“The Sleeping Beauty is being adapted to cater for those on the autistic spectrum, with a learning disability or a sensory and communication disorder. Taking place on February 20 at the Birmingham Hippodrome, the ballet will have a shorter running time, with changes to lighting, sound and seating. It is the first time the company has staged a relaxed performance, a practice that has become increasingly common in theatre.”
Tag: 09.14.17
Silent Movies Return – As GIFs
We are living in the golden age of the silent video. Though we may still pop headphones in to watch a YouTube rant, social media has cultivated its own mute visual culture. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are designed to encourage endless scrolling, and that boosts videos that are made to catch the viewer’s eye without offending her ear with grating bursts of noise.
We’re All Living Inside A Giant Computer (And Our Realities Are Being Changed By It)
“After a while, successful simulated machines displace and overtake the machines they originally imitated. The word processor is no longer just a simulated typewriter or secretary, but a first-order tool for producing written materials of all kinds. Eventually, if they thrive, simulated machines become just machines. Today, computation overall is doing this. There’s not much work and play left that computers don’t handle. And so, the computer is splitting from its origins as a means of symbol manipulation for productive and creative ends, and becoming an activity in its own right. Today, people don’t seek out computers in order to get things done; they do the things that let them use computers.”
Power Of Music: Study Reports That Women Rate Men’s Attractiveness Higher If A Little Brahms Is Playing
“These results generally support the idea that the experience of music may play a role in women’s social behavior in a mating context,” the researchers conclude. “High-arousing (i.e., more complex) music affects the perception of male facial attractiveness and dating desirability.”
‘Fatal Attraction’ At 30: An Oral History
Glenn Close: “I’m proud my character elicited such a visceral response. Now she’s considered one of the greatest villains ever, and that to me is a mistake. I’ve never thought of her as a villain, just in distress.”
Adrian Lyne, director: “I never realized, 30 years later, people would still be talking about bunny boilers.”
Why Big Musicals Have Become Big Business
“On the heels of its most lucrative season yet, with a record-setting $1.37b in ticket sales, Broadway has experienced something of a rebirth. From the success of La La Land on the big screen to Hamilton onstage, there’s a collective renewed interest in theater that’s been reflected in a wave of movie-musicals and televised live-concert experiences. All of this seems, to entertainment industry insiders, like the chorus following a crescendo.” How has this happened? Disney and Glee.
Oregon Bach Festival Settles With Fired Director For $90,000 (And Non-Disparagement Clause)
“The University of Oregon agreed to pay a $90,000 settlement to fired Oregon Bach Festival Artistic Director Matthew Halls this week, in the midst of a public relations disaster over his abrupt termination in August. Under the terms of the settlement, which the UO released in response to a media request, Halls agreed not to sue the UO, and both parties agreed to make no ‘negative or disparaging’ written or oral statements about each other, publicly or privately, in ‘any medium.'”
Moscow Opens New Starchitect-Designed Park, And After A Week It Already Needs Restoration
Zaryadye Park, designed by High Line architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro and located on the site of the old Soviet-era Rossiya Hotel, isn’t having trouble because of shoddy work. (Not with those architects, nor with the personal interest of Vladimir Putin.) The problem is vandalism: the first day, someone threw an object through the glass roof of the media center and concert hall, and more than 10,000 plants in the park have been trampled or stolen.
Pssst! Let’s Not Call Them Stores Anymore (They’re “Experiences”)
“Retailers are, very consciously, promoting these in-store “experiences”—or at least, they are doing so at the flagship stores in big cities that they like to draw attention to. It’s a reaction to the fact that buying is now something that can be done anywhere, and that reaction can be detected in a linguistic shift.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 09.14.17
Concept Test Kitchen, Episode 1
I’m launching a new experiment with this pilot episode of “Concept Test Kitchen” – a video series presenting interesting frameworks or approaches to arts management (‘recipes for thinking’), so you can share back whether or when they may be useful. … read more
AJBlog: The Artful Manager Published 2017-09-14
Smith Smites: Tom Campbell’s Precipitous Fall from Favor (plus, my I-told-you-so)
Now that we know what the Metropolitan Museum wants in its next director, I’m going to allow myself an I-told-you-so moment about its last director, responding to Roberta Smith‘s recent autopsy of Tom Campbell‘s trouble-plagued tenure. … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-09-14
“The Difference Between Quality Art and Crap” Take Three
Though as usual most of the feedback to my recent blogs comes via private emails rather than public responses, a flurry of interesting posted responses here and via Facebook spurs me to rant some more. … read more
AJBlog: Unanswered Question Published 2017-09-14
Youssou N’Dour on stage & screen, PoKempner photos
Photo-journalist Marc PoKempner‘s images from the Chicago Jazz Fest, as featured in my previous post, and these from Senegalese superstar Youssou N’Dour’s rousing … read more
AJBlog: Jazz Beyond Jazz Published 2017-09-14