“Despite how much our world has changed, it’s surprising how many of the conversations we were having back in 1999 are still going on today, though sadly not everyone involved with those conversations is still with us today.”
Tag: 05.02.14
The Japanese Filmmaker Who’s Greater Than Kurosawa Or Ozu
Richard Brody: “There’s no way to say this without sounding derivative, but I consider [Kenji] Mizoguchi to be not just the greatest Japanese director but one of the handful of the greatest filmmakers ever.”
Unmasking ‘Japan’s Beethoven’: The Aftermath
Since it was revealed in February that wildly popular deaf composer Mamoru Samuragochi is, in fact, neither deaf nor a composer, the scandal “has produced numerous musings and self-chastisements in Japan and overseas. NHK issued a ten-page explanation of its failure to properly fact-check Samuragochi’s claims before broadcasting its documentary. … There has been finger-pointing in the Japanese media over who knew and why no one reported what they knew or asked questions.”
What Makes Them So Sure That Dictionary They Found On eBay Was Shakespeare’s?
There’s no ironclad proof like traces of Will’s DNA, but the handwritten annotations in the book offer some interesting circumstantial evidence of not only who owned the dictionary but what play he was working on when he used it. (audio)
Alonzo King Says His Ballets Are ‘Thought Structures’
“Everything begins with thinking. “Music is thought made audible. Dance is thought made visible. … Every ballet is about something; it’s not just a series of steps.”
For the Love of Numbers
“It’s hard to think of anything more rational, more logical and impersonal than a number. But what if we’re all, universally, also deeply attuned to how numbers … feel? Why 2 is warm, 7 is strong and 11 is downright mystical.” (audio)
Iranian-Irish Novelist Dies At 36 Before Finishing Planned Series
Marsha Mehran: “I was learning three languages simultaneously (Farsi at home, English at school and Spanish in the streets). Every night before going to bed, I was required to say good night in all three languages: ‘Shab bekheir, buenas noches and good night.'”
So Here’s A Major NY Dance Festival. And Where Are The Female Choreographers?
“Here we are in 2014, still having to ask one of ballet’s biggest and, in many ways, most forward-thinking institutions, Where are the female choreographers?”
So Stephen Hawking Is Worried About AI, But Margaret Atwood Isn’t As Stressed
“Atwood has a foolproof plan to stop our increasingly intelligent and powerful machines from rising up and taking over control of the planet: Make sure any robots we build have an easy-access ‘off’ switch.”
The ‘Bumpy’ Whistler That Hides A Portrait Of His Mistress
“They noticed bumps on the surface of The Last of Old Westminster, 1862, so MacDonald asked for an X-ray. What she found was ‘staggering’ — an entirely different composition, flipped sideways, of a young woman reading. ‘I immediately said, “It is Joanna. It is Joanna Hiffernan.”‘”