“British scientists from University College London found they could differentiate brain activity linked to different memories and thereby identify thought patterns by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The evidence suggests researchers can tell which memory of a past event a person is recalling from the pattern of their brain activity alone.”
Tag: 03.11.10
Global Movie Box Office Grows
“Global movie ticket sales climbed 7.6 per cent in 2009 to $29.9 billion US, according to the Motion Picture Association of America. The group representing U.S. studios said the greatest growth was in Asia Pacific, where box office was up 12.3 per cent, boosted by sales in Japan and China.”
Francesca Zambello To Lead Glimmerglass Opera
“Glimmerglass Opera, the 35-year-old summer opera festival in Cooperstown, N.Y., has named Francesca Zambello as its general and artistic manager.” The well-known and well-traveled director “will likely give the small company, which presents four operas a season, a higher profile.”
Massage Makes You Feel Better, But No Better Than Just Chilling Out
“A new randomized trial shows that on average, three months after receiving a series of 10 massage sessions, patients had half the symptoms of anxiety. … [But the research] also found massage to be no more effective than simple relaxation in a room alone with soft, soothing music.”
Hailstorm And Flooding Wreck Australian Ballet’s Sets And Costumes
The company is “still trying to assess the extent of damage to 48 years of costumes and sets stored over three floors in an old Kensington wool store. Hail blocked drain pipes, sending contaminated water flooding through the sawtooth ceiling windows of the 108-year-old building.”
‘Untitled Comedy’ (That’s The Title) Helmed By Six Different Directors
“In a zig-zagging departure from the one-person-steers-the-ship movie making standard, Untitled Comedy is being shot by half a dozen different filmmakers. … The concept: each director takes charge of one segment of a feature-length picture. The scenes will then be stitched together to form a single shaggy dog story.” The cast includes Hugh Jackman and Kate Winslet.
Two Montreal SO Discs Ruled Un-Canadian By Junos
The recordings, under OSM music director Kent Nagano, are of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde (on Sony) and Unsuk Chin’s Violin Concerto (on the Montreal-based label Analekta); both use German soloists. Says a Juno spokesman, “We understand that the OSM is Canadian. But it was in the Soloist with Large Ensemble Accompaniment (category), so the focus is on the soloist. And the soloist, not being Canadian, can’t qualify.”
Harriet Tubman Artifacts To Smithsonian’s African-American Museum
An original framed photograph of the anti-slavery activist, a silk-and-linen shawl given to her by Queen Victoria, and her own personal hymnal are “among an extraordinary trove of Tubman artifacts given Wednesday to the National Museum of African American History and Culture by esteemed collector and author Charles L. Blockson.”
Vegas Arts Groups Face Down The Downturn
“On paper, the arts are looking grim. In less than two years the city lost the Las Vegas Art Museum and two critical downtown galleries, Naomi Arin Contemporary Art and Michele C. Quinn Fine Art Advisory. The Las Vegas Philharmonic nearly collapsed, Nevada Ballet Theatre restructured for financial reasons, and museums and cultural centers cut hours and programming.”
His Work Too Expensive, Artist Offers Print Subscriptions
Philadelphia artist Andrew Jeffrey Wright “has launched a low-cost subscription series for fans who pay a yearly fee for what he has to offer. Beginning in January, his ‘patrons’ have been getting one of every colorful screen print he produces for the calendar year 2010 – more than 12 prints, guaranteed.”