“For critics of all stripes, deriding the Grammys as increasingly insignificant is an annual ritual. But the classical Grammys are particularly irrelevant. Classical music looks on the Grammys much as the artsy kid in school, engrossed in creative pursuits, occasionally peeking over to see if the star athlete has noticed him — only to look down his nose at him when he does.”
Tag: 02.10.08
How A Video Game Is Changing Physical Therapy
“Nintendo’s Wii video game system, whose popularity already extends beyond the teen gaming set, is fast becoming a craze in rehab therapy for patients recovering from strokes, broken bones, surgery and even combat injuries.”
Should Museums Really Be Returning Art?
“As one museum after another negotiates deals, and prosecutors all over the world target the commercial trade in ancient objects, some prominent scholars are drawing a line in the sand, saying that objects belong where they are – that the movement is based on a false reading of history, and, if allowed to progress, could do serious damage to the world’s cultural inheritance.”
Time To Celebrate The Grammys For What They Are
“Grammy’s best moments have simply celebrated stardom itself, from its thrilling beginnings (Ricky Martin, bursting out of the box in 1999), through its peak (virtually any Whitney Houston show-stopper) and into its dignified twilight (Marvin Gaye, butter-smooth in 1983). Naysayers dismiss such glitzy numbers as empty showbiz, but they’re the building blocks of pop mythology.”
Anything Left To Say About The Bob Dylan Phenomenon?
“There are enduring things about Dylan that pervade his persona. But he remains somewhat elusive. People feel like they don’t quite know him. People are still grasping the forces that shaped him. Some can only see him on a pedestal.”
Moscow Building Itself The Largst Building In The World
“Essentially a city unto itself, Crystal Island would rank, if completed, as the biggest building in the world, with a total floor area of 27 million square feet, or about four times the size of the Pentagon. Its sharply peaked, tent-like form is designed to hold 900 apartments, 3,000 hotel rooms, an international school for 500 students, a shopping center, offices, a museum and a large sports complex.”
American Universities Set Out To Conquer The World (Or At Least Teach It)
“In a kind of educational gold rush, American universities are competing to set up outposts in countries with limited higher education opportunities.”
Ernest Hemingway On Writing A Play:
“I was excited and happy to be able to write the dialogue without having to write about places. That is you could say a place was such and so. You did not have to really make it as in a novel so that the reader can walk in and know it is true. A set designer would have to make it from your knowledge.”
Theatre: Audience Participation Required
“Seeing a play is not generally considered an interactive experience, unless fidgeting, coughing, applauding and chuckling at the latest comic innovation in squelch-the-cellphone announcements qualify as participation in the performance. But theater that invites the audience to get in on the act may be poised to become a more prominent component of the theatrical scene.”
The Whole World Is Singing
“From Hawaii to Santa Cruz to the Philadelphia suburbs, in living rooms, churches and festival tents, similar gatherings — called community sings, or singalongs — draw together the average-voiced and bring old songs into common memory.”