“The French had the food, the philosophers and the designer clothes, but if there was one cultural genre where London could always claim undisputed superiority it was musicals — with the best shows and the biggest audiences outside New York.” Now Paris is making inroads.
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Jennifer Hudson As Winnie Mandela? South Africans Object
Casting Jennifer Hudson in the title role of a film about Winnie Madikizela-Mandela “has not gone down well in [South Africa’s] acting community. At a stormy weekend press conference, the Creative Workers Union of South Africa said that using foreign actors to tell the country’s stories undermined efforts to develop a national film industry.”
This Decade, London Became The World’s Dance Capital
“One reason for this has been the dramatic increase in venues. After decades of being squeezed into cramped and dirty spaces, a mix of private and public money has finally given dance the theatres it needs.”
For SFMOMA Expansion, The Design Is Critical
“[H]ere’s the most formidable challenge facing the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art as it prepares to enlarge its brick-clad citadel on Third Street: The architecture must soar, or the new wing will mock the museum’s grand dreams.”
Actors Fund Plans Low-Income Housing Across US
“The Actors Fund, a human services organization that helps people who work in the performing arts and entertainment industries, is planning to build hundreds of low-income housing units in urban centers across the country over the next few years. … The projects will include low-income housing, assisted-living and nursing-home facilities.”
Hurdles Ahead For Zumthor’s LACMA Makeover
LACMA director and CEO Michael “Govan is known for a keen interest in contemporary architecture,” but his recruitment of Pritzker Prize winner Peter Zumthor to reconfigure the campus will be viewed by many Angelenos “as merely the latest in a long line of high-profile architectural plans to remake the museum, none of which has so far come close to fulfilling its early promise.”
A Copenhagen Cube Puts CO2 Output In Perspective
“Its creators said the cube represents the space that one metric ton of carbon dioxide would occupy if stored at standard atmospheric pressure — specifically, a space that is the equivalent of 27 feet cubed, or 19,683 cubic feet.” That’s because “[t]he average citizen of an industrialized country releases one metric ton of carbon dioxide per month.”
Researchers: Ivory Coast Monkeys Have Syntax, Too
“Having spent months recording the monkeys’ calls in response to both natural and artificial stimuli, a group led by Klaus Zuberbühler of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland argues that the Campbell’s monkeys have a primitive form of syntax.”
Dave Eggers’ Broadsheet Comes With Idealism Intact
“‘Our hope,’ Eggers notes, ‘is that readers will say, “I forgot all these things that newsprint can do.” I think it’s life-affirming when you say, “Let’s just write it at the length it needs to be and not keep shrinking everything.” ‘ Of course, it’s easy to make such an argument when you’re not dealing with the issues facing the commercial press.”
Baritone Nathan Gunn, How Do You Keep So Buff?
Because he spends so much time on the road, “his workout is a blend of whatever he feels like doing and is [dependent] on available equipment. But Mr. Gunn will always try to perform a series of strength exercises for about 20 minutes a day five times a day.”