Worth a Look

This week there were EIGHTEEN articles on the Greenpage I thought might be worth your time, and FWIW the kids did decent picks this week too.  Here are a couple in a similar vein, but (although I rarely say this) you might just want to check out the site this week...

What Can Theatre Do? A Post-Election Colloquy

AMERICAN THEATRE: "Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are," Brecht once wrote. We asked a wide cross section of the nation's playwrights and artistic directors—those who write plays and those who program them—how they are planning or intending to respond to the election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency as theatre artists and leaders, and what they think theatre can do to shape and direct the national conversation.

Posted by David at 11/30/2016 01:18:00 PM

What Can Theatre Do? A Post-Election Colloquy, Part 2

AMERICAN THEATRE: We received so many substantive responses to our field-wide query of playwrights and artistic directors about their response to the recent election that we made this a two-part effort. The questions we asked them all were: What are you hoping or intending to do in response to the election? And what can theatre do to shape or direct the national conversation?

Posted by David at 12/02/2016 02:54:00 PM

In wake of the election, Chicago's theater leaders ponder: What now?

Chicago Tribune: What will the role of theater be in the age of Donald Trump? Following the election earlier this month, free hugs were offered, potlucks were held and doors were opened at Chicago theaters. A few companies gave out free tickets to weekend performances. And all the shows have continued to go on.

The Tribune asked a number of theater artistic directors what the responsibilities of creative communities will be in a nation that will soon be headed by a man who created a Twitter storm demanding an apology from the performers in the Broadway production of "Hamilton" after a curtain speech directed to Vice President-elect Mike Pence. All interviews have been edited and condensed.

Posted by David at 12/01/2016 03:57:00 PM

Washington is in line for a huge shipment of political theater

The Washington Post: In its guise as a company town, Washington is the nation’s hub for lawmaking, rulemaking and policymaking. Now, Arena Stage is mounting a major effort to make plays about all those things that Washington has been making.

Arena’s artistic director, Molly Smith, announced Tuesday that the organization will devote a considerable chunk of its energies over the next 10 years to commissioning and, in many cases, producing new works that focus on the ideas and people shaping American policy and politics.

Posted by David at 12/01/2016 03:55:00 PM

Art is not an escape — it’s our most powerful weapon against apathy

Salon.com: The opening passage in Zadie Smith’s brilliant new novel, “Swing Time,” deals with two mysteries. First, the protagonist is wrestling with despair and distress from some public defeat and humiliation, unknown to the reader. Acting as an invitation, the assumption is that should the reader continue reading, eventually the details of whatever scandal has harmed her reputation will emerge. The second mystery is one of beauty, and forever insolvable. It is mystery of the power of art.

Posted by David at 11/28/2016 01:40:00 PM

Worth a Look

Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...

American Theatre Artists: Don’t Throw Away Your Shot

AMERICAN THEATRE: On Friday night, Vice President-Elect Mike Pence walked into the Richard Rodgers Theatre for a performance of Hamilton and was booed by the audience. These were the boos heard round the world, including by President-Elect Donald Trump, who tweeted multiple times about the incident

Posted by David at 11/23/2016 12:00:00 PM

“Pop!”-Up Theater Extends Venues and Audience Experiences

urban excavations: “I wanted people to just be able to happen upon it and see something weird and go: what was that?” Dramaturg Kelly Kerwin reflected recently on her temporary “pop up” performance festival. POP! comes at a pivotal career stage, and was funded by the Bly Creative Capacity Grant, a two-year-old initiative hosted by the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas.

