“The past decade has seen a steady stream of findings … about the biological and psychological roots of political ideology, and mostly met by volleys of right-wing scorn. … So what are the findings, and do opponents of such research have a point?”
Tag: 11.07.12
Backstage At New York City Ballet: A ‘Smooth-Running Machine’
Peter Martins: “We are the largest ballet company in America; we dance more performances in the course of a year than any other ballet company [on] earth; we have close to 200 ballets in our entire repertoire – that requires a tremendous amount of concentration from everybody. Somehow it is a fantastically smooth-running machine.”
Vladimir Jurowski On The Changing Role Of The Conductor
“Nowadays, the idea of a powerful personality who imposes his will on others is unthinkable, and there is something anachronistic in the role of conductor. At the same time, the overall professional level of an average orchestra player has grown immensely, which allows a conductor – who is now primus inter pares [first among equals] and not a dictator – to dedicate himself to music making.”
Stephen Daldry: UK Arts Funding Cuts Set Us Back 15 Years
“So we’re back to where we were 15 years ago, where we are having to fight for old principles, fight for the old ideas and ideals of a country that should be at the forefront of what we expressed at the Olympics… so unfortunately we will have to stand up and argue for it all over again.”
Nude Sienna Miller – How Pregnancy Has Made Naked Pictures Acceptable
“Is it daring? It is controversial? On the contrary: pregnancy has become the modern equivalent of a fig leaf, making nude images of women acceptable to all sections of society and all divisions of the media.”
New Approach: Toronto Starts “Graffiti Panel” To Judge Art/Vandalism
“The first session was contentious but civil, with panel members facing off against property owners who were appealing notices of violation for “markings” on their buildings.”
Should The Canadian Government Protect Canadian Publishing?
“An open-border policy could easily speed up the rationalization that is already threatening to erase Canada as a distinctive market in the publishing multiverse – further reducing opportunities for Canadian writers and choices available to Canadian readers.”
Hollywood Helped Elect Obama – So Now What Does It Want?
“One of the first items on Hollywood’s agenda will be revisiting SOPA. In the most recent attempt to write new federal anti-piracy regulations, the Obama administration essentially sided with Silicon Valley, which is wary of further digital restrictions.”
Elliott Carter, Champion Of Complexity
“His first opera, written at the age of 90 with librettist Paul Griffiths, was followed by so many compositions that he ended up producing about half of his lifetime output in the past 13 years.”
Georgia’s National Museum, Shaping A Young Country’s Identity
“Like the country it embodies, indeed for the sake of that country, the Georgian National Museum is reimagining the past to carve out a durable future. … One might call it a struggle to define the Georgian soul, and that defining is what a national museum can do most deliberately.”