“Having entered the four-year period aged twenty-seven as a promising if uncommercial newcomer backed by obscure experimental presses, he will exit it at thirty transformed into a literary lion and international celebrity.”
Tag: 02.01.17
Did A Violin Teach In Texas Just Break Elgar’s Enigma?
“So what is that enigmatic theme that supposedly runs through the entire work but is never played? Elgar, who died in 1934, never said. It has been understood to be a well-known melody that would harmonize with the music if played along with it. For decades, musicologists, cryptologists and music lovers have offered up innumerable solutions for the phantom melody.”
How Psychologists Can Tell If A Defendant Is Faking Insanity
“Welcome to the strange science of malingering, a fancy word for faking illness in order to gain an advantage of some kind. It’s an area of psychological study that highlights the counterintuitive orderliness of insanity and also reveals that many people have no idea what it’s like to have a genuine mental disorder.”
You Think ‘Alternative Facts’ Are Like Science Fiction? Ursula Le Guin Would Like A Word With You
In a letter to her local paper, she writes, “We call it fiction because it isn’t fact. … The test of a fact is that it simply is so – it has no ‘alternative.’ The sun rises in the east. To pretend the sun can rise in the west is a fiction, to claim that it does so as fact (or ‘alternative fact’) is a lie.”
Classical Composers Aren’t Exactly Celebrities In America – So How Did Philip Glass Become A Household Name?
Steve Reich and John Adams have been more innovative; Michael Nyman writes Hollywood film scores, too. But Glass is the one who gets name-checked in Gilmore Girls and made fun of on The Simpsons and South Park. Why is this? Dan Ruccia has an explanation. (It’s not because of Cousin Ira.)
Verona’s Ancient Roman Amphitheatre To Get Retractable Roof
A winner has been chosen from among 87 designs submitted for roofing the Arena di Verona, which dates back to 30 AD and is still regularly used for concerts and other events, as well as for one of the world’s most famous (and financially precarious) opera festivals.
Vera Lynn Releases A New Album… At Age 100
“The singer is known as the forces’ sweetheart for entertaining troops during World War Two to boost morale. Dame Vera – 100 in March – currently holds the record for being the oldest living artist to get a top 20 UK album.”
Mississippi Arts Commission Survives Attempt By Republican Legislature To Offload It
“Yesterday, two bills intended to fold the duties of the Mississippi Arts Commission (MAC) into the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) died in both the Senate and House Appropriations Committees due to the fact that they were not brought up by either chairman. January 31 was the deadline for bills to come out of committee.”
Culture-Maker Facebook Now Has 1.8 Billion Users, Made $10 Billion In 2016
“Equally impressive are Facebook’s usage numbers: The social network attracted 1.23 billion daily active users in December on average, including 1.15 billion mobile daily actives, with the latter being up 23% year-over-year. And 1.74 billion of Facebook’s 1.86 billion monthly active users were on mobile devices for at least some of their visits.”
Pakistan Lifts Its Ban On Indian Films
“The ban was introduced in September 2016, as a response to the escalation of cross-border tensions between Pakistan and India over the disputed territory of Kashmir. … Indian films account for around 70% of Pakistan’s box office, something the Ministry of Information statement seemed to acknowledge, saying that lifting the ban would help the ‘revival of the Pakistani film industry’.”