Arts Articles

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Arts | By Jay Sankey @ Monday, 4th August 2008 @ 12:26 AM

A lack of understanding does not necessarily create a sense of mystery. A confusing magic effect is a perfect example of this. (Though "a confused magic effect" may be a more accurate phrase because there are far fewer inherently confusing effects than there are confusing ways of presenting effects.) If you share an effect with your audience and unintentionally lose them somewhere along the way, perhaps because you raced through an important part of neglected to clarify an initial condit... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Arts | By Jay Sankey @ Sunday, 3rd August 2008 @ 10:55 AM

Below are nine principles regarding the audience's visual experience of a performance of magic. Magicians that understand these principles will know how to work their routine in harmony with these principles, ultimately creating a more successful production. 1- During the performance of an effect the audience is always looking somewhere. 2- Each spectator sees/gathers a series of images during the effect. 3- Spectators often gather slightly or even starkly different im... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Arts | By Victor Epand @ Thursday, 3rd July 2008 @ 12:53 PM

One of the longest surviving toys ever created is the crayon. Every single year over 2 billion crayons are manufactured. Apparently, almost every child will work his or her way through with about 780 of these crayons by the time they are ten, and every child aged two to eight spends about 28 minutes every single day coloring with the help of these tools. I'm not sure how people who work out these statistics managed to arrive at these figures. Ordinary people aren't always... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Arts | By Samantha Gilmartin @ Wednesday, 25th June 2008 @ 7:27 PM

The Fringe Festival has been in existence for just as long as the Edinburgh Festival proper. Both inceptions are inextricably knitted together and began life bound up way back in 1947. Our story begins when what can only sufficiently be described as a mob of eight theatre companies turned up uninvited to the newly formed Edinburgh International Festival. Taking advantage of the huge crowds pulled in by the official festivities, these rogue gatecrashers bolstered their way in with one grisly inte... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Arts | By Victor Epand @ Wednesday, 18th June 2008 @ 5:04 AM

I recently saw an Origami set for sale in a toy shop near me. I was very surprised, because as I remembered it, Origami is the art of paper folding. You don't need any scissors, or glue, or fancy bits - just a sheet of paper. I was intrigued, and wondered how toy manufacturers could get away with selling a pack of paper as an Origami set. I considered popping down to the beach, scooping up a bucket full of sand and selling it as a build-you-own-beach kit (just add water). As I suspected, th... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Arts | By Ki Gray @ Tuesday, 17th June 2008 @ 4:57 AM

This is truly a museum for the casual and creative Austinite. With two locations and loads of interesting exhibits and programs, AMOA is a great cultural destination for students, adults, and even parents and caregivers of young children. The downtown location is a sleek and modern space, while the Laguna Gloria campus, AMOA's original home, is housed within a 1916 Italiante villa. The primary home of the AMOA Art School, Laguna Gloria is located on property once owned by Stephen F.... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Arts | By Samantha Gilmartin @ Monday, 16th June 2008 @ 8:37 PM

Author, director, comedian, physician and all round polymath Jonathan Miller has been all over The Times and the BBC this week running the West End into the proverbial square ditch. Miller insisted that because his version of Hamlet was cast by relative unknowns he couldn't get a gig in the West End. "Producers might have been swayed" he contends, "if I'd been prepared to put in for more luminous names". Attacks may not come any more thinly veiled than that, but ... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Arts | By Samantha Gilmartin @ Monday, 9th June 2008 @ 9:14 PM

With so much content beaming freely across the web, consumers have never had such unfettered access to entertainment. Dilating bandwiths have meant data transfers have shrunk to infinitesimal speeds and, as entire fleets of pirate P2P websites and media data streamers career off all over the place, the notion of actually paying for entertainment is quickly becoming rather odious. With a West End theatre seat costing you easily in excess of 20GBP, the economic future of live drama is look... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Arts | By Samantha Gilmartin @ Tuesday, 3rd June 2008 @ 1:04 PM

The darkening financial climate is pretty much unavoidable at the minute. If you're not queuing up at the supermarket spending 15% more for half a dozen eggs than you would have done five minutes ago, then 150 journalists and financial advisors are lined up round the block to tell you about it. Fuel costs are rocketing to record new heights and the price of a barrel of crude oil, if you really wanted to buy one, is nearing the astronomical sum of $200. That, of course, is not... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Arts | By Ant Onaf @ Monday, 26th May 2008 @ 9:10 PM

There are so many different genres of dance that one can feel overwhelmed when he or she thinks of learning to dance. However it is not as complicated as it seems. Firstly, to excel at a certain style it may take years of practice, to be able to cope with several types of dancing is not quite as hard. For many people who enjoy a range of activities, it is much more beneficial to learn a little about each style and not a lot about just one. This is because the usual person in today's... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Arts | By Jason OConnor @ Friday, 16th May 2008 @ 2:08 AM

