CMU School of Drama


Thursday, July 31, 2014

A Trip to the Hand Saw, Plane, and Chisel Factory

Tools of the Trade: During a recent vacation in Maine I realized we'd be passing through Warren, home to Lie-Nielsen Toolworks, so I stopped in for a look. It was an unplanned visit so imagine my delight when I discovered they were having an open house that included a tour of the factory.

Mixing Beyond Stereo: Delving Deeper Into Aspects Of Sound & Perception

Pro Sound Web: As live mix engineers, the audio reinforcement systems we operate typically fall into two categories: mono or stereo.
Yes, there are the occasional opportunities to mix surround sound, and for many events, delay clusters or various fill loudspeakers are common, but for the most part it’s all about some version of mono or stereo.

Why Louisiana Is the Next (and Better) Hollywood

mashable.com: Though known best for crawfish, hurricanes and Mardi Gras, Louisiana is California’s newest film industry rival.
Currently, Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill are fighting crime with a Pelican State backdrop in 22 Jump Street. You may have watched Anna Kendrick sing her way through Baton Rouge in Pitch Perfect and soon in its sequel. True Detective took us through the bayous, while Treme showcased the ins and outs of the nation’s most eclectic city, the one also serving as setting for the new NCIS: New Orleans.

It’s time to stop using “exoticism” as an excuse for opera’s racism

Quartz: For the last two weekends, 38 white amateur performers in Seattle cinched up their obis and daubed on facepaint to perform The Mikado—standard fare for an operetta set on the fictional Japanese island Titipu where characters are given ridiculous names like Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum.

Disability Is Not Just a Metaphor

The Atlantic: “Freaks” are having a moment.
The Kennedy Center's acclaimed production of Side Show, about conjoined sisters at the circus, is rumored to be mulling a move to Broadway. The next season of American Horror Story will, similarly, be about a freak show. And in recent months there has been a proliferation of representations of disability on stage and screen.

Troubles Mount for Met Opera; Fall Season Appears "Shaky"

www.jewishvoiceny.com: On Wednesday, July 15th, one of the 15 unions currently negotiating with the Metropolitan Opera filed with the National Labor Relations Board two charges of unfair-labor-practice against the institution. This comes at a time when drama and debates are heated as the unions’ contracts with the Met expire on July 31st.

Eastwood Hot Stapler Kit – Plastic Repair Made Easy

Tools In Action - Power Tools and Gear: If you grew up on the east coast and your dad was into cars, you’ve heard of Eastwood. Based in Pottstown, PA, Eastwood’s company history reads like a classic American story. They started out in a little garage in 1978 selling buffing wheels and compounds through word of mouth, classified ad’s, and at car shows, and built themselves up into a leader in the automotive restoration market. They have a knack for making professional processes and equipment like powder coating, affordable on a DIY budget. From rust removal to finish coat, if you’re into automotive work Eastwood has something for you.

The Business Behind Fake Hollywood Money

gizmodo.com: In late 2000, the producers and crew for action flick Rush Hour 2 gathered at the now-defunct Desert Inn in Las Vegas and prepared to blow up a casino. The scene, which pitted policemen and Secret Service agents against a counterfeiter attempting to launder $100 million in superdollars, was to culminate with hundreds of thousands of fake bills floating through the air.

Unions Hope to Avert Off-Stage Tragedy at N.Y.’s Metropolitan Opera

www.aflcio.org: An epic tragedy is unfolding at the Metropolitan Opera, but the drama isn’t onstage. Six local unions of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees (IATSE) represent backstage employees at the Metropolitan Opera and they, along with the other Met Opera unions, are getting blamed for the Met’s growing financial crisis.

How Four Directors Saved Film

NikkiFinke.com: It’s no doubt just a delay of the inevitable. But secret negotiations between Eastman Kodak and the movie studios are saving motion-picture film. The talks unveiled by the Wall Street Journal‘s Ben Fritz today were the direct result of intense lobbying of Warner Bros, Paramount, Disney, Universal, and The Weinstein Company by Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan, Judd Apatow, and JJ Abrams who all still want to shoot on film instead of going solely digital.

Fabric Pen by Ingrida Kazenaite repairs clothes without stitching

www.dezeen.com: Lithuanian designer Ingrida Kazenaite has developed a conceptual pen that would mend damaged clothes by "printing" over rips and tears.

This Could Be The Last Calendar App You Ever Install

⚙ Co.Labs ⚙ code + community: A behavioral scientist, artificial intelligence professor, and Stanford PhD candidate in machine learning walk into an office. The result, strangely enough, is yet a to-do and calendar app. But it's no joke.
These three smart, uniquely qualified people--noted economist Dan Ariely, professor Yoav Shoham, and CEO Jacob Bank--aren’t in love with to-do apps. But with their app Timeful, they’re trying to solve an acutely modern human problem using the types of tools people are already used to.

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Filmmaking Tool or Public Menace? Inside the Complex Issues of Drone Cinematography

c2meworld.com: In his blog on the ASC, cinematographer John Bailey examines the complex issues of drone cinematography.
As has been reported, unmanned drone cameras have stirred up issues of both privacy and safety. When used by amateurs, they have crashed into buildings and people, and almost even caused midair crashes with commercial jets. They have also popped up at windows of people who imagine they are getting dressed in the privacy of their own homes.

Troubles Mount for Met Opera; Fall Season Appears "Shaky"

www.jewishvoiceny.com: On Wednesday, July 15th, one of the 15 unions currently negotiating with the Metropolitan Opera filed with the National Labor Relations Board two charges of unfair-labor-practice against the institution. This comes at a time when drama and debates are heated as the unions’ contracts with the Met expire on July 31st.

4 Things You Thought Were True About Time Management

Amy Gallo - Harvard Business Review: I don’t know anyone who doesn’t struggle with how to make the most of their time at work. How do you stay on top of an overflowing inbox? How do you get work done when your day is taken up by meetings? How can you get through a continually expanding to-do list? How do you even find time to make a list in the first place?
To make matters worse, there are lots of misconceptions about what time management really comes down to and how to achieve it. Let’s look at some of the most common suggestions and assess whether they’re actually true.

Mécanique Technique

Signshop:
At press time, the artificial intelligence Skynet system had yet to launch its line-up of Terminators to take over the human race, nor had the robotic Cylons attempted to track us down. However one creative sign shop is taking a cue from the Borg and proving that, when it comes to imaginative sign design, “resistance is futile.”
Stephen Hoey is the president of KDF Custom Graphics in Rockleigh, New Jersey. Last issue, we profiled a cookout-inspired identity sign his shop built and installed for a BBQ restaurant in Blauvelt, New York (“Signs on the Grill,” June 2014).

