“The more you learn about Chekhov, as you read biographies, memoirs, the letters – the more clear it becomes that he led a love-life of astonishing activity and complexity. Chekhov, it turns out, had a great many affairs, some enduring several years, and most of the women involved with him for any length of time wanted to marry him.”
Tag: 03.01.13
Music Sellers, Musicians, Battle For Who Gets To Sell Music (And How)
“Technology has created an unresolved and urgent question. Who owns pop’s past?”
‘Complete And Whimsical, Sad And Crazy’: Remembering Fyodor Sologub At 150
“Sologub’s writing wonderfully combines reality and mysticism, nobility and baseness, everyday life and the miraculous. … Silver Age poet Nikolay Gumilev (and first husband to Anna Akhmatova) used to say that while Russians didn’t memorize Sologub’s poetry, in a moment of sadness it came to mind all by itself.”
Clint Eastwood Comes Out In Favor Of Same-Sex Marriage
The breakout star of the 2012 Republican National Convention “was one of more than 80 Republicans who signed the [pro-marriage equality] ‘friend of the court’ brief” to the US Supreme Court in the case over California’s Proposition 8.
Hansel And Gretel And A Bunch Of Marijuana
Why so many fairy tale movies (for adults) now? And what would Bruno Bettelheim think?
This Visual Effects Company Won an Oscar, But It’s Going Bankrupt – Why? [AUDIO]
“When Rhythm and Hues Supervisor Bill Westenhofer accepted the Oscar for his company’s visual effects work on Life of Pi, he was played off the stage before he could tell audiences the company is bankrupt, and the industry is suffering.”
Will We All Be Wearing Stretchable Batteries Soon?
“Typically, circuits inside of batteries are rigid, but creating bridges using metal wiring to connect the elements gives the circuits the ability to stretch and flex along with any device.”
Tony Hall Moves From The Royal Opera House To The BBC – Is That Going To Work?
“How much responsibility does the BBC have to the arts? ‘I think the BBC’s role in bringing to people’s attention the great things being done by arts organisations across the country and artists is phenomenally important,’ he says. ‘Do I think the BBC should take the arts seriously? Of course. But I am not there yet and I am not commenting on that stuff.'”
Seriously: There’s No Mozart Effect
“The apparent benefits from music lessons have more to do with which kids take music lessons than they do with the lessons themselves. In addition, studies of adult professional musicians show no cognitive benefits over comparable professional non-musicians.”
Can Someone Please Explain Pac-Man At MoMA?
Sure: “The concept of ‘five-dimensional immersive design’ [design that simultaneously addresses virtual and dimensional environments] is key to this: it deals with the liminal space between the virtual and the physical worlds, which is the one in which we will live the most in the future.”