“By the time they made it back to the dressing room, Estie’s older sister had already texted them a screenshot of the flurry of angry Twitter reactions that were starting to pop up. She was so upset on behalf of her little sister that she was shaking.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Forest Whitaker’s Broadway Debut Closes (Very) Early
“The revival [of Eugene O’Neill’s Hughie], which had its opening night on Feb. 25, will close on March 27, after a total of 55 performances, including previews. It had been scheduled to run through June 12.”
Give Me A Break: Anne Midgette On Classical Stars Who Take Sabbaticals
“Pierre-Laurent Aimard did it quietly. Evgeny Kissin did it in a casual remark to a presenter. Piotr Anderszewski, evidently, has done it in an interview with the website Humans of New York … What’s ‘it?’ Time off. Stepping off the treadmill.”
Missing Hong Kong Booksellers Turn Up – On Mainland Chinese TV, Confessing
“Five booksellers who disappeared from Hong Kong last year have re-surfaced in detention in mainland China. They appeared in interviews on TV in which they confessed to crimes and ‘mistakes’.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 03.03.16
Celebrating the future
Had a marvelous time last weekend at the Sunderman Conservatory of Music, a school just 10 years old at Gettysburg College … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2016-03-03
“Unfinished” Business: Met Breuer Engulfed by a Dark Cloud of Unknowing
What a disappointment! The debut installation at the Met Breuer, unveiled to the press on Tuesday (and to the general public on Mar. 18), fell short of the expectations raised by the Metropolitan Museum itself. … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-03-03
Black and Blue of Michael Butterworth’s Diaries
Michael Butterworth’s new book, The Blue Monday Diaries: In the Studio with New Order — recently published in the U.K., and just out in the U.S. — tells how he began “hanging out … read more
AJBlog: Straight|Up Published 2016-03-03
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Losing Yourself In The Cloud – And Getting Yourself Back
“The underlying concern with the Internet is not whether it will fragment our attention spans or mold our minds to the bit-work of modernity. In the end, it will likely do both. The deeper question is what can be done when we realize that we want some control over the exchange between our brains and the Web.” James McWilliams proposes an answer to that question.
Love Drugs: Should We Treat Suffering Caused By Romance The Way We Treat Mental Illness?
The FDA just approved a drug said to increase women’s libidos. Some doctors prescribe Prozac to people who want to lower or suppress their sex drives. It’s not unheard of for women to check themselves into psych wards after a nasty breakup. And there’s an entire ugly history of medical attempts to “cure” homosexuality. How to untangle the ethical knots these issues tie?
Scenes Of Life In Ancient Egypt, Deciphered Via Crowdsourcing
“Tales of tragedy written on papyrus that lay hidden for centuries in an Ancient Egyptian rubbish dump have been revealed after being pieced together with the help of a small army of citizen scientists. The stories range from a doctor’s report on the drowning of a 12-year-old slave girl to a rendition of the Book of Exodus in the style of a Greek tragedy.”
Bob Dylan’s Secret Stash Emerges
“There have long been rumors that Bob Dylan had stashed away an extensive archive, but even die-hard Dylanologists couldn’t have dreamed up anything like the 6,000-piece private trove of his work recently acquired by a group of institutions in Oklahoma.”
Tech News Site CNET Adds New Feature: Fiction
“On Wednesday, CNET published a 5,500-word story about a female social media guru in Silicon Valley who is kidnapped by a taco truck owner. The man handcuffs the woman in the back of his truck and forces her to create a social media campaign to promote his tacos.”