“In this second collection of conversations with [Ismene Brown] edited from interview transcripts from 1993, 1996, 1999 and 2004, Baryshnikov talks about his devotion to George Balanchine, global celebrity with ABT and beyond, and the voyage he took into modern dance, … [and acting on] TV’s Sex in the City.”
Tag: 02.14.10
Social Scientists Study Getting Laid At Mardi Gras
“In this edition of ‘Wonks Gone Wild,’ researchers find that men overrated, and women underrated, the likelihood that they would participate in sexual activities with a new partner at [New Orleans] Mardi Gras.”
Designing In Disaster Zones — Haiti And Elsewhere
“With such pressing survival issues, is it appropriate to be thinking about architectural revolutions or questions of aesthetics?”
Trouble-Plagued Ground Zero Arts Center Clears Hurdle
City officials say “that the Frank Gehry-designed theater will be constructed on the originally planned site, and that below-ground construction work on the foundation will start next quarter. … But even if the foundation work moves ahead as planned, the project faces numerous challenges, leaving skeptics questioning whether it will ever be built.”
Where Shops Are Empty, Theatre Troupes Step In
“Without immediate hope of conventional tenants, and with more shoppers going online or to out-of-town retail parks, landlords and local authorities are co-operating with arts organisations to draw people back into town centres, allowing everyone from the Royal Court … to tiny groups such as Write by Numbers to use the empty space.”
Classical Music – No Genre’s The New Genre
“Increasingly in recent years adventurous ensembles and young artists have been drawing their programs from all camps of contemporary music, camps that were once engaged in fierce ideological battles. The biggest combatants were practitioners of complex, cutting-edge 12-tone composition who claimed the intellectual high ground and those who still wrote sonatas, symphonies and such, in essentially major and minor keys.”
Why Is Figure Skating Music So Bad?
“Music for skating has never been noted for its quality. Fans are accustomed to kitschy arrangements, abrupt cuts and sub-par sound systems. Yet over the years, in part because of the improvement in technology, there’s been a shift away from random juxtapositions toward programs that are at least thematic.”
Show Business Syndrome (It Ain’t Pretty)
“It’s a condition as old as the talkies, but, according to many practitioners interviewed for this report, it’s growing more prevalent in the age of reality TV and “American Idol,” when stardom appears more accessible than ever and a sense of entitlement seems rampant among younger generations.”
Why EBooks Are Great
“The single biggest advantage to the ebook is this: no one can see what you’re reading. You can mourn the loss of book covers all you want, but once again I say to you: no one can see what you’re reading. This is a giant leap forward, one that frees you up to read whatever you want without being judged by the person sitting opposite you on the tube.”
Clash Of The Titans – The World’s Biggest Architects, 2010 Edition
“Who are the real King Kongs of architecture in 2010? The list is surprisingly short: Norman Foster heads it, standing imperiously aloof from Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers, Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry, Herzog and de Meuron, and Rem Koolhaas. Their buildings have “signature” design qualities.”