“Boys and girls are different because their brains are different. This idea has driven bestsellers, parenting articles, and even – increasingly – American education. The problem is, a hard look at the real data behind these claims suggests they are simply untrue.”
Tag: 10.28.07
Blanchett Slammed In Sydney
“Cate Blanchett’s impending debut as artistic director of Australia’s national theatre company has not been widely welcomed, amid reservations that she was given the role ahead of more experienced candidates, and yesterday the controversy surrounding her appointment deepened. In an extraordinary outburst, one of the company’s leading actors resigned in disgust, saying: ‘An Oscar for acting is not a suitable recommendation to run the biggest theatre company in the country.'”
Dali & Lorca, The Untold (And Untrue?) Story
“A new film is to depict a gay love affair between Salvador Dali, the eccentric master of the avant-garde, and his fellow Spaniard Federico Garcia Lorca, the doomed dramatist and poet… The interpretation, by British screenwriter Philippa Goslett, is likely to cause controversy among biographers and historians. Although a physically intimate relationship between the men has long been rumoured, Dali told interviewers more than once that he rejected the homosexual Lorca’s attempts to seduce him.”
You Say Dubai, I Say Hello
Dubai is famously attempting to transform itself into the preeminent Middle Eastern destination city with architecture and art, and Philip Kennicott sees a larger message in all the progress. “Architecturally, despite all the dissonance, the strange juxtapositions of the vulgar and the sleek, the blue-chip buildings next to the shabby high-rise clad in garishly colored glass and surmounted by a pagoda folly, the emirates are essentially an advertisement to an increasingly wowed world: Look at what enlightened, corporate, efficient and non-democratic government can do.”
Stratford Mainstay Exits Stage Left
“It was 25 years ago when a dancer named Cynthia Dale cracked her heel during the third day of rehearsals of the Stratford Festival production of The Gondoliers and was carried out of the Avon Theatre… This afternoon, Dale will once again be leaving the Avon Theatre against her will, following the final performance of My One and Only, because – after a decade as Stratford’s leading lady – she hasn’t been offered a part for next season. But, once again, she fully intends to return.”
The City Defined By The Screen
Ah, Paris. The mere mention of the city is enough to bring to mind any number of sights, sounds, and smells, even for the large percentage of Americans who have never actually been there. How is it that we have such vivid “memories” of an unfamiliar city? Hollywood, baby, Hollywood.
Appreciating Doctorow
E.L. Doctorow is most famous for his classic novel, Ragtime, but to define him by that one masterful work would be to miss one of the most fascinating figures in American literary life. “To appreciate Doctorow, maybe you need to do what he did: Seek the astringency of distance, move to the furthermost edge and let the entirety blossom beneath your gaze. That’s perhaps the only sure way to grasp his achievement, to stretch your mind across it–until, like the author himself, you attain the clarifying perspective of withdrawal.”
What If They Filmed A War And Nobody Came?
2007 may go down as the year of the hard-to-watch war movie, as Hollywood puts out film after film dealing with the same conflicts that fill today’s headlines. “Jihad; torture; suicide bombings; terrible things done by and to American soldiers; official secrets and government lies; the failures and responsibilities of journalists, politicians, law enforcement officials and ordinary citizens in the face of terror — such matters will be hard to avoid in movie theaters between now and Christmas.” But to what end?
A Different Kind Of Orchestra Celebrates Ten Years
In 1997, Gil Rose founded the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) in the hope that America’s most aristocratic music scene might be ready for a different type of ensemble that embraced new music and placed more value on innovation than virtuosity. “Ten years and 42 world premieres later, BMOP is emerging as the national leader among orchestras of its ilk… Its performances draw the city’s youngest concert crowds by far, with their combination of Rose’s savvy programming, the orchestra’s incisive and stylish playing, and a general vibe that somehow weds a breezy coolness with a healthy dose of chaos.”
The Splinter Century
New Yorker music critic Alex Ross’s new book is getting plenty of attention for its accessible style and innovative ideas about the state of classical music. He also delves into what happened to concert music in the 20th century: “Ultimately, all music acts on its audience through the same physics of sound, shaking the air and arousing curious sensations. In the 20th century, however, musical life disintegrated into a teeming mass of cultures and subcultures, each with its own canon and jargon.”