Mark Lawson had his epiphany after seeing Robert Wilson’s Walking: “With the zeal of any convert, I now see that the power of this form is that the viewer is in control of the narrative … and that the story takes on ambiguities unlikely in a traditional venue.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Why Bother Translating Arabic Literature? (Asks Arab Writer)
Ibrahim Ferghali: “Taking together all the Arabic literature we see translated and celebrated today, in addition to the two aforementioned prizes and others, it is my view that nothing has changed. These translations have failed to give expression to the true nature of the Arab world’s literary output and they have proved unable to bring about any sort of audience for this literature.”
Painting Said To Be Lost J.M.W. Turner To Be Unveiled
“Experts will present evidence next week claiming to have uncovered a long-lost painting by JMW Turner, bought for £3,700 but now valued by one insurance firm at £20m. Jonathan Weal, 54, who works for an art investment fund, spotted the seascape eight years ago in an auction at a Kent golf club.”
Portraying The Making Of Art Onstage (It Ain’t Easy)
“For the most part, dramatized lives of the artists – on film as well as on stage – are flat-out embarrassing when our hero is shown in the Act of Creation. This usually involves some tortured-looking actor staring at a blank surface … eyes aflame and brow furrowed like a freshly plowed field.” But sometimes, writes Ben Brantley, folks get it right.
Salman Rushdie On The Saddest Thing About His Years In Hiding
“I lost my 40s, essentially. I was 41 when this started, and the 40s are supposed to be the prime of a man’s life. Instead my 40s were all this crap. I know friends of mine who were around me and helped me through this said to me, years later, in my mid-50s, that ‘you look younger now.’ If I look back at the pictures, I can see exactly what they mean.”
Orchestra Festival Spring For Music To Close In 2014
“Spring for Music, a noble endeavor to bring six North American orchestras chosen for their creative programs to Carnegie Hall during a weeklong festival, will end after two more outings. The organizers said on Thursday that the fourth festival, in May 2014, would be the last.”
Actress Sues Producer Of Anti-Muhammad Video For Fraud
“In a complaint alleging fraud, slander and intentional infliction of emotional distress,” actress Cindy Lee Garcia “said that after scenes from Innocence of Muslims posted on YouTube sparked Middle East protests early last week, she was subjected to ‘credible death threats’ and was no longer permitted to provide child care for her grandchildren.” (A judge denied her emergency request to order YouTube to remove the video.)
Florida’s Broward Center To Introduce Stadium-Style Luxury Boxes
“Club Level [will be] a VIP area with wider seats inside the hall, and private access to a soundproof lounge with flat screen TVs, a full bar and food service – reminiscent of the luxury boxes fans pay top dollar for at sports venues.” The amenities are meant to appeal to “drag-alongs” – e.g., the bored spouse who gets dragged along to the opera or ballet.
Benjamin Millepied On Why He Chose L.A. For His New Company
“First of all, I was excited by Los Angeles on a personal level. I am also intrigued by the fact that (a serious dance company) never really took hold here. There’s no reason for it not to. I think there was just never the chance for the right project at the right moment to take place. … Also there is a sort of buoyant and free spirit here that has existed for a long time.”
Ponytail Physics, Brain Waves In Dead Salmon: The 2012 Ig Nobel Prize Winners
Among the laureates were researchers studying why coffee closhes in a cup while you’re walking (the fluid dynamics prize), doctors who showed that MRI machines can find brain activity even in dead fish (the neuroscience prize), a Russian company that can convert old ammunition into diamonds (the peace prize), and, for the acoustics prize, the inventors of a jamming device that can stop blowhards from bloviating. (No, they don’t mean Miss Sweetie-Poo.)