“High-minded theatergoers don’t let a little nudity distract them from the narrative developments onstage; but the rest of us have brains that can easily wander and wonder. Isn’t it difficult to perform in the buff? And how awkward is it when an actor’s friends and family come to see the show?”
Author: Matthew Westphal
The 9/11 Memorial Isn’t Comforting, It’s Nihilistic
Witold Rybczynski: “[There] is nothing comforting about gazing into the vast pit – or, rather, two pits – of the 9/11 memorial, the water endlessly falling and disappearing into a bottomless black hole. The strongest sense I came away with was of hopelessness.”
The 9/11 Memorial Is Simple, Eloquent And Just Right For Its Site
Paul Goldberger: “You wouldn’t mistake it for an ordinary park or urban piazza, but it isn’t a cemetery, either. You feel a sense of dignity and repose, and you see the shapes of the renewed city in the rising skyscrapers, as you should.”
David Hockney Moves Into Filmmaking (And Thinks He Might Save Cinema)
“The artist has some valuable pointers for television and Hollywood. ‘It has occurred to me that it could save cinema,’ Hockney said, outlining plans to exhibit his landscape films, in which he used nine cameras to create large moving images across multiple screens.”
Reading Fiction Increases Empathy, Says Study
“Burying your head in a novel isn’t just a way to escape the world: psychologists are increasingly finding that reading can affect our personalities. A trip into the world of Stephenie Meyer, for example, actually makes us feel like vampires.”
Michael Moore On Being ‘The Most Hated Man In America’ [sic] After Oscar Speech
“Wishes for my early demise seemed to be everywhere. … I was not unaware that my movies had made a lot of people mad. It was not unusual for fans to randomly come up and hug me and say, ‘I’m so happy you’re still here!’ They didn’t mean in the building. Why was I still alive?”
Even James Bond Can’t Overpower Indian Railways
“The Indian government has asked the makers of the new James Bond movie to rewrite a planned action sequence showing people travelling on the roof of a state-run train service.” Said the railways minister, “Rooftop travel is illegal in India and it cannot be encouraged. … There are many trains in India and not all trains have people travelling on the rooftops.”
Siemens Pulls Sponsorship From Bayreuth Festival
“Siemens became involved four years ago hosting public screenings of performances which were also broadcast on the Internet on ‘Siemens Festival Night’. A company spokesman said the events had enjoyed success but ‘the baby has grown up and learned to walk on its own, and now we wish to pursue other projects’.”
Trisha Brown Wins $300K Gish Prize
The choreographer Trisha Brown “has won this year’s Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, an award worth about $300,000 that was named after the silent film actresses. The trust that administers the award, given to artists for ‘groundbreaking impact in their chosen fields,’ said Ms. Brown had ‘transformed’ modern dance ‘with new vocabularies of movement’.”
Dallas Symphony Musicians’ Salaries Stay Flat In New Contract
“The Dallas Symphony Orchestra has spent the last year trying to balance its books and fill its coffers.” After cutting $1 million from its administrative budget, the orchestra struck an agreement with musicians that will raise salaries by only 1% over the next two years.