“[E]verybody in the art world is now talking about the Detroit Institute of Arts, a world-class institution that just came within inches of closing. Instead, it’s now more financially stable than at any time in the past quarter-century” – because it convinced voters to approve a decade of public funding. How did they pull that off?
Author: Matthew Westphal
Saudi Arabia Objects To 31 Proposed New Internet Domains
“In June, ICANN, the organization that wrangles Internet addresses, announced that almost 2,000 applications for new top-level domains – like .com, .edu, and .gov – had been filed.” (For instance, the BBC asked for .bbc.) “The kingdom of Saudi Arabia … has now argued that 31 applications should be rejected – specifically, those that are related sex, alcohol, gambling, and Islam.”
‘Play It Again, Sam’: Why Misquotations Catch On
“Have you noticed how incorrect quotes often just sound right – sometimes, more right than actual quotations? There’s a reason for that. Our brains really like fluency, or the experience of cognitive ease (as opposed to cognitive strain) in taking in and retrieving information.”
Nudity In Dance – Sometimes It Works
Alastair Macaulay: “That was the year I became a critic; I had no inkling how much stage nakedness awaited me. In experimental modern dance, it is now a widespread condition. A bigger surprise has been to find that sometimes – infrequently, but sometimes – it succeeds.”
What Beasts Of The Southern Wild Does And Doesn’t Say
“Some critics say the indie sensation glorifies poverty and recklessness, but it’s actually a nuanced look at how peoples’ worldviews are tied to where they came from.”
How The Edinburgh Fringe Is Financed (What The Scotsman Wouldn’t Tell You)
“Comedian Bob Slayer was asked by The Scotsman newspaper to write a piece about the way the Edinburgh Fringe is financed. One week ago, they told him it would be printed in today’s issue. Yesterday, they told him they had decided not to run it. This is the article they are not printing for whatever reason …”
The 19th Century’s Most Influential Novelists (According To Google PageRank)
“[A]ccording to a new method of analysing texts using a customised version of Google’s PageRank algorithm … the era’s most influential authors [writing in English] are Jane Austen and Walter Scott.”
Old Brewery Becomes New Art Ecosystem In Zurich
“On the west side of the city center, once abandoned to warehouses and cheap housing, the renowned Löwenbräukunst” – yes, as in the beer – “art complex will reopen after two years of intensive redevelopment. Since 1996, … the complex has been the engine behind Zurich’s growing status as a world center for contemporary art.”
Science Fiction Author Harry Harrison, Who Invented The Idea Of Soylent Green, Dead At 87
“[He] was best known for his The Stainless Steel Rat series, starring the free-spirited anti-hero Slippery Jim DiGriz, a quick-witted conman who travels the universe swindling humans, aliens and robots alike. His 1966 work, Make Room! Make Room! – a sci-fi take on the horrors of overpopulation – inspired the 1973 film Soylent Green starring Charlton Heston.”
Is Opera Ailing? A Conversation About The State Of The Art
NPR’s Tom Huizenga talks with Washington Post critic Anne Midgette, Opera News editor F. Paul Driscoll, and fast-rising countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo.