“Ai Weiwei understands the Internet. So while the highly influential Chinese dissident and artist may have larger concerns on his mind than the latest world-conquering meme from the world of K-pop, it was perhaps only a matter of time until he took a few moments to demonstrate his estimable ‘Gangnam Style’.” (Reader comments explain the video’s implied political content.)
Author: Matthew Westphal
Seattle Symphony And Opera Musicians Avert Strike/Lockout – For A Few Months
“The Seattle Symphony and Opera Players’ Organization, Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera have agreed to extend the musicians’ current contract through Jan. 31, the symphony announced late Friday night.” The idea is to allow additional time for negotiations on a new contract without enduring a strike or lockout.
Cambodia V. Sotheby’s
“The governments of Cambodia and the United States are locked in a legal battle with the auction house Sotheby’s over a thousand-year-old statue. The two governments say the statue was looted from a temple of the ancient Khmer empire. Sotheby’s says this can’t be proved, and a court in New York will decide on the matter soon.”
Are Researchers On The Verge Of Deciphering 5,000-Year-Old Tablet?
“The world’s oldest undeciphered writing system is close to being cracked thanks to a new technology and online crowdsourcing, Oxford University researchers have announced. Called proto-Elamite, the writing has its roots in what is now Iran and dates from 3,200 to 3,000 B.C. So far, the 5,000-year-old writing has defied any effort to decode its symbols impressed on clay tablets.”
ABT To Leave New York’s City Center
“The game of musical chairs launched by New York City Opera last year when it left Lincoln Center is going at least one more round: American Ballet Theatre … has signed a three-year deal to perform at the David H. Koch Theater, starting in October 2013 … The change means that the company will terminate its fall seasons at New York City Center, on West 55th Street, which it began in 1997.”
Scotland’s Arts Funding Body Bows To Complaints, Announces Shake-Up
“Creative Scotland, which distributes £80 million of Government and National Lottery funds, has announced new internal reforms a fortnight after its chairman, Sir Sandy Crombie, received an unprecedented letter of protest from more than 400 artists.”
David Mitchell’s Rules For Adapting Novels Into Films
The author of Cloud Atlas, the unfilmable novel that has just been filmed (and earned the author’s seal of approval), offers his five pointers for “how a novel’s structure must be made ‘film-shaped’.”
Toronto Symphony Brings In Record Revenues But Still Posts $1M Deficit
“The Toronto Symphony Orchestra sold 224,000 concert tickets during its 90th anniversary (2011-12) season and earned its highest revenues ever, but still reported a $986,000 deficit at its annual general meeting on Monday afternoon.”
Montserrat Caballé Hospitalized Following Minor Stroke
The Spanish soprano, now 79, was in Yekaterinburg, Russia to give a benefit concert when she suffered a minor stroke, falling and breaking her arm. She declined treatment in Yekaterinburg and flew home to Barcelona, where she is in stable condition at the Sant Pau hospital.
America’s Wired Young Adults Still Use Libraries
“According to a study released Monday by the Pew Research Center, 60 percent of Americans surveyed in this age group [16 to 29] said they still visited the library. They use libraries to conduct research, borrow print, audio and electronic books and, in some cases, read magazines and newspapers.”