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Monday, July 26, 2010

current top story
Does The US Need a 'Cultural EPA'?
"Just as the Environmental Protection Agency was created to regulate any activity that exploited the nation's environmental resources, so would a cultural EPA regulate activities that affect the nation's cultural riches. Rather than relying on a disparate band of artists, First Amendment campaigners, local-radio enthusiasts, music historians, archivists, and the like, the nation's cultural life would have a defender with the weight of the executive branch behind it, and the power to discipline and compel corporate behavior." Boston Globe 07/25/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@11:23AM

theatre
Pacino Merchant of Venice Schedules Broadway Run On Monday, the Public Theater said it will transfer its Shakespeare in the Park production of The Merchant of Venice to Broadway in the fall. Al Pacino will stay on in the role of Shylock," as will "most" of this summer's cast. The run is scheduled from Oct. 19 through Jan. 9. New York Times 07/26/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@11:16AM
dance
'Fall for Dance' 2010 to Feature Rare Cunningham Work, Xover Merce Cunningham's Xover, with music by John Cage and scenery by Robert Rauschenberg, "will make its New York debut as part of New York City Center's 2010 Fall for Dance Festival." Other performers in the series, for which all seats are $10, include India's Madhavi Mudgal, Spain's Company Rafaela Carrasco, Taiwan's Shu-Yi & (Dancers) Company and hip-hop dancer Mr. Wiggles. New York Times 07/26/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@11:15AM
music
Charleston Symphony, Unsettled and in Limbo, Tries to Arrange 75th B'day Concert "The Charleston Symphony Orchestra, dormant and still struggling, will try to organize a single concert for the beginning of what is supposed to be its 75th anniversary season in an effort to revitalize the ailing organization." Yet there is currently no senior staff in place to help guide the CSO and no consensus in Charleston on how to operate or raise funds for the orchestra. The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC) 07/25/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@11:11AM
publishing
Library of America's New House Blog on the Classics "The Library of America, the nonprofit publishing house dedicated to creating an in-print library of editions of America's greatest works, launched its first blog Friday. Called Reader's Almanac, it focuses on joining the current online discussions that touch on the works and authors in the publisher's catalog, such as William Faulkner, Jack Kerouac, Mark Twain and Walt Whitman." Los Angeles Times 07/23/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@11:09AM
theatre
Move Over, Come Fly Away, There's Another Sinatra Musical on the Way Okay, it's not, strictly speaking, a Sinatra musical; it's a Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen/Rat Pack musical. Robin and the Seven Hoods, an adaptation of the 1964 Frank Sinatra/Dean Martin/Sammy Davis Jr. movie which opens July 30 at San Diego's Old Globe, incorporates such Ol'-Blue-Eyes standards as "Come Fly With Me," "My Kind of Town (Chicago Is)," and "High Hopes." Los Angeles Times 07/25/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@11:07AM
visual
'Towering Ambition' - Recreating Emblems of Architecture in Lego An exhibition at DC's National Building Museum features facsimiles, by "Lego master" Adam Reed Tucker, of such icons as the Empire State Building, Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the Gateway Arch, Fallingwater, and Calatrava's never-built Chicago Spire. "The Lego brick … [is] the perfect toy for the age in which it was introduced, which helps explain why Tucker's models have a cultural power that ordinary architectural models might not." Washington Post 07/23/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@11:06AM
dance
Choreographers, Stop Blogging About Your Process!: Dance Mag Editor Wendy Perron: "I realize a blog is a good way to keep your website alive and to involve your potential audience. But explaining how you make a dance, the problems you encounter and how you solve them, is not going to help either you as the choreographer or your potential audience. To dig into your imagination enough to make a dance, you need to be embroiled in a place where there is no explanation." Dance Magazine 07/26/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@08:55AM
media
Rival Distributors Settle Lawsuit Over Precious "A lawsuit over the rights to the award-winning film Precious has been dismissed after Lionsgate Films and The Weinstein Co. reached an agreement, lawyers for Lionsgate said on Thursday." Reuters (via Yahoo!) 07/22/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@08:42AM
music
WWhat the USA Can Really Gain From El Sistema "El Sistema USA is making this country's first official coordinated effort to learn from the Venezuelans, but programs with missions sympathetic to the goals of El Sistema have for years been doing inspiring work … What the Venezuelan model adds, beyond a powerful example of reframing the purpose of music education, is an enticement to think still bigger in terms of scale, intensity, and access." Boston Globe 07/25/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@08:39AM
