“Backed by a violin-heavy, throat-tightening score, the temporary truce follows with handshakes, gifts, and soccer. It’s an exceedingly effective ad—one that might even cause you to shed a tear, depending on the size of your heart.”
Month: November 2014
How The Civil War Transformed America’s Great Forests
“The historian Megan Kate Nelson estimates that two million trees were killed during the war. The Union and Confederate armies annually consumed 400,000 acres of forest for firewood alone.”
Do Americans Understand (At All) What We Have In Our Arts?
“Any chamber of commerce will tell you that the arts help cities flourish by adding to quality of life, retaining creative talent and attracting business to the region. But maybe it’s simpler than that.”
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Returns To Applause, And Criticism
“Sorry to say, what the audience got in this work was not what the ASO sounds like under normal circumstances. But these were not normal circumstances. Although the collective bargaining agreement was successfully wrapped up in time for this concert, many of the ASO’s musicians are still committed to temporary engagements with orchestras elsewhere.”
If You Want To Be A Musician, Listen To All Music – Especially The Kinds You Don’t Like
“There is no way to make an argument that one type of music’s formal devices are better than another’s.”
What Inspires One Of Britain’s Best Choreographers
“I’m not a person who likes to stand still but it allows me to be still and my mind to be moving. It just conjures up emotions and is very powerful.”
An Artist And His 3D Printer Create Sculptures So Small, No Human Eye Can See Them
“His works are 80 by 100 by 20 microns and can only be detected on the screen of an extremely powerful scanning electron microscope.”
Should Minimum Wage Apply To The Arts (& If Not, How Should Artists Make A Living?)
“While administrative staffers on payrolls of Chicago theaters, performance collectives and small dance companies generally make at least minimum wage, performers, sometimes categorized as solo independent contractors and thus beyond the legal reach of minimum wage, might be paid little or, in some cases, nothing.”
The Winner Of The Giller Prize On Music, Writing, And Unicorns
“I like to sometimes write against the music I’m listening to. So if I’m writing a peaceful, quiet, sad scene, there’s something useful about listening to really assertive, loud music, to find a tension.”
Glen Larson, Battlestar Galactica Producer Who Just Died At 77, Could Make Practically Any TV Show A Success
“Many of the hit shows Glen Larson produced found little favor with critics, including ‘B.J. and the Bear’ (1979), about a trucker and his pet monkey. And despite his success, sometimes with multiple series running simultaneously, he never won an Emmy.”