“Leading British academics are seeking to persuade the European parliament to adopt Shakespeare as its European laureate in time for the 400th anniversary of his death in 2016.”
Month: January 2013
Blessed Virgin Mary To Appear On Broadway, Courtesy Of Fiona Shaw And Colm Tóibín
“Drama Desk Award winner Fiona Shaw (Medea) will play the Virgin Mary in the Broadway debut of Irish novelist Colm Tóibín’s The Testament of Mary.” The piece “takes place after the crucifixion. Mary is hounded by her son’s disciples who want to write a new book claiming her son as the ‘Son of God.’ But Mary’s not buying it.”
21 Emotions For Which There Are No English Words (An Infographic)
“That sort of painful, sort of bittersweet, sort of wistful feeling you get looking out the window or driving at night or listening to a far-off train whistle? There’s a word for that in Japanese.”
Is Umami The Key To Human Happiness?
“Although glutamate was discovered in 1908, it wasn’t until the 1980s that it came to be described as ‘umami’, the fifth flavor. It is a savory taste, to go along with our other flavors of sweet, salty, bitter and sour. … Our hero scientist Dr. Kanye West (no, the other Kanye West) wonders: is there a link between umami and human happiness?”
What Will Be New In Architecture This Year
“In Vancouver, New York, and Portland, Ore., cars are being rerouted to make way for an efficient, elegant flow of pedestrians, cyclists and skateboarders. Inside buildings, elevators are being tucked behind centrally located, exhilarating stairways, requiring people to exercise while making more room for the disabled in mechanical lifts.”
Detailed Wikipedia War Entry Revealed As Fake
“It went undetected for five years on Wikipedia, but now a seemingly meticulous entry about a 17th century conflict between colonial Portugal and India’s Maratha empire has been outed as a hoax.”
Meet The Oscars Prognosticators
“Oscar bloggers, whose take can be saltier and more vociferous than established print organs — no institutional necessity to pretend you didn’t like the movie to preserve access! — have also been eating the Hollywood trades’ lunch, as the old papers no longer have exclusive claim on lucrative “For Your Consideration” ads.”
St. Paul’s Penumbra Theatre Survives After Emergency Fundraising
“The company took in $359,000 during an emergency fund-raising campaign that ended Dec. 31, allowing it to plug a $340,000 budget shortfall and to mount a production in March.”
A Video Game That Has You Battling Old Age
“Authorial intent is always a tricky thing to wrangle with, but it seems this obscure title might be the first videogame about the struggle against uselessness and old age.”
What Life of Pi’s Global Success Says About The New Movie Biz
“As its triumph in Asia suggests, Ang Lee’s Life of Pi navigates cultural boundaries between east and west with ease.”