“It is the sort of play one imagines a play ought to be if one has seen very few. It lends itself to an elaborate if conventional set design: dark wood, chintz chairs, a large bay window, a staircase, and multiple doors allowing for the entrance and egress of the various suspects from kitchen, cellar, parlor, and upstairs bedrooms.”
Month: February 2012
With Music, You Know More Than You Think You Know
Even audiences intimidated by classical music can figure out what’s important in a piece, says a neurologist. “Just as a baby’s cry or an alarm elicits an emotional response, music causes reactions, Outwater says, adding, ‘It’s beyond emotion, it’s really hormones and chemicals.'”
Is British Theatre Afraid Of The Avant-Garde? (And Is That Even A Real Term Anymore?)
“Theatregoers who seek a warm communal chuckle have never been so well served by the West End. Rival comedies are selling out across the capital. … But this glut of consoling fare is provoking unease in some quarters.”
City Ballet Music Director Stepping Down
The New York City Ballet music director has become too popular, and too overworked, in France. “Mr. Karoui said that until now he had been able to manage his commitment to City Ballet ‘with the rest of my artistic life, but this is no longer possible.'”
Turns Out Life Maybe Crawled Out Of Volcanic Ponds, Not The Oceans
A new study claims that “life evolved inside cooled inland ponds formed from condensation from volcanic activity deep inside the Earth. Life later would have spread into the oceans.”
Rethinking A Bad Eisenhower Memorial
“There’s been a growing chorus of hoots and raspberries, and mounting pressure on the National Capital Planning Commission to use a coming review of the project to put the kibosh on the plans. And so Mr. Gehry’s defenders have been playing the They-All-Laughed trump card, harrumphing about know-nothings and their resistance to artistic innovation.”
What We’re Learning From The “Mona Lisa” Copy
“The greatest surprise about the Prado copy is that it was worked on alongside the original, giving us a greater insight into the Louvre’s version. It would have been very unusual for a copyist to have laboriously worked in this way, since copies were normally done from completed pictures.”
Study: Mix Up Your Routine – It Promotes Creativity
“According to a newly published study, preparing a common meal in reverse order may stimulate innovative thinking.”
Canada’s National Gallery Ordered To Negotiate Artists’ Fees
“A federal tribunal has ordered the National Gallery of Canada to the bargaining table, telling the Ottawa art museum it has 60 days to start negotiating with artists’ groups about the fees it pays to exhibit or reproduce their work.”
Beautiful Book Shops? Who Needs ‘Em?
“The purpose of a bookshop is not to make its patrons sigh with pleasure, but to make them buy books. And I have seen scant evidence that, as a marketing strategy, the beautiful bookshop works very well as a selling venue. Some may succeed in spite of their beauty – through a great location or an excellent stock – but few because of it.”