#NFTRW Weekly Podcast

This week's articles:

1. Why You Love That Ikea Table, Even If It's Crooked
2. How do I Get Over My Bad Habit of Procrastinating?
3. Cause of Super Bowl blackout was installed to prevent Super Bowl blackout
4. Campaign Launched To Stop School From Claiming Copyright On Student Work
5. San Francisco's Bay Bridge Is About To Become The World's Largest Light Sculpture
6. Robert Wilson's Theatrical Universe
7. Marianne Elliott: 'Why do something that's run of the mill?'
8. Can a play with a mentally challenged cast be reviewed by critics in the standard way?
9. Wing News (February 2013)
10. Judge rules that it's illegal to sell custom Batmobiles because the Batmobile is itself a fictional character

Featuring:Dale, Lauren, Matt, & Margo

NFTRW Weekly Top Five

Here are the top five comment generating posts of the last week (student comments at the link indicated):

The Keys to Higher Productivity? More Sleep, More Breaks, Less Time Doing Work

Top Stories | New Equipment Digest: If you're working harder and putting in longer hours, and you're still struggling to get everything done, Tony Schwartz has a message for you. You can get more work done by devoting more time to doing less.

Posted by David at 2/23/2013 05:27:00 PM-- 16 Comments Here

25 Years Strong, 'Phantom Of The Opera' Kills And Kills Again

NPR: The longest-running Broadway musical ever, Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, celebrated Saturday another milestone: its 25th anniversary. When it all started Jan. 26, 1988, Ronald Reagan was president of the United States, a gallon of gas cost about 90 cents and a ticket to The Phantom of the Opera was a whopping $50. It was the hottest ticket in town.

Posted by David at 2/23/2013 05:49:00 PM-- 11 Comments Here

Live Sound: Putting Safety First In Live Sound

Pro Sound Web: We don’t often think of concert and event production as being a dangerous profession, but far too many accidents and injuries - and sometimes even deaths - occur each year in our chosen profession. Most of these accidents are caused by human error and can be avoided if we simply pay attention to what we’re doing and follow basic safety rules.

Posted by David at 2/24/2013 05:28:00 PM-- 10 Comments Here

Relax! You’ll Be More Productive

NYTimes.com: THINK for a moment about your typical workday. Do you wake up tired? Check your e-mail before you get out of bed? Skip breakfast or grab something on the run that’s not particularly nutritious? Rarely get away from your desk for lunch? Run from meeting to meeting with no time in between? Find it nearly impossible to keep up with the volume of e-mail you receive? Leave work later than you’d like, and still feel compelled to check e-mail in the evenings?

Posted by David at 2/23/2013 04:16:00 PM-- 10 Comments Here

Carrie Underwood dress lights up Grammys

TODAY Entertainment: As Carrie Underwood took the stage to sing "Two Black Cadillacs" on Sunday night, Grammy fans noticed something strange was happening to her dress: the seemingly white gown started to light up with a variety of holographic patterns.

Posted by David at 2/19/2013 03:59:00 PM-- 10 Comments Here

Scandals Scare At Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet

NPR: It's a story right out of the movies: The artistic director of one of the most prestigious ballet companies in the world is violently attacked. His attacker and the motive are shrouded in mystery. But behind these sensational headlines is a ballet company that is both legendary and plagued with scandals and infighting. Last month in Moscow, Sergei Filin, the Bolshoi Ballet's artistic director, was attacked by a masked man who threw acid in his face, causing severe burns and nearly blinding him. Filin, a handsome, 42-year-old former principal dancer, has been with the company since he was a teenager. He was attacked one night as he was returning home, says New York Times Moscow correspondent Ellen Barry, who has been covering the story.

