“Computer programmer William Tunstall-Pedoe has calculated that to be the most objectively dull day since 1900. On that day a general election was held in Belgium, a Turkish academic was born and an Oldham Athletic footballer called Jack Shufflebotham died. Apart from that nothing much happened.”
Tag: 11.23.10
In Search of the Tangier That Inspired Naked Lunch
“Tangier may be a different place from the one that accommodated Bowles, William S Burroughs, Jack Kerouac and so many other giants of 20th-century literature, but there’s still a tang to the place that provides an exciting sense of what inspired them. … Besides, even in 1958 Paul Bowles wrote that, in Tangier, ‘there is nothing left to spoil’.”
Experimental Philosophy, Meet Field Philosophy
“Rather than going into the public square in order to collect data for understanding traditional philosophic problems like the old chestnut of ‘free will,’ as experimental philosophers do, field philosophers start out in the world. Rather than seeking to identify general philosophic principles, they begin with the problems of non-philosophers, drawing out specific, underappreciated, philosophic dimensions of societal problems.”
More Re-Performances for Player Piano Coming From Zenph
The company that has recreated recordings by Glenn Gould, Art Tatum and Serge Rachmaninoff for live performance has more on the way: composers Gershwin, Albeniz and de Falla playing their own music; more Gould playing Bach, and jazz by Fats Waller and Oscar Peterson.
A Plan To Save The Detroit Symphony? (A Tax)
Representative Vicki Barnett “said the DSO is an endangered cultural gem that adds to the region’s quality of life and can help attract new businesses. She said she was asked by DSO musicians who live in her district to consider a public tax to keep the orchestra viable and competitive with other major U.S. symphony orchestras.”
VS Naipaul Pulls Out Of Conference After Boycott Threat
“Author VS Naipaul has pulled out of an international writers’ conference in Istanbul over objections to his previous criticism of Islam. The award-winning writer had been expected to attend the European Writers Parliament as a guest of honour.”
Letting The Crowd Vote On What You Do
Since starting his month-long Internet-puppetry project on Nov. 1, which involves posting polls online to let strangers direct the course of his day (www.theadviceofstrangers.com), the performer Marc Horowitz has discovered a few things.
Australia’s Top Director Moves On
“Neil Armfield is, says actor and director Robyn Nevin, our only true auteur now that Barrie Kosky has gone to Berlin. Yet Armfield, 55, has nothing of the flash and imperiousness of the younger man. He is a quiet, shambling, famously vague figure, with a fondness for crumpled Hawaiian shirts.”
Making College Art Programs Safe For Students
“A growing number of art programs are making studio safety an integral part of the both curriculum and facilities. They are improving the air quality, reducing exposure to potentially hazardous materials, and increasing the safety training that students and faculty receive.”
Most-Expensive Broadway Show Ever Starts To Take Shape
“In the last week, the nervous creators of the show, the most expensive in Broadway history, have begun to see the hand-drawn sketches, the digitally animated videos, the comic-book-inspired costumes come to life — to see ‘Spider-Man’.”