. We are finding that people are really hungry for civil and civic dialogue — now more than ever.”
Florence Henderson, 82
Ms. Henderson was asked in a 1999 Archive of American Television interview how she would like to be remembered. She answered, “Probably as someone who survived for a long time in a very tough business and, hopefully, managed to retain a sense of humanity.”
With A New Oscar-Contending Movie, Amazon Is Disrupting The Movie Industry
“Along with fellow streaming service Netflix, Amazon represents a serious threat to the bedrock institutions that traffic in prestige film – the art-house heavyweights (Fox Searchlight, Weinstein, Focus, Lionsgate, Sony Pictures Classics) that thrive under the shadow of the Big Six (Paramount, Sony, Fox, Disney, Warner Bros. and Universal) largely thanks to the Oscar contenders they produce.”
Evidence That Our Brains Grow And Change With New Experiences (So Challenge Yourself!)
When we have new experiences and encounter unfamiliar ideas, clusters of neurons are formed and existing clusters connected with previously learned behaviors are strengthened. Through the right kind of training, our brains can adapt to perform at higher levels than many of us tend to think—pushing us past what we believe our “natural abilities” to be.
80 Years Ago Dale Carnegie Published “How To Win Friends And Influence People”. It’s Still On The Bestseller List
“Why on Earth are people still buying a self-help book from 1936? Carnegie’s principles of relentless positivity are right at home in a culture of ingratiation, from the widespread drive to amass online friends by liking their posts (and thence to become an influencer) to the way every interaction with someone in the service industry feels like the prelude to a customer satisfaction survey. His ideas retain a startling currency in a society whose very drives and mores he helped to create.”
UK Arts Organizations Have Saved £8.7m since 2012 By Reducing Carbon Emissions
“Compared to doing nothing, the reduction in energy emissions has saved £8.7m since 2012/13. The report predicts that if the 4.5% annual decrease continues until 2019/20, emissions will be 46% lower than in 2012/13 and £54m will have been saved in energy costs.”
A Brief History Of Time Travel
The first incidence of time travel in fiction (Rip van Winkle and the Connecticut Yankee notwithstanding) was H.G. Wells’s The Time Machine in 1985. Ten years later, Einstein first published his theories – and it turns out Wells’s fantasies matched up pretty well. “Time travel has been an object of fascination ever since.”