“A Qatari poet jailed for 15 years for reciting verses that praised the 2011 uprising in Tunisia and criticised his own country’s ruling family has been freed after receiving a royal pardon.” Muhammad Ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami’s release “came days before Qatar hosts two international press freedom conferences.”
Tag: 03.16.16
How This Guy Stole A Rare Strad Violin Is Simple. But WHY He Stole It (And Got Away With It Is Another Question Altogether)
“The crime defies logic. The young violinist, with so much ahead of him, brazenly acts while the master mingles in the next room. He leaves town under a cloud of suspicion. And even as he squanders his career, he refuses to reveal his secret. This delicate, hand-crafted masterpiece of wood and gut strings is his to possess, to play, to imprison.”
C’Mon People, Toughen Up! Art Is SUPPOSED To Challenge You
“Never apologise for art. Art entertains and delights. It also shocks us into awareness. It shows us aspects of life we may prefer to turn away from. If you are seriously sensitive, enquire ahead.”
Should We Be Afraid Of Intelligent Computers?
Yes, the defeat of a world-champion Go player by Google’s DeepMind computer was impressive, as was Watson’s triumph over Ken Jennings at Jeopardy!. Yet we’re still far from anything like HAL.
New York City Allocates $2 Million To Promote Diversity Backstage
“Guidelines are being sent out to more than 1,000 arts groups and individuals in the five boroughs of New York, seeking applicants for the funds … Specifically, the grants are being offered to provide training for production and technical personnel.”
How They Found The Music Circuit In Our Brains
“[Researchers] played a total of 165 commonly heard natural sounds to ten subjects willing to be rolled into an fMRI machine to listen to the piped-in sounds. The sounds included a man speaking, a songbird, a car horn, a flushing toilet, and a dog barking. None sparked the same population of neurons as music.” (includes video)
Top Posts From AJBlogs 03.16.16
Failure is an Option?
When conducting recent audience research with colleagues last year, we were stricken to hear from local teens that failure isn’t an option for them. With such a concentrated focus on … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2016-03-16
Who is Allowed to Fail?
A few weeks ago I helped one of our community chefs fill out a $5,000 loan application to kickstart his own business. I emphasized to him that his proposal would … read more
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2016-03-16
Diversity and Genuine Engagement
In February Malesha Taylor posted “Is Your Theatre Only ‘Diverse and Inclusive’ Twice a Year?“, a meditation on diversity initiatives, outreach, and inclusiveness, on HowlRound. There were so many spot on observations it’s hard to … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2016-03-15
Critical Takeaways From The Taft’s Daubigny Show
“The puzzle I had was, how did an artist who grew up studying Rembrandt and observing the landscapes of Corot and Rousseau end up painting like an Impressionist?” That is Lynne Ambrosini, the director of collections … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2016-03-16
When Lloyd Met Shoemake
Yesterday’s post about Charles Lloyd’s birthday brought this communiqué from vibraharpist and pianist Charlie Shoemake. Thought you and your readers might get a chuckle out of this 1957 photo of Charles Lloyd and Charlie Shoemake … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-03-16
At 79, Charles Lloyd Is At A New Peak
This is a busy week for birthdays. We can’t observe them all, but yesterday Quincy Jones’s 83rd was a must, and today is saxophonist and flutist Charles Lloyd’s 78th. More or less coincidentally with his … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-03-15
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Hollywood Gives Cold Shoulder To Plan To Release Movies Simultaneously In Theatres And For Home
“More sophisticated window modeling may be needed for the growing success of a modern movie industry. Those models should be developed by distributors and exhibitors in company-to-company discussions, not by a third party.”
Spanish Town Loved The Tourists Attracted By Botched Fresco Restoration. How Do We Keep Them Coming?
“Borja Mayor Eduardo Arilla said 160,000 people had come to see the fresco since the story of Cecilia Gimenez’s restoration of a Christ fresco in a town sanctuary went viral in 2012. He said with the new center, the town hoped to keep attracting up to 30,000 visitors annually.”
Police Arrest 13 In Theft Of Tintoretto, Rubens and Mantegna Paintings From Verona Museum
“Newly released video shows the masked and armed thieves working their way through the museum, patiently removing the paintings from the walls and easels where they were mounted before escaping in two vehicles.”