The musical Young Frankenstein open on Broadway in November of 2007, and it was a hit right from the beginning. The musical is an adaptation of the 1974 film by Mel Brooks, starring Gene Wilder. Based on Mary Shelley's horror novel published in 1818, the Gothic story was first made into a science fiction film in 1910. It has since been made into motion pictures, comics, theatrical performances and even a mini series. There have been sequels of the movie, including Brooks' Young... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Arts | By Ann Knapp @ Tuesday, 15th April 2008 @ 9:07 PM

Detroit City in the early 1900s was a pulsing industrial center, surrounded by sprawling steel and automotive plants. Jobs were plentiful and workers were needed. During that labor wave, thousands of African Americans from the south flocked to Detroit, seeking work and a better life. With them, they brought the Blues. The music spoke of the struggles, trials and travesties of African Americans in this land. Detroit embraced the music and soon became a hot spot for the Blues, fostering the... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Arts | By Ann Knapp @ Monday, 7th April 2008 @ 11:11 PM

Up for some music? Want to see your favorite music performer in action? Love the live experience of a concert? Detroit's capacity for handling big crowds and drawing the biggest names in music makes it a prime destination for concert-goers. This is Motown after all - the city where the likes of Stevie Wonder and the Supremes launched their careers. Rising stars and local bands still find an enthusiastic welcome for music of all kinds in Detroit City. Fox Theatre The preservation o... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Arts | By Kenneth Scott @ Monday, 3rd March 2008 @ 6:34 PM

We normally associate Disney Land with fun and frolic and kids. Apart from entertainment, Disney land has contributed its bit to education of the young in one way or the other. One such program, Disneyland Magic Music Days program, is an educational program for students of music, vocal arts, or dance. Your group has the chance to demonstrate its natural endowment and to better it in a background that elevates learning and also have fun doing it. The program is available all year, and is o... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Arts | By Ryan Even @ Monday, 25th February 2008 @ 5:18 PM

Performing magic is great way to meet people or to simply impress your friends. There are some magic tricks that look great to other people but are actually easy to perform. 3 easy magic tricks that you can perform are the Water to Ice trick, the Disappearing Coin trick, and the Magically Burned String trick. The first trick is very easy to do. It's called Water to Ice. What you will do is pour water into a cup and then dump out a couple ice cubes and no water. People will wonder how... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Arts | By Jason OConnor @ Tuesday, 6th November 2007 @ 9:54 PM

Ever wonder what a Broadway show is like? Are you looking for an evening filled with astonishment and wonderment, grandeur and thrills? Where you enter a world of mystery and grandeur from the moment you step into the theatre to find your seat. Gazing about you in awe at this world you have just entered, a rich tapestry of color surrounds you, the lighting muted and soft, lending an eerie glow as you are about to experience all the world upon a stage, with sounds merrily emanating from the orche... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Arts | By Jason OConnor @ Tuesday, 6th November 2007 @ 9:53 AM

Perfection? Yes, perfection. A night at the theater has the potential of approaching absolute perfection. The reason is simple. Theater is something that just about everyone can identify with, get lost in and enjoy. A live theatrical performance is like a movie on performance enhancing drugs. You'll be effortlessly drawn into a live show like water is soaked up by sand. Obviously the better the production, the better the night will be. Las Vegas or Broadway shows are the creme de la... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Arts | By Holly Franklin @ Monday, 5th November 2007 @ 1:46 PM

Tintin is a young Belgian reporter who through heroic action solves mysteries that are presented at the start of each comic book. Tintin was first introduced to the world in Tintin in the Land of the Soviets. Created by George Remi the first adventure was released in a Belgium paper in 1929-1930. Tintin and the Land of the Soviets was a political satire that poked fun at the Soviets claims to having a thriving economy and found an audience due to many people's unease with the Soviet... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Arts | By Holly Franklin @ Monday, 5th November 2007 @ 1:45 PM

The ligne claire illustrations of the original comic books were very central to the whole ethos of the Tintin world created by Remi. The whole ligne claire look was such a classic that it's inspiration went beyond comics with both Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein both stating it's influence on the pop art scene. Ligne claire (French for "clear line") was created by Remi and found a home in the Tintin adventure comics. The style is very recognisable and can be described a... more...

Recreation and Leisure » Entertainment » Arts | By Bowe Packer @ Sunday, 4th November 2007 @ 6:04 AM

Have you ever watched dance hall dancing and marveled at the blessing and liquidness of the dancers? Well if you have then you will see that they trip the light fantastic on shoes that are made to take all of the twisting, turn and high kicks that they do at various shows and competitions. Instead of wearing conventional shoes ballroom dancers wear special ballroom shoes. These shoes come in a diversity of shapes and styles. You will find that there are shoes that can be drawn for many of... more...