Terry Teachout: “Were it not for their work, comparatively few of us would be able to enjoy the plays of Chekhov, Ibsen or Molière. They are our lifelines to the wider world of theater. Yet literary translators are the perpetually unsung heroes and heroines of literature. (If you doubt it, try naming a half-dozen of them off the top of your head.)”
Author: Matthew Westphal
V&A Museum Gets Green Light To Build Scottish Branch
“The V&A at Dundee, an affiliate of the London museum in eastern Scotland, secured planning permission this week and building work is due to start next summer. … With costs estimated at £45m, it is the most expensive gallery project ever undertaken in Scotland.”
American Summer Exchange Students At The Bolshoi Ballet
“For the past month, 17-year-old July Yinger of Denver has been in Moscow, training at the world-renowned Bolshoi Ballet. Her day begins formally at 9 a.m. with three hours of ballet and gymnastics, followed by four hours of Russian language study. Afternoons and evenings are full of excursions around Moscow.”
Edinburgh Fringe Stagehand Nearly Dies From Reaction To Perfume
During a performance of Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter, Bryn Jones had a severe allergic reaction to an audience member’s perfume. But the only way out of the small theatre was through the audience, whom Jones didn’t want to disturb …
The Art World’s Mysterious Forger
“Elite buyers paid up to $17 million to own just one of these canvases, said to have been created by the hands of artists like Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline and Robert Motherwell. But federal prosecutors say that most, if not all, of the 63 ballyhooed works – which fetched more than $80 million in sales – were painted in a home and garage in Queens.”
The Quandaries of Fame (And The Best Role Model For Dealing With Them?)
“Research has suggested that around 40% of adults expect to enjoy their 15 minutes of fame in some guise or other. Many more are enthralled by those who achieve this goal, often immoderately.” And many celebrities are famously ambivalent about their celebrity. David Cox suggests that we can all take a cue on how to handle fame from Stephen Hawking.
The New Stars Of YouTube Gather Together (In The Flesh)
“Anthony Quintal … wanted to run away from the grown-ups. The fans kept slowing him down. [The 14-year-old], a rising YouTube star, had traveled to VidCon, a conference that allowed him to meet viewers of his online diary entries face to face. There was only one problem: He had a father, a manager and a communications handler trailing him.”
Online Micropayments Could Transform Journalism, Media And Music Businesses
The microtransactions made possible by services such as Bitcoin and Ripple “could let users read the rest of a New York Times article for a few cents instead of signing up for a full monthly subscription, … or ‘pay for Wi-Fi internet metered by the minute (or second!) if you just need to check one email’ or ‘support your favorite artists or coders with a tip’.”
Now We Know Who’s Selling That Banksy Mural In L.A.
“The anonymous gas station operator whose shop walls were graced with a Banksy mural, which he subsequently cut out and put up for auction, has decided to come forward. Eytan Rosenberg, 44, owned the garage on the corner of Beverly Boulevard and La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles with his family.”
The American Culture Of Blame
“Take a risk and succeed, and you are a hero. Take a risk and fail, and you are to blame – even if it costs you your life. Risk and blame are the hallmarks of worthy personhood in contemporary American society. … But the puzzling question is why people who do not benefit from a system of blame – that is, most Americans – cling so fiercely to its creed.”