Posted by David at 11/21/2016 01:18:00 PM

ACTRA Backs SAG-AFTRA Video Game Strike

Variety: The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists has backed SAG-AFTRA’s month-long strike against video game companies. “All of ACTRA’s 23,000 members from across Canada stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers at SAG-AFTRA as they take job action until they can negotiate a reasonable deal for their Interactive Media Agreement,” said ACTRA President Ferne Downey in a statement issued Tuesday

Posted by David at 11/25/2016 12:00:00 PM

Judge Allows Bid to Free "We Shall Overcome" From Copyright

Hollywood Reporter: A group of plaintiffs have overcome the first major hurdle in a lawsuit that aims to establish that the unofficial anthem to the Civil Rights Movement is not really under copyright protection. On Monday, a New York federal judge rejected a publisher's bid to dismiss, ruling that the plaintiffs have plausibly alleged that lyrics in the first verse of "We Shall Overcome" were copied from material in the public domain and that there's been a fraud on the U.S. Copyright Office.

Posted by David at 11/23/2016 12:00:00 PM

A New Model of Female Producers: The WP Lab

HowlRound: We are the five producers of the 2014–2016 WP Lab, a two-year residency offered by WP Theater (formerly known as Women’s Project Theater) in New York to 15 female-identifying playwrights, directors, and producers. The Lab was established in 1983 for directors; it expanded to include playwrights in 1994 and again for producers in 2006. It provides professional and artistic development through mentorship, networking among Lab members and within the larger theater community, entrepreneurial and leadership training—and perhaps most importantly—tangible resources for the development and production of bold new work for the stage.

Posted by David at 11/21/2016 01:11:00 PM

Worth a Look

Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...

'There's a real humiliation I feel': the struggle for fair wages off-Broadway

Stage | The Guardian: For many of us, there’s a time before you know the amount actors are being paid to perform off-Broadway, and then there’s the time after. The first, more innocent life is full of breezy trips to wonderful shows, the occasional standing ovation, a flush of pleasure when an old favorite wins an award. How happy everyone is at the curtain call! How delighted we all are to have come together for art, for entertainment, for something beautiful!

Your life after is a bit less breezy. I remember when someone first told me that actors in a show I had seen were taking home less than $500 a week. These were the bright lights of the theatre; I was at a prestigious venue; I had paid more than $100 to be there. What the hell?

Posted by David at 11/15/2016 03:27:00 PM

Calling Out Arts Organizations: This is Our Fault

Clyde Fitch Report: Here is a quote:

The world is a complicated place, and there’s a lot of division between people. The performing arts tend to unify people in a way nothing else does.

I understand that blame is rarely a productive place to start. Casting aspersions is easy compared to doing the actual work. I also recognize that there is a difference between casting blame and taking ownership. I’m unsure how to get us to do the latter without also doing the former. And productivity will be what I do next week. But right here and right now there is a point I can’t shake:

I blame nonprofit and regional theaters for the election of President Trump.

Posted by David at 11/14/2016 06:10:00 PM

Pregnancy Prompted Closing of ‘Shuffle Along.’ Should Insurance Pay?

The New York Times: Audra McDonald’s pregnancy was a surprise. But was it an accident, an illness or neither?

That is the question the producers of the Broadway musical “Shuffle Along” are asking a court to decide as it demands that an insurance company, Lloyd’s of London, compensate the show for what it says were more than $12 million in damages. The show closed in July, four months after performances began, when Ms. McDonald, who was 45 at the time, became pregnant, and the producers decided they could not continue once she went on maternity leave.

Posted by David at 11/17/2016 01:44:00 PM

This Disney Drone Light Show Looks Like a Beautiful Alien Invasion

sploid.gizmodo.com: Drones are all the rage, but Disney has taken it to the next level with this synchronized drone light show. Disney was given special permission earlier this month from the Federal Aviation Administration to use drones in its theme parks. I guess we finally know what it was for.

Posted by David at 11/16/2016 06:31:00 PM

Harry Potter Kept A Quarter Of The U.K.’s Top Actors Paid

FiveThirtyEight: Harry Potter is of the most consequential cultural phenomena in the history of pop culture. It catapulted several 12-year-olds into international stardom.1 It made an indelible mark on the history of the international box office by proving that franchises could be longer than trilogies and still be highly rated international box-office smashes. It launched a franchise — the stock-juicing, legacy-setting, empire-building fuel that keeps a studio relevant these days — for Warner Brothers. It is singlehandedly responsible for people across the Eastern Seaboard saying, “Let’s go to Orlando’s Islands of Adventure.” It paid dozens of British actors’ rents for a decade.

