“François Desset has succeeded in deciphering Linear Elamite, a writing system used in Iran 4,400 years ago. In its archaic proto-Elamite version (from 3300 BC), it joins the two oldest writing systems known in the world, the proto-cuneiform of the Mesopotamians and the Egyptian hieroglyphics.” (in French; for Google Translate version, click here) – Sciences et Avenir (France)
Research: Success And “Dark Personality” Traits
We know that approximately 1-2 per cent of individuals in the general population display extremely dark personality features – enough to meet the clinical threshold for a personality disorder – and about 10-20 per cent of individuals have moderately elevated levels. We know that even people with moderate levels of dark traits can wreak havoc: they are more likely to lie and cheat, show racist attitudes, and be violent towards others. – Psyche
The Mythification Of John Lennon
“Myths are for figures even greater than [legends]; gods. And John Lennon has indeed achieved a kind of deific immortality – thanks in part to the appropriation of his persona in works of fiction and drama. With portrayals of him that have cast him as everything from unemployed layabout to Labour Party leader, wise old fisherman to actual psychedelic godhead, Lennon’s life has been romanticised, rehashed and rewritten since his death, to the point where the myth is often more real than the man. … And the [process] began almost as soon as his life ended.” – BBC
The Quarrie Awards, Celebrating The Best Of Quarantine Culture
“Vulture brings you … our first, and hopefully last, ad hoc awards for the culture that came out of our year in quarantine. … Some of it was absurd, some ingenious, some unintentionally amusing, some frankly reprehensible (and therefore unforgettable). And all of it kept us just on this side of sane, as we dragged our withered bodies through the longest nine months on record.” – Vulture
If Stars Earn A Percentage Of Box Office, But Then Movies Go Straight To Streaming, What Do Stars Get Paid?
“If old-line studios are no longer trying to maximize the box office for each film but instead shifting to a hybrid model where success is judged partly by ticket sales and partly by the number of streaming subscriptions sold, what does that mean for talent pay packages?” – The New York Times
What David Hallberg Really Loves About The Australian Ballet
Well, besides the fact that the company saved his mangled foot. “I can’t tell you how nice it is to come into an organisation that has positivity embedded in it. It is a trait I admire in Australia itself. I lived in Moscow for years; there isn’t much positivity roaming around Moscow or the Bolshoi Theatre for that matter. I mean [the Bolshoi] is a fabulous, world-class company to which I am very grateful for the experience, but the AB has this can-do belief in doing the best they possibly can do.” – Dance Australia
Paris Olympics Will Include Breakdancing As A Sport
The Olympics announced on Monday that the competitive dance form will be among the new sports set to debut during the 2024 games. The Olympics website states that breakdancing (named “breaking”), skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing will be new categories for the next summer Olympics. – Deadline
It’s Time For Movies To Move On Beyond Theatres
“It’s time for the creative cinema establishment to catch up to the movie audience because when the pandemic is over, cinema in theaters may only survive in art houses that are the equivalent of vinyl for music purists.” – Deadline
Louise Glück Felt ‘Panic’ At Receiving Nobel Literature Prize
“‘Mostly I am concerned for the preservation of daily life with people I love,’ she told the prize organisers on 8 October, when asked how she felt about winning. ‘It’s disruptive. [The phone] is ringing all the time. It’s ringing now.’ Speaking to the press outside her house that same day, she said she felt ‘agitation and joy’ before getting in a waiting car.” – The Guardian
Man Posing As Building Owner Hires Artist To Paint Mural, Then Disappears
“Joshua Hawkins said a man named “Nate” hired him last month to paint a mural on his building and offered Hawkins more than he was asking to do it. Hawkins said he met that man twice, first when the man dropped off paint and the first half of the payment, and again when the man brought the final payment before the piece was finished.” – Central Illinois Proud
The Pandemic’s Threat To American Culture
Joseph Horowitz: “More than handwringing, this litany invites historical analysis. Why is no one in Congress or the White House talking about protecting crucial cultural interests, echoing discussions abroad? For three centuries, Americans regarded Europeans as cultural parents; we would emulate, learn, and grow. Where does that relationship stand today? Are we still growing up? Reverting to infancy? Opting out?” – The American Scholar
Furloughed Nashville Symphony Musicians To Get $500 Weekly Stipend
An agreement between management and the musicians’ union provides that the payments will begin on Jan. 3 and run through the end of the cancelled due to COVID) season on July 31. In exchange, the musicians agree to take part in community performances and other outreach activities. – Nashville Scene
For Second Time, Federal Judge Shuts Down Trump’s Attempt To Shut Down Tiktok
“On October 30, … U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols granted an injunction that prevented [a ban on new downloads of the app in the U.S.] from taking effect. In the latest ruling, Nichols … found that TikTok had shown it would suffer irreparable harm if the order were allowed to take effect.” – Variety
Has The Childhood Home Of Jesus Christ Just Been Discovered?
Is this for real? Well, as archaeologist Ken Dark puts it, “I can be confident that it’s the house that the Byzantines believed, and was probably believed in the 4th century, to be Jesus’s childhood home.” – Artnet
England’s Canceled Christmas Pantos Affect More Than The Theatres
Says the chief executive of the theatre in the town of Malvern in Worcestershire, “The panto is crucial for the theatre, as we are unsubsidised, but also for the local economy, to which the theatre is a huge contributor” — up to £21 million a year, researchers estimate. – The Guardian
NY Philharmonic Musicians Agree To Pay Cuts
Under the new contract, the musicians will see 25 percent cuts to their base pay through August 2023. Pay will then gradually increase until the contract ends in September 2024, though at that point the players will still be paid less than they were before the coronavirus pandemic struck. The cuts will amount to more than $20 million in musicians’ wages over the course of the contract. – The New York Times
Met Opera To Lock Out Workers
After talks with the powerful union that represents the Met’s roughly 300 stagehands, Local One of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, failed to yield an agreement this weekend, the Met announced that it planned to lock out the union’s workers. – The New York Times
The Pandemic and the Arts: A “Climate of Fear” and “Radical Upheaval”
The pandemic is a diagnostic – and discloses a self-critical, self-confrontational United States that feels newly inchoate. Compared to nations abroad, we are not even secure in asserting that culture matters. – Joseph Horowitz
Alvin Ailey’s Robert Battle On How Dance Will Have Changed After The Pandemic
“I can’t imagine that once we’re back doing live performance that some of the things we’ve learned about filming dance and embracing that as a thing unto itself rather than only a response to not being able to be in the theater, but to go into the art of filming dance – and I think that’s what’s wonderful about what we did with ‘Revelations’.” – NPR
Universal Music Buys Entire Bob Dylan Catalog In Blockbuster Deal
The price was not disclosed, but is estimated at more than $300 million. – The New York Times
Artist Sues The City of Los Angeles For Throwing His Work Away
David Lew, aka Shark Toof, created a piece for the Chinese American Museum in 2018. “Eighty-eight empty canvas sacks were adorned with hand-applied gold leaf paint and suspended on burlap twine with wooden clothespins. It was meant to evoke the history of Chinese immigrants in the laundry business.” Maintenance workers took them down and threw them away. – Los Angeles Times
A Dutch Investigation Finds That Its Art Restitution Panel Sides Too Often With Museums
Not only does the panel side with the already powerful institutions too much, the investigators found, but there’s little empathy for the victims of Nazis. “The findings were provocative enough that two of the panel’s seven members, including its chairman, immediately resigned.” – The New York Times