Animatronics Could Go Mainstream Thanks to Disney's Latest Program

gizmodo.com: A new paper published by Disney Research describes "an interactive design system that allows non-expert users to create animated mechanical characters." Physical characters, unlike their digital versions, can only be animated by creating a mechanical system that can control and power their motion. For example, when you go to Disney World and see a weird bear in a party hat dancing and waving at you, all of that motion is being controlled by turning gears—much like a clock. This technology, as the researchers point out, predates computers, video, or film.

Chauvet, USITT Offer LED Training at Disney World

Stage Directions: USITT and Chauvet will offer LED lighting training for theatre in the most magical place on earth: Disney World. The one-day workshops will take place Aug. 29 and 30 and are open to Disney personnel and other professionals on both days. The daylong training session (repeated both days) is called “How to Blend LED with Traditional Fixtures” and will be led by Ford Sellers, Chauvet Professional’s senior product manager.

Why Yes, Copyright Can Be Used To Censor, And 'Fair Use Creep' Is Also Called 'Free Speech'

Techdirt: So, as we'd been discussing, Congress recently had a hearing about copyright reform that was supposed to be about the "content creators'" view of copyright -- but which actually mostly presented the views of the legacy industry which makes money off the backs of creators, rather than hearing from any creators themselves. The hearing was about as silly as you might expect, with Parker Higgins from EFF presenting a good run down of the problems, including the claims that it's copyright that enables free speech, that copyright is good because it's "about control" and that "fair use creep" is dangerous. Of course, if you want a funny, and nearly totally wrong counterpoint, you can read the overview from Tom Giovanetti, who runs a "think tank" that is a favorite of copyright maximalists. Let's compare and contrast, and add some reality.

The Art of the Alliance

The Work of Art: Arts councils are a singular and often misunderstood breed. I often get asked what they are, what they do, and why they are important. Over the past two years I’ve twice traveled to San Diego to participate in a movement to create one in that county, and the role of an arts council is one I’m asked about frequently both when I present in public, and when I talk about my job one-on-one. I always speak passionately about arts education, advocacy, programs, and grants, but the one thing that truly inspires audiences whenever I discuss the unique role an arts council can play is when I talk about the Cultural Council Associates.

For Equity actors in D.C., nice work if you can get it

The Washington Post: Washington’s Nanna Ingvarsson won a leading actress Helen Hayes Award playing Janet in “The Rocky Horror Show” with Woolly Mammoth in 1991. A few years later, performing with a Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences show, she joined Actors’ Equity Association. But getting Equity work was tough. The city was increasingly awash with young leading ladies, and though the theatrical scene was blooming, the top troupes hired (and still hire) out of New York so often that D.C. actors sometimes adopted New York phone numbers, hoping to be taken seriously.

IATSE Local One Certifies 30+ ETCP Theatre Riggers, Pushing Total to 85

PLSN: More than 30 IATSE Local One members passed the ETCP Rigger – Theatre examination in June, bringing the total number of certified riggers in Local One to 85. The New York Local says it now has more ETCP Certified Technicians that any other in North America. The certified technicians include those working at major venues including those at Lincoln Center along with the Metropolitan Opera House and various TV studios.

Corporate Entertainment – what is it and what trends should you be aware of?

www.blooloop.com: Corporate Entertainment is a bit of a buzzword in the visitor attractions industry – something that everyone thinks they should have a bit of in their business plan but much more rarely something that is actually a serious revenue stream.

Parents aren't providing as much money for college but they should be

thinkprogress.org: Parents are providing less money to pay for their kids’ college education in the slowed economy. Their contributions are down from $8,752 for the 2009-2010 academic year to just $5,727 in the current one, as detailed by the Wall Street Journal from a report on college funding by Sallie Mae. The report did not include parents’ borrowing, but that has also declined, according to the WSJ.

Center Theatre Group Receives $1 Million to Support Devised Work

Stage Directions: Center Theatre Group in L.A. has received a four-year, $1 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to fund a program based on collaboratively creating devised work. The program will focus on supporting a work from commission through production.

Allit Modular Storage Cases

ToolGuyd: Garrick wrote in with a heads-up that Lee Valley is carrying some new made-in-Germany organizers with introductory pricing. He saw them at his local Lee Valley store and added that the professional ones do look very nice and seem sturdy. He also mentioned that, based on the dimensions, the economy cases look to be able to fit inside Bosch’s L-Boxxes: 1 inside an L-Boxx-1, and 2 inside an L-Boxx-2.

"Country Cares Concert" Raises $476,000 for AZ Firefighter Families

FOH online: Among the American firefighting community, the only day more tragic than June 30, 2013 was Sept. 11, 2001. June 30 was the day when 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots from the Prescott Fire Department lost their lives fighting a wildfire near here, leaving behind 51 children. Dierks Bentley, The Band Perry and other artists teamed up and raised a reported $476,000 with the “Country Cares Concert,” a benefit performance that took place here on July 22. All proceeds are going to the United Phoenix Firefighters, for direct distribution to surviving family members.

