“It’s an unusual forum for talking about what happened at UC Davis … but the Amazon product page for ‘Defense Technology 56895 MK-9 Stream, 1.3% Red Band/1.3% Blue Band Pepper Spray’ has attracted some amazingly clever and biting reviews.”
Tag: 11.23.11
Right-Wing Protest Art Attacks Brooklyn Museum Exhibit
“Scott LoBaido, a Staten Island painter, describes himself as a ‘Creative Patriot.’ … He’s also a religious Catholic and was so offended by the Brooklyn Museum’s exhibition of David Wojnarowicz’s A Fire in My Belly, a video that features a shot of ants crawling over a crucifix, that he decided to take matters into his own hands.”
Everyone’s A Musician, At Least Everyone Who Can Buy Apps
Have you played the flute, or the piano, on your iPad or iPhone? Here’s the guy who made that possible – and who wants to keep on spreading the music app love (er, for money).
Salzburg’s “Sound Of Music” – It’s A Hit!
The musical’s depictions of swastikas and characters in Nazi uniforms has previously been a point of contention in Austrian productions — and caused some walkouts when “The Sound of Music” was presented in Vienna in 2005, The A.P. said — but Andreas Gergen, director of the Salzburg production, said, “I think that this is truly the right moment in time, when Austrians are actually ready to deal with their past.”
Sena Jurinac, 90, Soprano And Mezzo
“[She] made her debut at the Vienna opera as Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro on May 1, 1945 – the first production after World War II. She performed as Cherubino 129 times and went on to become one of the best-known singers at the opera house in the 1940s and 50s, singing in operas including Don Giovanni, Der Rosenkavalier and La Bohème.”
Soprano Montserrat Figueras, Leading Light Of Early Music, Dead At 69
“[She] and her husband of more than 40 years, the viola da gamba master and conductor Jordi Savall, introduced generations of listeners to music that spanned many centuries and lands from the Middle East to Latin America. In pursuit of their shared artistic vision, the duo founded three ensembles: Hespèrion XX (now called Hespèrion XXI), La Capella Reial de Catalunya and Le Concert des Nations.”
YouTube Now Serving 3.5 Billion Videos A Day
“The last viewership milestone was announced in May as YouTube celebrated its sixth birthday. At that point, the site was delivering 3 billion views per day — so it’s added about 500 million views a day in the past six months. A year earlier, in May 2010, YouTube broke 2 billion views a day.”
Brain Scans Show Why Older Adults Have Difficulty Making Quick Decisions
“Previous research has shown that increased input from the cortex to a brain area called the striatum allows for faster responses. Brain scans of the volunteers showed that the young people had significantly stronger connections between these two areas. This suggests that the older group might be unable to respond swiftly simply because they cannot make good use of the striatum.”
“Sound Of Music” Finally Makes Salzburg Debut
“Playing for the first time in this haughty town of opera lovers, The Sound of Music has been met with surprisingly positive reactions in what is commonly considered a last bulwark of resistance to the iconic show.”
How To Build A Better Spy? Video Games
“The initiative aims to create a series of so-called “serious games” that’d help analysts improve their objectivity and reasoned judgment when confronted with complex or culturally foreign scenarios.”