“The Lion King,” now in its 14th year, took in $1,534,779 for the week ending Sunday. “Wicked,” the show about the witches in “The Wizard of Oz,” was next with $1,526,036, and the much-delayed “Spider-Man” musical took third place with $1,476,828 in eight preview performances.
Tag: 02.22.11
Madrid’s Cathedral of Garbage (That’s a Description, Not a Value Judgment)
“This extraordinary cathedral made from salvaged materials has steadily risen over the past 50 years in a quiet Madrid neighborhood. Justo Martinez … has been working on the massive undertaking nearly single-handedly ever since he had to leave an order of monks due to illness.”
How The World Trade Center Project Finally Got On Track
“People were managing so many different priorities that the project stagnated. Political calendars guided the project rather than construction calendars.”
Should Public Broadcasting in the US Follow the BBC Model?
“America is the only major democracy in the West to rely almost entirely on commercial media to comprehensively inform its citizens.” And studies show that the general public in other industrialized democracies (with much better-funded and widely-watched public broadcasters) is far more informed on public issues. Should the US develop a BBC-style system? (Could anyone get a license fee through Congress?)
The Man Who Turned TV Into Avant-Garde Art
“Early in the 1960s, avant-garde composer Nam June Paik began experimenting with the wiring inside his TV. He learned how to manipulate the picture on his screen, bending and warping network broadcasts like free jazz. In 1963, after accumulating and tweaking a dozen more televisions, Paik organised a gallery show in which people were invited to interact one-on-one with his contraptions – an unprecedented experience in an era before video cameras and cable stations.”
Researchers Develop Personal Concert Speakers (Through Your Cell Phone) For Concerts
Researchers at the “Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, have developed a system that transforms your phone into a personal concert speaker, letting high-frequency sounds like vocals, which don’t travel well over long distances, come through more clearly.”
Iowa Legislator Drops Idea To Force University To Sell Jackson Pollock
“The idea to force the University of Iowa to sell its $150 million Jackson Pollock painting has officially died in the legislature. The reason: The issue has become so cumbersomely emotional that reaching consensus is unlikely, the legislator pushing for the sale said today.”
How Aspen Santa Fe Ballet Became Colorado’s Best Dance Company
“It has gotten its audiences to buy into its zestful embrace of the new. Few if any other American companies commission more new works than the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, and it is collaborating with some of the world’s top choreographers in the process.”
Barcelona’s Liceu Opera House Forced to Postpone Season Opening
“Spain’s economic crisis has forced Barcelona’s Liceu opera house to delay the opening of its 2011-2012 season by a month and could lead to temporary layoffs at the famous theater, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.”
What It’s Like to Stutter
“It’s hard to describe the feeling of stuttering to anyone who has always spoken smoothly. It is not a nervous impulse. It is not, despite appearances, a spastic feeling. Stuttering starts in the voice box and the upper lungs with something like a pressure clench, the sensation of some valves closing against a flow, a trap tripping its release at the wrong moment.”