“If you’re a certain kind of amateur intellectual with self-improving impulses, it’s less vulgar to entrust your anxieties to a Cambridge- and Harvard-educated pop philosopher who speaks three languages than to the hearty exhortations of Tony Robbins or Oprah.”
Tag: 01.03.13
When Counterinsurgency Experts Go See Les Mis
“Most viewers left the showing of Les Misérables discussing Anne Hathaway (good), Russell Crowe (bad), and Sacha Baron Cohen (ugly) – but as a student of political violence, something else caught my eye. I was more interested in the structural integrity of the barricades and the poor substitution of tenors for tactics.”
Social Media Meets Theatre
“Over the past four years, almost 1,000 of the company’s Twitter followers from across the U.S. have written more than 4,900 one-tweet plays.”
Ethical Dilemmas Continue For Music Consumers In The Digital Age
“Once upon a time, the publisher of sheet music was the authority. Later it was the company that recorded and distributed the music. Authority is now shifting to whoever can stream a sound file, but rarely were, and are, these concerns inclusive of the artists’ wishes.”
Django Moments – And What They Mean For Cultural Conversation
“Being uncomfortable. False ownership of terms. False ownership of cultures. Troubled histories. Finger-pointing. Segregation in an integrated world (or is it integration in a segregated world?).”
Emergency Funding For Storm-Damaged South Street Seaport Museum
“The museum was forced to close after the storm destroyed its telecommunications, electrical, heating and air conditioning systems. It reopened in mid-December and estimates that repairs will cost $22 million. As a result, it is still seeking contributions.”
Nobel Releases Documents About Controversial John Steinbeck Win
“Although Steinbeck was praised by the committee “for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception” when his win was announced, the newly declassified documents show he was actually chosen as the best of a bad lot.”
Putin Grants Gérard Depardieu Russian Citizenship
The obstreperous screen legend has been loudly announcing his plans to leave France over the new government’s tax increases on wealthy citizens. Now President Vladimir Putin has offered the actor a Russian passport and residency permit. Said a grateful Depardieu, “I love your culture, your intelligence. My father was a communist of that era. He listened to Radio Moscow! That is my culture too.”
St. Louis Symphony Keeps David Robertson Through 2015-16
“The St. Louis Symphony has extended Music Director David Robertson’s contract through the 2015-16 season. Robertson joined the symphony in the 2005-2006 season as its 12th music director.”
Fighting And Fuming Over French Cinema (And Its Subsidies)
An essay in Le Monde titled “French Actors Are Paid Too Much!” has occasioned a great debate among cinéastes about how many and what kind of films get made in France – and how government funding supports, or distorts, the country’s film industry.