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How’s That Guardian List Of The Best Plays Of The 21st Century?
It’s “a deranged hodge-podge,” according to Andrzej Lukowski. The list of 50 shows “veers from resolutely mainstream to borderline obscure without a tremendous amount of sense or coherency. All the while, it, notionally, professes to be an authoritative overview of literally all the theatre in the world over the last almost 20 years.” Ouch. – The Stage (UK)
A Secret Shofar, Blown On High Holy Days In Auschwitz
Is the account of this shofar credible? Holocaust historians say it definitely could be. “The impossible was possible, both to the bad and the good.” – The New York Times
Zadie Smith On The Most Important Book Of The 21st Century
The author of White Teeth and Swing Time says we should all read a 700-page nonfiction book about technology and capitalism. “If a book’s importance is gauged by how effectively it describes the world we’re in, and how much potential it has to change said world, then in my view it’s easily the most important book to be published this century.” – The Guardian (UK)
Annette Kolodny, Ecofeminist Literary Critic And Scholar, Has Died At 78
Kolodny, who specialized in incisive and groundbreaking – or perhaps ground-mending, to be a bit more ecofeminist about it – essays, “was a prodigious author and scholar with many areas of interest, among them early American literature, Native American culture, women’s studies and feminist literary criticism.” – The New York Times
German Jury Revokes Book Award Prize Over Author Kamila Shamsie’s Boycott Of Israel
Shamsie says it’s an outrage that her support of the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions movement would lead to this end. “The eight-member jury had decided on 6 September to make the British-Pakistani author their latest winner, citing writing that ‘builds bridges between societies.’ But when they learned of Shamsie’s support for the BDS movement, they announced that they would cancel their original vote and withdraw the award.” – The Guardian (UK)
Why Lizst Is Better In The Catacombs Than In Carnegie Hall
Well, at least his “Poetic and Religious Harmonies.” Why? Pianist Jenny Lin: “This is definitely a very private Liszt, one who’s retreated to his inner self. … I don’t think you could do this at Carnegie Hall. It would be weird.” – The New York Times
Climate Change As A Positive? Uh, Writers, What Are You Thinking?
They’re thinking we don’t have a choice; we must adapt. But “while everyone is experiencing the effects of climate change, it’s easy to write ‘Our undoing is also the making of our becoming’ when the ocean isn’t lapping at your front door.” – The Atlantic
Music Composed In Response To The Brett Kavanaugh Hearings
Composer Kenji Bunch had what he called a weird idea while watching the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings: Why not create music in response to “such a fraught moment, a watershed event”? He took his idea to Facebook, where other composers responded immediately. – Oregon ArtsWatch
The Ghosts Of Black Los Angeles
The writer Ismail Muhammad says, “You can’t disentangle blackness and California” – and nowhere, he explains through books, movies, and memories, is that clearer than in the history of Los Angeles, the idea of “South Central,” and the country’s imagination of what L.A. stands for. – LitHub
Why Did American Classical Music ‘Stay White’ – Take Two
And why it’s a problem: “What we’re looking at right now, this extreme marginalization of classical music, is really the chickens coming home to roost.” – Joe Horowitz
What Have We Trained Artificial Intelligence To Think When It Sees Our Faces?