people
At the Razor's Edge: Visiting Somerset Maugham's Old Ashram In Maugham's novel The Razor's Edge, a traumatized World War I vet finds his way to a measure of peace in a small spiritual community in India. The actual ashram which Maugham visited in 1938 is still functioning today, in a small temple town in Tamil Nadu. New York Times Book Review 07/25/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@07:18AM
ideas
Verbing Nouns (Such as 'Verb') Friend. Google. Text. Party. Chair. "It doesn't matter whether they're useful, interesting, or entertaining as verbs; to many people, if a word began its life as a noun, then 'verbing' it (like I did there) is just wrong. … The history of English, however, suggests that the language is remarkably flexible in terms of what can be verbed." Boston Globe 07/25/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@07:16AM
ideas
How a Language's Verb Forms Shape The Way Its Speakers Perceive the World It might seem self-evident (Noam Chomsky's doctrine of "universal grammar" notwithstanding) that the way a language is used shapes how its users think. Recent research is revealing just how deeply this effect goes: grammar affects the way we perceive such basic things as spatial relationships and the passage of time. Wall Street Journal 07/24/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@07:13AM
media
Speaking Fluent Early-Sixties on Mad Men "No show in American television history, it is safe to say, has ever put so much effort into maintaining historically appropriate ways of speaking - and no show has attracted so much scrutiny for its efforts." New York Times Magazine 07/25/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@07:11AM
music
Achieving the Dream: A Pulitzer-Winning Opera's 32-Year Journey to the Stage "In 1978, Lewis Spratlan wrote an opera but couldn't get it staged. In 2000, he won the Pulitzer Prize for the second act of that opera in concert version but still couldn't get it staged. This summer, Life Is a Dream finally [gets] its world premiere at Santa Fe Opera. Spratlan tells of a work that waited three decades to come to life." Los Angeles Times 07/25/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@07:10AM
issues
August Wilson Center Is Full of Promise - and Ambition "As the August Wilson Center for African American Culture approaches its first anniversary, it can look back on an inaugural year of dreams fulfilled and debt deferred." The Center's new CEO wants nothing less than to make it "the pre-eminent institution for African-American arts and culture in the world." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 07/25/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@07:06AM
media
'The Harmony Institute Wants to Change Your Mind - At the Movies' "In the last few weeks, a little-noticed nonprofit with big ideas about the persuasive power of movies and television shows quietly began an initiative aimed at getting filmmakers and others to use the insights and techniques of behavioral psychology in delivering social and political messages through their work." New York Times 07/26/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@06:48AM
media
How TV Has Helped Normalize Gay Families "That premise has been embraced by television for almost a generation, with gay characters and couples and parents dating at least to the dads depicted on The Tracey Ullman Show in the late 80's. What effect have these portrayals played in gaining social acceptance for same-sex families? What role does a movie likeThe Kids Are All Right play in changing social perceptions?" Five contributors debate the questions. New York Times 07/21/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@09:59PM
music
Decca, Hoping for a Chant-Style Juggernaut, Signs Cloistered Nuns For Record Deal "The British label announced Sunday that the Benedictine nuns of the Abbaye de Notre Dame de l'Annonciation near Avignon were chosen after a worldwide search for female Gregorian chant performers." CBC 07/25/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@09:56PM
visual
Palm Springs Art Museum Makes Plans To Open Second Branch "The Palm Springs Art Museum has formed a committee to oversee fundraising and other activities related to a new satellite site that is expected to open in late 2011 or early 2012 in Palm Desert." Los Angeles Times 07/22/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@09:54PM
theatre
Elton John Writing Animal Farm Musical "Elton John and Lee Hall, who wrote the musical Billy Elliot, are teaming up to create a new show based on George Orwell's Animal Farm. Lee, who won Olivier and Tony awards for his book and lyrics for the stage Billy Elliot, and an Oscar nomination for the screen version, told me Orwell's novella was perfectly suited for the stage." The Daily Mail (UK) 07/23/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@09:52PM
people
