“The bizarre story of a grotesque, morally degenerate half-human, half-ape, Orango was commissioned by the Bolshoi Theater in 1932.” The work was likely never finished, but the 40-minute prologue was discovered in a Moscow museum in 2003 and will have its premiere next weekend in Los Angeles.
Tag: 11.27.11
Do Your Parents’ Music Tastes Determine Your Own?
The Guardian (UK)’s music staff weigh in – and tell tales of giving back.
Long Before MTV, There Was This
In the search for the earliest music video, there’s a Holy Grail. And it’s been found.
Umberto Eco, On Loving Paranoia And Conspiracies
The author of “The Name of the Rose” and the new “The Prague Cemetery” says, “The paranoia of the universal conspiracy is more powerful because it is everlasting. You can never discover it because you don’t know who is there. It is a psychological temptation of our species.”
The Invention Of Bluetooth Goes Back To Inventor Hedy Lamarr, Of Course (Wait, What?)
Hedy Lamarr lived a glamorous, if challenging, life as a beautiful film star during the day. And at night, during WWII, she basically invented modern wireless technology.
Shakespeare Addresses Italy; Italy Responds
How did Shakespeare deal with Rome – and how did Rome (and Giuseppe Verdi) deal with Shakespeare? Let these books explain the cultural and temporal triangle.
Branagh’s Back – But How And Why?
He wrote his autobiography at age 29, but his famous pride (not to mention the divorce from Emma Thompson) seemed to trip him up in his 30s. How did Kenneth Branagh make it back in action as a beloved British actor? (Even he’s not sure.)
(Re)Making History At The Hammer Museum
“Artists Maren Hassinger and Senga Nengudi were well ahead of their time. They were black artists based in L.A. in the 1970s who were not making especially political art. They were women artists not making explicitly feminist art.” And little of their art has survived – so they’ve remade it for a Pacific Standard Time show at the Hammer Museum.
Our Dual Nature, Horror-fied
“While we live we shall always be self-divided. … And in showing us the darkness of the double self the Gothic, for all its horror and terror, tells us the truth: we are all Cain and Abel.”
Let’s Stop Overreacting About Copyright Issues, Shall We?
Sure, we need to figure out some things about creative piracy. But the Stop Online Piracy Act’s draconian response points in the wrong direction.