BWW Reviews: Aurora's Magical MARY POPPINS Brings New Surprises to Beloved Classic

www.broadwayworld.com: There is something very special, even magical, in the air in Lawrenceville this summer. As he did with last year's LES MISERABLES, director Justin Anderson has found exciting ways to bring new surprises to a beloved show that we already knew so well. Under his capable direction, MARY POPPINS is transformed from the classic Disney movie of chalk drawings and dancing penguins, into a poignant tale of a loving family in need of saving from its own prosperity; with just a pinch of magic to help along the way. This family-friendly classic, which runs through August 31st, is a can't-miss for fans of wonder and magic both young and old.

USITT Releases USITT 365 App

Stage Directions  Building on the success of its app for its Annual Conference & Stage Expo, USITT has released the USITT 365 app, which will offer connections to USITT’s ongoing programming and information streams, including the next USITT Presents session in Nashville in August, the latest issue of TD&T magazine online, new job postings, and news about the Annual Conference to be held in Cincinnati in March 2015. The app, created by a2z, includes a feature which allows USITT to share changes and information via its Buzz feature, plus connections to a variety of social media. Schuler Shook partnered with USITT to make the app a reality. The app is free to download and update.

Igniting Interest in Historic Plays by Women

The Clyde Fitch Report: How many women playwrights from long ago do you know?
Did your favorite women playwrights from the late 19th and early 20th century make the List?
History Matters/Back to the Future seeks to put plays by women back into circulation through study and production. Founded by a coalition of theater professionals, the group plans to accomplish their mission by encouraging educators to dedicate one class period per semester to a historic play by a woman playwright.

Michel Gondry Tells Us What It's Like to Build Movie Dreams Without CGI

gizmodo.com: Books have been adapted for the big screen since the dawn of cinema, but the transition can be tricky—especially when the original is a uniquely dreamlike counter-cultural touchstone. Mood Indigo is Michel Gondry's latest feature film; he recently spoke with us about bringing the fantastic voyage of young love and deep loss to life with physical sets and a refreshing lack of CGI.

Why you should read the Broadway Chat Boards

The Producer's Perspective: I like to cruise by the Broadway chat boards every once in awhile. Why?
First and foremost, the folks that frequent the boards, and the folks that post on the boards are our avids. They are so filled with passion for Broadway and for the theater in general that when they can’t see a show, they want to talk about shows, and when they can’t find anyone who can talk about them, they search for other folks just like them online. So it’s important to see what is making these groups happy, and pee-ing them off.

Marilyn Myller, A Stop-Motion Short about Stop-Motion Animation

Tested: Marilyn Myller is a stop-motion short about the awesome power and frustrations of being a maker, through the wandering mind of a stop-motion animator. A little surreal and beautifully animated, it's the kind of story that any filmmaker or sculptor may relate to. "A year in the making, the full six minute stopmotion short features the voice of Josie Long, one zillion hand carved tiny things, literally tens of carved foam puppets, two eye fulls of in-camera, long-exposure light trickery and a pair of tiny dolphins, smooching."

Legal fallout begins for 'Jesus Christ Superstar'

TribLIVE: The abrupt cancellation of this summer's North American arena tour of “Jesus Christ Superstar” is apparently not being forgiven.
The Really Useful Group, the London-based production company of “Superstar” composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, said July 29 that it was taking legal action against music and theatrical producer Michael Cohl for the “unilateral decision” to scuttle the tour, which was to star punk legend John “Johnny Rotten” Lydon and Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child.

An Immersive Look Inside Shanghai's First New Media Arts Center

The Creators Project: When the Chronus Art Center opened in Shanghai last year, its ambitions seemed immense; situated smack between two major ShanghART buildings, the 836 square meter warehouse, slated to host four major exhibiions and seminars a year in Shanghai’s M50 art district, boasts its role as “the first non-profit art organization in China to focus on new media art.”

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

SawStop Lawsuit Against Table Saw Makers Dismissed

Pro Tool Reviews: The word “conspiracy” is never a pleasant one to hear tossed around about the corporate world, especially when it involves companies you respect in an industry that you love. Recently, and fortunately, a lawsuit was dismissed by the court against virtually all of the major players in the power tool industry. SawStop, LLC had accused many companies of conspiring against adopting their table saw safety technology in an effort to avoid creating a new safety standard.

Prepared To Manage: Steps To A Successful Pre-Production Process

Pro Sound Web: We’re continuing our discussions with veteran independent touring engineer Dave Natale, this time focusing on pre-production. (See the first article here.)
Dave’s prepared for band rehearsals, production rehearsals, and tours countless times, with pre-production rehearsals a critical process, where many important issues can be resolved before an act hits the road.

The Long Journey of ‘The Visit’

NYTimes.com: Even by the standards of the long and winding development process for your average Broadway musical — in which books get overhauled, songwriting teams are replaced, and directors are given the ax — the journey of the Kander and Ebb show “The Visit,” adapted from Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s 1956 satire of greed and revenge, has seemed particularly tortuous and misfortune plagued.

Twelve Frequent Hard Hat Questions

Occupational Health & Safety: Protecting employees from potential head injuries is a key element of a safety program in virtually all industries. The primary reasons for an organization to require hard hats in the work environment is to help protect employees from head trauma from objects falling from above; bumping into fixed objects, such as pipes or beams; or contact with electrical hazards. Head protection also can serve to help protect employees from splashes, rain, high heat, and exposure to ultraviolet light.

Open Source and Social Media are changing society and business. Can it change higher education?

LinkedIn: Yes, it is already happening. A survey of over 8,000 faculty found that 41% of college professors use social media as a teaching tool, up from around 34% in 2012 (1).
The benefits of greater collaboration and content sharing are quite evident, but how do you make it work in a classroom if you teach at a higher education institution? Here are a few principles to keep in mind as you join the bandwagon.

“World’s first” projection-mapped display unit launched

InAVate: DisplayMapper, a division of British company Projection Artworks, has launched a 3D projection mapped display unit for the retail market. MirrorBox is a self-contained system that enables 3D projection mapping to be beamed onto physical products in a daylight-visible environment. Content is delivered via cloud-based software, controlled and updated from a central network. The simple and low-cost product could herald an era where projection mapping is a common sight in stores.

Yellow Pad Estimating For Contractors: The Good and the Bad

JLC Online: Many contractors start out estimating and learning how to estimate using what I refer to as the "Yellow Pad Method". Using paper and a pencil they can create estimates any time and on the fly. However as the business grows, particularly when others take over the management and building of projects sold, the typical yellow pad estimate may not give the build team the information they need to build the project on their own. Also, the information within the yellow pad estimate may not be in an intuitive and organized format, making it hard to find the information they need.

