Tina Pereira “turned a pas de deux into a solo, and then danced an unrehearsed duet with an ad hoc partner, to win the prize for best female dancer at the Seventh International Competition for the prestigious Erik Bruhn Prize last weekend.”
Tag: 03.11.07
Law Based On What’s Inside Your Head
“Proponents of neurolaw say that neuroscientific evidence will have a large impact not only on questions of guilt and punishment but also on the detection of lies and hidden bias, and on the prediction of future criminal behavior. At the same time, skeptics fear that the use of brain-scanning technology as a kind of super mind-reading device will threaten our privacy and mental freedom, leading some to call for the legal system to respond with a new concept of cognitive liberty.”
Museum Director, Blogger
Gary Vikan, director of the Walters Museum in Baltimore, starts a blog. Is he the first director of a major art museum to turn blogger? “The Internet is a free gift for all, with boundaries yet to be discovered. There are many more perspectives to be acknowledged, and as a public institution, that’s part of our work.”
PEN To Name New Leader
“PEN, the international organization of writers and editors, is expected to name Francine Prose the new president of its American Center when U.S. members gather March 19 for their annual meeting. She would succeed historian Ron Chernow, who declined to seek re-election, citing personal reasons.”
San Diego Dance Alliance Teeters On The Edge
“The problems that threaten to destroy the dance service organization involve the usual suspects: a breakdown in board leadership, an overwhelmed director who rarely returns phone calls, fundraising woes, major debt.”
Checking In On Most Ambitious Building
Frank Gehry’s Stata building at MIT was designed to stimulate new ideas and make connections between the researchers who work there. “Stata, it was hoped, would nourish professional connections. People would cross the boundaries of scientific disciplines. Great minds would meet and spawn great ideas. Social life would improve.” So has it worked.
Virtual World Runs Into Some Real World Sludge
“Second Life, with its capacity for organic growth and interaction, has been hailed as Web 2.0 – a revolution-in-waiting no less significant than the birth of the World Wide Web itself. players (or ‘residents,’ as they much prefer) log using virtual identities, or avatars, into a world where they can teleport, fly and alter their appearance at whim – was a virgin land bound only by the wildest dreams.”
A World Of Zero Waste
Is this eco-conservation gone crazy? Maybe not. “In this perfect system, each unit of energy consumed would be somehow offset. Every industrial byproduct would reassemble into something useful and benign. Every beam of sunlight, scrap of garbage, and flush of the toilet would be pressed into service. No exceptions. Humankind would make obsolete the very concept of waste.”
Rock Hall, Misnomer
Cleveland’s Rock n Roll Hall of Fame is misnamed, writes Ann Powers. “It’s time to shake things up. Today’s most compelling stars — Shakira, Timbaland, the Dixie Chicks, the ever-evolving Kelly Clarkson — are natural cross-pollinators who rock without necessarily being “rock.” The underground is alive with mongrels and mutations, because its denizens grew up with samplers and guitars. ‘Rock ‘n’ roll’ is dead; long live whatever’s next. And let’s hope our Hall of Fame finds a way to name it.”
Has Rock Hall Of Fame Lowered The Bar Too Much?
“Unlike baseball, you can’t accurately measure musicians just by statistics. But it is interesting to turn to the Rolling Stone Album Guide, whose ratings are more reliable than the magazine’s because the guide’s editors have the luxury of looking at the old albums with a historical perspective. The most striking thing about the book’s evaluation of the Hall of Fame inductees’ recordings is that more than one-fourth lack a five-star album or even a five-star “best of” collection.”