Tag: 01.26.17

New York’s Famous Half-Price Ticket Booth Finally Has An Indoor Location

Last summer, the Theatre Development Fund – hoping to add more New Yorkers to its largely tourist customer base – tried a pop-up of its TKTS booth at the location where Lincoln Center sells its own discounted day-of tickets. That arrangement has now been made permanent.

Is Book Collecting Anti-Social?

“One of the concerns in the early 19th century regarding book collecting was the fear that by hoarding books, buyers were denying their fellow countrymen their patrimony. The image of the rich dilettante was one of the conspicuous consumer of books that would never be read – the old TBR pile – therefore keeping books out of an intellectual commons. The collector was often portrayed as having a kind of antisocial disease that kept him from contributing to the greater good by sharing his printed riches.”

Quit Making Fun Of Academic Jargon – In The Age Of Trump, We Need It More Than Ever (Says Former Academic)

Rebecca Schuman (who, evidently, is still bitter over the Alan Sokal/Social Text incident), writes, “But now that we’ve just watched a sociopath with a fifth-grade vocabulary take the oath of office, … I have no choice but to come to jargon’s defense. Don’t worry: I’ll do it using small words.” (The commenters, however, are not having it.)

Remember Lillian Hellman? She Was A Genuinely Important American Playwright, And It’s Time We Remembered That

For decades she’s been thought of less as a dramatist than as a steely literary figure (thanks to her own efforts) or an inveterate liar (thanks to Mary McCarthy’s). DC’s Arena Stage is spending this season trying to change that.

Rehearse, Ice Feet, Repeat: A Week In The Life Of A New York City Ballet Corps Dancer

“With apologies to James Brown, the hardest working people in show business may well be ballet dancers. And at New York City Ballet, none work harder than the dancers in its lowest rank, the corps de ballet.” Michael Cooper spent six days shadowing one corps member, and he found even that “exhausting.” (includes video)

How Mel Gibson Went From Pariah To Oscar Nominee

“How did liberal Hollywood decide to once again embrace Gibson a few short years after leaked audiotapes and a domestic-violence accusation painted a picture of a him as an unhinged, abusive racist?” It’s not just that his movies are still making money, Kevin Lincoln reports – a lot of people there genuinely like the guy and say those tapes give an inaccurate picture.

Korean Court Says Japan Can’t Have Its Stolen Buddha Back. Why? Because Pirates, That’s Why

“The 20-inch gilded bronze statue was taken from a Buddhist temple on Tsushima, a Japanese island halfway between the two countries, by South Koreans who also stole another statue from a Shinto shrine there.” But a historic temple on the Korean coast argued that the idol had been looted by Japanese pirates in the 14th century, and a court in Daejeon agreed.