The Arts Are Enough of a Gamble Without Casinos

Butts In the Seats: When you do a S.W.O.T. analysis for your organization (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats), Opportunities and Threats were where you listed external situations that could help or hinder you.
When I worked at an arts center in southern New Jersey, one of the biggest threats was Atlantic City. While it might take you hours to get there in summer time traffic, Atlantic City was 45 miles away and therefore fell into the customary 50 mile exclusion zone that prevented performers from appearing within a certain time period before or after their event date. It frustrated the artistic director to no end because we would frequently be outbid and excluded by casinos in Atlantic City.

'Walking With Dinosaurs,' with life-size puppets, presents them as feathered ancestors of birds

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Jurassic Park just got a little bit more real.
Walking With Dinosaurs — The Arena Spectacular, based on the BBC television series, will visit the Consol Energy Center Wednesday through Sunday, displaying life-size dinosaur puppets in an entertaining and informative setting.

Tech notes from Las Vegas

InPark Magazines: The annual case studies session/Geekout is organized by consultant John Huntington, author of the book, “Show Networks and Control Systems,” and professor of entertainment technology at CUNY (and an extraordinary photographer, and a storm chaser, and…) and Jim Janninck of Timberspring. The Geekout was held to coincide with InfoComm in Las Vegas this year, and hosted at the offices of All Things Integrated (ATI). We’re indebted to Tommy Bridges of ATI for enabling IPM to attend.

Scenic designer Anna Louizos on her design for the...

Everything Scenic: Scenic designer Anna Louizos on her design for the touring production of Cinderella and the new website, Broadway Design Exchange.

Need a New Screensaver? The Met Makes 400,000 Images Available Online

Big Think | > 1,000 Words: The Internet is a creative place, and it just became a whole lot more artistic. Over 400,000 high-resolution digital images have gone public domain thanks to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. And it's available to you for non-commercial use. So get to work, web artisans.

President Obama Awards the 2013 National Medals of Arts and Humanities

The White House: This afternoon, the President and the First Lady honored the 2013 National Medals of the Arts and Humanities recipients at the White House. The President told the recipients that their "accomplishments enrich our lives and reveal something about ourselves and our country."

Monday, July 28, 2014

12 Tiny Changes That Make Your Resume Easy for Recruiters to Skim

The Muse: There’s some debate about how many seconds a recruiter spends looking over a resume, but we can all agree that it’s not a lot. With such limited time to get important information across, anything you can do to make your resume easier to skim could mean the difference between the forward or toss piles.

The Bottom Line on Film Tax Credits

Createquity.: About a year ago the New York Times ran a series of articles on corporate tax breaks, complete with a web-accessible database of state tax incentives for businesses. All in all, the Times discovered 1,874 state and local incentive programs that give out a combined $80.4 billion to corporations each year. To put those figures in perspective, the tax breaks doled out by Oklahoma and West Virginia are worth about one third of those states’ entire budgets. Manufacturing is the most highly subsidized industry, receiving about $25.5 billion in tax breaks annually, followed by agriculture and oil, gas, and mining. Fourth on the list? Surprisingly, it’s the motion picture industry, which nets about $1.5 billion in state and local tax credits per year.

THE UNSEEN develops wind reactive ink that changes color upon contact with air

www.designboom.com: london-based artist lauren bowker and her material exploration studio THE UNSEEN has developed a form of wind reactive ink that changes color according to different fluctuations in the air and around the body. demonstrated in a couture capsule collection designed for swarovski entitled ‘air’, the biological and chemical technology is integrated into layers of fabrics, morphing its RGB values in response to pressure change.

How To Write The Perfect Resume for Any Job

www.ziprecruiter.com: Despite the rise of social media and online job applications, the cover letter and resume combination is still the cornerstone of a successful job search. Because of that, one of the questions we hear most often from job seekers is “What should I put on my resume?” In fact, we hear it so often that we decided to look at our data to help job seekers create the perfect cover letter and resume.

I Don’t Want to “Disrupt” the Live Entertainment Industry

Selling Out: Talk to any shiny new entrepreneur today, and he or she will tell you that their goal is to “disrupt” whatever industry they’re part of. Disruption, when it really happens, changes the fundamental rules of the game, usually to the benefit of consumers and, of course, to the massive benefit of the company doing the disruption.

Can You Smell That Smell? It’s Theatrical Scent Design

The Clyde Fitch Report: Theatre has begun to embrace a new type of designer. Their work is invisible, but if done correctly it can have a palpable impact on the performance. I interviewed David Bernstein about his work in the burgeoning field of scent design.

Webinar: Advanced Video Walls on July 23

www.avnetwork.com: Looking to build the perfect video wall? Join Systems Contractor News editor Kirsten Nelson, and Peerless-AV industry experts Todd Mares and Brian McClimans, tomorrow, July 23, for a webinar on "Advanced Video Walls." They’ll take you through all the steps you need to consider when building a video wall, including site visit and consultation, budgeting, structural engineering, and maintenance and service.

War Of Words At Met Opera May Signal Shutdown

Deceptive Cadence : NPR: When an opera company is in the midst of contentious labor negotiations, the results can be dramatic. This week, the war of words between unions and management at New York's Metropolitan Opera, the world's largest opera company, escalated. An Aug. 1 shut down now seems likely.

A Play for You Alone

WNYC: You are waiting for the subway and a woman, a stranger, asks you for the time.
You show her your phone. She tells you she's running late — and then draws you into a conversation that propels you, somehow, into getting on the train with her.
That's how Witness starts. It is one of five 30-minute plays — or as its creators say, "theatrical interventions" — from LONEtheater, running in repertory as part of the undergroundzero festival. And it's unlike anything I've seen before.

Is the Death of Corporate Philanthropy Exaggerated?

NPQ - Nonprofit Quarterly: The end of corporate philanthropy was predicted in a post on the Forbes Leadership Forum. Paul Klein, who heads business and civil sector consulting group Impakt, encourages any corporations who are giving away their hard-earned dollars to charity to stop.

Do You Speak Geek? The Unique Language Of Audio Analysis

Pro Sound Web: In my lifetime, the size of sophisticated audio analysis systems has evolved from table top, to under-airplane-seat, to computer bag, to cell phone. The cost has evolved from the price of a nice automobile to that of a Happy Meal.
As such, there are more audio practitioners than ever equipped to perform sophisticated loudspeaker and room measurements. Those who make the decision to get serious about this are faced with the daunting task of learning the ropes in order to get meaningful data from their measurement platform.

Five Common Safety Practices That Are Putting Your Workers at Risk

Occupational Health & Safety: Every day, people go to work with the expectation that they will get home safely at the end of the day. To meet these expectations, businesses deploy various techniques and equipment to help keep their employees safe and healthy, such as providing training or mandating the use of personal protective equipment. While many of these methods have improved safety, there are others in use almost universally that actually heighten employees' risk of injury or death.

