Category: people

“An accomplished pianist and violinist, she is also a composer, having written concertos for piano and violin and an opera. In December, she will make her debut at Carnegie Hall, where she will play the solo violin and piano in her two concertos, while the orchestra will play selections from her opera and her most recent work, a Viennese waltz. Next month, she will record a retrospective album with Sony of piano melodies she composed going back to when she was just 4 years old.” – The New York Times

“Critics sometimes reproached Mr. Zeffirelli’s opera stagings for a flamboyant glamour more typical of Hollywood’s golden era, while Hollywood sometimes disparaged his films as too highbrow. But his success with audiences was undeniable.” – The New York Times

He’s known to the wider world primarily as the writer of the TV series Lonesome Dove and the films Raggedy Man and The Perfect Storm, and he was a book author and photographer himself, but in his home state he’s revered for the artistic ecosystem he made possible for writers, photographers, and filmmakers. – Austin American-Statesman

“Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas hasn’t visited the National Museum of African American History and Culture, but he cited one of its exhibits last week to explain how Washington’s rumor mill works.” But, rather than explaining it, Thomas exemplified it. Peggy McGlone reports. – The Washington Post

“The National Sound Library of Mexico … [has] unearthed what they believe could be the first known voice recording of Kahlo, taken from a pilot episode of 1955 radio show El Bachiller, which aired after her death in 1954.” (includes audio) – The Guardian

“[She] earned two Academy Award nominations (for Midnight Cowboy and Farewell, My Lovely) and decades of glowing reviews for her acting before drawing equal attention for her midlife transition to constant partygoer and garishly flamboyant dresser.” – The New York Times

“This is an unusual boy, one who had, as he puts it, an ‘overwhelming sense of Truth and Beauty’ when at the age of ten he saw a periodic table in the Science Museum and became convinced that ‘these were indeed the elemental building blocks of the universe, that the whole universe was here, in microcosm, in South Kensington.’ … And it becomes increasingly clear that Sacks was that boy to the very end of his days.” – The New York Review of Books

“The death of [Mary] Max, 52, in the home she shared with Mr. Max, 81, comes in the midst of continued infighting in recent years regarding her husband’s legacy. In May, The New York Times wrote about how business associates and his son, Adam, had taken control of Mr. Max’s studio, with the intention of increasing production using assistant artists even though Mr. Max himself had not painted seriously in four years.” – The New York Times

Social media amplifies and speeds up interactions between audiences, media and stars, but YouTube and Twitter did not invent modern celebrity culture. That happened more than 150 years ago, thanks to the popular press, commercial photography, railways and steamships, and national postal systems. – Aeon

“Emotions are more complex and socially determined than the simple positive-negative, strong-weak arousal model suggests. Even distinguishing fear, anxiety and disgust on physiological grounds turns out to be extremely problematic.” – The Daily Beast