Posted by David at 11/15/2016 06:14:00 PM 

Bonus Article:

Tony Awards, Carnegie Mellon Open Submissions for Theatre Education Award

www.cmu.edu/news: The Tony Awards and Carnegie Mellon University will recognize a deserving teacher with the “Excellence in Theatre Education Award” for the third year in a row.

Now through Feb. 10, 2017, submissions are accepted online for K-12 theatre educators at an accredited institution or recognized community theatre organization. Anyone — from students and school administrators, to friends, neighbors and family — can submit a worthy teacher for consideration. He or she must be a teacher whose position is dedicated to and/or includes aspects of theatre education. Submissions can be made at www.TonyAwards.com/EducationAward.

Posted by David at 11/16/2016 06:25:00 PM

Worth a Look

Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...

Guns Onstage are a Model for Guns Offstage

HowlRound: If we told artists they could not have guns onstage or in movies, they would be furious at such an egregious suppression of the freedom of speech and expression. Imagine Annie Get Your Gun without guns. How would Annie come to the realization, “You Can’t Get a Man With a Gun,” as she sings in Act I? In Chicago, Roxie Hart can’t reinvent her story if she can’t show how “We Both Reached for the Gun.” Playwrights as diverse as Henrik Ibsen, Arthur Miller, and Suzan-Lori Parks all include guns onstage. Guns have a place onstage and in the movies without a doubt; however, the performance industry strictly regulates firearms.

Posted by David at 11/08/2016 03:38:00 PM

Special Report: Where Things Stand

Pro Sound Web: The much-discussed auction of the 600 MHz frequency band is happening in the U.S., and it may well affect present wireless systems as well as related issues such as frequency planning/coordination.

It’s important for everyone who works with creating the content that will stream on the mobile devices when the spectrum is cleared to understand the present situation and to be planning for the transition to different frequency bands.

Posted by David at 11/08/2016 03:41:00 PM

An Animator's Quest for Better Female Characters

The Mary Sue: Astrid should have been chief in How to Train Your Dragon 2.

If you’d been at DreamWorks Animation during the making of that movie, you might have heard that in the hallways–as I would excitedly start ranting about it to almost anyone who’d listen.

I worked there from 2009 to 2014 as an effects animator: about the farthest one could get from making creative decisions. And while making water break the laws of physics was creative work, I wasn’t exactly calling the shots.

But I did get to send in notes. And oh, did I send in notes.

Posted by David at 11/07/2016 01:23:00 PM

Hollywood Studios Beat Lawsuit Over PG and PG-13 Films Featuring Smoking

Hollywood Reporter: The Motion Picture Association of America and the National Association of Theatre Owners have come out victorious in a lawsuit that insisted that tobacco imagery in films rated G, PG or PG-13 causes 200,000 children every year to become cigarette smokers and 64,000 people to die as a result. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg dismissed an attempt led by a California father of two to hold major film studios and theater owners legally responsible.

Posted by David at 11/11/2016 02:48:00 PM

‘Lawrence of Arabia’ Editor Anne Coates on Why So Many Great Editors Are Female

Variety: At venerable Pinewood Studios west of London, a fledgling Anne Coates hoped editing experience would serve as a stepping stone to directing. No surprise, the industry proved even more resistant back in the 1950s to female occupants of the canvas chair than today.

But the cutting room has always welcomed a woman’s firm hand, whether old school “cutting neg” or manipulating top-of-the-line digital equipment. The would-be helmer soon became a celebrated doyenne of the world editing community, subject of academic analysis of the “Anne Coates style,” a concept about which she claims to have no clue.

