“Shaheen’s patterns generally featured three to five colors applied by hand to silk screens by professional artists who had more than 1,000 colors to work with. Seamstresses then stitched the cotton, rayon or silk fabrics into final products… Such Shaheen originals now fetch $1,000 or more.”
Tag: 01.04.09
Shakespeare’s Church May Have To Close
“The Warwickshire church where William Shakespeare was buried may have to close because of safety fears, its vicar has warned. Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon is under-going multi-million pound restoration work. Reverend Martin Gorick said if a £400,000 project to fix 15th Century windows was not carried out the church could close in about five years’ time.”
Hey! Movies! Leave Them Plays Alone!
“As movie adaptations of stage plays go, the recently released ‘Frost/Nixon’ and ‘Doubt’ are among the best of recent vintage, not least because the writers of the sourcing play also penned the screen versions. … But ‘Frost/Nixon’ and ‘Doubt’ are also, in very different ways, revelatory examples of how certain themes, emotions and truths simply cannot be fully and effectively transferred from stage to screen.”
Cincinnati Arts Groups Hunkering Down In Tough Economy
“Belt-tightening can be seen everywhere in the arts in Greater Cincinnati. Just as the nation is feeling the pinch in lost jobs, failing mortgages and tanking retirement accounts, local arts groups are reeling from the economy.”
Are Color Photos Disappearing?
“Like the shepherds, the color print has nearly vanished. Today, you get some glossies sent out as holiday cards, and some lucky ones get matted and framed, but the vast majority of color photographs now taken – and there are countless millions of them – pass before us, just briefly, on a screen.”
How Cities Hurt Your Brain
“Scientists have begun to examine how the city affects the brain, and the results are chastening. Just being in an urban environment, they have found, impairs our basic mental processes.”
Saving New York City Opera
Anthony Tommasini echoes the widespread concern over the company’s near-dormant state and its leadership vacuum in the wake of the Mortier debacle. “Like the crippled Big Three automakers, City Opera will have to refashion itself into a more streamlined and focused company… Yet now more than ever, it should be bold.”
How A Foreign Cartoon Beat Milk And Wall-E For A Top Critics’ Prize
“It’s the most surprising best-picture choice of the National Society of Film Critics since Babe in 1995! This year’s selection of Waltz With Bashir marks the first time that the society has ever picked an animated film or a documentary.” Tom O’Neil looks at the balloting.
The Silver Lining To This Month’s Rush Of Broadway Closings
Charles Isherwood: “In the interest of accentuating the positive as we embark on an unusually tension-inducing new year, why not focus on a single ray of sweetness amid the gloom: For those who love the theater, this month will be a bonanza of emotional farewells and festive goodbyes in front of adoring audiences.”
Left-Handedness May Be An Advantage For Top Pianists
One expert suggests that, among other advantages, “All piano students must overcome the two hands’ resistance to work separately; by having to work harder on what’s essentially a right-handed instrument, the neurons of left-handed pianists get an extra workout and thus grow stronger.”