Mao Zedong's John the Baptist, The Prophet of China's Revolution "In 1903, Zhou Shuren, a 22-year-old Chinese student studying in Japan on a government scholarship, committed an act of treason: He shaved off his queue, the ponytail that Chinese men wore as a symbol of submission to the emperor. … That he did. Under the pen name of Lu Xun, the writer spent the rest of his life devoted to bringing a revolution to China - both in letters and politics." Wall Street Journal 07/22/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@09:50PM
media
Arguing Over Inception (Everyone's Doing It) A.O. Scott: "If I had to issue a one-sentence manifesto for film criticism, it would be this: Any movie worth seeing is worth arguing about, and any movie worth arguing about is worth seeing. But nothing is ever that simple, as demonstrated by Inception, a movie that makes a show of complicating everything in its path." New York Times 07/25/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@09:39PM
publishing
'The 'Big Bang' That Created Roberto Bolaño's Literary Universe' The late Chilean author's first book, written in the late 1970s but only just published, "is called Antwerp and it is but 78 pages, even with the generous margins. … Antwerp is the creation of themes and characters that will reappear throughout Bolaño's writings. It is also the creation of Bolaño the writer, a statement about the kind of writer he wants to be." The Smart Set 07/22/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@02:47PM
visual
The Sculpture of Arabia (Yes, There Was Plenty of It) "Forget about Arabia as a land without figural representation. It was already there in the fourth millennium B.C." and continued ruight up to the advent of Islam, as a new exhibition at the Louvre shows. International Herald Tribune 07/24/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@02:36PM
theatre
The Tiny Low-Budget Theatre That Churns Out High-Powered Musicals "Unlike anything now in New York, [London's Menier] Chocolate Factory is the rare commercial theater operation that pumps out critically acclaimed hit shows on shoestring budgets … Its recent successes on Broadway has inspired [director David] Babani to envision a branch of the Chocolate Factory in New York someday." New York Times 07/25/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@01:54PM
media
Todd Solondz, 'The Reigning King of Feel-Bad Cinema' "[He] exemplifies the fine art of the cringe comedy better than any other American filmmaker. He has no need for sympathy, having crafted an ambiguous blend of satire and tragedy that rejects any conventional notion of redemption." indieWIRE 07/20/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@01:50PM
media
Why Todd Solondz Says, 'My Movies Aren't for Everyone, Especially People Who Like Them' Of a college student who had just seen Happiness: "He was a little drunk and he came up to me and said, 'Oh I loved your movie, it was awesome. Wow! Man, when that kid was raped, that was hilarious!' And I knew then that I was in trouble, and that I was playing with fire, and that I couldn't control the way in which the movie would be experienced." Salon 07/23/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@01:49PM
ideas
America Really Is In Crisis Now (But We've Been Here Before) Author Neil Howe "suggest[s] that throughout the 500-year span of Anglo-American history, a more or less predictable cycle has played out, a cycle in which generational types are in a certain stage of life at any given time." Miller-McCune 07/23/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@12:29PM
dance
In India, Choreography Is a 'Lucrative Career Option'(!) "'One's options are no longer limited to Bollywood. We have reality shows on television, and there's a great demand for choreographers for wedding performances, theatre shows, and even college festivals,' said choreographer Sandip Soparrkar." The Times of India 07/24/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@12:26PM
issues
Scotland's Major Arts Companies Face £2M in Cuts "SNP ministers have asked the National Theatre of Scotland, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Ballet and Scottish Opera to prepare for cuts of up to 10 per cent." The Telegraph (UK) 07/24/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@12:20PM
music
Why Matisyahu the Hasidic Reggaeman Makes Sense "Like gospel before it, reggae draws much of its symbolism from Torah. There is something bizarre yet poignant and undeniably American about a Jewish kid from the suburbs who found a path to his own ancient faith by hearing Jamaicans sing about it." The Atlantic 07/22/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@12:17PM
people
The Sublimely Mannered Weirdness Of Nicolas Cage "Unlike his contemporaries Johnny Depp and Daniel Day-Lewis, he seems blithely unconcerned with the project of building a respectable actorly reputation. … [There's] something about the baroque, hyper-mannered performances of late Cage that touches on the sublime, but 'self-parody' isn't precisely the right phrase for it." Slate 07/22/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@12:14PM

