Yearly Archives: 2023
The Critic-Hating, Dog-Poop-Smearing Choreographer Is Officially Fired
After the incident last Saturday in which Marco Goecke, enraged over a harsh review, smeared the face of critic Wiebke Hüster with the feces...
Streaming Has Upended How Writers Get Paid. New Contract Negotiations Will Be Tough
The streaming revolution has upended the old system of compensation. The syndication market for TV shows has all but disappeared, and residuals from movies...
Jürgen Flimm, A Major Opera And Theater Director, Is Dead At 81
He was artistic director at some of the German-speaking world's most illustrious institutions: Hamburg's Thalia Theater, the Ruhrtriennale, the Salzburg Festival, and the Berlin...
Creative Block: How Brexit Has Thoroughly Hamstrung Britain’s Arts Sector
"Unfortunately, Brexit seems to be good at putting up barriers. Brexit red tape means that bringing in skilled workers the UK economy desperately needs...
There’s A Company On Tour Pretending To Be The “Ukrainian National Ballet Of Odessa”
Said an official at the Ukrainian Embassy to Ireland, "Neither the National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre of Odesa nor any of its dancers...
The Podcasting Industry Slams On the Brakes
Several major podcast publishers have had layoffs, and "Amazon, SiriusXM, NPR and Spotify have all curbed podcast budgets in the last year, sometimes allowing...
Raquel Welch, Dead At 82, Knew She Was More Than A Sex Symbol
"I realized when I came along, I wasn't Meryl Streep who had been put into a bikini. I was somebody that got rocketed into...
When This Volume Is Auctioned In May, It Will Become The Most Expensive Book...
"The Codex Sassoon, dating to the late 9th to early 10th century, is believed to be the earliest and most complete Hebrew Bible." The...
Paramount Is Trying To Sell Simon & Schuster Again
"Paramount Global is again seeking to sell Simon & Schuster, months after the media company's $2.2 billion deal to sell the book publisher to...
Dallas Morning News Guts Its 19-Year-Old Spanish-Language Paper
Dallas County’s population is 40% Hispanic/Latino (1.05 million people) and 34% of residents speak Spanish at home, according to 2020 census data (though Latinos were also heavily...
Louvre’s Antiquities Scandal Raises Questions About Acquisitions (And France’s Moral Standing)
“Recent events question the quality of acquisition procedures and the functioning of its market. A reaction is necessary to guarantee France’s capacity for influence...
How Turkey’s Ancient Sites Fared In The Earthquake
At the ancient citadel of Aleppo, which was also recently damaged during Syria’s civil war, parts of an Ottoman-era mill collapsed along with parts...
How Robert Wilson Changed The Metropolitan Opera 25 Years Ago
This “Lohengrin,” so radical for the Met at the time, anticipated today’s broader range of directorial approaches there — like Willy Decker’s starkly symbolic “La...
The Terrible State Of The Modern Rom-Com
The connection between love interests, once a central element of the rom-com, has in recent years seemed secondary at best; now it’s actually plausible...
The Shocking Escalation Of Anti-LGBTQ Bills In 2023 In State Legislatures
In 2023, U.S. state legislatures managed to surpass the number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills that were proposed 2022—i.e., what took lawmakers 365 days to achieve...
The Hot New Trend In Classics Instruction: Actually Speaking Latin
"Today, 'grammar analysis' remains the framework of much Latin instruction. But spoken Latin is becoming increasingly common in classrooms. According to a 2019 survey...
Pondering Self-Identification Of Race
I wanted to know what percent of all Americans change their race over the span of the panel, what percent of Americans who initially identify as...
Yes, Pablo Neruda Was Poisoned, Forensics Experts Have Determined
"The revelation by Rodolfo Reyes, a Neruda nephew, is the latest turn in one of the great debates of post-coup Chile. The long-stated official...
What Houston’s Urban Sprawl Gets Right About Housing
It ain’t always pretty, but it is fascinating. As the policy tide turns to the end of single-family zoning and looser housing development regulations,...
A Strike By Greek Archaeologists (!) Over A New Law Changing Museum Governance
The legislation moves five major antiquities museums out of the Ministry of Culture, giving them more independence but also requiring more fundraising. The archaeologists...
Why We Still Need Classic Old Story Ballets
“If it’s lasted more than fifty years, it’s for a good reason. Think Mozart, Beethoven or The Beatles, they’ve stayed with us for a...
After The Choreographer-Dog Poop Attack, Other Critics Recount How Angry Artists Have Gone After...
"Jonathan Miller ... once sent me a New Year's Day card urging me to cease my 'foul pork scratchings' and told an interviewer that...
A Collector Who Plays His Own Rules
A compact man with a round face, Adam Lindemann, 61, is an unusual character in the art market, combining the passion and obsessiveness of...
After Banning The BBC’s Modi Documentary, India Sends The Tax Police To Raid Its...
"More than a dozen income tax officials first entered BBC newsrooms (in Delhi and Mumbai) early Tuesday, seizing accounts, financial documents, and phones of...
At 80, Even With A “Serious Neurological Condition,” Daniel Barenboim Can And Will Keep...
"I know I am expected to say this illness changed my life. No. Things that were very important to me as a musician before...
