“For existentialists and Buddhists, though in different ways, the relationship between the self and death seems more like the Late Night relationship between David Letterman and Paul Shaffer. One will be present if the other is too. You can be a full-fledged self, existentialists say, only if your death is ever present in your life. If you can manage to make your self disappear, Buddhists say, then death will as well.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Stalin Museum Decides To Acknowledge His Atrocities
“A museum that has honored Josef Stalin in Georgia since 1937 is being remodeled to exhibit the atrocities that were committed during the Soviet dictator’s rule. Georgian Culture Minister Nika Rurua said Monday that his nation, which became independent in 1991, can no longer host a museum ‘glorifying the Soviet dictator’.”
Audience Member’s Lawsuit Against Bolshoi Opera Thrown Out
“A woman unhappy with Bolshoi’s controversial staging of [Glinka’s] Ruslan and Lyudmila opera was denied 1 million ruble compensation bid by Moscow’s Tverskoi court on Monday.” The plaintiff had sued over “the moral agony experienced when watching the performance.”
Decoding A Maestro’s Moves
“So in an attempt to understand what is going on, we interviewed seven conductors as they passed through New York in recent seasons with an eye to breaking them down into body parts – like that poster in the butcher shop with dotted lines to show the different cuts of meat – left hand, right hand, face, eyes, lungs and, most elusive, brain.”
At Canadian Opera Co., Where Are The Canadian Operas?
“The COC is an international-calibre opera company that routinely sells out houses with powerful productions of European classics … but it has been 13 years since the company programmed a piece of music written by a Canadian in its main venue.” This doesn’t seem to bother subscribers, but it drives the Canadian music community crazy.
The Lion King Is Now Broadway’s Box Office Champion Of All Time
“Nearly 15 years after it made its debut to both critical and popular acclaim, The Lion King has topped The Phantom of the Opera as Broadway’s highest-grossing musical of all time. The show, based on the Disney animated film of 1994, has grossed $854 million.”
Mike Daisey, Career Apparently Salvaged, Prepares New Piece On Cape Cod
“Despite being found to have fabricated details in his one-man show The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, Mike Daisey will lead off the season at the Cape Cod Theater Project this summer. Working with the director Jean-Michele Gregory, Mr. Daisey will devise a new work at the theater, where he developed the Jobs project, among others.”
The Living Eco-Sculptures Of Mexico City
There’s “a towering arch of 50,000 plants rising over a traffic-clogged avenue in a metropolis once called “‘Mexsicko City’ because of its pollution. … One of three eco-sculptures installed across the city by a nonprofit called VerdMX, the arch is both art and oxygenator. It catches the eye. And it gobbles up the carbon dioxide contributing to high ozone levels.”
Competing To Redesign Washington’s National Mall
“A amphitheater at the base of the Washington Monument. A glass-enclosed restaurant overlooking the Constitution Gardens pond – and a winter-time ice-skating rink where the pond currently sits. A lively new Union Square, with streams of water arching into the Capitol Reflecting Pool. Those are among the ideas that architects and designers have floated for redesigning and reviving three sites on the National Mall.”
We Are Explanation-Seeking Animals
“So uncomfortable is it for us if something doesn’t have a cause that we strive to determine one, one way or the other, even absent the necessary evidence.” According to some researchers, the process of seeking – or making up – explanations for things is crucial to human cognition.