You’re a geek parent – a science fan, into technology, maybe into making cool things yourself. What should you read to your kids? Wired has a (long) list of book ideas for you, everything from The Wind in the Willows to The Dark Is Rising (and a lot more).
Month: April 2012
Afghanistan Has A Youth Orchestra, And It May Tour The U.S.
“One of the best-known facts about music in Afghanistan, at least in the West, is that it wasn’t. The Taliban banned it when they took power in 1996, beating musicians, burning instruments and destroying cassette tapes in the name of their severe and extreme vision of Islam. But with the Taliban’s fall, musical life revived, if slowly, in the shattered country.”
Legalizing Free Music Downloads: The Murder, Or Savior, Of Musicians?
The Pirate Party (of Pirate Bay fame, and yes, it’s real) in Germany has called for a law that will make free downloads of music legal. Then a pop musician and a Pirate Party politician hold a debate …
Can A New Documentary Heal Wounds From The Civil Rights Movement?
When one black waiter in Mississippi dared to tell NBC in 1966 what he thought of his white customers, he became a marked man. Now another documentary retells his story – and the story of what happened to him and his family in the years since he spoke up.
British Theatres Learn To Light Their Theatres For Less, Together
London’s National Theatre, Royal Albert Hall and Royal Opera House wanted more power for, well, power – so they joined the Arts Basket. And that’s just the tip of the collaborative effort among the city’s biggest arts groups.
Bring Back The Double-Decker Grand Piano!
“Roberto Prosseda is a concert pianist of the old school who typically performs in white tie and tails. But for his most recent spate of concerts, he pairs them with slippers–five-fingered rubber-coated slippers that look vaguely amphibian. That’s because Mr. Prosseda plays with his feet as well as his hands. The Italian pianist is on a one-man mission to revive the music of the pedal piano, a monstrous double-decker grand piano that was popular in the late-19th century but has long since fallen out of fashion.”
Is It The Nineteenth Century? Apparently, For Men Buying Crime Fiction
The delicate sensibilities of Scottish men – who apparently just can’t be seen reading a crime book by a woman – caused one publisher to change an author’s name, and shorten her book title as well.
Let’s End The Parade Of Sameness – And Save Classical Music
“Recordings change the performing environment. Once anyone can hear the best performers, and once those performers are conscious that they’re making recordings for the ages — not just live performances to be heard tonight and preserved only in memories — those recordings become the standard that influences all.” How can we retrain young musicians to save their individuality?
Kraftwerk’s Prescient, Obsessive 3-D Animator Tells Her Story
Rebecca Allen: “If you’re an animator, it’s already clear that you’re a fanatic — an obsessive. Anybody who wants to make frames for every second of movement is obviously pretty obsessive about things.”
Will A Supreme Court Case Kill Off Libraries – Or Sharing In General?
The Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that may kill off the legal basis for sharing (many) books. Then what will libraries do?