“This time last week, Nathaniel Corum was on a Navajo reservation in Arizona where three elders’ families were moving into new solar-powered homes that he’d designed to be built from straw bales. Next came the news that the Plastiki, a boat made from 12,500 recycled plastic bottles for which he’d designed the cabin, had docked safely in Sydney after a 130-day voyage across the Pacific to protest against plastic waste.”
Tag: 08.02.10
Dudamel Makes US Opera Debut at Hollywood Bowl
Mark Swed: “Carmen is a conductor’s opera. And if Dudamel is, in Esa-Pekka Salonen’s words, a conducting animal, he has now proved himself an opera animal as well, an utter natural for the lyric stage.”
Blue Whales Have Better Pitch Than Opera Singers
“Blue whales are able to synchronize the pitch of their calls with an extremely high level of accuracy, and a very slim margin of error from call to call, according to a new study of the blue whale population in the eastern North Pacific.”
Is The Web Endangered?
In “more tightly controlled corners of the internet, especially iPad and iPhone apps, are gradually supplanting the open Web as means of publishing and online networking.”
Planning How A City Should Sound
“With the internal combustion engine on its way out, though, the acoustic fog created by cars, buses and trucks will finally lift and other sounds of the city will emerge. Will we like what we hear?”
Listening to Prozac? Classical Music Can Help Treat Depression
“[A] growing body of research suggests music can play an important role in certain aspects of health care, including pain management. A newly published study from Mexico reports repeated listening to certain classical works – including one by Mozart – helps ease the debilitating symptoms of clinical depression.”
The Night Edinburgh Made My Show a Hit
“Every act at the Edinburgh Festival and Fringe dreams of making it big, and a special few succeed. As performers gather for the 2010 event, illustrious predecessors tell Arifa Akbar and Harry Morgan about the Scottish nights when their careers took off.”
Women Prefer Men Who Wear Red
A team of researchers “‘found that women view men in red as higher in status, more likely to make money and more likely to climb the social ladder. And it’s this high-status judgment that leads to the attraction.’ Red appears to signal rank in virtually all cultures.”
Please Text Five Dollars to the L.A. Phil
“Anyone who has attended the Hollywood Bowl this summer has probably noticed the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s jumbo-screen advertisements encouraging people to donate to the orchestra via text message. … The service, which is hosted by mGive, adds the donation amount to your monthly wireless bill.”
Blogosphere Responds to Choreographers-Should-Stop-Blogging Post
Wendy Perron: “My last outburst touched off a firestorm of responses. … What I appreciate most is that my cranky complaint has triggered a series of blogs that really take a look at this trend (of step-by-step blogging about what happened in the studio that day) and try to figure out the most effective ways for choreographers to go public with their musings.”