Astrphysicist Adam Frank: “For the last 500 years humanity has suffered one humiliation after another at the hands of the cosmos. … Well today, my friends, I am here to tell you that Copernicus, or at least a reflexive Copernicanism, is wrong.”
Tag: 03.01.11
Making Dance Out of the Movements of Great Apes
Janis Claxton on her piece Humanimalia: “I was taking students to zoos, and noticing that this was a big difference in their movements after watching the animals, particularly the primates. … The way that they use space, they scatter, then form clumps: it’s like a choreography unto itself.”
Publishers Turn To Other Outlets As Book Superstores Close
“Publishers have stocked books in nonbook retailers for decades — a coffee-table book in the home department, a novelty book in Urban Outfitters. In the last year, though, some publishers have increased their efforts as the two largest bookstore chains have changed course.”
Librarians: Boycott Harper Collins Over E-Books Policy
“Furious librarians are calling for a boycott of publisher HarperCollins over its decision to put a limit on the number of times its ebooks can be loaned.”
Motion Picture Association Picks Senator Chris Dodd As New Leader
“In selecting Dodd, the MPAA’s board is counting on the one-time U.S. presidential hopeful to restore some of the clout that the organization had during the four decades it was run by the legendary Jack Valenti, the former aide to President Lyndon Johnson who turned the lobbyist’s role into a starring turn.”
Eugene Fodor, Drug-Haunted Violin Virtuoso, Dead at 60
“With his chiseled jaw, wavy locks and paisley bow ties, Mr. Fodor became an overnight media sensation. … New York magazine dubbed him the ‘Mick Jagger of classical music.’ … By the mid-1980s, Mr. Fodor’s swashbuckling ways spoiled many of his professional opportunities, and his career began to swirl out of control.”
James Levine Withdraws From Remainder of Boston Symphony Season
“Boston Symphony Orchestra music director James Levine has withdrawn from the remainder of this season due to his lingering back problems, meaning the orchestra will now have to find conductors to lead it during an upcoming tour of the East Coast.”
Matthew Bourne Has Roughneck Glasgow Teens Dancing Lord of the Flies
“This is no ordinary Bourne production, destined for a West End run and monster tour. The Theatre Royal approached his company last year to put on a full-scale show, funded by the Scottish Arts Council, with young men who had never danced before.”
Patrick White’s Unfinished Final Novel to See Print
The Nobel-winning Australian author’s “The Hanging Garden is to be published next year, the centenary of his birth. Barely a dozen people have read the little masterpiece that turned up in the hoard of his papers in the National Library.”
Looted Afghan Art Objects Returned, Restored
“Lost Afghan treasures looted from Kabul are to go on display in a new exhibition [at the British Museum] thanks to an unknown benefactor. The mystery donor identified the fragments of intricately carved ivory as being among important exhibits stolen from the National Museum of Afghanistan between 1992 and 1994.”