“The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) has cancelled a Napalm Death concert over fears the high decibel levels could damage the ‘fabric of the building’. The grindcore band’s gig was to feature three ceramic sound systems which could disintegrate due to the sound levels.”
Tag: 03.20.13
Bad Reviews, 50 Years Later (What It Says About The Critics)
“These bad judgments (bad in every sense) are amusing because the distance of time makes their witty writers look smug and whiny and narrow-minded. It reminds us that recent critical judgments may look equally dopey in 50 years.”
Why Country Music Is Getting More Popular
“One might expect country music to be an embattled genre retreating to its Nashville redoubt, beaten back by Obama-name-dropping rappers and liberal rockers. But here’s the curious thing – the precise opposite is happening.”
Study: Our Writing Got Less Emotional In The 20th Century
“A new study finds that, in a large dataset of English-language books, the use of terms expressing six basic emotions steadily decreased over the course of the 20th century.”
Battle Over The Bolshoi: Is The Kremlin Favoring The Insurgent?
Nikolai Tsiskaridze, the popular principal dancer who has been loudly campaigning against Bolshoi general director Anatoly Iksanov and ballet artistic director/acid attack victim Sergei Filin, appeared last weekend “on state-controlled NTV television, a channel that the Kremlin has used to attack its opponents or those who have fallen out of favor.”
Walker Art Center’s Film Interns Resign, Charging ‘Callous Negligence’
“In a move designed to protest staff and program cuts in Walker Art Center’s film and video division, the department’s three interns resigned Wednesday afternoon … accusing the museum’s management of ‘general disrespect towards a longstanding, talented, and loyal staff’ and ‘callous negligence’ that ‘was felt with particular sting in the Film/Video department’.”
Minnesota Orchestra Cancels More Concerts, Through End Of April
“‘We’ve intentionally not cancelled the rest of the season because we want to send a very clear signal to the public and to our musicians and the union that we really want to negotiate and find a settlement,’ [orchestra CEO Michael] Henson said. Musicians have been locked out since Oct. 1.”
Fact-Checking In Cold Blood
Ben Yagoda found the notes of the fact-checker who reviewed Capote’s work for The New Yorker, where In Cold Blood was initially serialized.
Why Doesn’t British TV Air Theatre Anymore?
“In early 1965 Granada produced Thomas Middleton’s Women Beware Women for primetime ITV, starring Diana Rigg. … If it’s a shock to think of Jacobean drama on primetime, it’s just one measure of how seriously television in the 1960s took theatre – and how, today, it fails to.”
Antique Chinese Bowl Bought For $3, Sold For $2.2M
“An ancient Chinese bowl that dates from the Northern Song dynasty sold for $2.2 million on Tuesday at a Sotheby’s auction in New York. What makes the sale particularly noteworthy is that the sellers had reportedly purchased the bowl for just $3.”