Why Every Email Should Be 5 Sentences Long

Fast Company | Business + Innovation: "Proper email is a balance between politeness and succinctness," entrepreneur-investor-author Guy Kawasaki tells Entrepreneur.com. "Less than five sentences is often abrupt and rude, more than five sentences wastes time."

Paul Bhattacharjee and Cory Monteith deaths: is acting today just too tough?

guardiannews.com: Paul Bhattacharjee was a supremely gifted performer, liked and respected in equal measure. That's no small achievement in itself – but he also seemed as secure as any individual can be in the precarious business of acting. When his body was discovered near cliffs in East Sussex last week, having disappeared during rehearsals for a new play at the Royal Court, the news sent shockwaves through the acting profession.

Making of a grand piano

Boing Boing: Many parts of the process in building a Steinway have remained essentially unchanged for generations. So much so, that we were able to take decades-old audio from a narrated factory tour by the late John H. Steinway (great-grandson of Henry E. Steinway, who founded our great company in 1853) and use it as the narration for footage shot at the Steinway NY factory in 2011 by Ben Niles, producer of the documentary film "Note by Note."

Break Up With Social Media For Your Job

Come Recommended: Millennials love social media, but would they be willing to break up with it if it meant saving their job? From Facebook to Pinterest to LinkedIn to Twitter, social media is deeply engraved in our daily lives. Millennials love social media. There’s no doubt about it. Social media is the ultimate way to tell your story and market yourself as a professional. It’s also the new way to find jobs and connect with recruiters.

How to Answer the Common Job Interview Questions

www.lifehack.org: "Where do you see yourself in five years?” “What is your greatest weakness?” “Are you a team player?” If you’ve ever applied to a job, chances are you’ve heard these job interview questions at least once, which makes sense being as how they are some of the most common questions asked at interviews.

AV: Seven “Dirty Words” Of The Systems Integration Business

Pro Sound Web: When it comes to running a systems integration business, we all have phrases we love to hear. Some that immediately come to mind are, signed contract, margin rich, or design build. All of them exude a certain positivity integrators can get behind. But in a business where there are more than a few things that can go wrong, there are some phrases that can bring fear to the hearts of even the most experienced integrator. These are the “Seven Dirty Words/Phrases For Integration:”

Will Shakespeare Be Popular in the Future?

paleofuture.gizmodo.com: When was the last time you read Shakespeare for pleasure? I'm sure a few of you can truthfully answer that it was last night or maybe just last week. But I'd dare wager that for most American adults (myself included) it was some high school English class. William Shakespeare's popularity has endured over four centuries. But can it last four centuries more? Not according to one futurist from the 1960s.

Church Sound: Church Sound: MIDI Over Network—Getting Started

Pro Sound Web: I’m a big fan of networking, connectivity and remote control. I like it when I can get computers to do the boring stuff so I get to do the fun stuff. This post is another installment in that series. Today, we’re talking about how to send MIDI commands over a network. I’ll leave the what and why for the next post, and today focus on the how.

Matthew Loeb Unanimously Re-Elected IATSE President

Below the Line: IATSE president Matthew Loeb was re-elected by acclamation yesterday at the union’s 67th Quadrennial Convention, which wraps up today at the Boston Sheraton Hotel. Loeb will serve another four-year term in the position that he has held since 2008.

Teller Magician Interview - Chris Jones Teller Magician Profile

Esquire: On or about March 15 of this year, Teller — the smaller, quieter half of the magicians Penn & Teller — says he received an e-mail from a friend in New York. In that e-mail, the friend included a link to a video on YouTube called the Rose & Her Shadow. Teller, sitting at his computer in his Las Vegas home, within eyeshot of a large black escape cross once owned by Houdini, clicked on the link. The video lasted one minute and fifty-one seconds. "I had what I can only describe as a visceral reaction to it," Teller says today.

Weird “Hologram Concerts” Allow K-Pop Artists To Transcend Space, Time

⚙ Co.Labs ⚙ code + community: The move toward broadcasting holographic performances cuts down on the overhead costs and logistical nightmares of shipping talent groups around the globe. Two talent agencies called Success Museum Entertainment and Yang Goon Entertainment have kicked off the movement with their own experimental theaters--and yes, Psy’s hologram will be there.

Cross Post: Why Women Should Get The Jobs

Women and Hollywood: In a recent episode of the television series Mad Men, two advertising agencies merge. Each agency has a single woman on their creative team and one woman is told she's 'toast' because the combined agency already 'has one'. As in one woman. In the scenes that follow, the extra woman is 'disappeared' with no mention of her again. That scene takes place in 1968, but could be mid 2013 where women fill only about a fifth of the jobs in the film industry across all film positions. How can we change that? And why should we?

16+ Essential Skills Freelancers Really Need to Succeed

FreelanceFolder: If you are going to succeed as a freelancer, you’ll need more than one skill set. Naturally, if you’re a freelance web designer, you need good design skills. If you’re a freelance writer, you need good writing skills. If you’re a freelance programmer, you need to be good at programming. But that’s not all there is. Successful freelancing requires more than a single skill set. Freelancers and would-be freelancers must be competent in many areas.

