“For about 10 years, between the era of Shirley Temple in the 1930s and before Jerry Mathers appeared on TV’s Leave It to Beaver in the late 1950s, Joel Kupperman may have been the most famous child in America. From 1942 to 1952, he appeared almost every week on Quiz Kids, … [where] he would put on a scholar’s cap and gown and, with a panel of other genius-level children from Chicago, answer questions about mathematics, science, history, music, literature, sports and current events.” The experience was so painful that, as an adult, he refused to speak of it in any way. – The Washington Post
Tag: 05.15.20
Reading Science Fiction Helps Kids Build Mental Resiliency
“Youths see [in speculative fiction] examples of young people grappling with serious social, economic, and political issues that are timely and relevant, but in settings or times that offer critical distance. This distance gives readers an avenue to grapple with complexity and use their imagination to consider different ways of managing social challenges.” – The Conversation
Why Has Munch’s ‘The Scream’ Been Fading? Because We’ve Been Breathing On It
On the 1910 version of the painting, housed at the Munch Museum in Oslo, the cadmium yellow in the sky and the lake has been fading to off-white and flaking off for years, with light believed to be the culprit. A team of scientists has now found that light is not the problem: the dulling is caused by high humidity, particularly from the breath of many thousands of viewers. – CNN
Labor Stats: Arts Sector Employment Falls 54 Percent In Two Months
Nearly all the jobs in this supersector involve some form of in-person services rendered for gatherings of people — which, of course, became impossible to maintain when social distancing requirements were put in place by local authorities. – FiveThirtyEight
Maybe Our Screens Are Magical
At least for magicians. For instance, one new show, “with a stringent ticket allocation — only 25 Zoom logins per performance — felt more like pre-isolation theater than anything I have encountered in the past two months. (As a theater critic in withdrawal, this was unreasonably exciting.) Each ticket includes a ‘mystery box’ (a nod to Tannen’s Mystery Box, but this one comes with an alcohol wipe), which is sent to your home.” – The New York Times
The Agony Of The Canceled Spelling Bee Contestants
It’s not as if the 8th graders will get another chance. The Olympics were postponed; the Spelling Bee was canceled. They have been working much of their entire (short) lives for this. Despite heartfelt pleas and online petitions, Scripps isn’t changing its mind. – Vice
The Utter Shutdown Is A Great Time For Theatre To Rethink, And Reimagine, Everything
No one – certainly not the federal government – will be saving the arts, it appears. And that’s horrible. Also, it’s time for all kinds of thinking. “How about we make possible something I have dreamt about for a long time: a bread-and-theatre initiative, i.e., deliveries door to door of bread (or other staples) accompanied by a little play offering? … How about phone plays for elderly folks and those without access to art that can stream into their homes?” – American Theatre
Playing Bach, But Backwards And Upside Down
A computer playing the Goldberg Variations backwards sounds, yes, like a counter-counterpoint, but “at the same time, it sounds eerily familiar, starting with the upside-down Aria — the theme developed over Bach’s 30 variations. The slowly ascending notes in the lower staff of Bach’s original, which outline a G major triad, become, in the upside-down version, a graceful falling figure in the top line.” – The New York Times
With Cinemas Closed, Movie Pirating Is Booming, But Why?
One illegal downloader: “Just streaming is not enough, I mean, people want to watch those fresh, hot films that are just not on streaming.” – BBC
California Museums Have To Figure Out What Qualifies As ‘Outdoors’ – And What’s Safe Even Then
The Getty won’t open even though it has quite a few outdoor spaces, because those must be access from indoor spaces. But elsewhere: “The Huntington will institute a timed ticketing system, in which guests will pay for reserved slots in advance, so there won’t be any in-person exchange of money. Visitors will be required to wear face coverings, given hand sanitizer and asked to maintain social distance. The Huntington also is tweaking the flow of foot traffic so pathways don’t become congested.” – Los Angeles Times