Posted by David at 11/11/2016 02:52:00 PM

Worth a Look

Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...

Accord Reached in Battle Over ‘The Great Comet’

The New York Times: An uneasy peace has broken out on West 45th Street.

The unusually ugly who-gets-how-much-credit-for-a-big-Broadway-musical battle was officially resolved on Wednesday, when the commercial producers of “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812” agreed to revise the show’s Playbill to give more specific credit to Ars Nova, the nonprofit theater that commissioned the show.

Posted by David at 11/02/2016 05:40:00 PM

SAG-AFTRA Draws Hundreds to Warner Bros. Strike Picket

Variety: SAG-AFTRA drew several hundred supporters to picket Warner Bros. in Burbank, California, for Thursday, the second demonstration since the performers union went on strike against video game companies on Oct. 21.

The union drew more than 100 supporters on Oct. 24 at Electronic Arts in Playa del Rey, California, to back the strike. SAG-AFTRA launched the strike by voice actors against EA, Warner Bros., and nine other video game makers after negotiations cratered over the key issues of secondary compensation (residuals) and transparency for voice actors — meaning that the union wants companies to stop being able to hire without identifying the game.

Posted by David at 11/04/2016 02:54:00 PM

Mila Kunis Pens Essay Blasting Gender Bias

The Mary Sue: Mila Kunis is done with the objectifying, sexist bull-hickey in Hollywood. Kunis posted an essay on Medium titled, “You’ll Never Work In This Town Again…” The title references a threat she received after refusing to pose semi-naked on the cover of a magazine for film promotion. The actress says this was the first time she had said “no” in her career and, as we know, she did “work in this town again, and again, and again.”

Posted by David at 11/03/2016 04:43:00 PM

Here's What Happened When an Actor Tried to Publicize a Racist Casting Call

jezebel.com: Hollywood is in the business of representation. Actors pretend to be others, directors control artistic images, PR departments manage their clients’ images, and agents—if Entourage’s totally convincing portrayals are to be believed—claw each others’ eyes out to represent actors. But Hollywood also fairly regularly fails to represent the lives and the interests of anyone who is not a straight cis white man, most visibly, in casting notices and choices.

Posted by David at 11/03/2016 04:40:00 PM

The NHRA vs The IATSE

Racing Junkie: What is the IATSE? It stands for...International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees. They include, but are not limited to...(as the above photo shows) Cameramen, Audio, and Visual people for the, TV and Film industry.


And they have alleged, to the National Labor Relations Board, that the NHRA is trying to block Union representation, of the NHRA TV production Employees. They have also, asked the NLRB to, oversee a secret ballot, of the NHRA Crew Members, to elect, Union Representatives to negotiate with the NHRA.

Posted by David at 11/04/2016 03:04:00 PM

Worth a look

Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...

Three Words Lead to a Battle Over ‘Great Comet’ on Broadway

The New York Times: Five years ago, the small nonprofit theater company Ars Nova commissioned an up-and-coming composer to write his wacky dream project, a musical adaptation of one dramatic section of “War and Peace.”

On Tuesday night, that musical, “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812,” now a $14 million show starring the best-selling recording artist Josh Groban, had its first preview performance at the Imperial Theater — a major moment for Ars Nova, which has never before seen a project it birthed transfer to Broadway.

But the leadership of Ars Nova was not allowed to be there.

Posted by David at 10/27/2016 03:44:00 PM

AFL-CIO Backs SAG-AFTRA Strike Against Video Game Companies

Variety: AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has issued a strong statement of support for the six-day-old SAG-AFTRA voice actors strike against video game companies.

“The AFL-CIO stands in solidarity with the SAG-AFTRA voice-over and motion-capture performers who are on strike after failed negotiations with eleven video game employers,” Trumka said. “Performers deserve a modern contract that offers the protections necessary to work in today’s video game industry.”

