“Each spring, [Aproz] is gripped by cow-fighting fever as dozens of the local Hérens cows vie for the coveted title of ‘Queen of Queens.’ The matches aren’t exactly gladiator-style brawls – the action is largely limited to head-butting, heavy breathing and abundant slobber. … The finals draw national TV crews and thousands of spectators.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Mark Rothko Painting Sells For Record $86.9M
“A dreamy canvas of three colors – Mark Rothko’s Orange, Red, Yellow, from 1961 – shattered all auction records for contemporary art at Christie’s on Tuesday evening, selling for nearly $87 million. It was a stunning moment in an auction that itself brought in the highest total ever in the postwar and contemporary category.”
Choreographing The ‘Undanceable’ – James Kudelka On Adapting The House Of Mirth
“Ballet loves a good erotic duet or two; there was no place for that in this. … No promise of sexual awakening. Just choices, good and bad choices. And these choices all have to do with money and power. … Facing the challenge of making a theatrical work based on The House Of Mirth meant finding a way, beyond props and scenery, to get across the idea of wealth and its close relative, debt.”
Theatre Critic And Bianca Jagger Battle Over Snapping Photos During Einstein
At last week’s UK premiere of Einstein on the Beach at the Barbican, critic Mark Shenton went off (“in full Patti LuPone mode,” he says) on a fellow patron who took flash photos throughout the show. That patron turned out to be Bianca Jagger, who brushed him off. Shenton also accuses Barbican staff of refusing to control Jagger.
Implosions, Hollywood’s New Favorite Means Of Destruction
“For the Hollywood blockbuster the implosion has many advantages over the explosion. The first and most obvious attraction is novelty. The implosion takes the rather well-worn Hollywood explosion and turns it inside-out – with none of those pesky balls of fire covering up the destruction.”
Opera In Cinemas Doesn’t Attract New Audiences, Says ENO Chief
“English National Opera artistic director John Berry has claimed the current trend for arts organisations to screen their work live to cinemas in a bid to extend their brand was a distraction from ensuring a company delivers the best live performances possible.”
Yo-Yo Ma, Paul Simon Win 2012 Polar Music Prize
“American singer-songwriter Paul Simon and Chinese-American cellist Yo-Yo Ma were named winners of Sweden’s Polar Music Prize,” worth one million kronor (roughly $146,000).
An All-Native American King Lear
Fulfilling a dream he’s carried for 45 years, Mohawk actor August Schellenberg heads an all-First Nations cast in a National Arts Centre production that sets Shakespeare’s tragedy in the Algonquin nation in the 17th century, not long after the first contact with Europeans.
Chronicle Of An Academic-Media Firestorm
Things got a bit heated at The Chronicle of Higher Education when one of its contributing bloggers, in an attack on the discipline of African-American Studies, mocked the research in some dissertations that had been featured in a Chronicle article – without having read any of the papers she was attacking.
A Book Of Taliban Poetry (The UK Army Commander Doesn’t Approve)
Retired army colonel Richard Kemp accuses the publishers of “giving voice to terrorists.” The anthology’s editors “argue that its 235 [translated] poems, including love poems, verses exulting in the Afghan landscape and patriotic ballads, provide a unique insight into the human side of the Taliban.”