AJ Four Ways:
Text Only (by date) | headlines only
- Sam Neill, Beloved New Zealand Actor Known For Jurassic Park And The Piano, Has Died At 78
The actor was a warm internet presence and a proud producer of wine from his vineyard. “At 11, he changed his name to Sam, taking inspiration from characters in Western movies. It was, he added, ‘probably the best decision I made in my life.’” – The New York Times
- At Long Last, John Constable’s Most Famous Painting Is On View In Suffolk
“The famous work depicts a rural scene near the River Stour in Flatford, but it was actually painted in Constable’s London studio.” – BBC
- Learning How To Fake-Punch, Fake-Fall, And Fake-Go Up In Flames, On Camera
“The best side of a stunt always has to face the lens: The trajectory of a feigned punch, a few degrees off, can look fake to viewers.” – The New York Times
- Why Debates Over Free Speech Can Lead To So Much Fury
“The free speech wars of recent years are not just about rules – they’re about what it means to be a good person.” – The Guardian (UK)
- This Nonreligious Choir Draws Crowds In The Bay Area
Big crowds for a church venue, anyway – and a lot of participants. “The choir is full of these intense, amazing, freaky, kooky people, and the community that I’ve been able to fall into and build has just been a game changer.” – San Francisco Chronicle
- California Places A New Cap On Film And TV Tax Credits, Freaking Out State Lawmakers
The state legislators “are calling for Gov. Gavin Newsom to exempt the state’s film and TV production incentive program from a recently approved cap on corporate tax credits.” – Los Angeles Times (MSN)
- It Was Probably Way Too Early For A Live-Action Moana, And The Box Office Reflects That Problem
“On average, Disney has waited 27 years before remaking one of its animated classics as a live-action movie.” Just one problem: They’re out of animated classics to remake. – The New York Times
- Reconsidering An English Artist Who Painted The Working-Class
A painter from Manchester, who focused on the working class, isn’t necessarily what Londoners think. “What we’re hoping to do is actually to bust a few myths. … [LS Lowry] wasn’t just an industrial painter. He certainly wasn’t naive or isolated.” – The Guardian (UK)
- The Question Remains
Can genAI art or writing ever, ever be more than mid? – Glasstire
- Netflix Is In Talks To Buy Letterboxd
Remember Amazon buying Goodreads, anyone? “The app has become a beloved platform and community for young movie enthusiasts, and is most popular with audiences ages 18 to 35.” – The Guardian (UK)
- What Would A Post-Literate World Look Like, Though?
“We are making real trade-offs as we shift to communication through short-form video, and maybe it will be worth it, but we certainly are losing a lot.” – NPR
- It’s Possible That We’re Coming To The End Of Literacy
How can we tell? Well, a lot of ways. One grim statistic: “Gambling has become a more common leisure activity than reading a book.” – The Atlantic
- Could We Stop Demonizing BookTok Now?
Last week’s New Yorker has a rather intense article on the uselessness of BookTok for real book discussion. This woman begs to differ. – BBC
- Is TikTok Ruining Books, Or Publishing In General?
Personal testimony is paramount on BookTok; a book is deemed successful if it ‘breaks’ or ‘destroys’ a “reader. The most common book-review content on the app understands books as pleasure-spiking torment factories.” – The New Yorker
- A timeless Odyssey
Good Morning,
Three thousand years in, we still can’t stop retelling the Odyssey — The Guardian traces its bloodstream from Homer through Finding Nemo to Nolan’s new film.
The University of North Texas didn’t wait for anyone to complain about an art show critical of ICE — the provost took down the whole exhibition himself, texting that it would “be easier to manage any barking from our friends in Austin” (NPR). Nobody censored UNT. UNT got there first. In Melbourne, a court sided with the city’s symphony orchestra against pianist Jayson Gillham, dropped after speaking from the stage about journalists killed in Gaza (The New York Times). The stage legally belongs to the institution. And Meta keeps pursuing the author of Careless People so relentlessly that the lawsuit has become the book’s best advertising (Wired). The same Meta, for the record, shipped an AI deepfake tool for Instagram on Tuesday and yanked it by Friday (Business Insider).
