“For about four years, a devoted group of women have been trekking to local laundromats lugging not detergent bottles and boxes of softener, but baskets of books. … [They] handpick children’s book titles from all interests and reading levels, leave them at the laundromats and later return to clean the books and replenish the selections.”
Tag: 12.12.10
Baryshnikov’s In-House Choreographer, Azsure Barton
“In 2003, while performing with a group of fellow choreographers in Nebraska, she met her future mentor Mikhail Baryshnikov, another convert [from ballet] to modern dance. ‘He said, ‘I heard you’re good. I want to see your work.’ I thought, Yeah, right, I’ll never hear from him again.’ Instead, two years later, Barton became the first choreographer in the [Baryshnikov Arts Center].”
Dude, Where’s My Mind? (Not Just in Your Head, Dude.)
A growing area of cognitive science is based on the idea that there “is no more reason, from the perspective of evolution or learning, to favor the use of a brain-only cognitive strategy than there is to favor the use of canny (but messy, complex, hard-to-understand) combinations of brain, body and world.”
2010 – A Good Year Worldwide For Architecture
“The record-shattering Burj Khalifa, which soars a half-mile above Dubai’s desert floor, took its place as one of the world’s great skyscrapers — not simply a technical feat but an aesthetic one as well.”
Why Is The Year’s Best Selling Fiction So Bad?
“In terms of sales, 2010 has been the year of the Larsson. Again. Not least among the reasons for the bafflement of the industry (and fellow writers) is the amateurishness of the books – something, curiously, that Larsson has in common with Dan Brown.”
Why English Will Continue To Dominate The Globe
“About 350 million people worldwide speak English as a mother tongue. According to the British Council, the number learning English will hit 2 billion in the next 10-15 years. That’s a third of mankind.”
“Black Swan” Is A Breakout Hit
“Fox Searchlight expanded the psychological ballet drama starring Natalie Portman to 90 theaters from 18 and saw phenomenal results on the movie’s second weekend. It took in $3.3 million and, despite playing in so few theaters, was the No. 6 picture for the weekend.”
The Internet – A Threat To Information?
“The world’s computer network is ultimately a physical entity, onto which other forms of communication — film, telephone, television, radio — are starting to migrate. This is what media executives mean by ‘convergence.’ It seems likely to help big companies get even bigger, and arguably offers the potential for even tighter control of information than existed in the past.”
Broadway Turns Its Back On Serious And Historical
“Staged history lessons, it would appear, are about as appealing to Broadway audiences these days as Shakespeare without celebrities.”
Germaine Greer: Picasso Was Sooo Tiresome
There is something tiresome about Picasso Picasso’s gift of millions of euros’ worth of paintings to an electrician may add up to one last tilt at art’s windmill