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Today's Headlines (by topic)

ideas
Verbing Nouns (Such as 'Verb') - Boston Globe 07/25/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@07:16AM

How a Language's Verb Forms Shape The Way Its Speakers Perceive the World - Wall Street Journal 07/24/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@07:13AM

America Really Is In Crisis Now (But We've Been Here Before) - Miller-McCune 07/23/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@12:29PM

more Ideas...

dance
'Fall for Dance' 2010 to Feature Rare Cunningham Work, Xover - New York Times 07/26/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@11:15AM

Choreographers, Stop Blogging About Your Process!: Dance Mag Editor - Dance Magazine 07/26/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@08:55AM

In India, Choreography Is a 'Lucrative Career Option'(!) - The Times of India 07/24/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@12:26PM

TV Dance Competitions Are Good Business for Australian Dance Troupes - The Australian 07/24/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@11:25AM

more Dance...

issues
August Wilson Center Is Full of Promise - and Ambition - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 07/25/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@07:06AM

Scotland's Major Arts Companies Face £2M in Cuts - The Telegraph (UK) 07/24/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@12:20PM

Does The US Need a 'Cultural EPA'? - Boston Globe 07/25/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@11:23AM

more Issues...

media
Rival Distributors Settle Lawsuit Over Precious - Reuters (via Yahoo!) 07/22/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@08:42AM

Speaking Fluent Early-Sixties on Mad Men - New York Times Magazine 07/25/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@07:11AM

'The Harmony Institute Wants to Change Your Mind - At the Movies' - New York Times 07/26/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@06:48AM

How TV Has Helped Normalize Gay Families - New York Times 07/21/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@09:59PM

Arguing Over Inception (Everyone's Doing It) - New York Times 07/25/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@09:39PM

Todd Solondz, 'The Reigning King of Feel-Bad Cinema' - indieWIRE 07/20/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@01:50PM

Why Todd Solondz Says, 'My Movies Aren't for Everyone, Especially People Who Like Them' - Salon 07/23/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@01:49PM

more Media...

music
Charleston Symphony, Unsettled and in Limbo, Tries to Arrange 75th B'day Concert - The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC) 07/25/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@11:11AM

WWhat the USA Can Really Gain From El Sistema - Boston Globe 07/25/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@08:39AM

Achieving the Dream: A Pulitzer-Winning Opera's 32-Year Journey to the Stage - Los Angeles Times 07/25/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@07:10AM

Decca, Hoping for a Chant-Style Juggernaut, Signs Cloistered Nuns For Record Deal - CBC 07/25/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@09:56PM

Why Matisyahu the Hasidic Reggaeman Makes Sense - The Atlantic 07/22/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@12:17PM

more Music...

people
At the Razor's Edge: Visiting Somerset Maugham's Old Ashram - New York Times Book Review 07/25/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@07:18AM

Mao Zedong's John the Baptist, The Prophet of China's Revolution - Wall Street Journal 07/22/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@09:50PM

The Sublimely Mannered Weirdness Of Nicolas Cage - Slate 07/22/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@12:14PM

more People...

publishing
Library of America's New House Blog on the Classics - Los Angeles Times 07/23/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@11:09AM

'The 'Big Bang' That Created Roberto Bolaño's Literary Universe' - The Smart Set 07/22/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@02:47PM

more Publishing...

theatre
Pacino Merchant of Venice Schedules Broadway Run - New York Times 07/26/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@11:16AM

Move Over, Come Fly Away, There's Another Sinatra Musical on the Way - Los Angeles Times 07/25/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@11:07AM

Elton John Writing Animal Farm Musical - The Daily Mail (UK) 07/23/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@09:52PM

The Tiny Low-Budget Theatre That Churns Out High-Powered Musicals - New York Times 07/25/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@01:54PM

The Little Sondheim Role That Draws Great Senior Actresses - New York Times 07/25/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@11:51AM

more Theatre...

visual
'Towering Ambition' - Recreating Emblems of Architecture in Lego - Washington Post 07/23/10
email this story | Posted 07/26/10@11:06AM

Palm Springs Art Museum Makes Plans To Open Second Branch - Los Angeles Times 07/22/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@09:54PM

The Sculpture of Arabia (Yes, There Was Plenty of It) - International Herald Tribune 07/24/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@02:36PM

Pasadena's Design Biennial Finally Includes Architecture - Los Angeles Times 07/23/10
email this story | Posted 07/25/10@11:27AM

more Visual...