Sunday, July 27, 2014

NFTRW Weekly Top Five

Here are the top five comment generating posts of the past week:

The Right Way to Unplug When You're on Vacation

Alexandra Samuel - Harvard Business Review: Vacations are for unplugging: we all need to escape the daily grind from time to time, after all. But that doesn’t have to mean unplugging from the entire internet. In fact, you may have a more enjoyable and meaningful vacation by staying connected–as long as you’re staying connected to fun, friends, and family, rather than to work.


5 Reasons Why Walt Disney World Represents the Future of American Theater

Special Reports - Jul 12, 2014: "Heresy!" you might be shouting at the screen while clutching your pearls and annotated copy of The Complete Plays of Eugene O'Neill. "Disney offers nothing but cheap amusement-park thrills!" Au contraire. Within the first day of a visit to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, one thing becomes strikingly clear: Almost all of the attractions revolve around a story, often told in rigorously theatrical ways and with the use of live actors. None of the rides offer thrills for the sake of thrills. They're almost always using those tingles in your stomach to further the plot.


Inspired by ‘Sleep No More,’ More New York Bars Offer Interactive Theater Experiences

NYTimes.com: “There are eight million people in New York City, and three million of them are drunk,” said Ben Maters, 24, an actor and bartender at Fat Baby, a multilevel bar on Rivington Street on the Lower East Side.
This wasn’t a wizened mixologist’s quip but a scripted line, declaimed while standing atop the bar as his character, Caleb, kicked off a two-hour marathon of 25 one-act plays called “Play/Date” set in the bar’s banquettes and on the bar stools on a recent Wednesday night.


Tina Fey's Mean Girls Had The Most Women on a Crew in the Last 20 Years

Women and Hollywood: We here at Women and Hollywood are always interested in new data that reveals where women stand in the film industry. Today, Stephen Follows, a producer and writer in the UK, released a new study called Gender Within Film Crews, and not surprisingly, men dominate most positions.


Pioneer Theater's response to mother's anger over on-stage homosexual kiss

Mail Online: A theater in Salt Lake City, Utah, has won praise for its response to a letter from a mother who complained about a kissing scene between two male characters.
The unnamed woman, who visited the Pioneer Theatre Company with her teenage son, called a performance of the 1978 play Deathtrap ‘offensive and vulgar’ and its kiss scene an ‘explicit, homosexual display’.


Saturday, July 26, 2014

▶ Working In The Theatre: Before The Show

YouTube: Ever wonder what happens before the show? Working In The Theatre gets full access with Billy Porter ("Kinky Boots") and Patina Miller ("Pippin") as they prepare for the stage.
It's a rare behind the scenes glimpse that you'll only see on Working In The Theatre as The Wing goes into the dressing rooms and minds of two Broadway stars just hours before curtain.

Woodworker’s Solutions to Router Bit Storage

Popular Woodworking Magazine: A few weeks back I posted about router bit storage. At the end of the post I suggested that readers send me photos of their storage solutions and I would write a follow-up post showing those photos.

Book Explores Engaged Participation in “American Fun”

The Clyde Fitch Report: As the anonymous, but wise, graffiti artist says, “Fun = Fun,” but not all fun is created equal. Celebrities having fun on TV, for example, is a certain kind of fun for those celebrities and a different kind of fun for the audience watching hermetically and passively at home. Neither of those kinds of fun, however, is the fun John Beckman explores in his fantastic recent book, American Fun: Four Centuries of Joyous Revolt (Pantheon Books, 2014).

CMU to float plans for Cohon center expansion

TribLIVE: Carnegie Mellon University is planning a $22 million expansion of its newly renamed Jared L. Cohon University Center.
“This project will improve the quality of life for our students, faculty and staff and improve our public presence along Forbes Avenue,” said Bob Reppe, CMU's director of design.

Think You Don't Need an Employee Handbook? Think Again

Remodeling: The beginning of the end started when an employee who’d been let go filed for unemployment, recalls Kellie Boysen. In the process of determining whether that employee was eligible, the state discovered he’d been improperly paid as an independent contractor. Suddenly, the company owed three years back pay in overtime along with unemployment and Social Security taxes. Heavy fines ensued, and workers compensation rates shot up dramatically. The firm was left with thousands in attorney fees. In the end, that one mistake cost several hundreds of thousands of dollars—and put the business under.

How Far Will That Loudspeaker “Throw”?

Pro Sound Web: Sound reinforcement systems are characterized by a wide variety of technical specifications. Although the term “throw” is not a technical specification, it’s frequently used to describe a specific performance parameter.
A frequent question is “how far will this loudspeaker ‘throw’?” Unfortunately, the answer requires additional information before it can be properly answered.

How 3D Printing Is Making Better Movie Monsters

gizmodo.com: Cinematic special effects have come a long way since Jason and the Argonauts. What once required dedicated and labor-intensive filming sessions can now easily be generated in near-lifelike quality by modern CGI. But Luma Pictures, an animation studio responsible for some of the biggest blockbuster movie effects of the last decade, has come full circle and incorporated 3D printed analog modeling into its design process.

Ghostly Profound: A Thing of Unknowable Depth

HowlRound: I have been terrified to even put down the word 幽玄. I had to ask Google to write these characters for me. According to Google Translate, yugen means “subtle and profound.” Looking at the unfamiliar characters, I would have guessed “ghostly.” For the first time in decades, I looked for the Japanese dictionary that I brought with me when I left Japan alone at age sixteen. It was on my bookshelf having survived many moves. The first definition of the word translates (roughly) as “a thing of unknowable depth,” and ironically, the second definition remains unknown to me because I don’t know the key character in it. I could only make out “infinite experience.”

Inspired by ‘Sleep No More,’ More New York Bars Offer Interactive Theater Experiences

NYTimes.com: “There are eight million people in New York City, and three million of them are drunk,” said Ben Maters, 24, an actor and bartender at Fat Baby, a multilevel bar on Rivington Street on the Lower East Side.
This wasn’t a wizened mixologist’s quip but a scripted line, declaimed while standing atop the bar as his character, Caleb, kicked off a two-hour marathon of 25 one-act plays called “Play/Date” set in the bar’s banquettes and on the bar stools on a recent Wednesday night.

Shubert Organization Set To Add New World Stages

NYTimes.com: The Shubert Organization, a major Broadway player that owns 17 of the 40 theaters there, is positioning itself to move into the commercial Off Broadway sector in a significant way with the acquisition of the New World Stages complex, according to three theater executives with knowledge of the expected deal.

Window (displays) into their soul!

Triitme!: Window displays are the first impression we have of a store. In fact, we’re exposed to hundreds – maybe even thousands – of them everyday so it’s become easier and easier to just hurry right by and ignore what we see in the window. People are increasingly getting caught up in the hustle-and-bustle meaning that the importance of a storefront with appealing decor is growing tenfold.

