“Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV) announced the departure of 60 staff on Thursday – 20 per cent of its already-trimmed workforce – and unveiled severe cuts to programming.”
What The Ancient Greek Tragedians Knew About Today’s Politics
In an Out Loud podcast, classicist and critic Daniel Mendelsohn talks with Sasha Weiss about how issues ranging from the arguments over where to bury Tamerlan Tsarnaev to Americans’ continuing fascination with JFK’s presidency and murder are reflected in Sophocles and Euripides.
How Can The UK’s National Theatre Claim ‘National’ Status?
London sucks up most of the air – and definitely most of the money – for the arts in the UK. Can the National Theatre somehow reach “the country’s furthest flung corners”?
Alexander Payne’s Issue With Fathers
Says the director of this fall’s Nebraska (and of The Descendants, Sideways, and Election), “I think many of us have experiences with fathers who … are loving, they are nice, but somehow they’re on another planet and you wonder your whole life, ‘What is that planet that my father is on?’.”
Bolshoi’s Music Director Abruptly Quits
In a notably terse statement, the theater’s general director announced that he had accepted the resignation of Vasily Sinaisky, effective immediately. Sinaisky, who had been in the job for three years, was due to conduct a new production of Verdi’s Dopn Carlos that opens in two weeks.
Did Dorothy Parker Rip Off Lolita From Nabokov?
Maybe. Nothing could be simple where those two were concerned, after all. Galya Diment reviews the evidence.
Angela Lansbury To Make West End Return At 88
“Angela Lansbury is to appear on the London stage for the first time in almost 40 years in a new production of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit. She will reprise the role of Madame Arcati, which she first played on Broadway in 2009, winning a Tony Award.”
The Truth About The Left Brain/Right Brain Relationship
“Is the idea that the left hemisphere of the brain is more logical and the right more intuitive a scientific fact or a cultural fiction? Commentator Tania Lombrozo turns to an expert for answers.”
Rare Biblical Texts From Bodleian And Vatican Libraries Digitized
“A Gutenberg Bible, a dazzlingly illuminated 15th-century Hebrew Bible from Spain and a copy of Maimonides’s 12th-century commentary on the Mishnah written in the philosopher’s own hand are among the rare bibles and biblical commentaries from the Vatican Library and the Bodleian Libraries at Oxford that have been digitized and posted online.”
Accountant For Princeton’s Triangle Club Accused Of Embezzlement
“Founded in 1891, Princeton University’s touring musical comedy troupe … has counted among its members luminaries like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jimmy Stewart and Brooke Shields. But one man involved with the prestigious organization allegedly reached a low point and is now accused of treating the club’s purse as a piggy bank to pay off his personal debts.”
Broadway Posts Record Thanksgiving Week
“Broadway had its best Thanksgiving week ever at the box office, setting a record of $31.5 million in ticket sales for the 32 musicals and plays running last week.”
The Real-Life Folksters Who Inspired The Coen Brothers’ New Movie
For the dozen or so of us who don’t remember the New York folk music scene circa 1961, David Haglund provides an illustrated tip sheet for Inside Llewyn Davis.
Can You Distinguish Blue From Blue?
In a blog entry rendered entirely in verse, Robinson Meyer points us to an online quiz testing your ability to tell one shade of Silicon Valley’s favorite color from another.
For Maria Callas’s Birthday, Five Great Rumors
“In the decades since her death, rumors continue to persist about Callas’ colorful career and personal life. Here are five of the most famous anecdotes, their veracity never confirmed nor completely discounted.” (What, you never heard about the tapeworm?)
Critic Marion Lignana Rosenberg, 51
“A multilingual writer of wide-ranging interests – from Italian art and literature to the life of Maria Callas – Rosenberg’s feature stories and music criticism appeared frequently in Time Out New York, as well as Newsday, Forward, Capital New York, Opera News, Salon, the Classical Review and La Voce di New York.”
Why Are Lists The Crack Cocaine Of Journalism?
“Despite the growing derision of listicles exemplified by the comic, numbered lists–a venerable media format–have become one of the most ubiquitous ways to package content on the Web.”
FTC Wonders If Music Teachers Are Anti Competitive?
“The association’s sin, according to the feds, rested in its code of ethics. The code lays out ideals for members to follow–a commitment to students, colleagues, society. Tucked into this worthy document was a provision calling on teachers to respect their colleagues’ studios, and not actively recruit students from other teachers.”
Online Video Streaming Data Shows Us How TV Networks Have Misjudged Prime Time
“What exactly constitutes “prime time” is different online than it is on traditional television.”
LA Weekly Cuts Theatre Reviews
“The number of capsule theater reviews per week will drop from the current non-holiday norm of seven (allocated) or eight (sometimes allowed) to only two.”
Violin Prices Soaring
“Despite the recent economic downturn, instrument prices have continued to rise at remarkable rates. Between 1980 and 2011 the average auction prices for Stradivari increased at an annual rate of 15.4%.”
The Problem With Involving The “Public” In Public Art
“Consultation doesn’t work. If I am going to be kicked for a piece of art work, and I fully expect to be, than I want to be kicked for a piece that I have chosen, that I can stand by.” Public art, though, executed in our name, requires the vision of an artist who can shape and lead public taste without patronising people.”
Will E-Books Build An African Book Culture?
“More than 160 million people are now connected throughout the continent, mostly on mobile phones. With internet access surging and connectivity increasing, the doors are being thrown open to digital publishing.”
What Happens When The Machines Can Tell How We Feel?
“If the future of advertising lies in the processing of nonlinguistic traits, then whoever controls the sensory infrastructure for analyzing and monetizing them—the “emotion sharing apparatus,” as Samsung calls it in one its patents —will be the successor to today’s moguls of online advertising.”
Don’t Look To E-Books For Reinventing The Experience Of Reading
“Even as the universe of printed matter continues to shrivel, the book — or at least some of its best-known features — is showing remarkable staying power online. The idea is apparently embedded so deeply in the collective unconsciousness that no one can bear to leave it behind.”