“‘The Leaf,’ originally thought to have been made around 1839 or later, has become the talk of the photo-historical world. The speculation about its origins became so intense that Sotheby’s and the print’s owners decided earlier this month to postpone its auction, so that researchers could begin delving into whether the image may be, in fact, one of the oldest photographic images in existence, dating to the 1790s.”
Author: sbergman
Of Course, An Actual Radio Would Be Cheaper
Yamaha is out with the latest version of its Disklavier self-playing piano, and this one comes, for the first time, with an internet connection. “It lets you subscribe to live-piano ‘radio stations.’ For $20 a month (or $200 per year), you can tune into channels like Classical, Broadway or Rock. Your grand piano can now play itself all day in that musical style.”
So, An Architecture-Themed Project Runway, Then?
“Architecture might be slow-moving compared with fashion, yet in its epochal way it can move in similar cycles. Decoration is the vogue one moment, minimalism the next… The connection between the two disciplines is age-old.”
One Stones Tribute Recalls Another
Martin Scorsese’s new IMAX concert film of the Rolling Stones is getting plenty of attention, but has everyone forgotten that there was a classic concert film of the same band produced back before they got so… well, old? “The film took a long time to reach theaters. But when it was released in 1974, it was with all the hoopla of a live concert, booked into big theaters like New York’s Zeigfield.”
NJ Ballet Mounting Major Tour
“New Jersey Ballet, a company that takes pride in its local roots, will kick off its 50th anniversary season with a tour of Russia in June… Seventeen of the troupe’s 20 dancers will join the tour, performing a repertoire largely set to jazz, blues and electronic music that highlights the company’s American character.”
You Don’t Have To Be Big To Think Big
It’s a good time to be a small theatre company in Australia. “Smaller companies that are both drawn to the big-name playwrights and wary of the financial and production pressures they involve.” But unlike past years, the big names are out there and available to companies of nearly all budget levels.
What’s So Elusive About Comedy?
Why is it so hard to make a really good comedy these days? “Do people become less funny if it’s longer than the 20 minutes or so of sitcom time? Or unable to film it? Beats me.”
The Unexpected World Of Palestinian Movie-Making
“Cinema has left its imprint on Palestine, though often it is a ghost-like memory… Palestinian directors have a powerful sense of irony: they are very aware that everything they do will be pored over for evidence of terrorist sympathies; but, rather than collapse into paranoia, the response has been a heightened level of self-conscious wit.”
Virginia Tech Turned To Words To Heal Wounds
It’s been exactly a year since the horrifying gun massacre at Virginia Tech University that killed 32. And while it would be stretching things to say that the campus has returned to normal, one professor says that “writing has been a powerfully cathartic refuge” for students and faculty alike.
Hearings Will Examine Net Neutrality
The FCC is holding hearings on the business practices of internet service providers that block consumer access to certain file-sharing sites. “The investigation and public hearings are the agency’s most serious examination of ‘net neutrality,’ the principle that all Internet traffic be treated equal.”