Why And How To Make A Mission Statement For Your Life

www.lifehack.org: Confusing, isn’t it?
Everyone has a different view about the careers you should follow, the relationships you should form and the dreams you should pursue.
If you’re stuck, a personal mission statement can help.

Friday, July 25, 2014

Barrington Stage Company: ‘Breaking the Code' Nothing by the numbers here

Berkshire Eagle Online: Director Joe Calarco knew little about Hugh Whitemore's play, "Breaking the Code" and even less about its central character Alan Turing when Barrington Stage Company artistic director Julianne Boyd asked him to direct it this summer.
"The only thing I knew when Julie called was something about the Enigma Code; that Turing was gay; that Derek Jacobi played him in London and New York," Calarco said during a recent interview at a North Street coffeehouse.

Keeping Students on Track With a Mobile "Nudge"

Campus Technology: Retention and student success have long been among the biggest issues facing institutions of higher education, but a new generation of students is complicating matters. "There has been a change in who goes to college," according to Colleen Carmean, assistant chancellor for academic technologies at the University of Washington Tacoma. "We think of the traditional student as the person right out of high school; but now the demographic is across the board. What in the past was a small percentage of students returning to college is now the majority. We are a nation going to college, as people realize they need a college degree in order to have a more successful life."

Carpenters, Stagehands, Costume Makers Rally to Publicize Contract Dispute with NY Metropolitan Opera

US News : Latin Post: Carpenters, stagehands, lighting crews, designers, costume maker and ticket sellers -- all member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees -- held rallies at different cinema locations across New York City Wednesday night to publicize ongoing contract negotiations with the Metropolitan Opera.
The protests were held at cinemas in midtown and downtown Manhattan broadcasting the Metropolitan Opera's "Live in HD: Summer Encores."

National tour means troupe must change play plans

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Even though the Trafford Theatre Factory lost its rights to hold its planned performance of the play "Pippin," as the saying goes, the show must go on.
And it will. The semiprofessional nonprofit chose another of Carnegie Mellon University graduate Stephen Schwartz's works, "Children of Eden,‘‍’‍ to run, starting July 18.

5 Reasons Why Walt Disney World Represents the Future of American Theater

Special Reports - Jul 12, 2014: "Heresy!" you might be shouting at the screen while clutching your pearls and annotated copy of The Complete Plays of Eugene O'Neill. "Disney offers nothing but cheap amusement-park thrills!" Au contraire. Within the first day of a visit to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, one thing becomes strikingly clear: Almost all of the attractions revolve around a story, often told in rigorously theatrical ways and with the use of live actors. None of the rides offer thrills for the sake of thrills. They're almost always using those tingles in your stomach to further the plot.

How to Answer a Customer Who Wants to Buy the Products for Your Job

Remodeling: Have you ever interacted with a potential client who wanted to supply a particular item or items needed for his or her remodeling project? It's a question that would come up when I was selling for our company. Over time I developed a response that gently but firmly hinted at why the client would not ultimately be happy supplying anything. Here is how it goes.

'Spamalot,' a musical passionate about silliness

TribLIVE: Marc Robin has been a fan of Monty Python films since he was a youngster growing up in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
He watched “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” so many times that he could recite large parts from memory.
“It never occurred to me that it would become a musical,” he says.

The Limits of "Unlimited"

Library Babel Fish @insidehighered: Imagine a service that will let you get your hands on almost any book you want, however obscure or expensive, for a very low price. Imagine the opportunity to indulge your curiosity impulsively and read all you want to without going broke.
We call it Interlibrary loan and if we had to invent it today, it probably would lead to Congressional hearings and new laws banning it - unless some hot tech startup invented it and called it “Uber for books” or something. Libraries rely on the first sale doctrine to share, and our ability to keep it going in a digital era is uncertain.

Florida Launches Explosive Lawsuit Over Visual Effects Company's Blow-Up

Hollywood Reporter: After handing over a substantial amount of tax incentives only to watch Digital Domain falter, Florida is now taking action in an effort to recover tens of millions of dollars from the VFX company's former executives and board members, including leader John Textor. On Tuesday, the state filed an expansive, politically explosive fraud lawsuit that opens in an incendiary manner

Tina Fey's Mean Girls Had The Most Women on a Crew in the Last 20 Years

Women and Hollywood: We here at Women and Hollywood are always interested in new data that reveals where women stand in the film industry. Today, Stephen Follows, a producer and writer in the UK, released a new study called Gender Within Film Crews, and not surprisingly, men dominate most positions.

Spoonhead — 123D Catch to 3D Print

MAKE: This is a super quick and dirty tutorial for using 123D Catch to get a fast and easy easy 3D scan of your head. Once you have the scan or “catch” the tutorial will take you through a technique to clean it up and manipulate it for 3D printing.

Why I Lay Out Dovetails with Dividers

Popular Woodworking Magazine: Rob Cosman showed me how to lay out dovetails using dividers about 12 or 13 years ago, and I have never looked back.
I’ve caught a lot of crap for using the divider method from fellow hand-tool woodworkers who say that laying them out by eye is much faster. I don’t disagree.
However, there are some advantages to taking the extra time and use dividers.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Performance Network Theatre Comes Back to Life

Stage Directions: Peformance Network Theatre, which announced its immediate suspension of operations at the end of May, is returning to life “after a short reorganizational hiatus.” Part of that reorganization includes the naming of John Manfredi, a longtime actor, director and producer at PNT, to the position of executive director, with Suzi Regan taking over as artistic director. They will be leading a “much reduced” staff, which will now be comprised entirely of part-time employees, volunteers and interns. They will reveal more about their three-year plan to retire the theatre’s debt during two open houses on Sunday, July 27.

Athol Fugard Wins 2014 Praemium Imperiale International Arts Award

Stage Directions: South African playwright Athol Fugard won the Japan Art Association’s 2014 Praemium Imperiale International Arts Award. He is the first artist from the African continent to win the award. The Praemium Imperiale is an international prize for painting, sculpture, architecture, music and theatre/film, and comes with a 15 million yen (approximately $150,000). Presented annually by the Japan Art Association, it recognizes lifetime achievement in the arts in categories not covered by the Nobel Prize.

Stagehands' union brings 'Save the Met' protest to Utah

The Cricket | The Salt Lake Tribune: If you go to the movies tonight at the Century Cinemas 16 in South Salt Lake City, you might find yourself in the middle of a New York labor dispute.
The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE, or "the stagehands’ union") is mounting protests outside movie theaters in 13 cities — including the Century 16 — to call attention to a dispute the union is having with the Metropolitan Opera (which is streaming its production of "The Enchanted Island" in theaters tonight).

The Art (And Necessity) Of Compression

Pro Sound Web: A while back, I got the rare opportunity to work with the youth band at our church. These guys have an incredible heart and passion to worship and have loads of raw talent which translates into a powerful time of worship.
When they lead, as a worshipper I feel free and emboldened to praise God the way He created me too. When they lead, as a sound operator I have to work as hard and quick as ever to create a decent mix to help facilitate that worship.

