“Anatomically at least, our brains differ little from those of the people who painted the walls of the Chauvet cave all those years ago. … Thanks to the latest technologies, though, we can now trace the brain’s evolution in unprecedented detail, from a time before the very first nerve cells right up to the age of cave art and cubism.”
Tag: 09.26.11
For Ambrose Bierce, Cynicism ‘Was His Life Force’
“No doubt, Bierce’s writings were smarter and funnier than the stupid, distinctively silly cynic books of his time. He was a satirist of the first order. But Bierce was angered by these people because he saw himself as … a voice of authority and a harbinger of truth.”
London’s White Cube Gallery To Add Enormous New Space
“Even as workmen toil to complete the building, one thing is clear: the new gallery that White Cube is about to add to its empire is vast. When contemporary-art dealer Jay Jopling’s latest venture opens on 12 October, at 5,400 sq metres, it will be the largest commercial art gallery in Britain: the Tate Modern of the for-profit art world.”
Noel Coward Play To Have Belated US Premiere
“L.A.’s Antaeus Company will write a new, belated chapter in Coward’s artistic history on these shores: On Oct. 20 it will open Peace in Our Time, a 65-year-old drama that had not been staged in America until now.”
Putting The Dead Sea Scrolls Online
“Google and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem have partnered to launch a new website that allows the public the ability to examine the Dead Sea Scrolls in fine detail. The site provides searchable, high-resolution images of the scrolls, plus explanatory videos and background on the foundational texts.”
Slatkin In Talks To Extend At Detroit Symphony
“On the cusp of his fourth season as music director of the Detroit Symphony, Leonard Slatkin told the Free Press on Sunday that he has begun preliminary talks with DSO management to extend his contract beyond its current expiration at the end of the 2012-13 season.”
Charles Askegard Looks Back At A Three-Decade Ballet Career
The retiring New York City Ballet principal (and Mr. Candace Bushnell) talks about rehearsing with Jerome Robbins, his departure from American Ballet Theater, and his parents letting go study in San Francisco when he was 12.
A Ballerina Looks At Edgar Degas
Royal Ballet principal Sarah Lamb: “He studied ballet technique carefully. By the time you get to Degas’s later paintings and sketches, you can see that his studies paid off. Some of his sketches are annotated with the names of positions we still use today … [and] his depiction of them is very accurate.”
Manuscript Thief Jailed In London
“A university graduate who stole £36,000 of manuscripts by famous figures including Sir Winston Churchill, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf and TS Eliot has been jailed for 30 months.”
When ‘Do Not Litter’ Signs Make People Litter More
“Researchers in the Netherlands present evidence that if certain rules are clearly spelled out, and you note that others have been disregarding them, you’re more likely to break them as well. What’s more, you are also more likely to ignore an entirely different directive.”