“By the end of the nine-week course, most of the volunteers had the bizarre experience of seeing text in the real world, on road signs, for instance, take on certain hues.”
Month: November 2014
The Arts Are Booming In Turkey (But Beneath The Boom, All’s Not So Well)
“Galleries abound. The Istanbul Design Biennial is in full swing. Three new private art museums are in the works, including one designed by the London-based star architect Zaha Hadid. The rock and jazz scenes are thriving. A Turkish film, “Winter Sleep,” took the top prize at the Cannes International Film Festival this year.”
Airline Refuses To Transport Double Bass (Even In Luggage)
“Ranaan was returning home after an appearance on “Dancing with the Stars” when the airline refused to accept his bass—packed to go with luggage, as basses normally do—at all. Appeals to the US Airways shift manager were useless. Ranaan ended up booking with Delta Airlines, which accepted him and his bass with no hesitation.”
Poland’s National Opera House Reaches For The Big Leagues
The Teatr Wielki “has embarked on a new wave of collaborations with major European houses, while maintaining a commitment to Polish repertory. The theater is being physically overhauled … The annual budget of approximately $50 million – 80 percent of which comes from the Ministry of Culture – has doubled since 1998 … The attendance rate has hovered above 90 percent since 2010.”
Frank Lloyd Wright Usonian House Arrives At Its New Home, Crystal Bridges Museum
“How many truckloads does it take to transport a 2,800 sq. ft house, designed by one of America’s most revered Modern architects, more than 1,200 miles from New Jersey to Arkansas? Surprisingly, the answer is considerably fewer than one might think.”
The “Serial” Backlash Has Arrived
Almost any media phenomenon that becomes as popular as fast as this podcast has gets some sort of backlash on the Web. Anna Silman offers us – without judgment (we can provide that) – a guide to the main complaints.
“Serial” Murder Victim’s Brother Gives Us All A Reality Check
The younger brother of Hae Min Lee, the Baltimore high school senior whose 1999 murder, and the subsequent criminal trial, are the subject of the popular podcast, took to Reddit to remind the rest of us that it really isn’t fun to see your family’s most agonizing period become an online obsession. (He does, however, have a bit of praise for reporter Sarah Koenig.)
Can The Miami Book Fair Become As Big As Art Basel?
“Under the new leadership of Tom Healy – poet, gallerist, fund-raiser – it enters its 31st year with a growing budget and a plan to expand into a year-round institution that would make Miami as indispensable to the book business as it’s become to art collectors on the make.”
Shubert Organization, A Broadway Giant, Buys Off-Broadway Theaters
“The Shubert Organization, which owns 17 of Broadway’s 40 theaters, has completed a deal to take over New World Stages … The move creates a significant opportunity for the Shubert Organization to shepherd fading Broadway shows out of their theaters and into New World Stages, where new profits might be reaped because of the lower Off Broadway production costs.”
ABT To Open A Second Ballet School In Southern California
“Classes at the ABT William J. Gillespie School” – headquartered at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa – “will begin in September for students ages 3 to 14 years old and will follow the same curriculum as the children’s division of the nationally known dance company’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School [in Manhattan].”