Research psychologist Cordelia Fine looks at what the data does and doesn’t show, and she reminds us about the questions that weren’t asked when all those stories and headlines were written last week.
How Netflix Will Change Our Very Idea Of Entertainment
“Eventually—or so goes the strategy—people won’t be able to imagine having their options defined by a programming grid. Not coincidentally, Netflix has been vying with Amazon to become the premiere source of streaming series for young children, for whom having to wait for new episodes of their favorite shows to air is unfathomable.”
Hannah Arendt’s Failure Of Imagination
Richard Brody: “Her mechanistic view of Eichmann’s personality, as well as her abstract and unsympathetic consideration of the situation of Jews under Nazi rule, reflect her inability to consider the experiences of others from within.”
Gallery Manager Pleads Guilty To Possessing Looted Antiquities
For nearly two decades, Aaron Freedman helped run the Manhattan gallery of Indian art and antiquities dealer Subhash Kapoor, who Federal agents say “is by far the biggest smuggler, in terms of numbers of antiquities stolen and their market value, that we have seen.”
Explaining What Happened At The Bolshoi Ballet
Ismene Brown, a London dance journalist who has been following and often translating the Russian media’s extensive coverage and knows some of the players, gives inside info and analysis of the Filin attack, the trial, and the whole affair’s effects on the company.
Probing The Unknowable Mysteries Of The Brain
“Is the brain a sort of quantum computer? What is consciousness? Marcelo Gleiser’s brain is buzzing with big questions after participating in a conference that asked if quantum physics plays a role in how we think.”
Will Sundance Turn This Arizona Dude Ranch Into An Artists’ Colony?
Rex Ranch in Arizona is poised to become an ambitious artists’ retreat, if a Sundance Institute executive can come up with the money to buy the 50-acre former dude ranch by the middle of December.”
Egypt’s “People’s Poet”, Ahmad Fouad Negm, Dead At 84
“[He] was one of Egypt’s best colloquial Arabic poets of the second half of the twentieth century, and was known [as] … one of the main voices of opposition since 1967, when he wrote his famous poems on the Six Day War. His fiery words expressed Egyptians’ and Arabs’ anger towards milestone events such as the 1967 defeat against Israel and the 1979 peace treaty with Israel.”
Baltimore Museum: Judge – That Renoir Is Ours!
“In effect, the motion asks federal Judge Leonie M. Brinkema to determine that the 1879 oil painting “Paysage Bords de Seine” belongs to the Baltimore museum and not to the 51-year-old Virginia woman who says she bought it at a flea market in 2009 for $7 as part of a box of odds and ends.”
Amazon Says That A Quarter Of Its Top 100 Books Are From Indie Publishers
“As many as a quarter of the top 100 Kindle books on Amazon.com are from indie publishers, according to data revealed at a trade presentation by the retailer.”
“Alarming” Study Shows Just How Few Silent Films Have Survived
“A new study unveiled by The Library of Congress notes that a scant 14 percent of the feature films produced and distributed in the U.S. from 1912-29 exist in their original 35mm format.”
Norman Rockwell’s Family Furious Over Deborah Solomon’s Biography
The man depicted in Solomon’s new book “lived a far darker life” than the scenes he painted, “fraught with anxiety, depression, and loneliness. He was a twice-divorced, thrice-married repressed homosexual who gravitated toward men and boys.” It’s that last bit that has the Rockwells so upset.
Egyptian Museum’s Antiquities And Staff Alike Suffer From Country’s Instability
“The century-old home of Egypt’s mummies and King Tutankhamun’s treasures is trying to make the best out of the worst times of political turmoil. But the Egyptian Museum is taking a hammering on multiple levels, from riots on its doorstep to funding so meager it can’t keep up paper clip supplies for its staff.”
St. Petersburg’s First International Winter Theatre Festival Faces Russia’s Chaotic Politics
“Strange days when a production of Death in Venice provokes an uproar, then ends in a theatre being defaced.”
The Rain In Spain Stays Mainly En Anglais: Paris My Fair Lady Is A Hit, Even In English
Director Jean-Luc Choplin: “How do you translate ‘the rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain’? I mean, you can come up with something in French but it doesn’t have the same clarity or sonority. … And it’s such an important part of the play.”
Roy Orbison’s Final Interview, For The 25th Anniversary Of His Death
“You set out to whip the world. And then when you get beat up a little bit … In my case, you say, ‘Father, I’m gonna let you have it. I’ve done what I can do.’ You turn your will over to God.”
$80M MPAA Piracy Settlement Shuts Down File-Sharing Service
“Hotfile’s file-sharing service went offline just hours after the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida ordered the website to shut down unless it implemented copyright-filtering technologies to prevent piracy. The court also awarded MPAA $80 million in damages.”
Is Your Native Language Your Financial Destiny?
“Differences in the way various languages talk about the present and future [i.e., verb tense] could help explain why Germans urge free-spending Greeks to adopt their fiscal discipline, and why Americans are baffled by China’s low consumption and high savings rates, according to research published [last spring].”
Alvin Ailey Co. And Wayne McGregor Stretch Each Other
Artistic director Robert Battle, looking to expand the repertoire and stylistic range of a troupe that had become a bit predictable, engaged McGregor to stage his stark and hyperkinetic Chroma on the Ailey dancers. They’re the first non-classical group to perform the work – and (to McGregor’s happiness) the first that’s dark-skinned.
When A Choreographer Joins The Circus (Yes, Ringling Bros.)
“He’s choreographed such musical hits as Rock of Ages, Dreamgirls, … and Blades of Glory. Now Kevin Wilson is taking on a new venture: choreographing what has been called ‘The Greatest Show on Earth.’ Wondering how this creative director pulls together a cast and crew that includes everything from clowns to a horse named ‘Comanche?’ We wondered, too.”
Bad Sex Award Goes To Manil Suri And His Shoals Of Atomic Nuclei
“Among the pools of sweat, ripe brie, knotted vines, hot stones, damp glades and chocolatey tobacco in this year’s entries, it was the exploding supernovas of Manil Suri’s third novel, The City of Devi, that clinched him the most dreaded award in the world of books: the Literary Review bad sex prize.”
Price For Norman Rockwell Smashes Record
“By far, the star of the bunch was the 1951 masterpiece Saying Grace, which sold for $46 million — a record for Rockwell’s art… The AP says the artist’s previous record of $15 million had been set by “Breaking Home Ties” at a 2006 Sotheby’s auction.”
Toronto Symphony Posts A Big Deficit
“Slumping ticket sales contributed to a $1.2 million deficit for the TSO’s 2012/13 season, up from the prior year’s $837,736 deficit, it was announced Tuesday at the annual general meeting.”
The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s Turnaround Year
“The orchestra recorded a surplus of about $280,000 on total revenue of $9.5 million. The extra money will reduce to $512,000 an accumulated deficit that the SPCO hopes to eliminate in the next few years.”
How Do We Make Sure Detroit’s Art Sale Doesn’t Happen Again
“The real goal, in a larger perspective, is how to de-monetize art. It’s too late for Detroit to think about such things—any attempt to keep its art out of the market would be vigorously protested by the city’s creditors—but the Detroit crisis has people thinking about how to avert such things in the future.”