From a study of polling data published last year in Urban Affairs Review: “We find that … [cities] that provide easy access to convenient public transportation and to cultural and leisure amenities promote happiness. Cities that are affordable and serve as good places to raise children also have happier residents.”
Tag: 02.02.12
The Artist Who Got Paid With Facebook Stock
“The graffiti artist who took Facebook stock instead of cash for painting the walls of the social network’s first headquarters made a smart bet. The shares owned by the artist, David Choe, are expected to be worth upward of $200 million when Facebook stock trades publicly later this year.”
Having Saved Pasadena Playhouse, Executive Director Quits
“Stephen Eich, who played a leading role in helping the Pasadena Playhouse survive a financial near-death experience during more than 2½ years as its executive director, has resigned, saying he feels ‘a great sense of satisfaction in what I’ve accomplished’ as he moves on to other ventures, including independent theater production.”
French Government Bans Film Advertising Posters For Being Too Risqué
France’s advertising regulators have ordered that ads for the new film Les Infidèles (which co-stars Jean Dujardin of The Artist) be taken down for what one commissioner called “an attack on the dignity of women”.
How Iraq’s Great Universities Were Destroyed
“In just 20 years, then, the Iraqi university system went from being among the best in the Middle East to one of the worst. This extraordinary act of institutional destruction was largely accomplished by American leaders who told us that the US invasion of Iraq would bring modernity, development, and women’s rights. Instead, as political scientist Mark Duffield has observed, it has partly de-modernized that country.”
How Justice Department Shutdown Of MegaUpload Could Hurt Music
“Despite the demise of Napster more than a decade ago, music fans continue to use file-sharing sites to discover and share music. In certain circles, especially more underground and fringe scenes, music blogs and sites are indispensible ways of discovering new artists, as they’re mostly ignored by mainstream magazines and websites.”
Qatar Pays Record $250 Million For A Painting
“The tiny, oil-rich nation of Qatar has purchased a Paul Cézanne painting, The Card Players, for more than $250 million. The deal, in a single stroke, sets the highest price ever paid for a work of art and upends the modern art market.”
Dorothea Tanning, 101, Last Of The Surrealist Painters
Though her own fame was overshadowed by that of her husband, Max Ernst, she had a successful career in her own right, moving from dreamlike portrayals of the female form to, by the 1950s, more abstract “prism paintings.” In her 80s, she found new acclaim as a writer.
The Soap Opera Of Clybourne Park‘s Move To Broadway
“The New York run of [the Pulitzer-winning play], which has been widely viewed as a top contender for the 2012 Tony Award for best play, was threatened this week after one of the lead producers, Scott Rudin, left the project” following an unrelated dispute with playwright Bruce Norris. Now the owner of the theater where Clybourne Park is to run has assured the cast (currently performing in Los Angeles) that the transfer will proceed.
Cairo’s Overlooked Museum
“A diamond in the rough, the Egyptian Museum of Modern Art houses works by more than 1,500 Egyptian artists, mostly from the middle and late 20th century … Overshadowed by Egypt’s pharaonic and medieval Islamic heritage, and the more recent upsurge in interest in contemporary Arab art, the country’s modernist artists elicit scant respect.”