“The sales bounce comes after a report that appeared in The New York Review of Books and other publications citing extensive documentation to show that Ferrante is likely a German-born translator living in Rome. Ferrante’s publisher has declined to confirm or deny the findings and asked that Ferrante’s privacy be respected.”
Author: Douglas McLennan
Gordon Davidson, The Theatre Maven Who Changed Los Angeles
Davidson’s influence on Los Angeles is twinned in my mind with the architectural landmark just down the street from his old Music Center headquarters — Walt Disney Concert Hall. The reason is that I believe Davidson, who died Sunday at age 83, has done as much to transform the city’s conception of itself as a cultural capital as Frank Gehry’s magnificent building.
Study: Brain Games Don’t Work
“It would be really nice if you could play some games and have it radically change your cognitive abilities. But the studies don’t show that on objectively measured real-world outcomes.” The evaluation, done by a team of seven scientists, is a response to a very public disagreement about the effectiveness of brain games.
Ottawa’s National Arts Center’s $25 Million Plan To Be An Arts Venture Capital Fund
“A statement from the NAC said that the creation fund, which the Ottawa performance centre hopes to increase to at least $25-million, is intended “to provide a source of venture capital [to] artists and arts organizations” across Canada.”
Climate Change? Artists Have Always Been Fascinated By Weather
Over the stretch of a millennium we see the impact of previous weather cycles—periods of extreme cold, of drought, of floods, of time when the Thames froze over—and the impression made by such momentary oddities as meteors or rainbows. In past centuries, these might be read as signs from God: tokens of punishment or reminders of the need for fortitude. By the later 19th century, Hardy could use the rain that falls on a grave as a pointer to nature’s indifference; an indifference that is there, too, in the “Time Passes” section of Woolf’s To the Lighthouse. The meaning of English weather changed as the English themselves changed.
Groups Are Smarter Than Individuals. But Groups Are Stupider Too. So How Do You Get Smart Groups?
“Over the past decade, study after study has attempted to decipher and bottle the qualities of the ‘smart group’. Just as psychologists have tried to uncover the ‘g’ factor responsible for an individual’s general intelligence, they’re digging into the ‘c’ factor – the secret sauce of collective intelligence. And most importantly, we want to know how to bring that ‘c’ factor to all our collaborative work, whether that’s in the boardroom, the classroom, the lab, backstage, the woods or even in space.”
Poetry Is – By Definition – Inefficient. And That’s A Good Thing
“Both walking through a city and reading a poem are ways to thoughtfully and pleasingly disrupt the flow of time and possibly to intensify or concentrate your experience. Both constitute occasions to ignore or even disrupt the prevailing fantasies—predicated on speed—of global capitalism: efficiency, profit maximization, and productivity. A poem is by design inefficient; it’s not a set of instructions or a memo or a text. A walk is almost never the fastest way to get somewhere. But both walks and poems can afford a more textured and deep experience of space and time.”
Survey: Theatre Top Ticket Prices In London’s West End Up 20 Percent In Four Years
“The most expensive seats have increased by £7 since last year alone, when they cost an average £86.78. Since The Stage began records in 2012, the average top-price seat has increased from £72.12.”
For Some Reason, We’re Still Obsessed With Mid-Century Design. Why?
“Art Nouveau, 1920s Spanish and shabby chic were all looks that the cognoscenti embraced at one time or another, but never for this long. It’s as if the mechanism that refreshes cultural trends every few years has developed a glitch.”
A Suburban Museum That Struggles: Bellevue Arts Museum
“But after a rocky start as a contemporary art and education center when it moved into its new building by architect Steven Holl—a willful building easily blamed for everything that was wrong with BAM, despite more intractable difficulties with the Eastside institution’s identity and philanthropy—BAM went on to become artistically unique, creative, and surprising.”