The screen adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s much-awarded novel is being directed by the only somewhat less controversial Deepa Mehta, whose lesbian-themed film Fire inspired riots and cinema burnings in India. (“He’s got the Muslims, and I’ve got the Hindus,” says Mehta.) Filming in Sri Lanka seemed safe, at first …
Tag: 05.14.11
The World Is Ending (Or Not) On May 21 – Why Do People Keep Predicting Apocalypses?
“Why are such apocalyptic prophecies so common in human history? What are their emotional and cognitive underpinnings?”
Sacramento Opera Safe For Another Season
“The Sacramento Opera announced Friday that it will present a 2011-12 season. Urgent pleas in the last two weeks secured $135,164 from donors. The company canceled most of its 2010-11 season because of an $85,000 budget shortfall.”
Canadian Museum of Civilization: No Longer ‘Disneyland North’
“Once decried as ‘Disneyland North’ for its lightweight content and sanitized presentations, the Canadian Museum of Civilization is now admired by professionals and the public alike, its 1.23 million annual visits the highest attendance for any Canadian cultural institution.”
The Art Of Data
“Data is becoming more and more pervasive in our society. Making sense of this information is becoming more important and, at the same time more difficult to present in relevant and useful ways.”
LA County Museum – The Michael Govan Years
“Five years into his stewardship of LACMA, having just signed a contract for five more, Govan, 47, has transformed the museum and its reputation. He has overseen the completion of two sleek new exhibition halls by renowned Italian architect Renzo Piano, grown the collection by about 12,000 objects and helped boost annual attendance by some 40%. But LACMA also has transformed Govan.”
It’s Official – In Cambridge Debate, Classical Music Is Declared Relevant
“We on the opposing bench won 365 to 57, with 88 abstainers. How did we manage it, when the facts seemed to be so against us? Well, we mustered some pretty good arguments.”
Why There’s A Cult Of Leonardo
“More than any other artist, Leonardo has a cult following. He is not merely a figure of prodigal creativity, he is a source of myths, legends, untruths, half-truths and baffling conspiracies, the inspiration for an ocean of pseudo-science and mumbo-jumbo. Yet strangely, for most of history, Leonardo was best known not as a helicopter pioneer, a cross-dresser, a specialist in military fortifications or a painter with a nice facility at sultry, androgynous portraits, but as the author of The Treatise on Painting, an attempt to make art systematic, even scientific.”
France’s Cannes Contradiction
“Yes, Cannes might be a bit tasteless. But for the French, the whole affair still preserves the ultimate in filmic fiction: that it’s our opinion that matters. Sure, we might not have been able to sell any of our television series between Inspector Gadget and Spiral. Sure, our last Oscar-winner may have been March of the Penguins. But by Guillaume, we’re going to be the arbiters of cool in all things cinema.”
Placido Domingo At 70 – What’s Next?
“He has had one of the most dazzling careers of any vocalist in the history of modern opera and followed it with an equally impressive turn as the director of some of the world’s greatest opera companies.”