Matthew Westphal – Page 1289 – ArtsJournal Wayback

Historic Chinese Town Uses The Arts To Juice Up The Tourism It Lives And Dies By

Wuzhen, a picturesque canal town near China’s east coast, has developed a well-regarded theater festival and several visual art events to turn day-trippers into multi-day visitors. “‘Wuzhen has a kind of nourishing energy,’ said Meng Jinghui, the artistic director of this year’s theater festival. ‘In terms of content and budget, they have given us complete freedom. That’s very rare in China.'”

Can You Teach Astrophysics Through Dance? Professors And Performers In Manchester Are Giving It A Try

In an article headlined “Dancing with the stars” (ahem), Dance Manchester director Deb Ashby writes about Stellarium, a project led by three female astrophysicists and a female choreographer that actually is communicating concepts of basic astrophysics to primary school students via dance performance.

The Tech School That’s Had A Theatre For Fifty Years

“As a technology university that has never had a drama or dance department, the University of Bradford seems like a weird old place to host one of the country’s first professional practice venues. But when the university was formed, the incoming senior management appointed fellowships in theatre and music, believing that engaging with art and culture was an intrinsic part of any education, technical or otherwise.” (Those were the days, eh?)

Leonard Cohen, Singer/Songwriter And Poet, Dead At 82

Though he never had a song in the Top 40, “[his] intensely personal lyrics exploring themes of love, faith, death and philosophical longing made him the ultimate cult artist, and [his] enigmatic song ‘Hallelujah’ became a celebratory anthem recorded by hundreds of artists.”

Those Who Say Illness Makes You A Better Person – Are They Full Of Shinola, Or Do They Have A Point?

“Bookshops are already filled with memoirs, diaries, accounts and letters by, for and about the ill. We seem to be living through a veritable ‘golden age of pathography’, as the historian Thomas Lacqueur observed recently. … But Lacqueur notes that asking deep questions isn’t the same as being able to answer them, or even being able to write well.”

‘Rocky’ At 40 – The Most Successful Bad Movie Ever Made?

Nicholas Barber: “Yes, it has James Crabe’s superb Steadicam shots of Rocky Balboa mooching around the industrial sites and working-class neighbourhoods of pre-gentrification Philadelphia. And, yes, it has Stallone’s heart-swelling sprint up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art to the accompaniment of Bill Conti’s irresistible funk-fanfare. But for every terrific moment you remember, there is another terrible one you may have forgotten.”

What Made Kafka Kafka? Insomnia

“Here’s a Kafkaesque approach to the creative process: staying up so late that, as you doze at the writing desk, insights slip out of your unconscious. This was, according to a new paper in Lancet Neurology, precisely what Franz Kafka himself employed.”

‘Hamilton’, Prince Hal, And The Nature Of Honor

“A playwright in his mid-30s wants to pen an epic tale of ambition, authority, and power. He turns to his nation’s history, to characters familiar to his audience from school and legend. He performs a kind of magic trick.” Hamilton or Henry IV, Part One? Both, of course – and they have more than that in common.

Uncertainty Can Be A Tool Of Persuasion

“In fact, persuasion research reveals that in some situations people can make their own message more persuasive by explicitly noting that they are unsure about what they’re saying!” Especially if the person saying it is an expert.

Author: Matthew Westphal