As 3-D Printing Becomes More Accessible, Copyright Questions Arise

All Tech Considered : NPR: Many people think 3-D printing could help spark a manufacturing renaissance in the U.S. — even President Obama highlighted this technology in his State of the Union address last week. But as 3-D printers and 3-D scanners get cheaper, this nascent industry could be roiled by battles over intellectual property. Not so long ago, a good 3-D scanner that could create accurate digital models of objects in the real world cost more than $10,000. Then, Microsoft released the Kinect — the video game controller that allows you to play games by just waving your hands.

Live Sound: Putting Safety First In Live Sound

Pro Sound Web: We don’t often think of concert and event production as being a dangerous profession, but far too many accidents and injuries - and sometimes even deaths - occur each year in our chosen profession. Most of these accidents are caused by human error and can be avoided if we simply pay attention to what we’re doing and follow basic safety rules.

The Stagehand Chronicles: Your Love Is On Fire

BAM 150: In honor of Valentine's Day, we met with couple Ginger and Bill Horton, two of BAM's resident stagehands, who are both trained pyrotechnicians. They most recently worked as pyrotechnicians for Sō Percussion's Where (we) Live at the BAM Harvey Theater. Bill began working at BAM in 1982, and Ginger began working here in 1988 (she left a few years later, and returned to BAM in 2003). They met on Ginger's first day working here, and began dating two weeks later. They have been together for 25 years, and have been married for 22.

Driving Compliance with Material Safety Data Sheets

OSHA content from EHS Today: Material safety data sheets (MSDSs) are the cornerstone of compliance for a number of OSHA and EPA standards. Yet, as notorious as they are among safety professionals, some argue that MSDSs remain regrettably underutilized.

Carnegie Mellon analysis shows online songwriters seek collaborators with complementary skills

Science Codex: A musical collaboration, be it Rodgers and Hammerstein or Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, requires a mix of shared and complementary traits that is not always obvious. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University discovered elements of this unique chemistry by using an automated technique to analyze an online songwriting community. Based on four years of data collected though an international songwriting challenge called February Album Writing Month, or FAWM, the Carnegie Mellon team found that common interests or skills do not cause collaborators to seek each other out. The researchers found, for instance, that two people were actually less likely to collaborate if they liked the same songs. More likely would be a writer in one genre seeking out a collaboration with someone who works in a less familiar genre.

Grammys 2013: Circus Looks, Dress Projections, Tributes and More

PLSN: Honoring musical genres ranging from rock to hip hop, Latin, folk, pop, jazz and electronica, the 2013 Grammy Awards also featured a diverse array of visuals, with memorable looks including Taylor Swift’s carnival-themed wonderland and video twists including Carrie Underwood’s video-mapped dress and immersive LED for Frank Ocean’s performance of “Forrest Gump.”

Squeezing One More in Fashion’s Front Row

NYTimes.com: Getting a front-row seat during New York Fashion Week offers attendees the chance to be photographed by paparazzi before the show begins, to actually see the clothes on the models as they strut by, and to exchange a self-congratulatory glance with Anna Wintour (even if that glance goes unacknowledged by the Vogue editor).

‘Caesar Must Die,’ by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani

NYTimes.com: It’s easy to imagine that the performers in “Caesar Must Die,” a riff on Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” are cut from coarser, more authentic material than that found in most productions. The movie, after all, is set in an Italian prison and cast almost entirely with real inmates. The prisoners’ rough faces and darting eyes, the crooked arc of one man’s nose and the unnervingly sly line of another’s smile, suggest so much (murder most foul, to borrow a line), as do the occasional shivery biographical asides, particularly about the mafia, that jostle alongside the play’s poetry. These men, surely, know about betrayal, vengeance and power,knife in the gut and hands washed in blood.

Introducing Autodesk FormIt

YouTube: Introducing Autodesk FormIt. the 1st Architectural Form Modeler for the iPad. FormIt is an intuitive, easy to use mass modeling application helping designers make informed decisions while accessing site & climate data. The building and site aware app allows designers to sketch proposed design options that can be compared with program requirements and then shared with the project team for continued collaboration through Autodesk® 360.

