“If the scientific community wants to engage and inform the public, science fiction is an excellent strategy. Stories captivate people, they survive the test of time, and they become part of the popular culture.”
Tag: 02.08.12
Battles At Miami City Ballet Over Villella’s (Apparently Forced) Retirement
The company “is being split by controversy over founder and artistic director Edward Villella’s earlier-than-expected retirement, announced last September in a way that shocked company members and the dance world. … [Some] board members, major donors and dancers are questioning the decision and contend he was forced out at the apex of his career.”
Melbourne’s No. 2 Orchestra Tries To Raise Its Profile
“Orchestra Victoria spends most of its time in the pit at the State Theatre supporting performances of the national ballet and opera companies. But after a year marked by tense industrial negotiations and uncertainty about its future, the orchestra has announced a program designed to raise its profile around the state.”
Is Education Really A Public Good?
“While higher education is generally regarded as a good (mainly because folks with college degrees make more than folks who lack such degrees), there has been considerable debate in the United States as to whether or not higher education is a public good” (and thus deserving of funding by taxpayers). A look at a few of the arguments pro and con.
Romance Writing Contest Bars Same-Sex Entries – And Suffers The Consequences
The ‘More than Magic’ competition, run by the Tulsa chapter of the Romance Writers of America, this year for the first time declined to accept any gay- or lesbian-themed entries. (Sex with vampires, werewolves and aliens is fine.) The backlash was so swift and fierce that organizers have now cancelled the event.
Anorexia? There’s No Anorexia Here, Say La Scala Dancers
“The ballet company at Milan’s famous La Scala opera house fought back Wednesday, after one of their leading dancers was fired for giving interviews in which she said the industry has an anorexia problem. … ‘There is no anorexia emergency, and whoever is part of our world knows that well,’ said the company.”
Charles Dickens Was Obsessed With Theatre (Who Knew?)
The novelist “originally wanted to be an actor. … He was an avid theatregoer, joined the Garrick Club at the age of 25 and had many theatrical friends … He visited circuses and melodrama houses; his periodical writings covered vents and ‘grimacers’, waxworks, freak shows, actors, gaslight fairies and clowns.”
Is This Africa’s Art Deco Capital?
Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, still has a collection of Art Deco and Italian Modernist buildings that were constructed when Mussolini’s Italy controlled the country. Present-day Asmarans now seem to consider these landmarks part of Eritrean culture and heritage, rather than colonial impositions.
America’s Global Blockbusters Are No Longer Set In America
“Last year’s top five had one film, the fourth Twilight, with a US setting; two, if you count the last Transformers, which really belongs to the multimillion-dollar globetrotters that rule the roost now. The new orthodoxy is: if a film is set in America, with strong American themes, the less chance it stands in the new globalised mainstream.”
Classical Music Cruise Goes Belly Up, Leaving Fans In Lurch
A retired Chicago Public School teacher gets feisty after being robbed of a classical music cruise