In the wake of the acid attack on Sergei Filin, and considering the known hostility in some quarters there to a foreigner walking into a gig as principal, “one has to wonder if Mr. Hallberg … might be better off sticking around instead of returning to Moscow as scheduled in June.” Says Hallberg, “I’ve always had an amazingly positive experience at the Bolshoi and in Moscow. I’ve never felt unsafe.”
Tag: 01.27.13
Steven Soderbergh On His Impending Retirement (He Won’t Be Playing Mah-Jongg)
“It’s a combination of wanting a change personally and of feeling like I’ve hit a wall in my development that I don’t know how to break through. … Just to be clear, I won’t be directing ‘cinema,’ for lack of a better word. But I still plan to direct – theater stuff, and I’d do a TV series if something great were to come along.”
In Praise Of San Francisco Ballet’s Board (They Did It Right)
“The transition after former director Lew Christensen’s death in 1984 was troubled. The trustees took a chance on the inexperienced Tomasson, despite much grumbling in the community. Yet, according to both Tomasson and Ballet Executive Director Glenn McCoy, it has been ever since a happy relationship between the artistic staff, executive wing and occupants of the boardroom.”
Is There Hope For Opera Colorado?
“The financial stumble of Opera Colorado this month – resulting in the abrupt cancellation of the company’s highly touted premiere of The Scarlet Letter – leaves the city with just two major productions for the entire year. Next year, too. The company is still labeling its offerings a ‘season’, but that’s a stretch.”
The Battle For Sylvia Plath, 50 Years After Her Death
“On one side stand those who place culpability for Plath’s suicide squarely on the head of her husband, the late English poet Ted Hughes. The other side, equally intransigent, blames her innately tortured psyche, which had led to at least one prior suicide attempt.”
Time To Reform Rules Governing Art Auctions?
“Art sales in New York, at galleries or at auction, are estimated at $8 billion a year. Yet the last significant change in the city’s auction regulations took effect more than two decades ago, when the value of transactions was less than half of what it is today.”
France Outlaw The #Hashtag
“France has decreed that Twitter-using citizens should refrain from using the word “hashtag” in favor of the newly coined French term “mot-dièse.” The new term, which effectively means “hashtag-word,” was developed by a government committee on vocabulary.”
The Politics Of Repatriating Art In Museums
“Giving up objects has done little to halt the international trade in looted antiquities, while rewarding the hardball tactics of foreign governments and impoverishing Americans’ access to the ancient world.”
SAG Award Winners Often Closely Predict Oscars
The winners are familiar – though spread out over many films – in the award march toward late February.
Does It Matter That Beyoncé Lip-Synched?
Yes, a little, but what matters more is the lying and – like Lance Armstrong – the underlying contempt for the public.