“America’s oldest dance company, turning 77 next year, announced today that it will honor Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson in [2010,] his 25th season at the helm. He is running a company on a $41 million annual budget, with 73 dancers and a busy dance school of 20 staff and hundreds of students.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
No Contract Renewal For Honolulu Symphony Executive Director
“[Tom] Gulick’s three-year contract expires June 30, but he could step down earlier should his ‘next employment opportunity require his presence elsewhere prior to that date,’ according to Peter Shaindlin,” the orchestra’s board chairman, who “called Gulick’s departure ‘amicable’.”
Why Mars Needs Women
“What similarities will alien life forms have to living things here on Earth? We won’t know until we find some, but now there is evidence that at least the basic building blocks will be the same.”
South Park Creators Get Their Dream Souvenir
The US Marines have presented Trey Parker and Matt Stone with an autographed photo of none other than Saddam Hussein. During his captivity, the late dictator was repeatedly shown the animated film South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, which depicts Saddam as the (abusive) boyfriend of Satan.
Like The Joy Of Cooking, But For Sorcery
A British scholar who specializes in the history of witchcraft and magic offers his list of the ten best grimoires, collections of “spells, conjurations, natural secrets and ancient wisdom [whose] origins date back to the dawn of writing” and whose history is closely tied to that of religion and the development of science.
Was St. Paul The Ancient World’s Best Marketer?
“If you view Paul not just as a preacher but as an entrepreneur, … the doctrines that now form the most-inspiring parts of the Christian message are, in a sense, business tools. They are tools that let him use the information technology of his day, the epistle, to extend his brand, the Jesus brand, across the vast, open, multinational platform offered by the Roman Empire.”
Anna Deavere Smith Performing In NYC Again (Finally!)
The actress-journalist, “who transformed the art of solo performance in the 1990s by embodying dozens of characters in her plays Fires in the Mirror and Twilight: Los Angeles 1992, is returning to the New York stage this fall for the first time in nine years with a new production about medicine and health care, Let Me Down Easy.“
Hey, It Worked With Leeches And Maggots
Researchers at medical device companies have been poring over old scientific journals, looking for grisly-but-effective early surgical treatments which can be updated with the less toxic materials and less brutal techniques available today.
Consumer Group Objects To Google Book Settlement
“[T]he consumer advocacy group Consumer Watchdog has sent a letter to the Justice Department asking the department to delay the settlement, which still needs court approval.” The organization wants to ensure that the agreement raises no barriers for any future competitor to Google.
Scenes From The Downturn: Nicolas Cage Has To Sell His Castle
“The global recession has forced Hollywood star Nicolas Cage to tighten his purse strings and sell his sumptuous castle in Bavaria in southern Germany.” He had purchased the 16th-century Neidstein castle, with 28 rooms and more than 400 acres of land, only two years ago.