“Facebook’s insistence on using a real identity and openness is certainly catching on, especially among those who have become weary of unsolicited messages from people they don’t know on [locally developed] sites like Mixi,” which forbids sharing of any personal information.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Is The High-End Classical Music World Going All Spiritual On Us?
Lincoln Center has its new-ish and successful White Lights Festival; the Lucerne Festival has titled its 2012 edition to “Faith”; even the secular, swanky Salzburg Festival has added a ten-day “Spiritual Overture” to its schedule.
Why Woody Allen No Longer Stars In His Movies
“For years I played the romantic lead and then I couldn’t play it anymore because I got too old. It’s just no fun not playing the guy who gets the girl. … I like to be the one that sits opposite them in the restaurant, looks in their eyes and lies to them. So if I can’t do that it’s not much fun to play in the movies.”
Weekly Reader, Which Served Generations Of US Schoolchildren, To Fold
“Weekly Reader, a staple in American classrooms for a century, has some hard news for its young readers: it’s shutting down. Chief rival Scholastic, which bought the school newspaper earlier this year, is folding it into Scholastic News and axing all but five of Weekly Reader‘s 60 employees.”
Philly Pops Will Keep Founder Peter Nero For One More Season
“Peter Nero has prevailed. His lawyers successfully beat back a move to oust the Grammy Award-winning pianist and conductor as head of the Philly Pops. Nero, 78, … will stay on the podium through the end of the 2012-13 season,” and the final year of his contract has been bought out.
Keeping Ballet Alive In Kosovo
The Kosovo National Ballet was founded 40 years ago, during the Yugoslav days. It had to disband during the war-torn Milosevic era, but since Kosovo’s independence, dancers have revived the company and are keeping it going despite low pay and difficult conditions (such as a rehearsal room with a patched-up floor and only one smallish mirror).
Turnaround At Vancouver Opera, Which Ended Season With Surplus
“After weathering a tough season of shortfalls and layoffs, Vancouver Opera is back in the black – to the tune of a cool half-million.”
The 2012 Paralympics Have A Cultural Olympiad Of Their Own
“The Olympics and Paralympics are coming to the UK, along with the opportunity to showcase a wealth of disabled talent. … And the Cultural Olympiad’s Unlimited programme has pumped over a million pounds worth of National Lottery, Arts Council and British Council money into 35 commissions for deaf and disabled artists.”
Are These The Brain Cells That Give Us Consciousness?
When Constantin von Economo discovered them in 1926, he called them “rod-and-corkscrew cells.” (They’re now called von Economo neurons.) “Certain lines of evidence hint that they may help build the rich inner life we call consciousness, including emotions, our sense of self, empathy and our ability to navigate social relationships.”
Actor Blinded On Stage Sues Donmar Warehouse For £250,000
“David John Birrell was playing Colonel Ricci in the Donmar’s production of Sondheim’s Passion in October 2010, when a replica Colt 1851 Navy revolver misfired during a matinee, shooting debris into his right eye.”