(Re)Search: Free Resources for Dramaturgy Research

HowlRound: It seems that more often than not I am assigned to a play that I know nothing about. For example, last spring I worked on a production of Patricia Burke Brogan’s Eclipsed. The play is about a group of young women who work in a penitential home doing a grueling amount of laundry day in and day out. I remember finishing my first reading of the play and thinking “Why don’t I know anything about Magdalene laundries in Ireland in the 1960s?” My initial response was to overcompensate and try to learn everything about the women and the time period. Does that sound a little unrealistic? Well it should!

Onstage Systems Projection Maps at Dallas' Perot Museum

Live Design Magazine [primary-term] press release archives: Onstage Systems led a projection mapping project recently at the nationally-recognized $185 million Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas for a social event. The June 8 celebration marked a founding member's birthday - and the first event held outdoors on the main patio at the new facility. The Dallas-based concert and special events production company, Onstage Systems, provided lighting and sound design, with a nature-themed projection mapping and animation as the event highlight.

Next Two Congressional Hearings On Copyright Reform Show The Exact Wrong Approach

Techdirt: As Congress kicked off its latest effort towards comprehensive copyright reform, I noted some talking points that raised a really big concern: many in Congress appeared to suggest that copyright reform was a fight between "content creators" and "technology companies" and that any eventual result would be a balance between what those two sides were squabbling for. This is very concerning for a variety of reasons. First off, neither of those groups should be the primary concern of lawmakers. The Constitutional mandate for Congress when it comes to copyright is to "promote the progress of science" (the useful arts stuff is about patents...). The key beneficiaries are to be the public.

Things that Get Mispronounced in Woodworking

Popular Woodworking Magazine: When you learn woodworking through reading – books, magazines and websites – you often have no idea how certain words are pronounced. And so when you finally encounter fellow woodworkers in the flesh and have a conversation, there can be a language barrier.

5 Reasons Recent Grads Can Be Invaluable At Work

Come Recommended: Recent grads often have a negative reputation when it comes to being good workers. They are assumed to be lazy, inexperienced, or stuck in college-mode. But don’t just jump to these stereotypical conclusions when making hiring decisions.

Church Sound: Where's the Sound Guy?

Pro Sound Web: Where’s the sound guy? I’ve heard this question so many times, usually regarding the sound operator who was supposed to be at the console for rehearsal or the service, but has gone missing. Sometimes it comes up when there’s a problem with the sound system or questions about how to operate it.

Professor-student affairs in fiction: My Education by Susan Choi and the Rest of Us by Jessica Lott, reviewed.

Slate Magazine: For a long time now, I’ve been wondering if I should be insulted that not one of my university professors ever hit on me. I try to avoid the usual feminine self-questioning about attractiveness and intelligence; instead, I tell myself that I went to a large public university in an urban setting, and that tiny arts colleges are better soil for that sort of thing. But my school did have its share of professors rumored to dabble in their students. One, I recently discovered, actually wrote a memoir in which he blithely described meeting his second wife in a graduate class there. Clearly it wasn’t the setting that released me from cliché.

Video: West Virginia Celebrates 150 Years With Capitol Projections

Architainment content from Live Design Magazine: Monster Media 3D illuminated the façade of West Virginia’s capitol building from June 20 to 22 with 3D projection for the celebration of the state’s sesquicentennial, or 150 year, anniversary.

Wood Graining Techniques

Prop Agenda: The National Theatre in London has this great video on how to create fake wood graining with paint. They have many more videos on scenic art techniques, and a number of videos about props as well.

How Can I Create a Work-Friendly Wardrobe on a Budget?

lifehacker.com: Congratulations! The good news is it’s really easy to create a basic wardrobe with just a few key pieces. You can mix and match those essentials in a variety of combinations, so you don’t have to feel like you’re always wearing the same thing and will have outfits suitable for various occasions. Let’s get you started.

Embedded DMX controller for Burning Man

hackaday.com: This is the lighting controller [Paul Stoffregen] built for Burning Man. They wanted to go with DMX controlled lighting this year but that most often includes a computer to run the lighting sequences. This board runs the preprogrammed DMX sequence using a hacked lighting design file.

‘Neon Boneyard’ Shines Light on Classic Las Vegas with 4Wall Systems

Live Design Magazine [primary-term] press release archives: The neon signs of Vegas’ past rest in one unique spot in downtown Las Vegas. The Neon Museum, founded in 1996, displays neon sign relics of the city’s past in an outdoor exhibition space known as the ‘Neon Boneyard’. Tourists and locals alike have long been able to visit this interesting site, albeit during the day. That changed this spring when the 4Wall Systems team added lighting to the signs to transform the Boneyard into a space fitting of its Vegas nightlife heritage.

Libraries and makerspaces join up in DC, Chicago

Boing Boing: This morning dawned with two exciting announcements from the world of libraries and makerspaces: first, the Chicago Public Library has opened a popup makerlab in the main downtown branch (this is merely the latest in a series of amazing, interactive, maker-ish initiatives from the CPL system). They've got 3D printers, laser cutters and a milling machine.

Hooray For the Router

Popular Woodworking Magazine: I’ve spent the last couple days working on a project for our December issue. It’s a wall-hung tool cabinet and when I designed it, I included several drawers and arranged them for both function and for looks. To keep things interesting, there is some asymmetry to the drawer layout. I couldn’t leave well enough alone so I also varied the thicknesses of the shelves and dividers.

