Folks tend to be surprised, for instance, that Nixon was a loving husband and father or that saintly, generous-to-a-fault old Tolstoy harshly rejected his illegitimate son. Why do we tend to assume that people have unified and consistent characters? Some social psychologists and philosophers have been working on (and, of course, arguing over) explanations.
Tag: 03.25.12
Alt-Classical’s New Poster Girl, Missy Mazzoli
“Currently, the Kronos Quartet is touring with her Harp and Altar, the Albany Symphony Orchestra (where she is composer in residence) is premiering her newest orchestral work this spring, and she has two Carnegie Hall commissions.” Not to mention her recent opera premiere in Manhattan.
Civil Discussion – What’s Wrong With Online?
“Why was the live encounter between a newspaper and its readers so much more affable than it can sometimes feel online? How can the liveliness of digital debate be preserved and enhanced while embracing more of that friendliness?”
New (To Us) Eugene O’Neill Play In Production
“For more than 90 years, Exorcism was believed to be lost forever. Then Yale’s Beinecke Library got a call from a dealer who said he had a copy of the manuscript.”
Why Doesn’t Hunger Games‘ Panem Have The Internet? Deliberate ‘Tech Gap,’ Obviously
“Uneven technological development is a staple of science fiction because it implies a society, and a government, that has lost its way or has mistaken priorities,” Hicks said, “And as a result unjustly divides technological resources, or uses those resources to control the populace in inappropriate ways.”
Cris Alexander, 92, Actor And Photographer Of The Big City
Alexander came to the city to be an actor, and indeed got cast in On the Town. But he “made it in New York as a photographer, taking portraits of the likes of Martha Graham and Vivien Leigh; having gallery shows; working for Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine and the New York City Ballet; and providing droll pictures for the best-selling 1961 satire of a movie star’s memoir, Little Me, written by Patrick Dennis and later adapted for the Broadway stage by Neil Simon. And he found love.”
Making A New Firebird Fly
Choreographer Alexei Ratmansky has a job on his hands with the American Ballet Theatre’s reimagining of Firebird. “More than a few choreographers have been burned by the score, but Ratmansky has a firm grip on Slavic storytelling using classical ballet vocabulary toward dramatic means. At his best, he summons music, emotion and technique to create illustrious images onstage.”
Insuring Against Any Movie Set Risk, Including Bears
Before The Hunger Games started filming, “Holehouse traveled to North Carolina to check out the location, deep within DuPont State Forest. He took into account bugs, poison ivy, falling trees — anything that might pose a threat to the actors or the production schedule. He considered a chase scene across fast-running water, as well as the dangers posed by abandoned warehouses that were used as part of the set — and, of course, all swords, arrows and other weaponry.”
Can The New University Of Chicago Arts Center Change Hyde Park?
“Nothing quite like it, in fact, ever has arisen in the Chicago area, and no one knows for sure exactly how the place will operate. The learning curve will begin Monday, when students begin pouring into a most unusual complex that dares to combine classrooms, performing arts spaces, movie theater, rehearsal rooms, art gallery and you-name-it.”
Getting That Mad Men Music Right
Oops. Someone wasn’t paying quite enough attention to music release dates in earlier seasons of Mad Men.. That’s hard to believe, given the show’s penchant for accuracy – and now it’s fixed.