“The musicians’ union will be outside the doors of the Koch Theater on Tuesday night to protest the dance company’s decision to use canned music instead of a live orchestra. The move marks the first time there has been a ‘major performance’ in one of the main Lincoln Center halls without professional musicians.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Iran’s Oscar Winner Declares He Will Never Emigrate
Asghar Farhadi, director of A Separation, says that, while he may currently be making a film in France, “I love my country and I will not change it for anywhere in the world.”
Iranian Government Blocks Ceremony To Honor Oscar Winner
“The event for Asghar Farhadi, whose movie, A Separation, won the Oscar for best foreign film last month, was abruptly scrapped after authorities denied permission, according to the semiofficial Ilna news agency.”
Yes, It Matters That Edith Wharton Wasn’t Gorgeous
Jonathan Franzen’s observation that “she wasn’t pretty” (which he considers a “potentially redeeming disadvantage”) has, predictably, drawn a lot of angry comment. Yet, observes Laura Miller, “if Wharton’s looks didn’t have some significant impact on her life, she’d be a very unusual woman indeed, for any period of history. … And if her life is relevant to her work, then I’m sorry to say that her looks probably are, too.”
Margaret Atwood’s Adventures In Tweeting
“But on Twitter you find yourself doing all sorts of things you wouldn’t otherwise do. And once you’ve entered the Enchanted E-Forest, lured in there by cute bunnies and playful kittens, you can find yourself wandering around in it for quite some time. You might even find yourself climbing the odd tree-the very odd tree-or taking refuge in the odd hollow log-the very odd hollow log-because cute bunnies and playful kittens are not the only things alive in the mirkwoods of the Web.”
Jack Kerouac’s Only Play To Premiere This Fall
“Beat Generation, a three-act play rediscovered in a New Jersey warehouse in 2005, will be staged for the first time this October [at a festival] in Kerouac’s hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts.”
‘The Artist In Me Was Dying’ – Sergei Polunin Talks About Why He Left The Royal Ballet
“In a way I did feel that the artist in me was dying a little bit … I do not want to sit and make a nest and be comfortable, and I did feel so comfortable that I stopped being involved as a person and an artist … It is almost like a delete button and you just want to start fresh.”
Creativity Isn’t A Divine Gift, It’s Something We Can All Get
“Creativity is not a trait that we inherit in our genes or a blessing bestowed by the angels. It’s a skill. Anyone can learn to be creative and to get better at it. New research is shedding light on what allows people to develop world-changing products and to solve the toughest problems. A surprisingly concrete set of lessons has emerged about what creativity is and how to spark it in ourselves and our work.”
Earworms: Why Those Tunes Get Stuck In Our Heads – And How They Might Be Useful
“Research suggests that there may be psychological reasons why some songs are more likely to stick, including memory triggers, emotional states and even stress. Some researchers hope to better understand why this happens and figure out what, if anything, music memory can teach psychologists about how to treat patients dealing with memory loss.”
Explosive Art: Gunpowder As A Medium
“Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang uses gunpowder to create two kinds of art. First, there is a performance event where Cai ignites gunpowder on huge canvases. Marked by the explosion, the new canvases reveal designs that resemble forces in nature such as tornadoes, earthquakes and volcanoes.”