20 Places to Educate Yourself Online for Free

www.lifehack.org: It seems like these days you can learn just about anything online for free, but of course some of that information is better than others. The good news is there are plenty of reputable places to educate yourself online for free, and here’s a good 20 of them to get you started.

RoadShow New York Registration Continues, Line-Up Set

www.avnetwork.com: On July 31st, the InfoComm/NewBay Rental Staging Roadshow will be back in New York City. Registration is now open. And this Roadshow will be different. It’s more technical, and more immersive and interactive now, with updates on the latest technical trends in staging. And with key industry players, presenting, such as Midori Connolly, Chris Curren, special Meeting Planner guests, and more. - See more at: http://www.avnetwork.com/rental-&-staging/0004/roadshow-new-york-registration-continues-line-up-set/91138#sthash.0a0hrOE6.dpuf

Theme Park History: A short history of Universal Studios Hollywood

www.themeparkinsider.com: Universal Studios founder Carl Laemmle opened his 230-acre Universal City ranch on March 15, 1915, offering visitors the chance to walk around his outdoor movie studio, located just north of Los Angeles, and to watch the filming. Admission was just 25 cents, with a chicken boxed lunch available for just a nickel extra. The original Universal Studio Tour provided a nice little side income for the movie studio until the studios began adding sound to their movies, and Laemmle had to close the studio to the not-very-quiet public, to provide a soundproof environment for filming.

Can't Let It Be: Battle of the Beatles tribute musicals

www.guardian.co.uk: Producers of the West End show Let It Be have found themselves in times of trouble ahead of the production's Broadway opening, after receiving a lawsuit from the creators of another Beatles tribute act. The "jukebox musical", which opened at the Prince of Wales theatre last September, began performances at the St James theatre in New York last night. However, the creators of Rain, a Beatles tribute show that ran for nine months on Broadway in 2010, are seeking 50% of revenue and a credit for joint authorship.

Cirque du Soleil’s ‘Ka’ marks a triumphant, and poignant, return at MGM Grand

The Kats Report - Las Vegas Sun News: On the night the circus returned to MGM Grand, a man and his two daughters were spotted standing, hugging, near the theater exit at the end of the show. They were crying, the father and the two girls. The sisters looked to be about 10 and 8 years old, if that. The man wrapped his arms around the girls and was asked if he wanted to say anything about the performance he just saw.

Theatre Safety Blog: Violinist Dies After Fall Into Orchestra Lift Machinery Pit

theatresafetyblog.blogspot.com: A 40 year veteran of the Bolshoi Theatre died Wednesday at a Moscow hospital as a result of injuries sustained from a fall into the machinery pit of the Orchestra Lift. Violinist Viktor Sedov, 65, was found lying on the pit floor about 2:30PM Tuesday when a theatre employee making a routine fire safety round found Sedov lying unconscious on the pit's concrete floor. He was taken to the Sklifosovsky Hospital where he passed away the following day.

Bob Moog’s Archives Donated To World-Class Facility at Cornell University

Live Design Magazine [primary-term] press release archives: Yesterday, Cornell University announced the archives of Dr. Robert A. Moog have found a home at their Sidney Cox Library of Music & Dance, thanks to a generous donation from his widow, Dr. Ileana Grams-Moog.

Video: MPC NY And Senovva Scan Bodies For Fracture.io Installation

Staging & Rental content from Live Design Magazine: MPC Digital teamed up with The One Club via JWT New York to create Fracture.io, an installation experience for The One Show’s after-party at New York's Bowery Hotel. The installation allowed guests to enter the digital space, taking 3D scans of pose-striking partygoers to generate abstracted, full-body 3D renderings, with technical production and management by Senovva.

Four Ways Social Media Can Get You Fired

www.thegrindstone.com: If your job is completely awful, you are not alone. We already know that plenty of educated, ambitious, talented people are working in roles that are the paycheck-earning equivalent to watching paint dry, but employment is employment, and unless you have some incredible safety net of opportunity (and not even then) you shouldn’t make careless mistakes in the age of social media.

'Magic Mike' Musical Stripping Way To Broadway With Top Creative Team

Deadline.com: The creative team is in place to turn the hit stripper film into Magic Mike, The Musical on Broadway. The producers have set Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey to write the songs, and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa to write the book, based on the Steven Soderbergh-directed film that was informed by Channing Tatum‘s early days as a male stripper. Via Jezebel

Video Artist Diana Thater's Dreamlike Displays

c2meworld.com: The annual Armory Show at piers 92 and 94 in Manhattan offers a chance for the world’s leading galleries to show off their most stunning contemporary and modern art. At this year’s edition, gallery owner David Zwirner resisted the temptation to pack his booth with as many artists as possible. Instead, he gave the entire white-walled space to video artist Diana Thater. In turn, Thater assembled four nine-monitor video walls (each in a 3 x 3 configuration) that served as canvases for haunting, deep blue-tinted videos of flowers. The series of works was called Day for Night. - See more at: http://www.c2meworld.com/creation/video-artist-diana-thaters-dreamlike-displays/#sthash.l8E55rsG.dpuf