The Right Way to Unplug When You're on Vacation

Alexandra Samuel - Harvard Business Review: Vacations are for unplugging: we all need to escape the daily grind from time to time, after all. But that doesn’t have to mean unplugging from the entire internet. In fact, you may have a more enjoyable and meaningful vacation by staying connected–as long as you’re staying connected to fun, friends, and family, rather than to work.

The #1 Leadership Communication Mistake

LinkedIn: I have come to the conclusion that there is one pretty universal communication mistake that is the most damaging and causes the most mischief for leaders.
Are you ready? The mistake is: not preparing well.

DIY Conductive Paint For All Your Wearable Needs

hackaday.com: Conductive ink or paint is lots of fun. It opens up tons of possibilities for flexible and unique circuits — unfortunately, it’s pretty expensive. [Brian McEvoy] shows us how to make your own for cheap, and it works great!

Proof That Your Moonlighting Gigs Can Earn You More Than Just Extra Cash

Fast Company | Business + Innovation: I am on a quest to stay passionate and productive in my day job.
By day I am a business consultant, but by night--not to mention during the wee hours of the morning and on weekends--I become a freelance writer, yoga teacher, and photographer.
On my journey I have met a number of inquisitors who ask why I toil away the hours before and after work to master crafts that are seemingly unrelated to my day job.
For instance, I work in consulting, so my pursuit of an MBA was embraced, even enthusiastically promoted to clients by my colleagues. But the mere mention of my other jobs provokes an inquisition of epic proportions.
Here are four lessons I’ve learned from moonlighting that may inspire you to render your own lessons from a side gig

Beach Books for Museum and Design Folks (Summer 2014 Edition)

ExhibiTricks: The Museum Exhibit Design Blog: Since I'm not a "beach person" if I end up in a hot, sandy spot I try to make sure I'm under a big, shady umbrella with a book in my hands.
With that in mind, here's a list of books you might like to peruse, on (or off) the beach.

Emmy Awards: TV Academy serves up fresher music nominees for 2014

Variety: No more. Today the 360-member TV Academy music branch has the most rigorous voting process in the entire Academy, one in which every single entry is viewed and judged by a minimum of six fellow branch members — and which presumably has leveled the playing field to give others a chance at Emmy gold.

Sign Painters: book and documentary

Boing Boing: Sign Painters looks to be a fascinating book and documentary about the traditional art and craft of hand-drawn signage that is being lost to digital prints and die-cut vinyl. The film is playing at venues around the US right now, including this Sunday (7/27) at the Webb Gallery in Waxahachie, Texas!

Weirdest thing and other impossible Fringe questions

DC Theatre Scene: How’s it going, Capital Fringe fans? As we get ready for this final Fringe weekend (Capital Fringe closes Sunday, July 27) we thought we’d check in with all the Fringe-goers. We came up with the questions, and our writers have started us off.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

3 Surefire Ways to Kill Your Reputation at Work

The Muse: In business, it’s easy to forgive an oversight. We all make mistakes, and few of us possess a perfect ability to complete every project on time and on budget.
You might hear some grumbling around the office about that presentation you made last month, the one where you had the sales forecast numbers mixed up with the expenditures, but most of your co-workers will forget all about it.

Hemingway, the Webapp that Helps You Proofread, Is Now on Desktop

lifehacker.com: Windows/Mac: We're fans of Hemingway because the syntax highlighting makes it easy to glance at a block of text and edit for specific parts of speech. Now, the webapp is available for Windows and Mac.

Hot Ticket: 'Death' on the stage; 'River of Words' on North Side

TribLIVE: When the chronically unemployed, under-valued Harlan Howe unexpectedly gets a job with a mysterious corporation, his life takes a surprising turn.

Pioneer Theater's response to mother's anger over on-stage homosexual kiss

Mail Online: A theater in Salt Lake City, Utah, has won praise for its response to a letter from a mother who complained about a kissing scene between two male characters.
The unnamed woman, who visited the Pioneer Theatre Company with her teenage son, called a performance of the 1978 play Deathtrap ‘offensive and vulgar’ and its kiss scene an ‘explicit, homosexual display’.

10 Things About Having an Opera Career That You Don't Learn in School

Jennifer Rivera: So you have a bachelors and a masters degree in... opera singing. Congratulations! According to about 85% of the population, you may as well have an advanced degree in underwater basket weaving. Now that you've done your upteenth young artist training program, it's time to venture out into the big bad world of classical singing. As someone who has been working in this industry for the past 15 years, I wanted to share with all of you some of the tidbits I wished someone had told me when I was starting out. Brace yourselves - it's not all pretty.

Monty Python: Giant dead parrot unveiled in London to pay tribute to the comedy troupe

www.radiotimes.com: A 50 foot fibreglass bird was hung upside down by a crane this morning at London's Potters Fields to mark the forthcoming TV screening of Monty Python's live show.
The world famous dead parrot sketch, in which John Cleese attempts to return a deceased 'Norwegian Blue' parrot to a pet shop, features in the current Monty Python Live (mostly) farewell show and will appear when UKTV channel Gold screens the final performance on Sunday.

'American Psycho' Musical Coming to Off Broadway

NYTimes.com: Patrick Bateman is snaking back to New York. The investment banker-cum-serial killer at the center of Bret Easton Ellis’s 1991 novel, “American Psycho,” will be singing and dancing amid spatters of blood in a musical adaptation at Second Stage Theater starting in February, executives there announced Monday.

'Rocky' to Close in August

NYTimes.com: “Rocky” will go down for the count, giving its last performance at the Winter Garden Theater on Aug. 17, the producers announced on Tuesday.
The $15 million musical — based on the hugely popular 1976 film about a small-time boxer, played by Sylvester Stallone, beating long odds to fight for the heavyweight crown — will have run for 28 previews and 188 regular performances when it closes.

Closing of ‘Holler if Ya Hear Me’ Raises Questions

NYTimes.com: Sad to say, the only surprise about the closing of “Holler if Ya Hear Me,” the new musical featuring the songs of the rapper Tupac Shakur, was that it didn’t come earlier. When the show opened to downbeat reviews on June 19, many expected it would close within a week.

Someone Stop the “Cats” Revival, Right Meow!

The Clyde Fitch Report: “I laughed, I cried, it was better than Cats!”
What is great about that phrase is you are setting the bar very low for expectations. Cats may be the second longest-running musical in Broadway history (bested only by The Phantom of the Opera), but you don’t often hear people talking about how boring and overdone Phantom is, despite both shows being most closely associated with Andrew Lloyd Webber. The difference between the two musicals is vast — as is the demographic wanting to see them. That is, people willing to give up two hours and 30 minutes to watch a show with better makeup than story.

