“Called Astana, it is the world’s latest example of a rare but persistent type, the capital from zero. It is in a line that includes St Petersburg, Washington DC, Canberra, Ankara and Brasilia and like them it provokes a question: can a city, in all its teeming complexity, really be planned?”
Tag: 08.08.10
“Inception” – Why All The Bad Architecture?
Everybody has an opinion about “Inception,” and mine comes in the form of a question: Why are the movie’s architectural settings, for the most part, so hackneyed?
Boot Camp for Cabaret Singers
“The word ‘cabaret’ evokes many images – singers dressed to the nines, elegant nightclubs, intimate rooms, exorbitant cover charges and two-drink minimums. What it doesn’t evoke is college dormitories, dining halls and 9 a.m. classes.” But that’s what happens in New Haven every summer during the International Cabaret Conference at Yale.
Historian Tony Judt, 62
“[He] was one of the West’s foremost and most outspoken public intellectuals … a leading historian of postwar Europe and outspoken political essayist who also wrote movingly about his struggle with Lou Gehrig’s disease.”
Garage-Sale Ansel Adams Negatives Debunked?
“Rick Norsigian’s 10-year quest to prove that he turned up a trove of ‘lost’ Ansel Adams photo negatives at a Fresno garage sale now has a rival explanation advanced by Norsigian’s opponents: They were taken by a heretofore unknown photographer from the Fresno area named Earl Brooks.”
Changing Direction at Pittsburgh’s Dance Alloy Theater
“[Former director] Beth [Corning] has a very specific genre, dance theater, and is very devoted to that genre. [New leader Greer Reed-Jones’s] concept is much broader dance that does include dance theater but also movement and physicality, and so encompasses a lot more works than we might have been able to do under Beth’s guidance.”
The Business Of Enforcing Music Copyright
Most Americans have no problem with BMI charging for its music — except when they do.
The Rise Of Cabaret (It’s Everywhere)
“Everywhere you look this year in Edinburgh there’s cabaret and variety: the genres have been becoming more popular over the years, notably with the huge success of La Clique, but this year their ubiquity is particularly noticeable.”
It’s Never Been Easier To Publish A Book
“But 21st-century business models seem more various: some are straight self-publishing, requiring a writer to finance the book. At least one publisher, however, offers stipends to authors. And others partner with nonprofits, companies or individuals.”
Actress Patricia Neal, 84
“Neal was already an award-winning Broadway actress when she won her Oscar for her role as a housekeeper to the Texas father (Melvyn Douglas) battling his selfish, amoral son (Paul Newman).”