J-O-B PM

The Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies seeks a Production Manager to organize, supervise, and coordinate all TDPS productions. This position incorporates both administrative and academic responsibilities including budget development, planning and contracting for up to 15 productions annually in three performing spaces, staff supervision, and oversight of students as designers, cast and crew.  May teach stage management. For further information on TDPS see: tdps.berkeley.edu.

Qualifications: BA or BFA in related area and/or equivalent experience/training, and graduate degree and/or extensive professional experience in theater and/or dance production with specific emphasis in theater management and production management. Knowledge of practices of theatre/dance in higher education preferred, though not required. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills; spread sheet and database competence.

25 Years Strong, 'Phantom Of The Opera' Kills And Kills Again

NPR: The longest-running Broadway musical ever, Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, celebrated Saturday another milestone: its 25th anniversary. When it all started Jan. 26, 1988, Ronald Reagan was president of the United States, a gallon of gas cost about 90 cents and a ticket to The Phantom of the Opera was a whopping $50. It was the hottest ticket in town.

Strictly FX At The Super Bowl XLVII Pepsi Halftime Show

livedesignonline.com: Special effects provider Strictly FX of Chicago, IL, was an integral part of the Super Bowl XLVII Halftime Show, working closely with executive producer Ricky Kirshner of RK Productions, and production designer Bruce Rodgers of Tribe Design. “For this one, I think we were able to give them a lot more ideas than they were given in the past—they were accustomed to dealing with firms that only did pyro. We do all the effects—not just pyro—we can provide flame effects, CO2 effects and lasers. We’re also able to visualize our concepts, show them renders, as well as show them animations of all our cues,” notes partner and effects designer Mark Grega of Strictly FX.

The Keys to Higher Productivity? More Sleep, More Breaks, Less Time Doing Work

Top Stories | New Equipment Digest: If you're working harder and putting in longer hours, and you're still struggling to get everything done, Tony Schwartz has a message for you. You can get more work done by devoting more time to doing less.

Relax! You’ll Be More Productive

NYTimes.com: THINK for a moment about your typical workday. Do you wake up tired? Check your e-mail before you get out of bed? Skip breakfast or grab something on the run that’s not particularly nutritious? Rarely get away from your desk for lunch? Run from meeting to meeting with no time in between? Find it nearly impossible to keep up with the volume of e-mail you receive? Leave work later than you’d like, and still feel compelled to check e-mail in the evenings?

OSHA’s Warning on Safety Incentive Programs Are Wide of the Mark

OSHA content from EHS Today: Some good-faith efforts by employers to motivate employees to work safely are running afoul of OSHA, which believes that rewards like a pizza party to celebrate a safety milestone actually may provide a disincentive for employees to report injuries. However, in an attempt to clarify its position, OSHA has cast a net that is too wide and only will lead to confusion over how a company may use incentives to motivate workers. I am not in any way suggesting that companies cover up injuries or punish employees who report them. Nor do I believe that safety incentive programs really work. (More on that in a bit.) But companies that choose to use those programs in good faith deserve better guidance from OSHA.

Carnegie Mellon seeks up to triple damages in Marvell patent case

Reuters: Carnegie Mellon University is asking a court to make Marvell Technology Group Ltd pay up to three times the $1.17 billion jury verdict that the chipmaker was ordered to pay in December for patent infringement. The university filed papers Monday in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, saying Marvell knew it was using Carnegie Mellon patents wrongfully and should pay up to triple damages as a result. Carnegie Mellon also is seeking $321 million in pre-judgment interest.

Epic Production Technologies Scales Back

PLSN: Epic Production Technologies, once a major North American provider of concert and theatrical lighting and staging for Billy Joel, Elton John, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Green Day, The Lion King and Phantom of the Opera, appears to have sharply scaled back its operations. Press reports noted layoffs at company locations in Winnipeg and Burnaby Canada and in Oxnard, CA. Senior executives including Marc Raymond, Ted Fowler and Brian Konechny are also reportedly no longer working for the company.