How I Landed My Dream Internship at Zappos

The Muse: It’s summer, and that means internship season for many students and recent graduates around the world. If you’re in the field of sustainability, it can be easy to feel like your options are limited due to the recent economic downturn or worry that you might spend your summer on low-level tasks, but luckily, your options are more varied than you think. The field of sustainability is actually a great place to get your feet wet in the professional world and make an impact—all while spending time at the biggest and coolest companies around.

Why shows buy billboards in Times Square.

The Producer's Perspective: Who doesn’t love an infographic?
You know what an infographic is, right? They’re those cool cartoony-lookin’ squares of statistics on a certain subject that give you gobs of info in a glance.
The smarty-marketing folks over at Adweek put together an awesome IG last week that is applicable to everyone who advertises on billboards in Times Square, whether you’re Coca-Cola or Chicago.

Craftsman Tools In Retrospect – A 50 Year Comparison

Tools In Action - Power Tools and Gear: Part of growing up is listening to your parents and grandparents gripe about how expensive everything is now. They’ll tell you how in their day, prices were reasonable, people were honest, and the world was a lot better off as a whole. Now, I’ve lived my life up to this point believing this view of yesteryear to be true, but as I started taking a fact based look at it, I discovered that at least part of that utopian recollection may be somewhat debatable.

Updated 2D to 3D Tool for Inventor 2015 available via Autodesk Labs

It is Alive in the Lab: The 2D to 3D tool for Inventor is our free technology preview that allows you to quickly create 3D models from 2D-designed parts. Activated as part of file import, the 2D to 3D Tool automatically transforms drawing views into orthogonal sketches, significantly streamlining the preparation of 2D views for 3D uses.

Audio Engineer's Hoodie lets you stay warm and look cool

www.gizmag.com: Have you ever faced the problem of wanting to wear both a hoodie and over-the ear-headphones at the same time? I'm guessing not, because it's not exactly a problem most people face most days. However, judging by the positive response to a garment of clothing designed to solve this problem, it seems there are people out there who have faced this dilemma ... and who haven't yet figured out that you can wear headphones underneath a hoodie.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Is This the One Productivity Tip Guaranteed to Work for Anyone?

Inc.com: I love to find new ways to be more productive. Simple productivity tricks. Or ways to work smarter, not harder. Or more ways to work smarter, not harder. Or simple steps for exceptional daily productivity, easy ways to streamline your workday, and even ways to make your employees more productive.
Clearly I'm into productivity, whether personal or professional. (Wait, is there a difference?)
So when an audience member asked for my favorite productivity tip, one that anyone could use, I had to stop and think.
And then it hit me: Always leave yourself a fun place to restart.

Orange Jumpsuits Are Too 'Cool" For Jail

jezebel.com: The power of pop culture is resulting in changes to one aspect of the American prison system. No, it is not the plague that is for-profit prisons or the slave labor many inmates are forced to perform. Pop culture is spurring a change in jail uniforms.

Casting a Rubber Hammer

Prop Agenda: I recently came across the Brick in the Yard Mold Supply YouTube Channel, which has well over a hundred videos on molding, casting and finishing techniques. I started off by watching this one on casting a rubber hammer.

How To Build a Life-Size Dragon

Tested: I love video games and video game culture, and last year was stoked to be asked to be a part of a team doing the Zombie makeups for Capcom's Dead Rising 3 booth at E3. It was there that I befriended the creative services team in charge of all of these cool trade show events and displays. Jump ahead to a few months ago, when I received a call from the team lead at Capcom to bid on the making of a display sculpture for one of their upcoming games: Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate!

Review: Strong dancing saves Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera's 'Cats' from its aged self

TribLIVE: According to lore, cats have nine lives.
So far, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera has offered Andrew Lloyd Webber's “Cats” eight lives as a producer or presenter. As its advertising slogan “Now and Forever” suggests, popular demand will see to it that “Cats” exceeds its limited warranty.

Dewalt Multi-Level Mobile Tool Storage Combo

ToolGuyd: The new Dewalt DWST20880 is a mobile multi-level workshop that stores your tools, supplies, and jobsite accessories. At first glance it looks like this is a new take on a tried-and-true format, but a deeper look shows that it might just be a rebranded version of the Stanley 020800R work center.

4 AFTA Attendees Share What They’re Doing Differently

ArtsFwd: A few weeks ago, I traveled to Nashville to the Americans for the Arts annual convention, where I connected with a wide range of leaders in the arts from across the country. While there, I conducted a few quick interviews to get a better sense of what challenges these leaders are facing in their organizations and local arts communities, and to learn about how they are thinking and doing things differently to respond to the constantly evolving arts field.

Meyer Sound Launches User Training Videos For LYON Line Array System

Pro Sound Web: Meyer Sound has released four online video tutorials to support users of the LYON linear sound reinforcement system, the newest addition to its LEO Family of line array products.
Covering topics that range from system design and rigging to optimization, the video modules are available for viewing on the company’s video page

Third 'Midnight Rider' Filmmaker Surrenders To Police

www.deadline.com: Midnight Rider executive producer/unit production manager Jay Sedrish turned himself in this morning to the Wayne County, GA police and was booked and released after posting a $27,700 bond. This comes after his fellow filmmakers Randall Miller and Jody Savin turned themselves in earlier this week. All three were charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of 27-year-old camera assistant Sarah Jones. They were also charged with criminal trespassing for filming on a train trestle when, according to police, they had no permit to shoot on the tracks.

We Don’t Know How to Talk About Holler If Ya Hear Me

Letters from the Mezzanine: It’s rare that a Broadway musical is culturally important and socially aware, and for that, Holler If Ya Hear Me, the new show using the songs of Tupac Shakur, is to be commended. The road to Broadway is a long, slow one. Shows are usually 10+ years in development, worked into Off-Broadway and regional incarnations. Financially, original shows can be fickle things, and producers love surefire hits that won’t rattle or turn off too many potential ticket buyers.

Saints on the Dollar

Public Books: hat would happen if you asked Gertrude Stein about the difference between culture and capital? Well, of course, dollar bills would fall from the heavens like flurries, all below would fan snow angels in the leaves of green, and eventually T. I.’s rap song “Bring Em Out” would blast in the background as if from nowhere.

Copyright Is Over – If You Want It

Billboard: Christian Marclay's massively popular artwork "The Clock" is comprised of thousands of preexisting film clips strung together into a 24-hour minute-by-minute cycle. It's been widely celebrated, attended by crowds around the globe. Critical praise has been heaped upon it: The New York Times hailed the piece as the ultimate work of appropriation art, and it dovetails with memes like supercuts ("fast-paced montages of short video clips that obsessively isolate a single element from its source, usually a word, phrase, or cliché from film and TV").

