“Eton – the world’s most esteemed high school – is not only the alma mater of Prince William and Prince Harry; of Prime Minister David Cameron and 18 of his predecessors; but also of Captain James Hook, commander of the Jolly Roger” and nemesis of Peter Pan.
Tag: 12.23.10
“American Psycho” As A Musical? One Shudders
“Literature and theatre have long enjoyed a far from symbiotic relationship. Literature has given theatre some of its most successful musicals ever while musicals have given us jazz hands, Bonnie Langford, the Time Warp and Andrew Lloyd Webber. It hardly seems a fair trade-off.”
Will Christmas Sales Of E-Book Readers Propel E-Book Sales?
“E-books now make up 9 to 10 percent of trade-book sales, a rate that grew hugely this year, after accounting for less than half that percentage by the end of last year. Publishers are predicting that digital sales will be 50 percent higher or even double in 2011 what they were in 2010.”
A Farewell to the Old Barnes Foundation
“These are the waning days of the suburban Barnes. … [The move] has arguably been made inevitable by years of fiscal mismanagement, neighborhood rancor, legal wrangling, and, above all, the conditional generosity of three Philadelphia foundations which wanted the art in the city.”
Why Don’t Canadian Universities Teach Mordecai Richler?
“Judged by his profile in the media and entertainment industries, no Canadian author alive or dead is as popular today as Mordecai Richler … Judged by his profile on university courses that teach Canadian literature, however, Mordecai Richler barely exists. No other author so widely admired both in his day and after is less conspicuous in the emerging canon of Canadian literature.”
The Theft of the Snack-Bar Stradivarius: Three Arrests Made
“Three people were arrested for stealing a 1.2 million-pound ($1.85 million) antique violin from an internationally acclaimed musician while she stopped for a snack at a London sandwich bar, British police said Thursday.”
Can Placebos Work Even If We Know They’re Fake?
Harvard Medical School researchers have found that “at least one condition can be calmed by placebo, even when everyone knows it’s just an inert pill. This raises a thorny question: should we start offering sugar pills for ailments without a treatment?”
Sick of Christmas Muzak in Stores? Tough. It Works.
“All in all, the evidence seems to indicate that background music has merit from a retailer’s perspective.” Meta-studies have “concluded that background music had ‘small-to-moderate, yet quite robust effects … [on] value returns, behaviour duration and affective response’.”
There’ll Always Be an England With Christmas Pantos
Observers have been complaining about the decline of panto for at least 150 years. “Pantomime has survived only because it is so plastic and malleable. Instead of becoming trapped like a fly in amber, it has constantly evolved – from the 18th-century Harlequinades, through the music-hall era to the comic and sometimes magical spectacles of today.”
Today’s Panto Prefers to See Boys Playing Girls Who Play Boys
“Why don’t girls plays boys in panto any more? From Peter Pan to Prince Charming, men suddenly appear to be reprising the role of the principal boy, traditionally the preserve of lissom ladies in fishnets and thigh-high boots.”