Meanwhile, a Dutch gallery is covering its floor in peanut butter, per the late artist’s instructions. Smooth, not chunky, in case you were wondering (The Guardian).
All of our stories below.
- Sometimes Book To Movie Adaptations Don’t Work Out For The Author
But this one may become legendary. “Tomi Adeyemi, the author of the bestselling fantasy Children of Blood and Bone, isn’t planning to see the forthcoming film adaptation — even though she co-wrote it.” – Los Angeles Times (MSN)
- Seneca, Worried About The Crisis Of Attention, Had An Idea For A Fix
Too much scrolling (of papyrus) in ancient Rome had the philosopher Seneca in search of an answer. His advice, “which he outlined in his Letters From a Stoic: Devote your attention to one idea a day.” – The New York Times
- The University Of North Texas Can’t Handle An Art Show With Work Critical Of ICE
“Initially, the administrators discussed removing some of the pieces from the show. But then the provost texted that he wanted to take down the entire exhibition instead. [He] wrote, ‘I think it’ll be easier to manage any barking from our friends in Austin.’” – NPR
- Free Speech on Someone Else’s Stage – An Update
A few months ago I posted about a controversy in Australia, where a musician had a future appearance with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra cancelled because he had, contrary to MSO policy, made political comments during a performance. He sued, and the New York Times today reports (gift link) that he lost in court:
The pianist, Jayson Gillham, claimed in a lawsuit that the orchestra had violated the country’s Fair Work Act and his right not to be treated unfavorably in the workplace because of his political beliefs.
But the judge, Graeme Hill of the Federal Court of Australia, ruled on Friday that because Mr. Gillham was an independent contractor he was not protected under the workplace rights law. The orchestra, Justice Hill determined, had acted to protect its business and reputation when it canceled the performance by Mr. Gillham and issued statements to its patrons about the matter.
“The court finds that the M.S.O. would have taken the same actions if Mr. Gillham had expressed a political belief in support of Israel, or if Mr. Gillham had made statements on any other topic that had the same impact or anticipated impact on the M.S.O.’s business and reputation that Mr. Gillham’s actual remarks had,” a summary of the judgment said.
In my post I said that as a general rule, arts presenting organizations are within their rights to restrict what performers can do on their stages:
If the Melbourne Symphony does not want guest performers making political statements during their concerts, it has every right to say so. If it “does not condone the use of our stage as a platform for expressing personal views”, then probably best to make this clear to any featured performer as they draw up their contract (and I don’t know if that happened in this case). Unless explicitly granted, no artist has complete freedom of speech on stage. An actor cannot decide on their own to interrupt a performance of Twelfth Night with a political dedication. Some performing arts organizations might think such political statements are fine, actually, and they can say so. Or a politically-oriented artist could produce their own shows, as Gillham seems to have moved towards. But if the MSO does not feel that way, there is no “free speech” right that overrides it.
The audience at an orchestra concert (Gillham does not raise the topic of “the audience”) is captive, and deserving of consideration; many of them, like me, might prefer to enjoy their orchestral music neat. To insist that they must be made to listen to the guest performer’s political thoughts, even when the orchestra management has said it doesn’t go in for that sort of thing, is self-indulgence.
And I doubt most artists would agree with a blanket “free speech” right at invited gigs anyway. Suppose a featured violinist, before their performance, said “I dedicate this performance to those who died, and their families, in the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel, and support Israel’s right to self-defense and to bring justice to those who committed this heinous crime”. Would Gillham think that free speech deserves protection? Suppose a guest artist wanted to talk about other political issues, or value-added taxes, or the Westminster parliamentary system, or that Vegemite is an abomination? Suppose a guest artist addressed the audience with racist opinions on Australia’s Indigenous people, or made a grossly homophobic joke. The ABC story the next day would not be about “free speech”, but about demands that the musician never be invited back.
I didn’t think Gillham had a case, and the court agreed.