Posted by David at 10/28/2016 02:34:00 PM

‘Midnight Rider’ Filmmakers Fault CSX in Lawsuit with Insurer

Variety: Film Allman, the production company behind “Midnight Rider,” is faulting CSX Corp. for failing to slow a train that plowed through the set of the movie on Feb. 20, 2014, killing camera assistant Sarah Jones and injuring eight others.

The company, owned by director Randall Miller and producer Jody Savin, are making the claims as part of its lawsuit against New York Marine, the insurer which is refusing to pay for losses on the grounds that they were incurred as a result of a criminal act.

Posted by David at 10/26/2016 05:16:00 PM

The haunted hotel that breeds engineers 

Technology: The Gravesend Inn: A Haunted Hotel is an attraction built every year by entertainment technology students at CUNY in Brooklyn, NY. Instead of scaring the audience, it's meant to inspire high school students to go to college and study technology.

Posted by David at 10/26/2016 05:28:00 PM

Shakespeare's 'Henry VI': Christopher Marlowe Officially Credited As Co-Author

The Two-Way : NPR: Oxford University Press has announced that its new edition of the complete works of William Shakespeare will credit Christopher Marlowe as a co-author on the three Henry VI plays.

Despite years of controversy about the authorship of some of Shakespeare's work, this is the first time a major publishing house has formally named Marlowe as a co-author.

Posted by David at 10/25/2016 05:41:00 PM

Worth A Look

Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...

‘Midnight Rider’ Filmmakers Cite New Evidence to Bolster Case

Variety: “Midnight Rider” director Randall Miller and producer Jody Savin’s Film Allman are pointing to a newly discovered email to show that they were not expressly denied permission to shoot on a CSX trestle on Feb. 20, 2014, when a train plowed through their shooting location and killed a camera assistant, Sarah Jones, and injured eight others.

Posted by David at 10/20/2016 04:32:00 PM

Hollywood Takes on Fan Fiction

Reason.com In 1974 a carpet layer from Michigan spent $2,000 to build a replica of the Starship Enterprise bridge and made Paragon's Paragon, one of the first serious Star Trek fan movies. In 1985, a fan convinced George Takei, who played Sulu on the original series, to reprise the role in Yorktown: A Time to Heal. In subsequent years, putting original cast members in fan productions became increasingly common, with Walter Koenig (Chekov) and Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) starring in the feature-length Star Trek: Of Gods and Men in 2007. For decades these efforts were largely welcome.

Posted by David at 10/21/2016 10:48:00 AM

Computers Are Learning To Write Songs By Listening To All Of Them

Fast Company | Business + Innovation: In May, Google research scientist Douglas Eck left his Silicon Valley office to spend a few days at Moogfest, a gathering for music, art, and technology enthusiasts deep in North Carolina's Smoky Mountains. Eck told the festival's music-savvy attendees about his team’s new ideas about how to teach computers to help musicians write music—generate harmonies, create transitions in a song, and elaborate on a recurring theme. Someday, the machine could learn to write a song all on its own.

Posted by David at 10/18/2016 12:37:00 PM

'Trump-Emboldened,' 'Racist' Crowds Feed An Exodus At The Second City In Chicago

Chicagoist: At least four performers and three members of management have exited famed improv institution The Second City within the last several day—in part due to racist remarks made by audiences who feel bolstered by Donald Trump’s rhetoric, some involved parties said.

Former ETC player Peter Kim, 33, confirmed his departure with WBBM on Thursday.

“I really think [Trump] gave people carte blanche to act and behave hateful,” he told CBS Chicago.

Posted by David at 10/17/2016 10:08:00 AM

Podcast: Technology’s Role in Inclusivity and Accessibility In The Arts

AMT Lab @ CMU: Art is for everyone. At least, it should be. Across the country, arts organizations are thinking more and more about what they can be doing to make sure their art and spaces are accessible for all types of people, including the physically and mentally disabled. Many of them are employing technology in order to do so. The use of audio guides, sensory friendly performances and beacons are increasingly becoming the norm in the arts. There are a select few arts institutions leading the way towards inclusivity, many of them led at some point by Danielle Linzer.

