“Prince Charles, that purveyor of fine Duchy sausages and scourge of modern architecture, has just completed his first building: a fire station in the twee village of Poundbury, Dorset. And I must say it’s a superb creation: a dumpy neoclassical Georgian palace with three garage doors attached to it.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Go To Graduate School In Twittering!
“A university is to offer a master’s degree teaching students about social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Bebo. The £4,400 MA in Social Media will also explain how to set up blogs and publish podcasts. The one-year course at Birmingham City University will consider social networking sites as communications and marketing tools.”
The Glory Of Puns
“I asked a friend of mine, an inveterate punster, whether he punned while on dates. ‘Sure, I pun on dates,’ he replied. ‘On prunes and figs, too.’ And well he might, considering the similitude between puns and fruit flies, both of which die practically the instant they are born, but not before breeding others.”
Ballet Hispanico Names New Director
Eduardo Vilaro, a Cuba-born, Bronx-raised dancer and choreographer, will succeed Tina Ramirez, the company founder and artistic director, who retires in June after 38 years. Vilaro himself danced with Ballet Hispanico from 1988 to 1996 and went on to found the Luna Negra Dance Theater in Chicago.
What Makes Frederick Ashton Great
Birmingham Royal Ballet artistic director David Bintley: “The great thing about his characters is that there is just enough of a framework to tell you who the character is, but enough leeway as to how you portray them.”
Another Gramophone List: The World’s Most Inspiring Orchestras
Following up on last fall’s much-argued-over roster of the planet’s 20 best symphonic ensembles, the magazine’s editors have made a list which “specifically focus[es] on the inspiring social role that orchestras can play.” The ten bands honored include, of course, Barenboim’s West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and Dudamel’s Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra, but also the Berlin and New York Philharmonics, the Buskaid Ensemble and the YouTube Symphony.
Wittgenstein Family Values
“One day, when Paul was practicing at one of the seven grand pianos in their winter home, the Palais Wittgenstein, he leaped up and shouted at his brother Ludwig in the room next door, ‘I cannot play when you are in the house, as I feel your skepticism seeping towards me from under the door!'”
What To Read On The Subway When Service Is Cut
“Thankfully, the inability of state and city to set aside their differences and craft sustainable legislation on the transportation issue has been amply addressed in print. […] Or perhaps you’re in the mood for something that will make you feel a little more grateful to be standing on the platform.”
Russia, Show Us Your Classics!
“If Russia is worried about its identity abroad, it could spend less time on the defensive and more time promoting its rich cultural heritage. There is a vast multitude of ‘lost’ Russian classics. Not lost to Russians, but lost to the west – or, to put it another way, ripe for rediscovery.”
Where’s The Underground Art In Paris?
“As much as we Brits and Yanks would love to find some version of our own Hackney or Williamsburg, here there is little need for an underground. With its (champagne) socialist town hall, the city has always provided plenty of funding, space and publicity for the arts.” The banlieue (the troubled area beyond the ring road) is another matter.