“For Elizabeth Swados, being nominated for four Tony Awards in one year while still in her 20s – for Runaways, in 1978 – led to success in an unexpected direction. Or, rather, in several unexpected directions.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Dürer Never Saw A Rhinoceros, But His Woodcut Of One Was A Megahit (And Wasn’t Too Far Off)
“Five hundred years ago in 1516, the first rhinoceros seen in Europe since the days of the Roman Empire drowned off the coast of Italy in a shipwreck. … This was the rhinoceros portrayed by Albrecht Dürer in his famous woodblock print of 1515. … [He] was like most people in Europe: he never actually saw the rhinoceros. He relied on a written description and sketch sent from Lisbon.”
Florida Man Decapitates 875-Year-Old Statue
In the middle of the night earlier this month, 33-year-old Jorge Arizamendoza pried open an iron gate and scaled a fence at the Ancient Spanish Monastery in North Miami Beach, a 12th-century structure from Segovia which William Randolph Hearst brought to the U.S. piece by piece. He then destroyed the head of a statue of King Alfonso VII of Castile and León from 1141. (Three days later, he came for Sunday Mass and threatened to shoot the priest and congregation, at which point he was arrested.)
TV On The Radio: Analog Television Signals Squat At The Far Left Of The FM Dial
“As analog TV gave way to digital, a handful of risk-taking broadcasters, sensing an opportunity, have started to run those analog TV stations as FM radio stations – big FCC plans be damned. The shift is surprisingly contentious in the world of broadcast. Today, we talk about the special superpowers of Channel 6, the analog TV station on the FM dial.”
The Golden Age Of Television Reaches Europe, And Talented Screenwriters Are Skipping The Silver Screen
“The emerging stars of European scriptwriting have been raised on a rich diet of The Sopranos, The Wire and Breaking Bad … In the past, the careers of David Chase, David Simon or Vince Gilligan seemed unattainable. But today, with more and more high quality television drama coming out of Europe, such as Engrenages (‘Spiral’) from France, Deutschland 83 from Germany and Gomorra from Italy, the demand for young, creative and talented screenwriters is greater than ever.”
One Of The World’s Most Famous Department Stores Is Adding A New 100-Seat Theatre
Selfridge’s is opening the venue in its Oxford Street store in London. The first production will be Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, performed by theatre company The Faction, which will allow shoppers to watch rehearsals (something which the store’s management compares to passersby looking in the display windows).
A Gorgeous New Shade Of Blue That Chemists Created By Accident
“Mas Subramanian and his team at Oregon State University weren’t looking to create colors; they were just mixing chemicals together to see what they could produce. They were aiming for something with an electronics application. Instead, they got YInMn Blue – a new and vibrant blue pigment.”
Sorry, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Basing A Country’s Governance Solely On ‘The Weight Of Evidence’ Could Not Work
On Wednesday, America’s star astrophysicist sent out this tweet: “Earth needs a virtual country: #Rationalia, with a one-line Constitution: All policy shall be based on the weight of evidence.” Jesse Singal explains that “it is, in fact, a pretty dumb tweet – uncharacteristically so, given how smart the author is – but one which usefully sums up a common misconception held by folks who bang the drum loudest for science and reason.”
This Theater Slashed Ticket Prices To Increase And Diversify Its Audiences – ‘What Happened Next Was A Revelation’
In 2005, Signature Theatre, an off-Broadway house on far West 42nd Street, “did a very hard-to-do thing. They convinced a big corporation, Time Warner, to hand the theater $500,000 to try to chip away at the price barrier. Before that grant, tickets to Signature’s shows had cost around $55. After the grant, they cost just $15.” (includes audio)
‘Urgent’ Restoration Work At The Chapelle Royale At Versailles
The three-year, €11 million project – which will repair cracks in the masonry that are causing structural instability, overhaul the slate roofing, repair fractured lead ornaments and corroded soldering in the stained-glass windows, and restore degraded exterior statuary – will begin next year. Concerts and other activities inside the chapel should not be affected. (in French; Google Translate version here)