Excerpt: Six tips for organizing your time spent on the telephone

Unclutterer: I go out of my way not to use the phone, especially at work, and I have found this to be a very effective way to stay on task. If someone calls and leaves a voice mail, I’ll send a text message or e-mail in return summarizing what was said in the voice mail and give my response. There is no record of communication with the phone. You don’t have anything to reference later and you can’t run a search on words used during the conversation. Decisions or instructions can be quickly forgotten. Phones are good for relaying sensitive information to people who aren’t physically close to you (like when a coworker in another division leaves for a new job) but bad for transmitting facts and data points. Via Lifehacker

Play Tests China's Sexual Limits

NYTimes.com: There is a moment in the play “Our Vaginas, Ourselves” — a frank and funny exploration of feminism with Chinese characteristics — when the audience freezes in embarrassment. It is right after the actress Xiao Meili asks, “Do you masturbate?”

A Redditor Has Been Leaking WWE Outcomes

deadspin.com: In February on r/SquaredCircle, Reddit's pro wrestling forum, one poster kicked off a "prediction series," asking users to pick who they expected to win at that week's Elimination Chamber pay-per-view event. The winner was a user named "Dolphins1925," who posted just minutes before the start of the event, and nailed the results of every single match. It was the first sign that WWE had sprung a leak. "I will win this guaranteed," Dolphins1925 wrote as he made his picks. "I know all the winners."

8 College Degrees with the Worst Return on Investment

Salary.com: What's more expensive than going to college? Until recently, the answer was easy: not going to college. Numerous studies over the years have shown that individuals with college degrees significantly out-earn those with high school degrees by $1 million or more over the course of a lifetime.

NFTRW Weekly Top Five

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

Want To Collaborate Better? Work In A Circle

Fast Company | Business + Innovation: Hear ye, hear ye, kings and queens: Research suggests that if you want your knights to work together, you need to sit them at a round table. Why? It's a matter of environment, a new study from two Canadian business schools suggests: If people are sitting in a circle, they're more apt to cooperate, while if they're arranged into rows, they'll become more independent and cutthroat--more of a free-Lancelot, if you would. "The round table approach may work to foster collaboration for corporate boards, at workplace meetings or at restaurants," Quartz reports. "By contrast, those who sit in an angular arrangement--think Donald Trump’s The Apprentice--display more maverick, self-centered attitudes."

Posted by David at 7/25/2013 09:27:00 PM

Amazing Demo of a Water-Repellent Spray You Can Actually Buy

Design for Good | Big Think: "This is a game changer!" says Jim Stinner, the vice president of marketing for Rust-Oleum, the company which manufactures and distributes NeverWet - a spray-on coating that repels water, mud, ice and other liquids. And judging by the demo-video, it really is.

Posted by David at 7/25/2013 09:09:00 PM

Iowa high school cancels performance of The Laramie Project

Gay Star News: A school district in the Midwestern US state of Iowa has canceled a performance of The Laramie Project, a play about the impact of the murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard. Ottumwa High School drama students were prepared to stage Moisés Kaufman's work in the upcoming school year, but district officials denied permission

Posted by David at 7/25/2013 06:02:00 PM

Gaze Inside the Enormous Space Toolbox that Lives on the ISS

gizmodo.com: You never want to be stranded without your tools, especially if you are in the middle of nowhere. And what's middle-of-nowhere-er than the vacuum of space?

Posted by David at 7/24/2013 08:48:00 PM

20th Century Fox Commits to Turning Its Films into Musicals

Stage Directions: 20th Century Fox is planning a major musical move. The film studio has partnered with Broadway producer Kevin McCollum (Motown, Rent, Avenue Q, In the Heights), film producer John Davis (Predator, The Firm, Grumpy Old Men, I Robot, Chronicle) and industry executive Tom McGrath to turn movies from the 20th Century Fox library into musicals for Broadway and touring—and then back into films in their new form. They aim to produce nine musicals based on films in the next “several” years, with McCollumn overseeing day to day operations. Fox has also brought on Isaac Robert Hurwitz, executive director and producer of the New York Musical Theatre Festival, as a consultant to help guide their theatre activities.

Posted by David at 7/24/2013 07:27:00 PM

Want To Collaborate Better? Work In A Circle

Fast Company | Business + Innovation: Hear ye, hear ye, kings and queens: Research suggests that if you want your knights to work together, you need to sit them at a round table. Why? It's a matter of environment, a new study from two Canadian business schools suggests: If people are sitting in a circle, they're more apt to cooperate, while if they're arranged into rows, they'll become more independent and cutthroat--more of a free-Lancelot, if you would. "The round table approach may work to foster collaboration for corporate boards, at workplace meetings or at restaurants," Quartz reports. "By contrast, those who sit in an angular arrangement--think Donald Trump’s The Apprentice--display more maverick, self-centered attitudes."

