“Her end-of-year lists were sacred anointments of the chosen titles; she was reputed to be able to make or break a book, much as the New York Times’ theater critic was said to determine the fate of a new play.”
Tag: 08.05.16
So, Where Are The Native Peoples Of The U.S. In ‘Hamilton’?
“The thing is, Natives were a huge point of discussion, contention, concern, admiration, emulation, disgust, and more during this time period. Native representational democracies were also large part of the conversation in trying to build the new system of government.”
Top Posts From Today’s AJBlogs 08.05.16
Metropolitan Museum Boasts Record Attendance; Attributes Deficit, in Part, to Younger Demographics Is an increase in young visitors too much of a good thing? The Metropolitan Museum late yesterday issued an upbeat press release that painted a much rosier picture of attendance figures than my doom-and-gloom post… read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-08-05
When We Allow Technology To Police Our Culture… Last year I was producing the live streaming of the Ojai Music Festivaland we decided to use YouTube to carry the streams. In a small outdoor venue, the number of seats is limited to … read more
AJBlog: diacritical/Douglas McLennan Published 2016-08-05
Propwatch: Richard III’s spine When archaeologists excavating a Leicestershire car park in 2013 uncovered a battle-scarred skeleton, the emergence of its severely curved spine was the first strong indication that these were the remains of Richard III: England’s … read more
AJBlog: Performance Monkey Published 2016-08-05
Trump Wrestles for President A friend tipped me to this video. It’s no secret. Hundreds of thousands of viewers have seen it, but I hadn’t. My friend also sent along his comment: How could the man in … read more
AJBlog: Straight|Up Published 2016-08-05
One song, no plot In today’s Wall Street Journal I review the new Broadway revival of Cats. Here’s an excerpt. * * * Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats” opened in New York in 1982 and closed 18 years later, the …read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2016-08-05
Rewriting The Rules Of Ballet Class
“In Ashley Tuttle’s increasingly popular ballet classes, actual dancing is encouraged — something that’s less common than you might expect. Ballet class is usually a place to hone an impossible technique, and dancing is for the stage. But Ms. Tuttle doesn’t subscribe to that notion; what’s startling about her classes is the freedom she pulls out of her students. She cares deeply about technique, but for her, ballet is about more than positions; by the end, even beginners find themselves linking academic steps into swirling dancing phrases.”
“Augmented Eternity” – The Machines That Will Learn Enough About Us To Be Us
Augmented Eternity doesn’t just ingest the data someone leaves; to create a convincing facsimile, it analyzes how they think and act. The “presentation layer,” could take many forms: a chatbot, a voice interface, or even a 3D avatar in virtual reality.
So You’re Going To Add To Versailles’ Architecture. Can This End Well?
“Through five Republics, the French have assiduously cared for this apogee of French culture, a national symbol baked into the country’s psyche. Touching any part of Versailles is like performing brain surgery on France: a very delicate matter.”
The Dogs Of ‘The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time’
“During the 24-month Broadway run of [the play], 21 puppies – golden retrievers and others that look goldenish – have cycled through the show’s cast, appearing in a brief but reliably crowd-pleasing scene toward the end of the show. And as each one ages out of the role – as soon as the dogs grow too big to fit in a gift box, they are replaced – each has been adopted by a performer, a crew member or someone else connected to the theater industry.” (includes slideshow)
Met Museum Sets Attendance Record: 6.7 Million Visitors
“This year’s attendance – the fifth in a row exceeding six million – was 400,000 higher than that of the previous year. The Met attributed this to an increase of about 200,000 visitors at its Fifth Avenue flagship and the Met Cloisters combined and to 185,000 people taking in the Met Breuer during its first four months.”