Lyn Gardner: “What do we mean by ‘the nation’s theatre’? Think back just 30 or so years and the answer was probably fairly straightforward. It was Shakespeare on our main stages across the country, the big flagship companies such as the NT and the RSC, the state-of-the-nation plays by David Hare, … the loved but often ailing network of regional theatres across the country frequently reviving classic plays and modern classics. Now the answer to the question is far more complex. It is still, at times, many of these things but it is much, much more.”
Tag: 03.09.15
Van Gogh Landscape To Be Shown For First Time In 100 Years
“Le Moulin d’Alphonse Daudet à Fontvieille, which depicts vivid green grapevines leading up to a windmill with broken wings in the distance, is a work on paper that he created with graphite, reed pen and ink and watercolour shortly after he reached Arles, in the south of France.”
Lebanese TV Host Cuts Off Islamist Scholar Who Tells Her To Shut Up Because He Doesn’t Have To Listen To A Woman
Sheikh Hani Al-Siba’i: “Are you done? Shut up so I can talk.” Rima Karaki: “How can a respected sheikh like yourself tell a TV host to shut up?” Sheikh Al-Siba’i: “It’s beneath me to be interviewed by you. You are a woman who -” (Mic cuts off.) Karaki: “Either there is mutual respect or the conversation is over. In this studio, I run the show.”
“A Turning Point In Cultural History”: Why The Louvre Abu Dhabi Is Worth Celebrating, Despite Its Dark Side
Jonathan Jones: “Nothing excuses the inhuman working conditions that have been reported. But I suspect that when it opens, this audacious new museum will be admired as a world destination and artistic treasure house. And so it should be. For the Louvre Abu Dhabi is a turning point in cultural history.”
Male Belly Dancers Make A Comeback In Istanbul
“Dressed in skirts decorated with coins and shimmering tassels, male belly dancers are back in vogue, jerking their hips and trembling their abs to hypnotic Turkish rhythms. Known as zennes, the performers were once a mainstay at the courts of Ottoman sultans, but they have been largely out of sight for decades. Their renewed popularity comes amid a broader revival of Ottoman-era culture that has spread to television, fashion and politics.” (includes video)
When Grownups Read Their Teenage Diaries Aloud In Public
“Real teenage diaries are becoming a form of public entertainment – often self-deprecating – in a number of places, as brave souls divulge details of unsatisfied crushes and lost friendships. Ruminations that now seem ridiculous had once seemed profound to those who had written them down.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 03.09.15
Other Places: Mr. P.C. On Jazz Wage Economics
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-03-09
Monday Recommendation: The Surprising Tom Varner
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-03-09
Just because: a Q-&-A session with Helen Frankenthaler
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2015-03-09
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Facebook And Amazon And Even Candy Crush Could Make Us Happier And Healthier, If They Chose The Right Metrics
“Some things that it would be great to see in 2015 are: Facebook optimizing the newsfeed to help its users grow and develop, not just click. Amazon optimizing recommendations for user satisfaction, not just purchase. Brain-training that actually works. Services that allow people to better understand themselves, make better decisions, become happier.”
Don’t Even Try To Write A Great Novel When You’re Young, Says Older Novelist
Joanna Trollope: “It’s a rather unkind thing to have to say, and I don’t mean it unkindly, but I always say to people you will write much better fiction after the age of 35 than before. Merely because life will have knocked you about a bit by then.”
Where Playwrights Make Enough Money To Fund Their Little Theatre Habit
“Peterson offered the example of the prime-time, one-hour network show: Minimums dictate that a staff writer earns about $3,800 a week—and a fee of more than $36,000 for any episode for which he or she is credited as story and teleplay writer. The first time that episode is rerun, its writer receives an additional $24,000. Members of the writers’ guild also receive health insurance and pensions, benefits bestowed to playwrights only in very rare circumstances.”