Setting the Stage for a New Regional Theater

HowlRound: The budding identity of American regional theater is fresh ensembles creating devised work. Restructuring the conventions of traditional venues or reimagining the presentation of performance, these companies, such as Progress Theatre (Houston, TX), New Paradise Laboratories (Philadelphia, PA), Nature Theater of Oklahoma (Long Island City, NY), or Teo Castellanos D-Projects (Miami, FL), are breaking the proscenium and thrusting their work out towards the audience. They’re creating new structures of collaboration, story, casting, touring, outreach, and inreach. Working collaboratively, they have returned to the initial regional theater acting company model, where, as Zelda Fichandler once noted, actors have a home of artists that are rooted in a community. And like Fichandler’s early Arena Stage or Nina Vance’s early Alley Theatre, these new companies—while still being rooted in their respective homes—exchange their work with other communities across the country, and even the world.

Amazing Demo of a Water-Repellent Spray You Can Actually Buy

Design for Good | Big Think: "This is a game changer!" says Jim Stinner, the vice president of marketing for Rust-Oleum, the company which manufactures and distributes NeverWet - a spray-on coating that repels water, mud, ice and other liquids. And judging by the demo-video, it really is.

Goodman Theatre Forms Innovation Group to Meld Theatre and Start-Up Cultures

Stage Directions: The Goodman Theatre has formed a new “Goodman Innovation Group,” designed to unite “top-tier entrepreneurs with young theater leaders in a collective that injects the start-up mentality into the business of the theater.” The Group was started by the Immediate Past Chairman of the Goodman Board Patricia Cox and Genevieve Thiers and aims to: engage young entrepreneurs in the vision, values and programs of Goodman Theatre; create professional development opportunities for the next generation of theater leaders; and identify initiatives emphasizing new technologies and further insights that advance the Goodman’s mission and priorities.

Autodesk 3D Print Utility

Between the Lines: Delicate Arch 3D PrintAutodesk has just released the Autodesk 3D Print Utility (A3DP) for free. You can use this free standalone utility when installing Autodesk’s 123D Design, 123D Make, or 123D Catch and selecting the option to install the standalone 3D Print Utility or go to the 3D Print Utility download page: http://apps.123dapp.com/3dprint/install.html. Make sure to close all applications and save all files before installing the utility. I experienced an installer reboot problem that might have only happened to me, but I wanted to make sure if it wasn't that you were aware. Making sure you close applications and save all files is good advice when installing any applications.

A Beatles Tribute Show Seeks Half the Revenues of Another

NYTimes.com: Many Beatles fans can barely stand to watch the 1970 documentary “Let It Be,” which throws an unwelcome spotlight on the band’s members as they lecture, criticize and ignore one another while recording what would be their final studio album.

Someone Crocheted a Giant Sweater for this Mister Rogers Statue

TwistedSifter: ocated near Heinz Field on the North Shore in Pittsburgh, is a large 10 ft bronze sculpture of Pennsylvania native, Mister Fred Rogers. The statue, created by artist Robert Berks, weighs about 4 tons and was dedicated on November 5, 2009. [Source]

Iowa high school cancels performance of The Laramie Project

Gay Star News: A school district in the Midwestern US state of Iowa has canceled a performance of The Laramie Project, a play about the impact of the murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard. Ottumwa High School drama students were prepared to stage Moisés Kaufman's work in the upcoming school year, but district officials denied permission. - See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/iowa-high-school-cancels-performance-laramie-project130713#sthash.32ZB3Ifw.dpuf

Michael Jackson ONE: Cirque refinds its way

www.cirquefascination.com: On June 29, the top executives of the Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil were here at the theater inside the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, sitting alongside the likes of Justin Bieber, Spike Lee & Neil Patrick Harris, celebrating the opening of “Michael Jackson ONE,” the latest Cirque creation, designed as an evocation of the music & spirit of the late King of Pop.

Robot theater isn’t so much for the actors as the stagehands

hackaday.com: [Chris Rybitski] developed this low-profile robot to help move scenery on stage. The test footage shows it to be spry and able to move hundreds of pounds of cargo. The demo shows the addition of a wooden platform about twice the length of the metal chassis with casters at each end to support the extra weight. It seems to have no problem moving around with the weight of a couple of human passengers on board.

Obituary: Jean-Pierre Nutini / Film gaffer was 'larger than life'

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: To the extent that Pittsburgh has a film bibliography, Jean-Pierre Nutini's name appears on every page. Just look on the international movie database website: He was a crew member on all of the major films, and some minor ones, that have been made here in the past 20 years, from "Lorenzo's Oil" to "Wonder Boys" to "The Dark Knight Rises." But Mr. Nutini, who died July 10 of cancer at age 57 in his Squirrel Hill home, also had another calling: to bring Mexican art and culture to Pittsburghers through Mexico Lindo Y Galeria de Artesanias, a shop on Murray Avenue operated by him and his wife, Lisa DiGioia-Nutini.

Scenes From Vivid Sydney 2013

Architainment content from Live Design Magazine: The Spinifex Group and The Electric Canvas took to the Sydney Opera House sails showcasing a newly commissioned artwork that transported audiences through a playfully projected journey celebrating Vivid Sydney, a festival of lights, music, culture, and more that ran its fifth year from May 24 to June 10.

