“What seemingly started as a way to get people to sign up for two-day shipping has turned into a major force in the world of entertainment. Prime Video may have started as a perk to draw in more Prime members. Now, it’s just as easy to believe that Prime Video may be its own draw, and two-day shipping a nice perk. For $99 a year—cheaper than a year of Netflix, which doesn’t ship anything other than DVDs.”
Archives for March 2016
Jeff Melanson Was Canada’s Arts Turnaround King. Now He Has Been Turned Around, What Next?
The arts administrator once hailed as Canada’s cultural turnaround king has seen his reputation punctured after his estranged wife, Eleanor McCain, filed court papers portraying him as a remorselessly manipulative leader who fired and hired employees unjustly, boozed excessively and married only to escape workplace harassment allegations. None of the claims have been proven in court and Melanson has deemed them “inaccurate and undignified.”
Romance Fiction Is Hot. So Are The Book Cover Models
“Despite the perception that blockbusters like “Fifty Shades of Grey” drive sales, self-publishing has proved a boon for this particular genre. E-books make up nearly 40 percent of all purchases, according to the writers group. And there are categories for every reader’s taste, among them, adventure, Christian, multicultural, L.G.B.T. and paranormal.”
Fire Maurice Sendak Estate’s Executors, Demands Museum-Library
“More than a year into the lawsuit it filed over Maurice Sendak’s will, the Rosenbach of the Free Library of Philadelphia has asked a Connecticut judge to remove the executors of the author-illustrator’s estate. Motivated by ‘financial self-interest,’ Sendak’s executors have refused to carry out his wish to leave millions of dollars’ worth of books to the Rosenbach,” the motion claims.
How American Colleges Became Commercial Hucksters Vying For Customers
“Few would argue that the rankings have helped shape a world in which students are seen as consumers, and colleges and universities as commodities. The rankings are a key reason the higher-education landscape today operates like a marketplace in which institutions compete to convince the best students to buy their product.”
Did A Novel Written By A Computer Program Just Become Runner-Up For A Big Literary Prize? Not Exactly
“‘A Japanese A.I. Wrote a Novel, Almost Wins Literary Award,’ one typical headline read. [Another] worried that ‘no occupation is safe’ if an algorithm could compete in such a contest. Look a little closer, however, and this story isn’t about the rise of the machines – it’s a lesson on the limitations of contemporary A.I. technology.”
The Met’s Bid For The Breuer
“If anyone was worried the repurposed building was going to lose its edge, they can rest assured the Met Breuer is still very much the weird old Whitney.”
The Bolsheviks Stole My Great-Grandpa’s Van Gogh, And I Want It Back
“In the early 1900s, Ivan Morozov was a wealthy Russian textile merchant … [who] began making frequent sojourns to Paris, travelling from gallery to gallery and amassing some of the world’s most valuable artworks – then, and now.”
Have Museums Lost Confidence In Their Role?
“There’s a real lack of faith in both the meaning and power of cultural artefacts and their history. Because many museums are not interested in that anymore. They’re far more interested in making themselves feel better about a past they had nothing to do with.”
Architect Zaha Hadid Dies Suddenly At 65
Ms. Hadid “contracted bronchitis earlier this week and suffered a sudden heart attack while being treated in hospital,” her office, Zaha Hadid Architects in London, said in a statement.
Are These The 100 Best Schools For The Performing Arts In The World?
“This year marks the first time higher education data experts QS have ranked universities by their performing arts capabilities, which they have done for a number of other subjects for the past six years. Ratings were based on the opinion of more than 75,000 academics and nearly 45,000 employers, as well as the analysis of 28.5 million research papers.”
The Bohemian Mystics Of Islam
“On one level, it encompasses much of the popular practice of Muslim religiosity: it is an Islam of saints, miracles, pilgrimages … On another level, it consists of mind-bogglingly complex treatises in philosophical Arabic … [and] an unfathomably rich tradition of poetry written in Arabic, Persian, Urdu and many other languages.”
Are Musicians Psychotherapy Junkies? (A Study Suggests)
“According to a recently published study from Norway, musicians in that nation are three times more likely to utilize psychotherapy than members of the general workforce. They’re also 50 percent more likely to use psychotropic medications such as antidepressants.”
Curatorial Abdication Or Enlightened Inclusion: Museum Asks Its Patrons What They Want To See
“Previously, curators and designers would do most of their work before involving others. Now, interpretive specialists, evaluators and project managers are brought in from the beginning and develop the exhibition together.”
How Paul Bowles Helped Preserve The Traditional Music Of Morocco
We remember Bowles as a novelist, but he was trained as a composer, and he made a landmark collection of field recordings of music that was disappearing as mass media spread through the kingdom. (includes sound clips)
Weird Foreign Place Names Are Threat To ‘National Dignity,’ China Tells Developers
Who could possibly object to Yuppie International Towers or Merlin Champagne Town? Chinese officialdom does – and it’s demanding that developments have names like “Yellow River” instead.
The Queen Of Soul And Her Need For Control: The New Yorker Turns Its Eye To Aretha Franklin
“[She’s] a musical genius and a pivotal figure in the cultural history of the black freedom movement; she is also someone who has suffered countless losses, been mistreated in many ways, and at times has reactions that try the patience of her associates, creditors, family, and friends.”
The One Basic Thing About TV Series That Netflix, Amazon, And Hulu Don’t Get
Because they’re focused on the phenomenon, they misunderstand how individual episodes work.
If You Think Pee-Wee Herman Is Gay, You’re Sorta Missing The Joke
“Pee-wee might live in a world of adult longings and eroticism, but Pee-wee does not partake. It’s not that he’s queer or even asexual, but that – by being frozen in a state of stunted adolescence – he exists in a prepubescent universe where sexuality doesn’t quite exist yet.”
Chicago’s Harris Theater Names Its First Choreographer-In-Residence
“The unlikely new position means that the 41-year-old choreographer from New York has been tapped to create new works for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (the Harris’ company in residence), Miami City Ballet and [his own company]. Additional companies will be announced at a later date.”
‘Hamilton’ Gets In Trouble With Equity Over Casting Notice
“A casting call seeking ‘nonwhite men and women’ to audition for the show drew criticism from the union representing theater actors, prompting Hamilton to say Wednesday that it will amend its language to make clear that anyone is welcome to try out for the show.”
NBC Expands From Live Musicals To Its First Live Stage Play
“[The network] said on Wednesday that in early 2017 it will broadcast a live version of A Few Good Men, Aaron Sorkin’s 1989 Broadway play that was later adapted into a popular 1992 film starring Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise.”
You Can Now Create Art With A Sharpie-Wielding Drone
“Imagine if Michelangelo had been able to use drones – perhaps the Sistine Chapel wouldn’t have taken so long.”
How American Psycho Patrick Bateman Became An American (Anti-)Hero
“Over the past decade or so, Bateman has become a pop something, a grinning, blood-flecked national gargoyle. A brash new musical based on American Psycho is set to open on Broadway. You can purchase Bateman action figures. Bateman memes – photographs and GIFs from the director Mary Harron’s excellent 2000 film version of American Psycho – splash across every corner of the web. (‘I have to return some videotapes’ is among the movie’s indelible lines.)”
Harlem’s Apollo Theater Presents Its First Opera
“‘Experimentation and emerging artists are part of our DNA,’ says Mikki Shepard, executive producer. ‘You say to yourself, ‘How do you build on your legacy, whether it’s with dance or theater – or opera?’ … And suddenly you have a broad palette of programming.'”