- Enjoying All Of The Agatha Christie Adaptations Out There?
Then you might want to read more Golden Age mysteries, including Josephine Tey (and not just Daughter of Time). – The New York Times
- Is The U.S. Really Ready To Face The Mythmaking Of Little House On The Prairie?
A new Netflix adaptation would argue that some people – though likely not those trying to ban anything not “positive” in history texts – are so ready. – Salon
- Tracee Ellis Ross Makes Her Broadway Debut
“Ross said that it had been a dream of hers to be on Broadway. Instead of throwing a birthday party to celebrate turning 40, she rented stages in New York City and Los Angeles and invited her friends to watch her perform a one-woman show.” – The New York Times
- As Yet Another Version Hits Cinemas, Why Are We Still So Obsessed With The Odyssey?
“The Odyssey – the story of a warrior’s homecoming, his long and tortuous journey to reintegrate himself within his own household – has passed into the bloodstream of many storytelling traditions,” from Finding Nemo to Game of Thrones. – The Guardian (UK)
- The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Wins A Discrimination Case
Pianist Jayson Gillham, who spoke from the stage about Israel killing journalists in Gaza, said “I believe artists should be free to speak with integrity. … This case was never just about me. My principles remain unchanged.” – The New York Times
- The New York Times’ Article On Kerri Greenidge Has Weird Timing And Research Issues
“The article offers no convincing explanation for a response this totalizing. It does not solve the mystery. It compounds it.” – Study Marry Kill
- The High-Wire Casting Act Of Getting Celebrities To, Kind Of, Play Themselves
“The celebrity-as-celebrity casting is a delicate alchemy with volatile ingredients more likely to explode than create movie magic” – but when it works? It really works. – The New York Times
- Meta Won’t Stop Going After The Author Of Careless People, Proving The Book’s Point Over And Over And Over Again
“The optics of the case speak louder than the niceties of any contract dispute. Those optics advance the narrative that Meta is a heartless and negative force determined to stifle the truth about its misdeeds.” (In other words, buy physical copies of the book.) – Wired
- Whistleblowers Accuse The Trump Administration Of Harming The Kennedy Center
“The documents — sent to a Senate and a House committee last month by lawyers for unidentified clients referred to as whistle-blowers — detail how vendors were selected for work without competitive bidding under rationales that are depicted as flawed.” – The New York Times
- Some Streamers Sure Are Benefitting From This Men’s World Cup
Viewership is smashing records, especially for Telemundo and Peacock. The Mexico-England game was Telemundo’s most-watched telecast ever. Many English-speaking viewers have turned away from Fox because of its analysts line-up, joining the U.S.-based Spanish-speaking audience. – Variety
- What In The Living Heck Happened To Decorated Historian Kerri Greenidge, And Her Most Famous Work?
“A major publisher appeared to pull a prizewinning history book about a prominent South Carolina slaveholding family and its role in the abolitionist movement, after several scholars accused the author of misleading readers” – and it looks like the historian lost her job at Tufts as well. – The New York Times
- Meta Installs AI Deepfake Tool For Instagram On Tuesday, Removes It On Friday
That went well. “Just because Meta owns one of the largest social media platforms, and we’re forced to use it, it’s been taking it as an excuse to violate our consent and privacy again and again.” Uh, oops. – Business Insider
- How Many Books Is Too Many Books For A New York City Apartment?
One landlord decided 10,000 was truly beyond the acceptable limit. – The New York Times
- When Catcher In The Rye – Yes, That Old Chestnut Of Freshman Year – Saves You
“The great secret of Catcher, though—what gets lost in its reputation—is that Holden’s attitude is itself phony. He’s a tender kid who famously worries about the ducks in cold, icy Central Park, and who adores and hopes to protect his little sister, Phoebe.” – The Atlantic
- There’s Science Behind Every Kid’s Addiction To Moana
That’s the animated one, not the new live-action one. – The New York Times
- This Artwork Requires Covering The Gallery Floor In Peanut Butter
Smooth, not chunky – the artist wasn’t a monster. – The Guardian (UK)