“The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (BBC SSO) under chief conductor Thomas Dausgaard will perform during the six-day festival, from 30 October to 4 November, in Tokyo and Osaka. … This is part of an expansion of BBC Proms International, following successful tours of Australia and Dubai in 2016 and 2017.” — Classical Music (UK)
Blog
Ballet Is Catching On In Saudi Arabia (!)
They’re certainly not at the point of having public performances by women in tights and tutus yet, but ballet classes are becoming ever more popular, for adult women as well as for girls, especially in Jeddah. — Arab News
Canadian Libraries Say Publishers Are Making It More Difficult For Them To Share
The Canadian Urban Library Council says “the big five” publishers like Hachette, Penguin Random House and MacMillan have long restricted library access to electronic materials, but in the past two years the problem has grown worse. – CBC
A New Theatrical Rights Giant
The new business, Concord Theatricals, merges the catalogues of four publishing and licensing organisations, which it claims makes it “the most substantial licensing house in the world”. – The Stage
LA County Museum Of Art Is Falling Behind On Its New Building
Not only must it continue to amass money toward the $650 million project, but it also must pack up its collection to prepare for construction. And it faces lingering questions about whether an increasingly uncertain economy will hurt fundraising in 2019, whether the museum’s long-in-progress environmental impact report will further delay the project, and how much competition, if any, it will face from construction campaigns at other museums, including the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures next door. – Los Angeles Times
An Argument For Collecting As Many Books As Possible
An antilibrary is a powerful reminder of your limitations — the vast quantity of things you don’t know, half-know, or will one day realize you’re wrong about. By living with that reminder daily you can nudge yourself toward the kind of intellectual humility that improves decision-making and drives learning. – Fast Company
A Great Year For Sports Architecture
Stadiums and other sports venues have become more opulent. They not only have to be functional, they more and more serve as marquee symbols on the skyline. Here are ten of the best in 2018. – Dezeen
In Defense Of A Good Hate
“So let me clarify: we have forgotten how to hate well. We have forgotten how to hate rigorously and virtuously. This is, I believe, because we have forgotten how to distinguish between hate’s negative and positive iterations. In the former camp is racial hatred, religious hatred, and other forms of intense, frothing, violent dislike inflamed by malformed ideological doctrines and blind prejudices. The latter, more productive, form of hating is conceived as a form of rigorous, ruthless critique.” – The Walrus
Remember Infomercials? They’ve Got More In Common With Apps Than We’d Like To Think
Ernie Smith gives a brief history of the very American phenomenon, from its 1949 birth (pitching Vitamix blenders, actually a legit product) through the Psychic Friends Network and Miss Cleo. “In a lot of ways, the modern app-store ecosystem shares much in common with the televised grift that many vintage infomercials specialized in. The difference, of course, is scale and intent.” — Tedium
Propwatch: the crown and buckets in Richard II
Richard II gives up power – though it’s not his choice. Shakespeare stages this concretely – a crown passed from one to another. The supposed divinity of majesty proves portable as a party hat. Richard, as often, reaches for an arresting metaphor: here, two buckets on a well. — David Jays