Posted by David at 10/17/2016 10:06:00 AM

Worth A Look

Here are a few posts from last week's* Greenpage that might be worth your time...

How Chicago became world premiere capital

Crain's Chicago Business: Between now and Christmas, Chicago will host more than 30 world premiere plays. From major multimillion-dollar powerhouses to the postage-stamp off-off-off-Loop stages, the city is basically one big theatrical petri dish.

This year is an especially robust one, but every year hundreds of artists take to Chicago's stages in hopes of launching the next “Spamalot” or “August: Osage County.” The million-dollar question: What makes Chicago a magnet for unknown plays? The short answer is that money goes further here, audiences are more welcoming, critics are less powerful and the talent bench is deep.

Posted by David at 10/14/2016 02:29:00 PM

To bring film and TV back to Philly, crew workers want own union local

www.philly.com: As film and television projects have disappeared from the Philadelphia region this year, area crew workers are largely blaming the self-interests of a New York union and want to start a Southeastern Pennsylvania branch to revive the industry here.

The newly formed Coalition of Philly Crew is made up of about 50 nonunion technical workers who say they have been denied membership in the Queens-based local of a powerful union that supplies labor for motion picture and TV productions.

Posted by David at 10/13/2016 05:10:00 PM

Event Safety Alliance | Event Safety For All Initiative

LDI 2016 | Business & People News content from Live Design: From the earliest days of the organization, these four words have guided the actions of the Event Safety Alliance (ESA). Whether it’s the development of guidelines, training opportunities, or advocacy, ESA is committed to ensuring the outcomes are relevant and accessible to everyone within the live event industry. In this spirit, the Event Safety Alliance has launched the Event Safety For All initiative, a broad series of changes to core programs designed to make active participation in the Event Safety Alliance accessible to everyone.

Posted by David at 10/13/2016 02:53:00 PM

US Navy Adopts ESTA Standards

Lighting&Sound America Online - News: The June 2016 edition of NAVFAC P-307, a publication of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Navy Crane Center Weight Handling Program Management, has a new section 13 entitled "Entertainment Hoists." The section calls out hoists systems identified in their equipment history files as being "entertainment hoists" and conforming to the design and manufacturing requirements in ANSI E1.6 as being different from hoists and cranes used for material handling and construction, and therefore being subject to different rules for their use and maintenance. Those rules include being maintained and operated in accordance with the ANSI E1.6 standards and the OEM recommendations.

Posted by David at 10/12/2016 06:51:00 PM

Lez Brotherston: admin jobs have taken toll on technical theatre

www.thestage.co.uk: Designer Lez Brotherston has criticised theatres for neglecting the importance of design and technical teams, claiming the "core backbone of producing theatre is disappearing".

Brotherston said that while full-time technical posts in theatres have reduced, the number of staff in administration and management roles was increasing.

Posted by David at 10/12/2016 06:31:00 PM  

*I appear to have fallen a little behind. 

Worth A Look

Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...

The Case for Hiring Asian American Directors

HowlRound: I recently reread August Wilson's 1990 essay “I Want A Black Director!” and found myself compelled by his argument: “I declined a white director not on the basis of race but on the basis of culture. White directors are not qualified for the job. The job requires someone who shares the specifics of the culture of black Americans.” As an Asian American director who longs to direct more Asian American plays, I've found myself wishing someone within my community would make a similar argument. I recently realized: I guess that person has to be me.

Posted by David at 10/03/2016 01:43:00 PM

NEA Warns Against Scam Artists

Stage Directions: The NEA is warning theatre companies of a scam that attempts to defraud them (and other arts orgs) through false grant notifications via Facebook. The perpetrators claim to be NEA employees who need seed money from an account to release grant funds. This is a scam. The NEA never notifies individuals or organizations about grants through Facebook; nor do they request money before releasing grant funds.

