Maybe, sometimes. Ron Charles: “There’s no need to be cruel, but sometimes the exasperation of slogging through a dull, stupid or monumentally over-hyped book gets the best of even the nicest person.”
Author: ArtsJournal2
Designing For Opera, Ballet – And Kids’ Hospital Wards
“UCLA professor Robert Israel has often been called upon to help instill sorrow, tension and dread in opera-goers and theater and dance audiences.” At Johns Hopkins, he’s designing for children. “Now comes his cow who jumped over the moon — and other fanciful, brightly colored works. Hanging in the atrium of the children’s wing is Israel’s 22-foot-tall, red and pink ostrich consisting of fiberglass balloon shapes.”
Perfect (Fake) Hair Means Better Actors … Or So Our Eyes Believe
Actors wear a lot of wigs, not to mention extensions: “Bailey estimates that 75 percent of all women on TV, more in film, wear hairpieces. If you’re distressed that your hair seems far more limp and sparse than the people on screen, rest assured: it isn’t.”
Want More Culture In Wales? Good Luck, Thanks To Arts Cuts
Cuts in 2010 left large swaths of Wales bereft last year, arts groups say. “The Wales Association for the Performing Arts said ACW’s funding decisions had left arts cold spots in Wales and affected young people disproportionately. It stated: ‘You cannot withdraw funding to 32 arts organisations and expect participation not to be affected.'”
Threat Level Absurd: Facebook Tries To Trademark The Word ‘Book’
Seriously. “Facebook was successful in trademarking ‘Face,’ but might have a tougher time gaining rights to the word ‘book.'”
The Bilingual Brain, And Its Powerful Abilities
“There is ample evidence that in a bilingual’s brain both language systems are active even when he is using only one language, thus creating situations in which one system obstructs the other. But this interference, researchers are finding out, isn’t so much a handicap as a blessing in disguise. It forces the brain to resolve internal conflict, giving the mind a workout that strengthens its cognitive muscles.”
Berlin Museum Must Return Nazi-Looted Posters To Family Heir
After a 7-year legal battle, the German Historical Museum has accepted a ruling that it must return thousands of rare posters to the collector’s son. “Peter Sachs said, ‘It feels like vindication for my father, a final recognition of the life he lost and never got back.'”
How To Build For The Apocalypse
Artist Chris Hackett likes to improvise with things he finds on the streets of Brooklyn. “Nathaniel Grouille, a television producer who produced Mr. Hackett’s most recent show, ‘Stuck With Hackett,’ for the Science Channel and is helping him pitch the new show, said, ‘There’s an elegant, design way to make things, and then there’s a Dunkirk, let’s-get-it-done-with-baling-wire-and-string way — that’s Hackett’s way.'”
Canadian Indie Bookstore Closes Two Of Three Shops
Rising rents, says owner Nicholas Hoare, are forcing him to close his namesake bookstores in Ottawa and Montreal. “That was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Hoare. “Not Amazon, nothing else.”
Without Support, What Happens To Arts Development In Los Angeles?
California Governor Jerry Brown recently defunded community redevelopment agencies, and that’s going to hurt the arts in L.A. “The list of construction projects funded by CRA/LA over the years includes the Museum of Contemporary Art headquarters ($23 million), the Kodak Theatre ($30 million), the downtown Los Angeles Theatre Center ($27 million for construction and operating subsidies) and the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center in Mid-City ($13.9 million).”