The mercurial young ballet star (followed in short order by his colleague and mentor, Igor Zelensky) abruptly bolted from a London production of Peter Schaufuss’s Midnight Express last year. Schaufuss sued both men for breach of contract; they have now arrived at a confidential settlement.
Author: Matthew Westphal
What Can A City Do With Old Shipyard Cranes? Use Them For Light Sculptures
That’s what the Croatian city of Pula did eight of the mammoth machines. Lighting designer Dean Skira’s Lighting Giants uses 73 LED spotlights that can be programmed to make about 16,000 different patterns. (includes photo essay and video)
More Evidence That Learning A Second Language Can Slow Mental Decline In Old Age
“A study that tracked hundreds of Scottish people for decades is the strongest evidence yet that speaking an extra language slows the mental decline that accompanies ageing. The benefits hold regardless of your IQ and even if you learn your second tongue as an adult.”
If You Want To Really Understand ‘Ulysses’, Read About Its Obscenity Trial
“Joyce used an unapologetically forward-thinking brand of Imagism in service of the filthiest writing ever seen in a literary magazine to that point. … Obscenity was the lifeblood of Ulysses, the proof that it truly comprehended all human experience.”
Watching ‘Richard III’ With Bashar al-Assad
NPR correspondent Deborah Amos “recount[s] a trip to the Damascus Opera House with the Syrian president to watch a performance of Richard III – a performance where he knowingly slapped his knee in laughter when Baldrick wins an election with 99 percent of the vote.” (video)
What’s A Website To Do When Google Stops Sending Visitors?
“A couple weeks ago, Matt Haughey, the founder of TLDR’s favorite website, Metafilter , announced that his website is dying. And he says it’s because Google algorithmically stopped directing traffic to the site over a year ago . Alex tries to figure out what you do when Google’s algorithm decides it no longer likes you.” (audio podcast)
Top Posts From AJBlogs 06.05.14
Making the old new (1)
How can older classical music — all those familiar masterworks — sound contemporary? Because most of the time they don’t.
AJBlog: Sandow | Published 2014-06-05
Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos: Not to be counted out yet
AJBlog: Condemned to Music | Published 2014-06-06
My Q&A with Timothy Potts: Reinstalling the Getty Museum’s Antiquities (and more on the Getty Bronze)
AJBlog: CultureGrrl | Published 2014-06-06
Songwriters Struggle in the Digital Age
AJBlog: CultureCrash | Published 2014-06-05
The Crocker’s Big Secret: A Good News Story
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts | Published 2014-06-06
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A Korean-American Woman Playwright Tries A Black Identity Politics Show
“At first, [Young Jean Lee] envisioned The Shipment as a hip-hop dance piece. It failed completely. It was designed to make the mostly white audience uncomfortable, she said. Instead, they loved it. … ‘It was one of the worst artistic experiences of my life – seeing all the black people walk out and the white people happy, so happy.'”
Why We Need Not Fear Our New Computer Overlords
Adam Frank: “When computers finally become self-aware, will their first act be enslaving the obviously inferior human race? The answer, I think, is ‘no.’ But they won’t spare us out of altruism or a sense of responsibility to their creators. No, they will leave us alone because we bore them.”
Musée Picasso In Paris Names New Director
“Laurent Le Bon, the director of the Centre Pompidou-Metz, is the new head of the Musée Picasso in Paris. The appointment … follows the dismissal of Anne Baldassari last month.”