It took David J. Peterson about six weeks to create Dothraki and a summer in a subsequent year to create Valyrian — and, as with Elvish and Klingon before them, those languages have taken on a life beyond the work they were created for. Indeed, there are now more British people who understand Valyrian than do Scots Gaelic. – The Times (UK)
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Daniel Libeskind On Making Art At Auschwitz
The artist/architect, whose parents survived the Holocaust (though more than a dozen aunts, uncles and cousins did not), talks to Tim Teeman about Through the Lens of Faith: Auschwitz, an installation he opens this summer at the death camp-turned-museum and his work at the Ground Zero site in New York. – The Daily Beast
San Francisco Museums Offer Free Admission This Summer To All City Residents Receiving Public Assistance
“The program,” called San Francisco Museums for All and involving 15 institutions, “will run June 1 to September 2, with no limit to the number of institutions or times eligible participants can visit.” – Hyperallergic
I Tweeted As Susan Sontag
Starting in January 2018, Rebecca Brill started sending out short excerpts from Sontag’s published diaries on Twitter every day. And what happens when one does this? “You will start talking about Susan Sontag incessantly. You will bring her up at meetings … and in chats with your favorite bartender. … As hard as you try to refrain, you will constantly quote Susan Sontag’s journals and notebooks on dates. … You will not get many second dates. Another thing is that you will have trolls.” – Literary Hub
How Did One Of The Best Documentarians Around Get Caught Up In The Theranos Fiasco?
Errol Morris (The Thin Blue Line, The Fog of War, Standard Operating Procedure, American Dharma) actually directed a few commercials for Theranos several years ago, before the company’s fraud was discovered. Morris now refuses to acknowledge any responsibility for having promoted fraudulent goods and services (as is the case with the AIG ads he directed in the years before the 2008 financial crisis). – Hyperallergic
Unhampered Access: Libraries Are Bringing Their Children’s Programs To Laundromats
“Laundry literacy programs have recently sprung up all over the country, … and thousands of children have benefited from the chance to hone their early-literacy skills in an everyday setting, often with their parents participating, often on a regular basis, and always for free. Can’t these children simply go to a branch library instead? Not necessarily.” – American Libraries
Detroit Opera House To Get A High-Rise Built On Top Of It
Michigan Opera Theatre has issued a Request For Proposals to developers for a tower up to 480 feet high that “may include mixed use, corporate, residential, restaurants, retail, etc.” – Crain’s Detroit Business
Broadway Adaptation Of ‘Magic Mike’ Suspended Following Exodus Of Show’s Writers
“The musical has canceled its [preview] engagement at Boston’s Emerson Colonial Theatre, which was supposed to start this November. … Magic Mike: The Musical‘s writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, composer Tom Kitt, and lyricist Brian Yorkey recently left the production over ‘creative differences’ just before a developmental workshop that was supposed to take place earlier this month.” – Vulture
Voice-Of-America-Service For Cuba Fails To Meet Basic Journalism Standards: U.S. Study
“The analysis of content aired and published by Radio and Television Martí, a sister agency to the better-known Voice of America, was launched by the broadcasters’ parent organization.” It found that Martís content routinely fails to meet standards of fairness, sometimes descends into outlandish propaganda — and that none of this is due to the direction of any Trump administration official. – The Washington Post
Utah Symphony Music Director Thierry Fischer To Depart In 2022
When the Swiss conductor, now 61, steps down, he’ll have been at the orchestra’s helm for 13 years. The end of his contract term coincides with that of the musicians’ labor agreement. – The Salt Lake Tribune