“On Wednesday, selected singers, orchestra members and various technicians” at Cagliari’s Teatro Lirico (a high-tech hotbed, in fact) will perform Puccini’s Turandot “wearing Google Glass to transmit the opera live from their individual points of view to audiences online. … Live links through the opera’s website, Facebook, and other social media will allow at-home opera aficionados to enjoy – and interact with – the company.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
What People Think Of You Based On Your Photo
“It’s impossible to deduce personality traits from a quick glance at a duckface iPhone photo. But a new study finds that, when it comes to first impressions, certain facial features do tend to convey specific personality characteristics to others with shocking consistency. You may not be an approachable-yet-dominant sexpot, but you sure look like one in your Facebook photo.”
Subway Dancers Vs. The NYPD
“Cheered by tourists, tolerated by regulars, feared by those who frown upon kicks in the face, subway dancers have unwittingly found themselves a top priority for the New York Police Department – a curious collision of a Giuliani-era policing approach, a Bloomberg-age dance craze and a new administration that has cast the mostly school-age entertainers as fresh-face avatars of urban disorder.”
Met Museum President Emily Rafferty Retires
“The Met’s first female president managed some 1,500 workers. Working with Met director Thomas Campbell, she oversaw renovations of its Islamic galleries and American wing, new digital initiatives and an increase in attendance fueled by blockbuster shows.”
What Happens When Archives Aren’t On Paper Anymore?
When Salman Rushdie donated his archives to Emory Univeristy, he didn’t mean only his papers: the collection includes four of his old computers (and will include all his later digital effects). How do archivists go about making the material on these old pieces of technology available to the public?
Willem Dafoe Gets Physical
“Mr. Dafoe takes a very physical approach to his roles. He starts by rehearsing his movements, ‘because when you devote yourself to an action, that frees you up emotionally,’ he explains. … He calls some of his past movie work ‘dancing,’ but he admits that definition may be ‘lost on your average moviegoer.'”
Why Are Sopranos So Hard To Understand? (We Mean The Words They Sing, Not Their Psyches)
It’s just plain physics (with some physiology thrown in), argues Lauren Ackerman.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 07.29.14
Retirement For Emily Rafferty?
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts | Published 2014-07-29
St. Louis: Ka Nefer-Nefer Case Ends With A Whimper
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts | Published 2014-07-30
John Luther Adams’s outdoor music needs to come indoors
AJBlog: Condemned to Music | Published 2014-07-29
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How Are Europe’s Great Museums Supposed To Handle All Those People?
“Seeing masterpieces may be a soul-nourishing cultural rite of passage, but soaring attendance has turned many museums into crowded, sauna-like spaces, forcing institutions to debate how to balance accessibility with art preservation.”
Is The Bolshoi Ballet A Soviet Throwback?
Alastair Macaulay: “It was hard not to think of politics when watching the Bolshoi’s repertory – which was entirely pre-glasnost. Seeing the tedious mix of Swan Lake (in Yuri Grigorovich’s dismal production), Don Quixote (in Alexei Fadeyechev’s version) and Spartacus (all Grigorovich and all hokum) was to feel the clock turned back 40 years.”