A pair of architectural renderings of the new $53m headquarters proposed for Houston Ballet has turned up on the Web. But the two drawings don’t look quite like the same building. Meanwhile, the company, when asked about the discrepancy, gave a terse statement hinting that there might not be any new building at all.
Tag: 12.11.08
Cleveland Critic Sues Newspaper, Orchestra
A firestorm broke out this fall when the Cleveland Plain Dealer removed its classical critic, Donald Rosenberg, from covering the Cleveland Orchestra because of a perceived bias against the work of the orchestra’s music director. Now Rosenberg (who is still employed at the paper) is suing the Plain Dealer for age discrimination and the orchestra for defamation.
Could You Live Forever In A Database? (No, Seriously)
“[S]ome respected futurists believe that humanity is at the cusp of a great technological leap. Given our progress in computation and the study of the brain, they think that a kind of digital immortality may be possible sometime this century. Upload your mind into computer memory and you could theoretically live forever.”
An Actor’s Nightmare: The Prop Knife Turns Out To Be Real
“An actor slit his throat on stage [in Vienna] when the prop knife for his suicide scene turned out to be a real one. Daniel Hoevels, 30, slumped over with blood pouring from his neck while the audience broke into applause at the ‘special effect’… It was only when he did not get up to take a bow that anyone realised something had gone wrong.”
Doctor Who Star Out Of RSC Hamlet
“For half the Doctor Who fans who queued overnight, crashed booking websites and jammed ticket hotlines to see David Tennant play Hamlet, it is sadly not to be. The [Royal Shakespeare Company] confirmed yesterday that the actor would not be returning to the Novello Theatre stage in the West End before Christmas. He has a prolapsed disc and will undergo surgery today.”
Can Gadgetry Save The Music Biz?
“As album sales continue to decline, gadgets and games may help ensure the survival of the music business. Indeed, the most tech-savvy bands are already recording songs for distribution exclusively through new channels opened up by the iPhone, the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.”
Giving The Next Generation Of Filmmakers A Platform
The Victoria Film Festival may not be Canada’s biggest or most prestigious gathering of movie types, but it’s looking to make a name for itself as the springboard for up-and-coming Canadian filmmakers. At this year’s fest, 20 young directors will get the chance not only to have their work screened, but to speak directly about their ideas to an influential audience.
Two Nazi-Looted Works Return Home
“Two paintings belonging to the late Montreal art dealer Max Stern that were stolen by the Nazis just before the start of the Second World War were returned yesterday to his estate at a ceremony in Berlin… Yesterday’s restitution is the latest victory in a continuing attempt by the Max Stern Art Restitution Project, started in 2002 at Montreal’s Concordia University, to locate and claim more than 400 artworks that once belonged to Mr. Stern or his family.”
Historic Philly Libraries Searching For A Lifeline
Facing a historic budget crisis, Philadelphia’s new mayor “has proposed closing 11 branch libraries, including four of the original… branch libraries built at the behest of philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in the early 20th century.” Local preservationists are scrambling to get the Carnegie branches designated as historic in an effort to keep them open.
The Delicate Business Of Casting Black Leads
Lisa DeMoraes thinks it’s absurd to assume that the election of Barack Obama will cause Hollywood to start putting more black actors in leading roles. But she sees a glimmer of hope in CBS’s decision to elevate Laurence Fishburne to the lead in one of its signature dramas. “The bad news about the TV industry is that it assumes a failure is an indictment of the idea, when it’s usually just an indictment of the show.”