Gaze Inside the Enormous Space Toolbox that Lives on the ISS

gizmodo.com: You never want to be stranded without your tools, especially if you are in the middle of nowhere. And what's middle-of-nowhere-er than the vacuum of space?

20th Century Fox Commits to Turning Its Films into Musicals

Stage Directions: 20th Century Fox is planning a major musical move. The film studio has partnered with Broadway producer Kevin McCollum (Motown, Rent, Avenue Q, In the Heights), film producer John Davis (Predator, The Firm, Grumpy Old Men, I Robot, Chronicle) and industry executive Tom McGrath to turn movies from the 20th Century Fox library into musicals for Broadway and touring—and then back into films in their new form. They aim to produce nine musicals based on films in the next “several” years, with McCollumn overseeing day to day operations. Fox has also brought on Isaac Robert Hurwitz, executive director and producer of the New York Musical Theatre Festival, as a consultant to help guide their theatre activities.

Five Best Web-Based Video Chat Services

lifehacker.com: If you need a little face time with friends and family that live far away, firing up a video chat has never been easier. These days you don't even need to install an app or download a heavy client—many services let you open a browser and within seconds see your friend's face, no matter where they are in the world. This week we're going to look at five services that give you the best, fastest, and most hassle-free video chatting experience.

20th Century Fox Enlists Help in Bringing Its Properties to the Stage

NYTimes.com: One of the last Hollywood studios without a Broadway division, 20th Century Fox, is diving into the live theater business by teaming with Kevin McCollum, a producer of hits like “Rent,” “Avenue Q” and “Motown.” Mr. McCollum and Fox — along with the film producer John Davis and Tom McGrath, a veteran entertainment executive — announced a joint venture on Thursday to develop a slate of nine to 12 musicals based on Fox films. The shows could go to Broadway or simply tour, either in North America or overseas.

Performance Designers from Across the World Battle to be in Cardiff Showcase

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: Performance designers from across the world are so keen to showcase their work at this September's first UK-hosted edition of World Stage Design that the event's Cardiff-based director says each exhibition slot could have been filled six times over. The event runs September 5-15, 2013. World Stage Design is a 10 day festival celebrating international performance design work via a program of performances, exhibitions, workshops, talks and a competition to design and build an innovative theatre space using sustainable materials.

Footage of Haunted Mansion's Hatbox Ghost finally surfaces after 44 years

Boing Boing: The Hatbox Ghost is the Great White Whale of Disney Haunted Mansion fandom, a remarkable spook-house effect (a ghost holding a hatbox has his head disappear and reappear in the box) that didn't work well in the ride.

The Whisper of the Opaque

Arts & Entertainment - Broadsheet Sydney: Fujiko Nakaya has never understood fog to exist merely in the realms of scientific or climactic phenomena. Having created vast, site-specific fog sculptures since the late 1960s, the veteran artist – who turns 80 this year – frames low-lying moisture as a kind of conduit for communicating nature’s otherwise imperceptible ways.

How To Prepare For A Salary Negotiation: A Check List

99U: Like buying a house or a car, our yearly salary has a massive impact on our financial well-being. As we’ve covered before, even a small raise in the beginning of your career can have an outsize impact on your life-time earnings. Yet we’re never taught how to negotiate.
“This is an opportunity to make thousands of dollars within a few minutes, you have to take advantage,” says Jim Hopkinson author of Salary Tutor: Learn the Salary Negotiation Secrets No One Ever Taught You. Come prepared, he says, and you put yourself leaps and bounds ahead of other candidates.

A robotic tattoo artist

hackaday.com: Here’s something we thought we’d never see: a robot that turns a computer drawing into a tattoo on the user’s arm.
The basic design of the robot is a frame that moves linearly along two axes, and rotates around a third. The tattoo design is imported into a 3D modeling program, and with the help of a few motors and microcontrollers a tattoo can be robotically inked on an arm.

Why does the shadow in this unedited image cast a future action?

io9.com: This image hasn't been photoshopped or digitally altered in any way. So why is the shadow so out of sync with the frisbee thrower's action?

A Zone of Support

HowlRound: Graduate school was intense. I moved three times in four years. At least twice, someone yelled the n-word at me as I walked to (or near) campus. I was broke. While my friends from college were gainfully employed and taking lavish vacations, I was strategizing how to get the most food from fast food “dollar menus.” There were bleak moments. Nevertheless, I mostly enjoyed being a graduate student. A decade later, I look back upon those years with fondness and think, “I’d do it all again.”

When the subsidised visual arts went to Google for the day

Culture professionals network | Guardian Professional: With an idea approaching genius, the Contemporary Visual Arts Network (CVAN) persuaded Google's Cultural Institute to host the last of its series of knowledge sharing events at Google's London headquarters last week. The result was a high-impact juxtaposition between one of the world's most successful companies and the subsidised visual arts sector. It was, to put it bluntly, a collision between rich and poor, private and public sectors, extreme confidence and extreme insecurity.

BA in Professional Make-Believe

HowlRound: “Yeah, but what do you want to do in theater?” I’ve been plagued with that question since I decided to leave the comfort of my quaint Iowan home and head out East to pursue a career in theater. Of course, the question came from extended relatives whose relation to me I wasn’t even sure of, but somehow they knew my choice to do something “artsy” was going to come back and bite me in the ass. The worst part was there was roughly an eighty percent chance that they were right, especially considering I was not sure exactly what I wanted to do with said artsy career.