Milwaukee 13-Inch Work Box

Tools of the Trade: Recognizing the need for a tool carrier that can do double duty as a work stool, Milwaukee developed the 13" Work Box, a square tool box with a removable lid that functions as a comfortable seat.

Monday, July 21, 2014

Lumiverse

STUDIO for Creative Inquiry: Created by Evan Shimizu, Lumiverse is a software framework designed for managing and controlling lights in a theatrical or installation environment. It aims to provide programmers, designers, and artists with an intuitive interface for working with lighting devices while also giving them the ability to integrate lighting control into other programs with minimal effort.

What will be the next wave of classroom technology?

EDUCAUSE.edu: At orientation this past week, I was talking with an incoming freshman and her family about an app we’re working on "for students with smartphones." Her 16-year-old brother's immediate reply was, "who doesn't have a smartphone?" It's hard to believe, but today’s incoming freshmen were going into 7th grade when the iTunes App Store launched. So now that apparently "everyone" has a smartphone, it begs the question of "what's next?"

Klein Journeyman Work Glove Review

Pro Tool Reviews: We got the chance to sample the Klein Journeyman Work Glove lineup. I was very curious to take a look at this new family of PPE gloves. After college, I spent a summer working for Progress Energy (now part of Duke Energy) in Crystal River, Florida. While the experience was worthwhile, I learned to hate personal protection equipment during my time there.

PLASA Focus Returns to Texas This September

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: Free registration is now open for PLASA Focus: Austin 2014. Taking place at the Palmer Events Center September 9 - 10, this will be the second time PLASA Focus has returned to Texas since the launch of the event series in North America in February 2012.

Trump Plaza Casino Announces Closing; Atlantic City Market Continues Downward Spiral

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: In another alarming sign for the casino business in the American Northeast, the Associated Press is reporting that the owners of the Trump Plaza casino in Atlantic City are planning to close on September 16.

The Broadway actors who’ve played the same roles for over 10 years

New York Post: The first time Donna Marie Asbury stepped onstage in “Chicago” crying, “He ran into my knife — 10 times!” her daughter was in diapers.
That was 16 years ago. Daughter Jacqueline, 18, heads to college in August, but Asbury’s still playing a character named June. Along the way — over the course of more than 6,600 shows — she’s seen 20 Velma Kellys, 26 Roxie Harts and 38 Billy Flynns come and go. That she’s still here, sharing a small dressing room with four other, less seasoned “merry murderesses,” surprises even herself.

Sure you get a refund if an above-the-title star is out, but what about . . .

The Producer's Perspective: Although it’s not a publicized policy (and why isn’t it again?), if a star that is billed above-the-title in a Broadway show is out due to illness, vacation or a b.s. claim of mercury poisoning, a ticket holder is entitled to a full refund or exchange.

Colorful Street Art on the Train Tracks of Portugal by Artur Bordalo

Colossal: If the artwork is on train tracks, is it still called street art? Rail art? Either way, we’re loving this series by Portuguese artist Artur Bordalo in which he cleverly converts the horizontal lines of train tracks into a canvas. The series, which have been popping up on railways throughout Portugal since early this year, often use bright, neon colors which create a nice contrast between the dull gray rocks and tracks.

24 Of Design's Most Important Principles, Animated

Co.Design | business + design: Although not anyone can be a designer, everyone who wants to can learn the elements of visual design: contrast, transparency, hierarchy, randomness, and so on. In fact, it doesn't even take all that long. Just watch this 50-second video.

10 Things You're Doing at Work That Say "I Don't Care"

Fast Company | Business + Innovation: We’ve all been at a restaurant where the waiter forgets your special request and looks as though he’d rather be just about anywhere else in that moment. Then there’s the grocery store clerk who avoids eye contact and is annoyed with your coupons. Clearly these people don’t care, but is it possible we’re sending similar signals at work without realizing it?

Burning Man census reveals surprising demographics at the desert festival

Culture & Features « Peninsula Press: A week in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada at the end of summer may not sound like fun to many people. But tens of thousands — this year, 55,000 — make it an annual tradition by attending Burning Man, an arts festival and temporary city built by participants and operated under a gift economy and principles such as self-reliance, self-expression, and leave no trace behind.

MAP Visibility Estimation

www.cs.cmu.edu: Many traditional challenges in reconstructing 3D motion, such as matching across wide baselines and handling occlusion, reduce in significance as the number of unique viewpoints increases. However, to obtain this benefit, a new challenge arises: estimating precisely which cameras observe which points at each instant in time. We present a maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimate of the time-varying visibility of the target points to reconstruct the 3D motion of an event from a large number of cameras.

Sunday, July 20, 2014

NFTRW Weekly Top Five

Here are the top five comment generating posts of the past week:

Are you a Millennial leader?

LinkedIn: From the moment of their conception, millennial children seem to be wired differently.
They are smarter, more efficient, more technologically oriented, and while baby boomers are still trying to figure out the blinking clock on their VCR, millennials can work out any gadget or device in just a few minutes of their spare time without having to read the instructions.


The Limits of Practice

NYTimes.com: I started playing the French horn in sixth grade. I was a rule follower, and so I practiced regularly, in addition to performing at concerts and parades and all the other glamorous events to which a teenage French horn player is routinely invited. And yet, six years later, I was only marginally less terrible than when I began.


5 Things You Shouldn’t Buy For Your College-Bound Kid

Consumerist: So your kid is finally set to leave home and head off to college. You might be tempted to splurge on all manner of purchases to ensure that he or she will be able to study, eat, sleep, and dress properly. But some of those commonly bought items are just money down the drain.


Kids Studying Abroad Are Now Never out of Touch

www.wirelessdesignmag.com: A generation ago, students on semester abroad were practically incommunicado, aside from airmailed letters and one or two calls home. These days, from the minute the plane lands, kids studying overseas are connected with home via Skype, Facebook, and messaging apps like Viber and WhatsApp.

How to Handle Social-Media Criticism

Entrepreneur.com: "Keyboard courage" has some people posting cruel things they would otherwise not say to someone's face. Hiding behind a screen is not a shield.
As a social-media consultant and strategist, I have seen my fair share of rude behavior on various platforms and personally experienced this on several occasions. Everything from gossiping, not following through with deliverables and jealousy has come my way. While my first reaction is to fire back, I have learned this isn't an appropriate response. By firing back in social media, this is exactly what feeds the beast. Don't feed the beast!

Saturday, July 19, 2014

2014 Hometown Hero Nominations: A Sneak Peak

PLSN: Last week, PLSN’s newsletter called for nominations for regional lighting production companies worthy of receiving the Parnelli Award for Hometown Hero Lighting Company of the Year. PLSN readers responded almost instantly, with a steady influx of names including a variety of well-known companies along with some others who are being nominated for the Hometown Hero award for the first time.