“This is more evidence, not really needed, that a majority of modern big-studio releases are marketing decisions yoked however reluctantly to creative ideas somewhere farther down the food chain.”
Tag: 05.17.11
Study: Sensory Deprivation Improves Musicians’ Skills
“Oshin Vartanian of the University of Toronto and Peter Suedfeld of the University of British Columbia report floating in an Epsom salt solution one hour per week for four weeks boosted the technical ability of a group of college music students. This suggests such periods of minimal sensory stimulation can improve performers’ perceptual-motor coordination.”
Berlin Staatsoper’s Renovation A Year Behind Schedule
“The city’s development department said Tuesday that the opera’s 19th-century home on the former East Berlin’s Unter den Linden boulevard will now reopen at the beginning of the 2014-2015 season. It says work is progressing well but a hard winter and the need to take unexpected extra measures to reinforce the building site caused a roughly six-month delay.”
Angel Corella’s Ballet Company Takes Off Fast
“Corella founded his company in 2007 as the first classical ballet company in Spain in 22 years. … He had hoped to wait until retirement [from performing] to start his company but things came together more quickly and success has been greater than he expected. ‘We’re always sold out and lines go for hours. The royal family is involved …'”
Company Offers Share Of Its Future Profits To Keep Barnes Collection Where It Is
“Argyrol Pharmaceuticals promises that an injection of cash from its future revenues–10% of profits–could be a cure for the Barnes Foundation’s financial difficulties, which first prompted the relocation.”
Does “Da Vinci Code’s” Rosslyn Chapel Hide A Musical Score In Its Symbols?
The Da Vinci Code brought the Rosslyn Chapel to the world’s attention. But perhaps the idea of a hidden code there isn’t so outlandish after all…
No. 1 At Amazon: A Bedtime Story Whose Title We Can’t Print
“A tongue-in-cheek bedtime book for parents which exhorts children to ‘go the **** to sleep’ has soared to the top of Amazon’s bestseller chart a month before publication.”
NY State Adopts New Rules For Museum Deaccessioning
“The New York Board of Regents has approved new rules for deaccessioning artworks … [At] least one of ten specific criteria be met when museums deaccession a work. Among the criteria are proving that an item is inconsistent with the museum’s mission, that it is redundant in the institution’s collection or that a work is stolen or inauthentic.”
Another Black Swan Effect: Portman’s Dance Coach Sees Business Soar
Mary Helen Bowers, the former New York City Ballet dancer who trained Natalie Portman, has a fitness company called Ballet Beautiful. “Publicity surrounding the training convinced non-dancers that Bowers’ fitness regimen could work for them … [and] membership has skyrocketed in the last six months – up a whopping 5,000 percent.”
The New Literary Career Of Mrs. Hosni Mubarak
The now-deposed First Lady of Egypt has a new (and apolitical) memoir out: “Read Me a Book: The Story of Egypt’s First Lady and Her Grandson. (That grandson, named Mohammed, died in 2009 at age 12.)