Survey: Sitting All Day Doesn't Sit Well with Most U.S. Workers

Top Stories | New Equipment Digest: Most U.S. workers sit all day. And make no mistake: They hate it. That's one of the findings of a new survey commissioned by Ergotron Inc., a St. Paul, Minn.-based manufacturer of desk mounts and other office accessories. The survey of 1,000 U.S. workers found that nearly 70 percent of full-time American workers hate sitting—yet 86 percent do it all day, every day. When workers get up from their desks, more than half of them (56 percent) use getting food as an excuse.

Why Support Tells You to Wait 10 Seconds Before Rebooting Your Router

lifehacker.com: We've all heard it before when troubleshooting a router: unplug your router, wait ten seconds, and plug it back in. More often than not, this fixes whatever problem we have. But why is that? Superuser user Phoshi has an explanation.

Elation Helps Transform Nevada Desert Into Fantasy Land Of Music, Magic And Mirth At EDC Las Vegas 2013

Live Design Magazine [primary-term] press release archives: The most recent Electric Daisy Carnival, held in Las Vegas June 21-23, demonstrated once again why this iconic gathering is much more than North America’s largest music festival (of any genre). Featuring some 200 EDM artists on 7 stages, alongside theatrical performers, interactive art exhibits and amusement rides, EDC’s sprawling 1,000-acre Las Vegas Speedway site was transformed into a surrealistic fantasy world with stunning state-of-the-art visual production that made the 3-day event a total immersive entertainment experience for the 345,000-plus fans who attended.

The Paradox of Devised Theater on the Twenty-First Century Stage

HowlRound: For about a year now, my theater company, The Krane, has been working on a piece of devised theater called The Underground. During this period, we have, appropriately, been living in a kind of metaphoric underground bunker of ideas wherein what we are doing, in essence, is building a ladder to the surface of the contemporary stage. This ladder to the surface is complex. Our intent is that, once we come out from our den of creativity, we are able to reach a broad audience, while, at the same time, remaining true to the “underground” nature of the form.

For ‘Smash’ Revival, Ovation Banks on Broadway Fans

Variety: When the off-network run of NBC skein “Smash” launches tonight, the Ovation network will be doing something NBC couldn’t: Banking on Broadway. Differences of scale between Big Four net NBC and smaller basic cabler Ovation make the gambit viable — and make Broadway fans the focus of attention for Ovation in a way they never could be for NBC.

King Kong Goes To Oz

Theatre content from Live Design Magazine: King Kong, a new musical that opened last month in Melbourne, Australia at the Regent Theatre, may have a Broadway run in its future, according to The New York Times. The creative team for the Australian production comprises production designer Peter England, creature designer Sonny Tilders, costume designer Roger Kirk, lighting designer Peter Mumford, sound designer Peter Hylenski, projection designer Frieder Weiss, aerial and circus director Gavin Robins, and puppetry director Peter Wilson.

4 Great Leadership Lessons from the Arts

Inc.com: The Tony Awards for Broadway Theater are Sunday night, showcasing artists across America. As much as people spend money for movies, television, theater and music, why do business experts continue to ignore the incredible leadership teachings that come from the arts?

The Little-Known History of Chuck E. Cheese's Animatronic Theater

Tested: You never knew exactly what was missing from your life, but it was this: a first-hand account of the history of Chuck E. Cheese's, greasy home to a million childhood memories. If you're at all in the know about the history of video games stretching back to the Atari days, you may recall that Atari founder Nolan Bushnell also founded the pizza-and-games-and-animatronic-animals joint. If not, surprise! Chuck E. Cheese's and Atari sprang from the same mind.

Van Halen leads Rock USA lineup

Appleton Post-Crescent | postcrescent.com: Rock USA makes its return this week, adding a fourth day to its lineup for the first time in its three-year run.

Dan Liebhauser, promoter of Rock USA and its sister festival, Country USA, said having a fourth day on the schedule is expected to push attendance beyond 100,000 people this year. Last year, nearly 90,000 people attended the festival, and in its first year, about 70,000 people attended the three-day event.

One-Month Membership and One Class

Amazon Local Pittsburgh: At TechShop, professional tools, quality instruction, and collaborative community spirit come together to set your creativity ablaze. Make dream projects a reality with this deal

7 Tips for a Successful Project from a Successful Project Manager

www.lifehack.org: I’m Simon and I’m an Account Executive at Higher Click. Previously, I worked for one of the biggest insurance companies in the world. My current position is between a purely managerial role and that of an executive, so I’m involved in quite a lot of project management. This article will summarize all that I’ve learned over the years.

Thanks For The Memories: A Good-Bye Message From Rosco’s Executive Vice President

Theatre content from Live Design Magazine: Remember Bob Hope’s theme song “Thanks For The Memories?" That’s the thought that runs through my mind as my retirement from Rosco approaches. I’ve been associated with the company for some 35 years. And I hope everyone reading this has as much delight in their careers as I have had in mine.