“Three years ago, the theatre world was shocked to learn that Mark Ravenhill, the author of Shopping and F***ing, would put his name to a new version of Dick Whittington. … This Christmas, it’s the turn of an even more unlikely playwright”: Richard Bean.
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
‘Nerd’ And ‘Geek’: Words Too Harmful To Use?
“David Anderegg, a professor of psychology at Bennington College, says that merely mentioning terms like nerd or geek serves to perpetuate the stereotype. The words are damaging, much like racial epithets, he says, and should be avoided.” Never mind that he’s the author of “Nerds: Who They Are and Why We Need More of Them.”
Met May Stage Zeffirelli’s Tosca In Tandem With Bondy’s
“Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, … stressed that the possible return of the [Franco] Zeffirelli ‘Tosca’ was unconnected to the response to the [controversial Luc] Bondy production. A final decision will be made by the time the Met’s 2010-2011 season is announced in late February, he said.”
Why Authors Shouldn’t Engage With Critics (Example 4,732)
“After Amazon reviewer LB Taylor gave [a] novel one star, calling it ‘a sad excuse for romance, mystery, and humor’, she found herself attacked online by one NiteflyrOne – shortly outed by commentors as Candace Sams, author of the novel.” But things got really weird when Sams wrote “that she’s reporting naysayers to the FBI.”
Steven Spielberg Snaps Up Rights To War Horse
DreamWorks has bought the rights to the 1982 novel by Michael Morpugo, on which the play is based. “With its innovative use of life-size puppets to depict the horses of the first world war, the story of a young Devon farmhand who braves the trenches in an effort to find his beloved colt has proved a huge success on stage.”
As ’09 Ends, Philly Orchestra’s Director Search Keeps Going
“There are compelling musical reasons to name someone [as music director] soon. In some ways, the ensemble is rudderless. … But there are equally convincing arguments to wait, since the musicians have not been galvanized by any current contender.”
Arts Squatters To Landlords: We Make Properties Safer
A cultural organization called the Oubliette pays no rent on its home, a Mayfair mansion, which the group entered “on Sunday 6 December without the permission or knowledge of the owners. … But they are not squatting, they say.” And they have a goal: “To persuade the rich to lend their empty properties to the Oubliette to use for exhibitions, concerts and plays.”
Kremlin Wants Cyrillic Web Domains, But Russians Don’t
As Russia pushes for “domain names in languages with non-Latin alphabets,” the nation’s people worry “that Cyrillic domains will give rise to a hermetic Russian Web, a sort of cyberghetto, and that the push for Cyrillic amounts to a plot by the security services to restrict access to the Internet. “
‘Selfish Giving’ And Other Hazards Of Philanthropy
“[H]ow pure does giving have to be? If there’s anything in it for you — like a tax break or your name on a building — [does] that automatically diminish the gift?”
How Perfectionism Cost Dickens Christmas Carol Profits
“When Dickens received the initial receipts of production and sale from Chapman and Hall, he found that after the deductions for printing, paper, drawing and engraving, steel plates, paper for plates, colouring, binding, incidentals and advertising and commission to the publishers, the ‘Balance of account to Mr Dickens’s credit’ was a mere £137.”