“Wearing shorts and T-shirts along with their dancing slippers, members of the army’s 25th Division are taught each week by a ballerina from the Korean National Ballet under a programme that began last year … intended to ease the stress of guarding the world’s most heavily fortified border.”
Tag: 07.14.16
Fighting ISIS With Animated Mockery
“A cartoon firebrand delivers his Ramadan message: ‘Ramadan is the month where sins are forgiven and hearts are filled with – love.’ This outburst of goodwill is met with confusion from the audience of masked men and veiled women, which only heightens as he continues: ‘there is no difference between Arabs and Westerners except in piety.’ Rescuing the situation, the sidekick hands the preacher a sesame biscuit. ‘Better?’ ‘Fucking better,’ replies the preacher – and with hunger banished, he launches into calls for bombs and destruction. ‘You’re not you when you’re hungry,’ the clip concludes, parodying an American ad for the Snickers candy-bar.”
Michael Flatley To Open His Own Chain Of Irish Dancing Schools
“Flatley’s new venture will begin teaching classes in and around London from September, with plans to expand internationally in the next five years.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 07.14.16
More Major Met Museum Departures – And More Woes
The exodus, and the troubles, continue at 1000 Fifth Avenue: announcement of the departure of Carrie Rebora Barratt, a deputy director of the Metropolitan Museum and longtime close associate of director Tom Campbell, is imminent. … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2016-07-14
They can do better
I got a press release from the Boston Symphony, advertising live streams from Tanglewood. On July 15 (tomorrow, as I write this), Pinchas Zukerman will conduct the Mozart E flat symphony, and the BSO will stream the second and thirs movements. Which seems lame. Why not the whole piece?… read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2016-07-14
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What Happened To America’s Mid-20th Century Composers?
“I’ve never understood why the music of America’s midcentury modern composers disappeared from our concert halls. Not only is it “entertaining,” but it speaks to ordinary listeners in a direct, immediately comprehensible way, just like the better-known music of Copland and Samuel Barber. Don’t take my word for it—try listening for yourself.”
David Cameron Hums as He Quits And Musicians Have A Field Day
On his last day as Prime Minister David Cameron came out to speak to reporters and when we was done, turned away and hummed a short tune followed by “right!” But his mic was still on, and after news outlets played it, musicians began turning it into full-blown pieces of music…
Report: America’s Poor Urban Kids Don’t Have Books To Read
“In high-poverty neighborhoods, books—the very things that could supply so many of those 30 million-plus words—are hard to come by. In many poor homes, they’re nonexistent.”
Dallas Museum Of Art Chooses New Director
“Before assuming the directorship of the Mexico City’s Museo Nacional de Arte, Agustín Arteaga served as director of Puerto Rico’s Museo de Arte de Ponce. He was founding director of the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA) Fundación Costantini, which focuses on contemporary art, and director and chief curator of the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.”
Can We Rewire Our Brains Not To Be Racist?
“According to the Implicit Association Test, most white Americans are biased against black people, as measured by the amount of time it takes them to associate positive words with images of black, compared to white, people. So how do you undo biases that are so ubiquitous that even very young children buy into them, yet so dark that few people will acknowledge them?”
Star Of Play With ‘Worst Audience Behavior Ever’ Defends Audience, Says We Should Stop Being Prigs
“[Game of Thrones star Kit] Harington rejected claims made by the award-winning theatre producer Richard Jordan in The Stage newspaper that audiences had behaved inappropriately at the final night of Harington’s Doctor Faustus … ‘I have been a theatregoer since childhood and I didn’t feel that our audiences were disrespectful in the slightest.'”