The Royal Ballet Plays Westminster Abbey

“It’s not often that you see a manifestation of Satan within the precincts of Westminster Abbey, but at a ceremony to unveil a memorial to the founders of the Royal Ballet, he made a striking appearance. [Two dancers] took the part of the fallen angel in synchronised performances of an extract from Ninette de Valois’s Job, performed at either end of the long nave, so that the entire congregation could see something.”

Panicking Over A 2012 Apocalypse? NASA Says You Can Relax

What with the movie, the Mayan calendar, and the solar-galactic-alignment thing, one NASA astronomer has “been getting about 20 letters and e-mail messages a day from people … scared out of their wits,” seriously wondering if they should euthanize themselves and loved ones before the end of the world less than three years hence. So the agency “felt it was prudent to provide a resource.”

‘The Most Anti-War War Game I’ve Ever Played’

There’s a “reprehensible message” underlying most war-themed video games: “Killing foreigners on behalf of one’s country is one hell of a good time.” But Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is “a first-person shooter that plays as a tragedy, not a power fantasy[,]  … a murder simulator that won’t let you forget the nature of your actions.”

The History Of Opera, 140 Characters At A Time

“How many tweets does it take to cover the entire span of opera history? The San Diego Opera wants to find out and has launched a Twitter project in which it will tweet about everything from Monteverdi to Mozart to Philip Glass on a daily basis. With more than 400 years to cover – and at a rate of two tweets per day – the project could take years to finish.”