“You close the door, boot up your laptop, open the right file and … five minutes later catch yourself thinking about dinner. By 10 a.m., you’re staring at the wall, even squinting at it between your fingertips. Is this day 50 hours long? … Pick up an early medieval monastic text, however, and you will find extensive discussion of all the symptoms listed above, as well as a diagnosis.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Moving Nutcracker Into A Rock-Concert Arena
Birmingham Royal Ballet is bringing its staging of the holiday classic from its own stage to London’s O2 arena – and it’s every bit as complicated an operation as you’d think.
San Diegoans Save The Job Of Their City’s Organist
With the city government desperately short of money, the job of the city organist – who plays free public concerts on Balboa Park’s enormous instrument – was about to be eliminated. Then, just as in a movie, citizens rose up to save a local institution.
Where Economic Development Meets Reality TV
“Governments around the world are scrambling to find innovative policies to create jobs in the teeth of a global downturn. In ex-Soviet Georgia, the government appears to have found a policy that’s all its own: reality TV.”
The Angry Pigeon And The Opera Singer Who Rescued Him
“Fred the pigeon, whose hobby was dive-bombing cops and dropping unwanted gifts on tourists at the 9/11 Memorial, has been taken in by an opera singer who is teaching him to change his tune and fly right.”
Opera Boston Abruptly Shuts Down
“With no advance warning that the city’s second-largest opera company was in trouble, board chair Winifred P. Gray and board president Gregory E. Bulger issued a statement this morning that Opera Boston faces ‘an insurmountable budget deficit’ and will cease operations on Jan. 1, 2012.”
The Hidden Hergé: Tintin’s Creator And His Secrets
“Tintin himself has no origin. He simply exists, with no ties to past or future generations, a fate that his creator might have wished for himself. The Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, better known as Hergé … showed little taste for the spotlight, and still less for those who wished to poke into his past.”
Colorado Symphony Announces New ‘Consumer-First’ Business Model
“The plan changes the way the CSO does business, putting more emphasis on earned income rather than donations, working closely with educational groups and corporations to demonstrate its value beyond music-making. There will also be more chamber concerts in various smaller venues and possibly fewer main-stage orchestral programs.
An Enormous Jesus Statue And Poland’s Culture Wars
The 118-foot sculpture of Christ with arms outstretched “has divided Poles, highlighting the widening cultural split in Poland between religious Catholics and a growing number of secular urban dwellers who want to see a diminished role for the church in public life.”
Mugged Ballet Dancer, Feared Paralyzed, Making ‘Miracle’ Recovery
Jack Widdowson, the 19-year-old dancer who was mugged and beaten last month, had been injured so badly that it was feared he might not walk again, let alone dance. Yet he is now home from hospital, walking short distances, and in ongoing physical therapy.