“In the late 1960s, … the Romanian-French absurdist playwright, published a series of ‘silly stories,’ in his words, that he’d written for his young daughter decades before. … When they were published, Maurice Sendak called them ‘among the most imaginative picture books of the last decade’.” Children are, after all, a natural audience for absurdism.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Teaching Computer Software To Create Stories
“‘My, what a big mouth you have, Grandma,’ says Little Red Riding Hood, with just a hint of suspicion. The wolf sneezes. ‘Bless you,’ says the little girl. Sound odd? That’s because this snippet of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ was written not by a person but by a piece of software called Xapagy. It may not seem like much, but it demonstrates a first step towards computers that can invent stories.”
Graphic Novel Banned From South Carolina Public Library
“There was a reason Alan Moore’s Neonomicon was shelved in the adult section of the library in Greenville County, South Carolina: It contains adult content. And it was checked out with an adult library card – but that adult library card was in the hands of a 14-year-old girl.” Oops. (Greenville is home to the Christian fundamentalist Bob Jones University.)
Raphael Drawing Sells For $47.8 Million
“The work, titled Head of a Young Apostle, was featured in a Sotheby’s auction in London on Wednesday. The chalk drawing, dating from the early 16th century, is believed to have been an early study for Raphael’s masterpiece Transfiguration, which is located at the The Vatican.”
Trisha Brown To Retire From Making New Work
“Two new dances by the choreographer Trisha Brown to be performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music beginning in January will be the final works of her career … Ms. Brown, 76, last performed with her company at the Joyce Theater in 2008, and has suffered health problems in recent years. But she remains the company’s artistic director.”
Holy Grail Producer Was Not ‘7th Python’, Says Michael Palin
“Michael Palin has dismissed a suggestion that a film producer was a seventh member of the Monty Python comedy team. Palin – one of six stars of the Monty Python television series – told a high court trial on Thursday that the idea Mark Forstater was a ‘seventh Python’ would not have been accepted.”
Minnesota Orchestra Reports $6 Million Deficit
“As expected, the Minnesota Orchestra has posted an operating deficit of $6 million for fiscal 2012. It is the largest deficit in the orchestra’s 110-year history and twice as large as last year’s shortfall.”
Kanzaburo Nakamura XVIII, Kabuki Legend, Dead At 57
“Mr. Kanzaburo’s career spanned five decades; his first performance was in 1959 at age 3, in the shadow of his father … [He] initially immersed himself in the classics before forging his own path. In 1994, he collaborated with the contemporary theater director Kazuyoshi Kushida to bring Kabuki performances to sites frequented more by Tokyo’s sneaker-wearing hipsters than by the theatergoing elite.”
Washington Post To Add Online Paywall
“The Washington Post, one of the last holdouts against the trend of charging readers for online access to newspaper articles, is likely to reverse that decision in 2013, according to people familiar with the matter.”
Okay, Theater Audiences: ‘Sit Up And Engage – It’s Not Feeding Time’
Andrew Upton of Sydney Theatre Co. : “The hardest audience burden of all to tolerate is sitting back and waiting to be fed. This sort of blobby ‘tell me a story while I chew my cud’ has left me wondering if seats should be removed from theatres altogether. … Sit up and engage. It’s not feeding time; it’s haranguing, coaxing, wooing time.”