Posted by David at 10/05/2016 05:38:00 PM

Arduino on Arduino battle ends in reconciliation, merger

Ars Technica: On Saturday, the two rival groups—Arduino LLC (Arduino.cc) and Arduino Srl (Arduino.org)—announced that they had "settled their differences," and agreed to merge. At present, the similarly-designed sites both carry the official Arduino logo, and both sell official Arduino products.

Posted by David at 10/04/2016 02:42:00 PM

Relaxed Performances: The Nuts and Bolts of Offering Sensory-Friendly Experiences to Your Audience

Breaking Character: The work of making the theatre field more inclusive and equitable for people with disabilities is a complex and long-term project. Like any kind of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) work, it can feel simultaneously like the most important priority for sustainability of an organization and like an issue so large that it can be daunting to take the first step.

Posted by David at 10/05/2016 05:37:00 PM

Inside The World's Largest Pattern Library

Co.Design | business + design: Where do patterns come from? While some might be computer-generated using the latest in image scanning and digital printing technologies, many more can be sourced to the Design Library—the world's largest collection of patterns.

Posted by David at 10/03/2016 01:47:00 PM

Worth a Look

Here are a few posts from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...

Cultural venues ask patrons to keep eyes on the show, security

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: If you notice something suspicious at a play, musical or concert Downtown, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust wants you to alert an usher or call 911.

The trust announced Monday that it has partnered with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s nationwide awareness program “If You See Something, Say Something.”

Posted by David at 9/27/2016 02:21:00 PM

California Censors IMDB Because of Hollywood’s Alleged Ageism

Hit & Run : Reason.com: California Gov. Jerry Brown has only a couple of days left to decide whether he's going to sign or veto an important reform bill that would seriously reduce the ability of local law enforcement agencies to abuse the asset forfeiture process to seize and keep millions of dollars from citizens without having to prove they've committed a crime.

Posted by David at 9/28/2016 01:07:00 PM

The Healthy Maker: Tackling Vapors, Fumes And Heavy Metals

Hackaday: Fearless makers are conquering ever more fields of engineering and science, finding out that curiosity and common sense is all it takes to tackle any DIY project. Great things can be accomplished, and nothing is rocket science. Except for rocket science of course, and we’re not afraid of that either. Soldering, welding, 3D printing, and the fine art of laminating composites are skills that cannot be unlearned once mastered. Unfortunately, neither can the long-term damage caused by fumes, toxic gasses and heavy metals.

Posted by David at 9/27/2016 02:28:00 PM

Making Sense of Cultural Equity

Createquity.: About us. By us. For us. Near us. It has been almost a century since the great W.E.B. Du Bois–one of the co-founders of the NAACP–offered this stirring call for what, today, we would call “cultural equity.” To say much has happened in those ninety years would be to oversimplify. Significant progress has been made. And yet for many, and on many levels, it is not enough. In a speech given just last year, Jeff Chang, executive director of Stanford’s Institute for Diversity in the Arts, exclaimed: “at a moment when…our images depict us as one happy rainbow nation, and yet the structures of power, including the national culture complex…is still overwhelmingly white, we begin to recognize that we have not yet achieved cultural equity.”

Posted by David at 9/26/2016 01:47:00 PM

2016 Pro Tool Innovation Awards: The Winners

protoolinnovationawards.com: Each year, Pro Tool Reviews reviewers and judges put their hands on hundreds of tools between reviews, shootouts, trade shows, and media events. 2016 has been a HUGE year for innovation with improvements to existing tools and the introduction of products we never would have dreamed of ten years ago. Choosing the winners for the 2016 Pro Tool Innovation Awards was more difficult this year than it ever has been thanks to some incredible innovation and competition within some game-changing categories.

Posted by David at 9/28/2016 01:10:00 PM