“For a century and a half, Mormonism has been something of a paradox in the history of the American West: passionately argued about by the church’s adherents and detractors, but largely ignored by professional scholars … [Now] a growing cadre of young scholars of Mormonism are enjoying their own turn in the sun, and not just on the nation’s op-ed pages.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
How Derek Jacobi Lost His Religion
“As a teenager I was taken to a Billy Graham rally at Haringey. At the end of it I went down to the arena to give myself to Jesus. But as soon as Graham stopped talking it was like the choir stopped singing and [ he snaps his fingers] I felt totally conned and embarrassed.”
Enormous Painting From Uzbekistan Inspired By 1001 Nights To Tour Europe
“It’s longer than an Olympic swimming pool, took two-and-a-half years to complete and fulfils a 40-year dream — a new mega-canvas by one of Uzbekistan’s best-known artists,” Lekim Ibragimov. “[He] started working on the project – named One Thousand Angels and One Painting – in 2010 and put the finishing touches on it in April.”
Five Truths About Marathon Plays
Michael Billington: “Advertise an event that lasts the best part of a day and you will find the box office quickly besieged. Having sat through a couple of epics in the last fortnight – Gatz at the Noel Coward and Druid Murphy at the Hampstead – I not only have a new understanding of the phrase ‘putting in an eight-hour day’ but have come to several conclusions.”
Bolshoi Invites French Choreographer To Loosen Up Its Dancers
“Russia’s Bolshoi Theatre has invited the modern choreographer and artistic director of Les Ballets de Monte Carlo” – Jean-Christophe Maillot – “to teach Moscow’s more conservative dancers how to let loose on stage.”
Russian Weaponmaker Hires Choreographer For Tank Ballet
“In the opening movements, the T-80 and T-90A tanks maneuver to techno music. There is a brief tango interlude. For the classical portion, the Russian arms company enlisted a ballet director from the Bolshoi Theater, Andrei Melanin. … The Russian tanker crews seem to coax their machines into delicate, even coquettish advances on other tanks. … At one point, two tanks twirl in a creaky, diesel-smoke-belching embrace.”
Adieu, Minitel! France Shuts Down Its Old Proto-Internet
“It is known as the ‘Little French Box’, a 1980s design classic now seen as the ultimate in beige plastic kitsch. But once it was an audacious precursor to the world wide web, introduced the first cybersex into people’s living rooms and had a user-friendly design that may have inspired Steve Jobs’s first Macintosh computer.”
Piano Rolls For the 21st Century: Composer Knits Scarves That Control Disklavier
“By weaving conductive thread into the yarn, [Jeff] Bryant found that he could manipulate the fiber to control a musical instrument … So, with help from a costume designer, Bryant knit a few conductive scarves and asked a dancer to wear them. As the dancer performed Bryant’s push_push … the scarves activated the piano’s keys through wireless signals.”
Grave Robber Steals Teeth Of Brahms And Strauss – For His Own Museum
“The alleged Czech thief who has boasted about his crime on the internet says he wants to now display the famous teeth and dentures he has robbed not just from Austrian waltz king Johann Strauss Jr. and German Romantic composer Johannes Brahms, but from hundreds of other graves as well.”
LA MoCA Fires Chief Curator Paul Schimmel
“The Museum of Contemporary Art has fired chief curator Paul Schimmel, a respected art world figure who was at odds with board members and director Jeffrey Deitch over the direction of the museum.”