“I force myself on scientists and try and ask some odd questions about quantum physics and particle physics and what would happen if you morphed up those extra six dimensions from superstring theory and put them on the body, what would the body look like? Or – I mean, what does it mean to go in the fifth direction, the sixth direction, the seventh direction.”
Ambitious (But Failed) New Orleans Arts Center To Be Sold
“Once built, it was supposed to become an instant Crescent City tourist attraction. But there was a costly redesign required to preserve an existing historic building and then the usual spate of construction complications. Then came Hurricane Katrina, and later, a national economic downturn. But those troubles were surmountable. The real trouble was intrinsic; ArtWorks, like Marie Antoinette, was doomed by grandiosity.”
How Vermeer Became A Superhero
To see Vermeer as “a god” makes him “a discouraging bore.” But if you think of him as a genius artist and an inventor, he becomes a hero: “Now he can inspire.”
Baryshnikov Still Kicking At 65
“The words “Baryshnikov” and “sucked” don’t naturally fit together comfortably, but in sitting with Baryshnikov for a spell, you get the strong sense that he’s less interested in perfectionism in his artistic endeavors than in mind-expanding adventurism. And these days, he prefers to succeed or fail with collaborators.”
Stumbling Across America, No Philanthropists In Sight
“Contemporary theater is largely a false market supported by philanthropy’s phantom seats and unless we want to really invest in letting it fail with the support of funding, we ought to pull the rug out from underneath.”
How To Hate-Watch Reality TV (Or Maybe How To Just Revel In The Bad Stuff)
“Viewing reality TV as both credulous consumer and critic isn’t uncommon. Plenty of us get as much pleasure out of pulling a show apart limb by limb as we do out of engaging with the storyline.”
Want To Be A Conductor? 10 Tips From Esa-Pekka Salonen
“I get all my conducting sticks in [Harry Potter’s] Diagon Alley.”
How Will – Or Can – We Preserve The History Of Video Games?
“We should preserve the apparatus of a game, but it’s impossible to save the culture of a game, which is really the most important part.”
Walt Disney Had Some (Possibly Surprising) Opinions On Women Working In Animation
The currently hot “Frozen” is the first feature film from Disney Animation with a woman director, but perhaps not because of Walt (in 1941): “The girl artists have the right to expect the same chances for advancement as men, and I honestly believe they may eventually contribute something to this business that men never would or could.”
How Do You Get Toddlers Into Orchestral Music? Use A Penguin, Of Course
“We have to be a bit careful of the way music and story go together. … It can ignite immediate joy or sadness or fear in young children.”
It’s Nearly 2014, And Ballet Still Has A Big Issue With Black Dancers
“The problem in modern ballet is the problem of the color line. Scan the rosters of the nation’s top companies and African American dancers are rare, while African American ballerinas are nearly nonexistent.”
Rare Book Thefts In Naples (And Where’s The Librarian?)
“The very man charged with protecting these treasures, Marino Massimo De Caro, a politically connected former director of the library, is accused of being at the center of a network of middlemen, book dealers and possibly crooked conservators — all part of what prosecutors say is a sometimes corrupt market for rare books in which much is spent and few questions are asked.”
The New Temples To Digital Dominance
“They are to be monuments, architectural techno-visions that reflect the now inexorable digital domination. They are an expression of the worldwide economic and cultural supremacy that Silicon Valley and its leaders overtly claim for themselves.”
Why Your Cable TV Bills Are Only Going To Get Higher
“Cable and satellite TV bills have never been higher, and more mad-as-hell consumers are cutting the cord. And nothing, not even consolidation among operators, stands to reverse the trend.”
Prosecutors Ask Sentence Of Labor Camp In Bolshoi Trial
“The court is expected to hand down a judgment in the case on Tuesday. The prosecution sought 10 years for Mr. Zarutsky and six years for Andrei Lipatov, accused of driving him to and from the scene.”
Artists Struggle In The Age Of The Blockbuster
“In fact, the blockbuster artistic product is dominating cultural consumption as at no other time in history. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on each successive Hunger Games, and the rep cinemas have closed. A few sports stars are paid more individually than entire publishing houses or record labels earn in a year.”