“[T]he most glorious single word in the vocabulary will have become work!” in our “a society of enforced leisure.”
Source: Open Culture 01/01/14Category: today’s top story
U.S. Customs Officials Smash Musician’s Bamboo Flutes
A Moroccan-Canadian musician and U.S. green card holder says that agents at JFK airport inspected his 11 neys and two kawalas, decided they were untreated agricultural items, and destroyed them – and only told him about it afterward.
Source: The Boston Globe 12.31.13Lost Van Dyck Turns Up On Antiques Roadshow (Yes, Really)
The painting “was bought for £400 by a priest in Nottingham, but experts say the restored 17th century portrait could be worth around £400,000.”
Source: The Independent (UK) 12/29/13Vasari’s Last Supper Reassembled After Nearly Half A Century
“The last casualty of the devastating Florence flood of 1966 has been reassembled, raising hopes of a full restoration before the 50th anniversary of one of the greatest cultural disasters of modern times.”
Source: The Guardian (UK) 12.26.13Best Arts Quotes Of 2013
“I have a friend who says there are two problems in this world, and only two: one is how you live with other people; the other is how you live with yourself. What I like about theatre is that it’s the meeting point of those two problems.”
Source: The Guardian (UK) 12/26/13Why Are So Many West End Theatres In Such Bad Repair?
“Actually, they were largely quite flimsy to start with, and for good reason: the buildings were never expected to last.”
Source: The Atlantic 12.20.13Vienna Phil Revokes Nazi Honors, At Last
“It was such an obvious thing.”
Source: The New York Times 12/22/13Roof Collapses During Show At London West End Theatre
“A large section of ornate plasterwork at the Apollo fell on to the audience during a production of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time … injuring 76 people, seven of them seriously.”
Source: BBC 12/20/13Watch Video Of Thieves Stealing A Damien Hirst
Scotland Yard said the pieces, worth £33,000, were stolen from the Exhibitionist Gallery on Blenheim Crescent in west London between 3am and 3.30am on 9 December.
Source: The Guardian (UK) 12/18/13With Largest Donation in Its History, Philadelphia Museum of Art Completes Endowment Campaign
With philanthropist (and Inquirer co-owner) Gerry Lenfest making good on his $27 million matching grant, the museum has a new $54 million endowment to fund 29 staff positions.
Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer 12.18.13