“Enough already. The maxim that opera must not become a museum has made it one. Mess is not a message. Fifty years of patience with it are about 50 too many. The crutch has slowed us down.”
Tag: 12.15.15
If You’re Bored At Winter Break, Here Are 17 Shakespeare Films To Watch
“Though there’s nothing like seeing Shakespeare live on stage, the magic of cinema can bring new light to the Bard’s classic works—and can allow us to view timeless performances over and over again.”
Merriam-Webster’s Word Of The Year Isn’t A Word, Either
The folks at the OED chose an emoji; their Stateside counterparts went for – a suffix.
The Sounds Of Silence: John Cage, The Nature Of Noise, And The Intent To Hear
“Since there could be no such thing as the absence of sound for a living, breathing human being with a pulse, what then could silence be? It was a matter of intent, Cage decided: The essential meaning of silence is the giving up of intention. Silence is not acoustic. It is a change of mind. … Does listening to random sounds we do not intend to hear – the drone of an airplane engine, a dripping faucet, the roar of a bus pulling away from a stop – constitute the experience of silence? Or does silence end the moment sounds actually impose themselves on our consciousness?”
New Director Starts To Calm The Waters At Turbulent Miami Art Museum
“[Franklin Sirmans] had just started his job as director of the Pérez Art Museum Miami at a time when the institution had committed to increasing its private contributions and art collection in a city without a tradition of cultural philanthropy – and with a benefactor who alienated the potential donor base by having the new building named after himself.”
The Mysterious Life Of ‘Japan’s Greta Garbo’
“We’re always hearing about the ends of eras, but the recent death of the great actress Setsuko Hara really is the end of an era – the era of the classic Japanese film … Her death at the age of ninety-five, more than fifty years after her voluntary retirement from the screen – and from all public life – still comes as a shock. There’s now no one left of this astounding constellation of talent; and that she was by far the most emblematic figure of the era makes her disappearance reverberate even more strongly.”
Our Machines Are Learning. But Mathematicians Just Don’t Quite Know Why
“It is the guiding principle of many applied mathematicians that if something mathematical works really well, there must be a good underlying mathematical reason for it, and we ought to be able to understand it. In this particular case, it may be that we don’t even have the appropriate mathematical framework to figure it out yet.”
How James Daunt Showed That Big-Box Bookstores Can Be Profitable
“By giving control back to the booksellers, we were telling the publishers, ‘We know what sells better than you.’ That’s never a pleasant message,”
Study: Paintings Engage People with Dementia
“The paintings provoked memories and engagement with both the art and other people. They became a way to connect with visitors and facility staff, who were pleased to have something more meaningful to talk to the residents about beyond time-for-your-meds type exchanges.”
LA’s New Broad Museum Is An Attendance Hit
Attendance in the first few months is expected to top 200,000 by the end of 2015. “Were the crowds to continue at that rate indefinitely, the museum’s annual attendance would be something like 800,000. No one expects that, of course—the Broad is still benefiting from new-museum buzz.”