Results of a study in Switzerland “suggest that it may indeed be possible to detect whether a person is about to break a promise based on brain activity, well before the promise is actually broken.”
Tag: 02.02.10
Our College Careers Make More Difference Than We Thought
“[D]oes the sense of purpose we feel as we leave school really stick with us as the years go by? And does it influence the kind of adults we grow into? Newly published research suggests the answers are yes and yes.”
American Psycho, The Musical
Duncan Sheik, the composer and lyricist who won a pair of Tonys for Spring Awakening, is now working on a singing-and-dancing adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’s notorious novel about a homicidal maniac yuppie.
Choreographers’ Rock-Star Moment
“So You Think You Can Dance (‘the search for Britain’s favourite dancer’) now features certain choreographers regularly, announcing them with X Factor-style fireworks ahead of the dance they have created…. Is the dance world excited by this – or horrified?”
$100,000 Poetry Prize Goes To D.A. Powell
The 46-year-old poet, “who teaches at the University of San Francisco, has won the $100,000 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award from Claremont Graduate University. His books include ‘Tea,’ ‘Lunch,’ ‘Cocktails’ and ‘Chronic.'”
When Prokofiev Held Back On Tunefulness
Prokofiev’s “The Gambler” is “buzzy and exciting, fiercely dramatic and modern, but where are the tunes? There aren’t any. Prokofiev’s own mother reprimanded him over this when she heard him working on the orchestration.”
L.A.’s Arts Cuts Could Be Even Worse Than You Think
“What’s proposed? Cut the Cultural Affairs Department almost in half, laying off 48% of staff. … What else? Terminate existing contracts for arts grants that have already been awarded but whose projects have not yet begun. Suspend the grant program for 2010-11. That’s right: Zero it out.”
Lulu In Geneva: No One Under 16 Admitted
“Geneva’s opera house has taken the unusual step of issuing a warning to audiences about its new production of Alban Berg’s harrowing opera Lulu, saying it may be unsuitable for people aged less than 16.”
William Christie Gets A Chanel Sword (With Flowers, No Less)
“It is not quite as baroque as the passionate music for which the conductor … is famous. But the sword created by Chanel Fine Jewelry to mark the American-born musician’s entry into the Académie des Beaux-Arts – the highest French cultural honor – includes another of his passions: flowers.”
New English Contemporary Ballet Closes Down
The Nottingham-based company and its associated school “ceased trading on January 22, following the resignation of the company’s artistic director and co-founder Niall McMahon … [who] gave up his post due to ill health, having been on long-term sick leave since November last year.”