Tag: 08.20.15

HarperCollins Closes Peer-Review Site For Budding Authors

“Described as an ‘open slush pile’ by Cory Doctorow when it launched in 2008, Authonomy allowed users to submit their manuscripts for discussion, critique and ranking by fellow site members. The top five each month were read by HarperCollins editors, with 47 going on to be picked up for publication, including works by Miranda Dickinson, Steven Dunne and Kat French.”

Joseph Scafidi, 94, Longtime Executive Director Of San Francisco Symphony

“Over the course of his long career, the Symphony’s activities grew from an 18-week season to its current year-round schedule, and the annual budget grew from $200,000 to more than $4 million. [He] worked closely with no fewer than five music directors, beginning with the legendary French conductor Pierre Monteux in the 1940s and continuing with Enrique Jordá, Josef Krips, Seiji Ozawa and Edo de Waart.”

Banksy Has Designed A Dystopian Theme Park – ‘Dismaland’

“Once you get past Dismaland’s eerily institutional security checkpoint, the castle looks like it’s one breeze away from collapsing. But wait, there’s more: A dead princess backdrop for prime photo ops, a whale jumping out of a toilet and through a hula hoop, and a sculpture of a woman getting viciously attacked by sea gulls. But at least the food at this park is affordable – free hot dogs, to whomever can guess what meat is in them. Welcome to Dismaland: Everything is awful.”

It Costs $100,000 To Train A Ballerina

“To understand what it takes to become a professional ballerina, I wanted to find out how much the required ballet training really costs. There are many factors that go into the cost of training, and when I totaled the core expenses, I found that a pre-professional ballet education for girls can easily amount to a total of more than a hundred thousand dollars.”

Former National Theatre Bosses Nicholas Hytner And Nick Starr To Open London’s First New Theatre In 20 Years

“While there are 17 other theatres of comparable size (800-1,099 seats) in greater London, with 15 of those in inner London, the new building would be the first large-scale theatre in the heart of the capital since the erection of Shakespeare’s Globe in 1997, and the first large-scale commercial playhouse to be built since the New London was created in Drury Lane in 1973.”