Charles Chu offers excerpts from a letter the playwright/physician/author wrote to his older brother when they were in their mid-20s.
Author: Matthew Westphal
The Robot-Librarian Apocalypse Is Coming To The Emirates
“Later this year, Dubai-based education technology firm ATLAB will release into classrooms across the United Arab Emirates a swarm of cutesy robots with cartoon eyelashes, penguin-arms, and robustly apportioned 3D cameras and infrared sensors … The platform, called TeachAssist, will function as a sort of in-class librarian, helping students locate and check out books, responding to questions, and pulling research materials from the cloud.” (Anyone else think it reminds them of the Jetsons’ robot maid, Rosie?)
Designing A Surreal, Sugar-Fueled Fantasy Ballet
Whipped Cream, a Richard Strauss ballet from 1924, really is a sugar-fueled fantasy: the story is about a boy who runs amok in a pasrty shop and starts hallucinating about an enormous dancing mass of whipped cream (and more) after a few sweets too many. (He’s saved by Princess Praline and Prince Coffee.) Alexei Ratmansky is reviving Whipped Cream for ABT, and pop-surrealist painter Mark Ryden is creating the sets and costumes. Angelica Frey has a look at what Ryden is cooking up.
Elimination Of NEA And NEH Is ‘Worst-Case Scenario For Arts Groups’
“The budget plan, which calls for the elimination of four independent cultural agencies – the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting – also would radically reshape the nation’s cultural infrastructure.” Philip Kennicott and Peggy McGlone survey the likely damage.
Trump’s Budget Cuts Will Badly Damage Public Broadcasting As A Whole, But Not So Much NPR And PBS
“In other words, defunding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting would mean hurting the local TV and radio stations that a whole lot of Republican voters watch and listen to.”
NY State Lawmakers Introduce ‘Right To Be Forgotten’ Bill
The proposed legislation is modeled on the European Union’s “right to be forgotten” rules mandating removal of certain material from search engines upon request from the subject of that material. Eugene Volokh argues that, regardless of the legal principles involved in Europe, this law would be unconstitutional in the U.S.
How The New York Philharmonic Got Deborah Borda Back
The Museum Admission Fee Is Too Damn High (So Here’s How To Lower It)
How are museums supposed to attract younger, more diverse audiences when they charge $20 or more to get in? (Except for, maybe, three hours one day a week.) Daniel Grant suggests a source of funding (granted, a controversial source) to cut or eliminate those admission fees.
The New Yorker Has A New Poetry Editor
“Paul Muldoon, who for a decade has served as the poetry editor of The New Yorker, will step down, the magazine announced on Wednesday. His successor will be Kevin Young, who moved to New York from Atlanta last year to become the director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.”
Acting For Animals: A Theatre Piece Performed For Sheep, Pigs, And Goats
“The animals won’t need a ticket, but there will be human spectators who do. The cast will definitely be performing for the animals, and the audience are there to watch that encounter.” Lyn Gardner reports.