Hint: It’s just as racist, sexist, fatphobic, and all of the other problems as any human – but more so, because it’s been trained by a LOT of problematic human data. – The New York Times
N.O. Mustill: Master Collagist
Comparing a 1967 collage to a Photoshopped image in the current New York Times: Are both art? – Jan Herman
Composer And Pulitzer Winner Christopher Rouse Has Died At 70
Rouse advised the Baltimore Symphony, served as composer in residence for the New York Phil, taught at Juilliard and Peabody, and won a Pulitzer in 1993 for a concerto dedicated to Leonard Bernstein. Rouse’s final symphony will debut in Cincinnati in October. Marin Alsop called his death an “enormous loss” and said, “I was able to spend time with him these last weeks and he was irreverent and profound, as always.” – Baltimore Sun
When You Come In Late To A Power Comedy Act, You’ve Got A Delightful Amount To Catch Up On
Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara are charming millions on the show Schitt’s Creek and are nominated for some major Emmys, but … what to say if this is the first time you’ve noticed them? Well, you’ve got a lot – a lot – of joy ahead of you. – Los Angeles Times
After Transforming Children’s Lit, Jacqueline Woodson Pauses To Give Adults A Novel Too
Not that Woodson hasn’t written for adults – she has. She’s written memoir, poetry, prose, essays, and just about everything else for every age, including a recent picture book that grew out of a book of young adult poetry that grew out of her great-grandfather’s experiences. She’s won just about every prize there is to win in children’s and youth literature, including a prize that’s allowing her to found an organization that will give fellowships to emerging writers of color. And now, in her novels, she’s turning to a reckoning with the present and the past. – The New York Times
Suzanne Whang, Actress, Comedian, And Enormously Popular Host Of ‘House Hunters,’ Has Died At 56
Whang dealt with breast cancer for more than a decade, and she incorporated the resultant health care experiences into her comedy – while also hosting House Hunters International and acting on Dexter, Las Vegas, and Arrested Development. HGTV, the network where she made House Hunters a household name stated in its press release, “Suzanne was warm, funny and kind with a distinctive voice that made everyone feel at home.” – The New York Times
You’ll Need A Lot Of Coffee To Get Through All 50 Books On The National Book Award Longlists
All five longlists rolled out this week. Are you ready to read 10 books in each of the categories? Get your poetry, nonfiction, fiction, translated fiction, and young people’s literature reading caps on (or just wait for the lists to be winnowed to five in October … or one apiece when the awards are announced). – NPR
The Ten Best Emmys Acceptance Speeches
Will anyone join the list this year? (And can anyone ever top Merrit Wever’s 2013 acceptance speech?) – Los Angeles Times
The Oldest Spinning Top Is About 5,500 Years Old [VIDEO]
Apparently, we can’t stop being fascinated with the momentary feel that perpetual motion could happen, if only we spun perfectly. – Aeon
Loving Los Angeles Enough To Tell Its Present, And History, In Books
Nina Revoyr’s books “juxtapose the jambalaya of Los Angeles’s people, neighborhoods, cultures, and social classes into complicated stories that surprise at every turn, entertain, and then illuminate the ever-present beauty of the city.” – Los Angeles Review of Books
Hollywood Is Glum, But The Emmys Show Must Go On
A lot of new shows are constantly churning through the pipeline, Netflix and Amazon are awash in television bucks, and old sitcoms are doing nine-figure streaming deals because for some reason, the kids these days love Friends and Seinfeld. But behind the scenes? Authors and agents are suing each other, some agents fled town for the weekend, and even the parties were cancelled, y’all. Can Hollywood recover? – The New York Times
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Reaches Tentative Agreement, Could Perform Next Week
The union ratification vote is Monday, and the public won’t hear details of the proposed contract until then. But late Friday night, “a brief, joint statement by the BSO and the Musicians’ Association of Metropolitan Baltimore Local 40-543 said that if both the players’ union and the BSO’s board of directors vote to sign the contract ‘it would enable the Baltimore Symphony to open its concert season’ next weekend.” – Baltimore Sun
Think Museums Are Becoming More Inclusive? The Data Say No
“These findings challenge one of the most compelling narratives to have emerged within the art world in recent years: that of progressive change, with once-marginalized artists being granted more equitable representation within art institutions. Our research shows that, at least when it comes to gender parity, this story is a myth.” – artnet
Women’s Place In The Art World: What’s Changed In The Past Ten Years? (An Investigation)
“To examine the evolving representation of work by female artists in American museums and the global auction market over the past decade, we not only delved into data, but also conducted extensive interviews.” This seven-part package includes data visualization, methodology, examinations of museums and the marketplace, interview excerpts, case studies, and a look at the difficulties facing working mothers. – artnet
What, Actually, Is Cancel Culture?
“Like many phrases and ideas in 2019, this one has been appropriated, bastardized, and misused to the point of not only betraying its original definition and its usefulness in checking the actual repercussions of reactionary censorship, but in fact has become almost meaningless.” – The Daily Beast