“Star Trek-style teleportation may one day become a reality. You step into the transporter, which instantly scans your body and brain, vaporizing them in the process. The information is transmitted to Mars, where it is used by the receiving station to reconstitute your body and brain exactly as they were on Earth. … But wait. Do you really step out of the receiving station on Mars? Someone just like you steps out … But perhaps this person is merely your replica.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Was The Bridge Project Worth It?
Charles Isherwood finds the three-year collaboration between the Brooklyn Academy of Music, director Sam Mendes’s Neal Street Productions, and Kevin Spacey’s Old Vic to be a praiseworthy idea. But did the results as seen on stage merit the expense and logistical trouble of getting actors from New York and London together?
Who’s That Man Under Picasso’s Woman Ironing?
“For years conservators have known that beneath the surface lies the ghost of a figure – a three-quarter-length view of a man with a mustache – which Picasso had painted over. … Now a grant from the Bank of America’s Art Conservation Project will give the Guggenheim enough money to try to find out.”
Jane Austen, Moral Philosopher
“Jane Austen wrote romantic comedies about middle-class girls looking for a good husband among the landed gentry. … But Austen was also a brilliant moral philosopher who analysed and taught a virtue ethics for middle-class life that is surprisingly contemporary.”
Why ‘African Tribal Fabrics’ Are Neither African Nor Tribal
The curious history of how Dutch businessmen took Indonesian-style batik designs, mass-produced cloth with them and made them into high-fashion staples for West Africans.
Carrie‘s Creators Always Knew They Had A Good Musical In There Somewhere
Michael Gore, composer of Broadway’s most notorious flop, now re-worked and resurrected: “Had we seen a version of the show that we liked, and perhaps people didn’t like it or the critics didn’t like it, that’s one thing. But, you know, the reason we went back to this was hopefully for us to sit through this show from beginning to end and go, ‘This is what we had in mind.'”
The Medium Is The Message, And This Artist’s Medium Is Old Chewing Gum
“Artist Ben Wilson takes your splattered chewing gum on the streets to a whole new level. The unconventional artist’s passion lies in transforming blobs of gum littering the pavements into miniature masterpieces.”
The Rise Of The Video Book Trailer
“Born only a few years ago on YouTube, video trailers are becoming more or less de rigueur for any book’s marketing campaign (if it has one; a relatively rare honour, of course). … These are terrific diversions, but their status next to the book is a little ambiguous. Isn’t using animation to advertise a book a little like using sculpture to promote poetry?”
Wislawa Szymborska’s Estate To Create Literary Prize, Foundation
“The will of the late Nobel-winning Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska calls for the establishment of a new literary prize and a foundation that will guard her literary achievements.”
England To Create National Youth Dance Company
“A national youth dance company is to be set up, in response to a review of cultural education in England.”