“Learning to move a computer cursor or robotic arm with nothing but thoughts can be no different from learning how to play tennis or ride a bicycle, according to a new study of how brains and machines interact.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Michael Jackson Concert Film In The Works
“New Michael Jackson songs may be years from release, but a documentary about the late singer could be in cinemas worldwide before the end of 2009. The promoters of Jackson’s aborted [London] O2 residency are in talks to sell the rights to nearly 80 hours of rehearsal footage, with plans to release a concert film.”
Latest Swine Flu Victims: The Royal Ballet
“The Royal Ballet’s inaugural visit to Cuba last week has been hailed a triumph, but a spokeswoman has also confirmed that a few dancers came down with swine flu during the trip. Speaking for the London-based company Monday, Elizabeth Bell confirmed that five dancers contracted the H1N1 virus and a sixth showed flu-like symptoms.”
Foster And Koolhaas To Plan Hong Kong’s New Cultural District
“Foster + Partners has been given a second chance to masterplan the $2.7 billion West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong The British starchitect, together with Rem Koolhaas and local designer Rocco Yim Sen-kee, make up the three-strong team named as consultants on the conceptual plans for the cultural and artistic hub.” Foster’s previous plan was shelved in 2006 following objections to his proposed 2.4km glass canopy.
L.A. County Supervisors Vote That Ring Festival May Focus On Wagner
“The board voted down a motion written by Supervisor Mike Antonovich asking the opera company to shift the focus of the festival away from Wagner, the renowned 19th century composer who is widely admired for his operas and detested for his virulently anti-Semitic personal views. Instead, the board voted to approve a substitute motion from Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky in support of L.A. Opera and the Ring Festival.”
India Enjoys Boom In English-Language Lit
Not so long ago, the Indian literature section of your average Delhi bookstore “would be a half-hearted affair, seemingly there more out of duty than joy, and usually it would be hidden away at the back of the shop.” No more: “A newly buoyant middle-class, better travelled, more curious and with more disposable income, has been devouring books like never before” and Indian authors can now aim at an audience of compatriots instead of writing for export.
A Venture Capital Fund For Rock Bands
The manager of the band Radiohead has founded a business called Polyphonic, which
“will look to invest a few hundred thousand dollars in new and rising artists … [B]ands that receive investments from the firm will operate like start-up companies, recording their own music and choosing outside contractors to handle their publicity, merchandise and touring.”
Otto Heino, ‘The Oldest, Richest Potter In The World,’ Dies At 94
“[T]he Ojai-based master potter, educator and symbol of the midcentury California studio crafts movement … along with his late wife, Vivika, reformulated a lost-to-the-ages Chinese glaze that made him a multimillionaire.”
Philly’s Prince Music Theater Is Not Shutting Down
“Amid growing rumors about the Prince Music Theater’s ability to continue operating – and a remark from its stage Monday night that indicated it would be closing – its producing director, Marjorie Samoff, says that the Center City theater plans a 2009-10 season that includes its annual renters plus at least three productions the Prince will mount.”
Industrial Plans Could Make Salt Lake’s Spiral Jetty ‘Unrecognizable’
“Dia Art Foundation leaders say that the latest proposed expansion of evaporation pools in the northern end of the Great Salt Lake significantly threatens the ‘integrity’ of Robert Smithson’s iconic Spiral Jetty and that the pools could change the Jetty‘s part of the Great Salt Lake so substantially that it would render a ‘new’ northern end of the lake unrecognizable.”