“A look at contrasting aesthetic intuitions about wind farms reveals a paradigm shift in how we understand beauty. Our sense of the nature of beauty cannot be separated from our sense of the beauty of nature…”
Tag: 05.25.06
Is San Francisco Losing Its Sense Of Fun?
“San Francisco, long famed for its freedom of expression and encouragement of art and entertainment, is no longer making a line item for fun in the budget. Events that have become annual traditions for San Francisco — SF Pride, Carnaval, Comedy Day, the How Weird Street Faire, the Haight Ashbury Street Fair, the North Beach Festival — are having a hard time putting on the show this year. Some even say they’re ready to call it quits…”
Getting Excited Over Cell Phones (Your Brain Does)
A new study reports that the brain responds when you use your cellphone. “When the researchers looked at the brain during phone emissions, they found ‘an excitability increase in the exposed left hemisphere’ as compared to the non-exposed side of the head and the sham exposure. The effect lasted up to one hour after the end of exposure.”
Top Liverpool Theatre In Danger
The future of Liverpool’s Royal Court theatre is hanging in the balance after the collapse of Rawhide comedy club.
Not To Defend Cheating, But…
“As a graduate student, as a course instructor, I have come to the conclusion that I welcome the arrival of the world — in the form of ubiquitous contemporary technology — into the stultified environment of higher education. I must also welcome these new methods of cheating because, perhaps, only under the pressure of this now powerfully armed student revolt will high school teachers and college professors finally begin to adapt to new realities and begin to actually teach and facilitate learning and assess students in real and relevant ways.”
Big Disappointment In Western Aussie Arts Funding
There’s a new budget. But “the curious delay in detailing its content confirms what people have feared: the mineral bonanza that has delivered a record $2 billion surplus and a healthy budget has effectively delivered nothing new to the arts. In fact, the word arts has appeared almost nowhere in the Carpenter Government’s plethora of budget releases, and in only a few pages of the budget’s thick tome.”
30 Years Of “Live From Lincoln Center”
A TV special offers a celebration of 30 years of “Live from Lincoln Center”. “Live from Lincoln Center offered America’s unwashed a good deal: We’ll bring the stage to you, so you can stay at home, keep the car in the driveway and dip into the elitist culture that you could have all the time if you were rich and lived in Manhattan. We’ll keep you plied with galas, potpourri recitals and birthday celebrations. But each show is live and one time only. No endless fund-raising retreads of Andrea Bocelli or Andre Rieu. You have to let your memories go. This special has a different kind of virtuosity in mind: editing.”
Plucky Will Tuckett
While English ballet may “not conform to the standards some desire, there is much to be said for a system that’s inclusive, even eccentric enough to nurture a talent like Will Tuckett. By his own admission, when Tuckett graduated from the Royal Ballet School in 1988, his gangly body, sharp blue eyes and slightly cussed attitude were hardly the attributes of a future classical prince. Yet while other companies might not have given him a second glance, Tuckett was fast-tracked into Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet (now the Birmingham Royal Ballet), and then the Royal.”
Qatar Restructures Culture Ministry
“The State of Qatar has restructured its National Council for Culture, Arts and Heritage (NCCAH), the organisation which oversees all cultural activity in the energy-rich Gulf state. The move follows the arrest last year of the NCCAH’s former chairman Sheikh Saud Al Thani and our revelations of his misappropriations of public funds.”
Orlando Thinks Big For Performing Arts Center
Plans have been unveiled in Orlando for a massive new performing arts complex. “Drawing on the best features of arts centers around the world, planners envision three performance halls of varying sizes, as well as classrooms and offices. The center would sit on a large courtyard where outdoor concerts and shows would be staged. It would be flanked by private development valued at an estimated $500 million, including offices, hotel rooms, residential towers, restaurants and shops.”