Follow-up on Goldberg

Here's a review of the Abramovic/Levit concert at the Armory in New York. With really great photos.

"A Kind Drone"

A clothing commercial. With clothing-less dancers. And perfectly placed drones. Watch it!

Rothko: a Counterpoint

After you've seen the Rothko retrospective at the MFAH, read this essay that's more skeptical of Rothko as an artist (and a brand) than many of us are.

Speaking of Mona Lisa

Here is Hyperallergic's "Brief History of Mona Lisa Theories."

Maybe a computer will determine the next set of works for the AP exam

I'm not sure I'm reading this article correctly. They took a bunch of widely accepted works of art, made algorithms to reflect that the works are widely accepted, and then claim that the the algorithms may be good at spotting widely accepted works of art? Whatever; the algorithms understand that Mona Lisa os overrated, so they're fine with me.

Guns and art

With so much talk about guns, gun control, good guys with guns, and all the other gun talk, Glasstire posted a roundup--and they promise more--of major artworks involving guns. It's really interesting to see so many guns presented in so many ways. I'll warn you, thought, that all of the works are serious art, but several are still not school appropriate.

An Abramovic installation you can try at home

For Goldberg, pianist Igor Levit has teamed up with Marina Abramovic to enhance the experience around listening to music. The centerpiece is Levit's live performance of Bach's Goldberg Variations, but Abramovic has designed the process. Attendees will first put all of their distractions, like phones and watches, into a locker. Then they will sit in a comfy chair, in the dark, for about half an hour. Wearing noise-cancelling headphones. Not until then, when listeners have nothing to do but listen, will Levit begin playing.

While you're not likely to get Levit into your home, you can recreate the rest of the process. Before listening to an album, try getting rid of all distractions and sitting alone in the dark first. See if the concentration helps the experience. I'll try this soon, with Simone Dinnerstein's recording, and report back.

Study tip: organize like an athlete

I’ve heard the same thing from a few executive types: they like hiring NCAA athletes. Not because there’s something magical about jocks, but because they know that college athletes already “have the time-management skills down.” I looked it up, and indeed there’s a lot written about the advantage to hiring college athletes.

You may not play sports in college, but you can still work on the same skills and traits that make them successful. According to this article in Fast Company, athletes are good employees because:

·      They’re achievement oriented

·      They’re resilient

·      They’re strong communicators

·      They’re team oriented

·      They manage time well

"Red line of mortality"

According to this bank chart, you should go ahead and look forward to your 20s. Or be older than 35 and cry. Those seem to pretty much be your options.

Study tip: keep a not-to-do list

I was browsing through a search of “best productivity advice” and found something I’d never seen before.

A “leadership consultant” named Robin Sharma advises: “Write a Stop Doing List. Every productive person obsessively sets To Do Lists. But those who play at world-class also record what they commit to stop doing. Steve Jobs said that what made Apple Apple was not so much what they chose to build but all the projects they chose to ignore.”

This makes a lot of sense. We know that one of the key words to leading a productive, successful life is No. We have to be able to say no and keep control of our own time and resources. And we also have moments where we learn a big lesson and think “I’m never going to do that again.” And so maintaining and reviewing a list of those things you know not to do again sounds really smart. It’s a way to overcome the habit energy that keeps us doing things we know we ought not be doing.

I’m going to try this. Maybe you will too?