Author: Matthew Westphal

Top Posts From AJBlogs 10.31.17

From Mileposts to Through Line
Mileposts are those small signs we see (or, usually, ignore) as we speed along the interstate that indicate how far we’ve travelled. It’s only in the rarest instances that anyone pays them any attention. … read more
>AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2017-10-31

Deaccession Obsession: AG Enters the Fray; Compendium of My Berkshire Museum Commentary
As I reported Monday on my Twitter feed (while I was traveling and off-blog), the Massachusetts Attorney General has officially entered the fray in the legal battle over the Berkshire Museum’s planned art sales. … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-10-31

Artists as Researchers: Equity in Changing Places
In Cincinnati’s Walnut Hills district, …  Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation is leading the way on physical and economic changes to the area. The developer’s leadership, including Aprina Johnson, a local artist on the staff, recognized the importance of learning from residents about social impacts too. They developed a plan for an innovative initiative: paying artists to be researchers. … read more
AJBlog: The Bright Ride Published 2017-10-31

 

Michael Tilson Thomas To Step Down From San Francisco Symphony

“The move … is scheduled to coincide with both the end of Thomas’ 25th season at the organization’s helm [in the summer of 2020] and his 75th birthday in December 2019. He will remain with the Symphony in the newly created post of music director laureate, conducting at least four weeks each year and undertaking a variety of special programming projects.”

Why MTT Is Retiring From The SF Symphony (A Q&A)

“Almost my entire adult life I’ve been the music director of some organization or another. I have volumes and volumes of almost-completed compositions and stories and poems and collections and all sorts of things. For years I’ve been thinking that if I’m going to be able to devote time to making sure that these things are in good shape before I’m outta here, this would be a kind of good moment to think about doing that.”

Twelve Great Libraries Reveal Their Oldest Treasures

“The New York Public Library, for instance, has not only cuneiform tablets and ninth-century gospels, but also a Gutenberg Bible and a copy of The Bay Psalm Book, one of the oldest books printed in America. In addition to its own cuneiform tablets and Gutenberg Bible, the Library of Congress holds one of the oldest examples of printing in the world, passages from a Buddhist sutra, printed in A.D. 770, as well as a medieval manuscript from 1150, delightfully titled Exposicio Mistica Super Exod.”

Why Tyrants Seem To Love To Write Poetry

The Roman emperor Nero is the archetypal example of a despot who sees himself as a master of verse; his example was followed by no less than (among others) Mussolini, Stalin, Mao, Kim Il Sung, Pol Pot (he loved the French Symbolists), Osama Bin Laden, and Saddam Hussein. And these rulers tended to stick closely to classical forms. Benjamin Ramm explores the link between ruthlessness and versification.

How Some Movies Ended Up – By Accident – In The Public Domain

“When horror movie icon George A. Romero died earlier this year, it should have started a copyright expiration timeline for his most famous and influential work, the 1968 classic and Halloween icon Night of the Living Dead. But something really scary happened to the film before it became a hit: Due to a last-second title change and a distributor error, the former Night of the Flesh Eaters fell into the public domain upon its release. What caused these types of problems – and how has copyright adapted since?”

‘Rosenkavalier’ Is Full Of Lies About Sex, Love, And Aging Women (A NY Times Op-Ed)

Philosopher Martha Nussbaum, who holds an endowed chair at the University of Chicago, identifies three lies (her word) at the heart of the Strauss-Hofmannsthal opera. (She makes fair points, but did she honestly expect that a Viennese comic opera written a century ago – and set 270 years ago – would seem realistic about such matters, or that audiences would take it as such, in 2017?)

Benjamin Millepied On The Struggle To Make Ballet More Diverse And Equitable

“In the American ballet world, issues of diversity and equality are front and center. Many have pointed to a lack of female choreographers and heads of major companies. Millepied says that’s a problem that’s specific to ballet. ‘There are amazing choreographers in contemporary dance. If ballet schools made that more part of their mission, I think more women would be choreographing.'”

Live Theatre Does Not Set The Heart A-Racing Any More Than Cinemacasts Do: Study

“Seeing a play live does not evoke a significantly stronger emotional response than watching it in the cinema, according to a project that monitored theatregoers’ heart rates. Reactions to live theatre, a cinema screening and a filmed, 360-degree virtual reality experience were found to be roughly comparable in a new study of Shakespeare performance.”