NFTRW Weekly Top Five

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

Why Standing Ovations Have Lost Their Meaning in Theater

onstagepittsburgh.com: I’m a theater-goer from the 20th century, when standing ovations were a rare occurrence. Then, a smattering of claps greeted an overlong or frankly boring effort, and a spontaneous burst of applause graced a production that managed to entertain and even deliver a morsel of truth to chew on, but no one received a standing ovation unless an audience was brought spontaneously to its feet. Now, standing ovations happen at every production that I attend, anywhere, Broadway included. Standing O’s have become meaningless.

How Artists Are Keeping 'The Lost Art' of Neon Signs Alive

www.404media.co: Next to technicolor neon signs featuring Road Runner, an inspirational phrase that says “everything will be fucking amazing,” and a weed leaf, Geovany Alvarado points to a neon sign he’s particularly proud of: “The Lost and Found Art,” it says.

Did Ancient Egyptians Build the Great Pyramid With a Hidden Pulley System?

news.artnet.com: The Great Pyramid of Giza—the largest of Egypt’s pyramids—consists of about 2.3 million limestone blocks. The smallest of these weigh two tons, while the largest weigh over 60. History says laborers built this monumental tomb in 20 years. That means a block got laid every minute. How did they do it? Everyone wants to know.

‘Cats’ Is Returning to Broadway, This Time With Heels Instead of Paws

The New York Times: “Cats,” the loved-and-loathed Andrew Lloyd Webber musical about, well, cats, is returning to Broadway with an all-new taxonomy. The show, originally set in a junkyard and featuring actors padding around in cat costumes, now has human characters who are cats only in the slang sense. This version is set in the underground ballroom scene, a queer subculture built around dance competitions.

Mr Squiggle, Blackboard and Gus the Snail: inside the wonderful world of puppet-maker Norman Hetherington

Television & radio | The Guardian: Norman Hetherington’s love of drawing and puppets came together when he created Mr Squiggle, the ‘man from the moon’ with a pencil for a nose. His impatient sidekick was Blackboard: ‘Hurr-ry up!’