Stories

The Motion Picture Academy Just Laid Off A Whole Lot Of People

Who cares about the history of film, right? You might think the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. But hey, it’s time to “streamline” and “restructure.” - Los Angeles Times

A New Smell-O-Vision, This Time For Museums

“The human sense of smell, which has powerful connections to memory and emotion, has been deployed in art and historical displays and museums around the world.” - The New York Times

Patricia Johanson, Groundbreaking Environmental Artist, Has Died At 84

Johanson “made nature her medium, transforming highway underpasses, sewage treatment plants and other grimly functional public spaces into sweeping artworks.” - The New York Times

How A Grad Student Found A Hidden Mayan City From His Computer

“I just started poking around on the internet and eventually got the right combination of search terms and number of Google pages results in and found this data set. As soon as I opened it up I was delighted, surprised, and amazed.” - Wired

John Williams, From Jazz Pianist To Blockbuster Composer

“Williams is undoubtedly the greatest ‘whistle test’ composer of his age – a purveyor of instantly memorable tunes that both capture and breathe life into the movies they accompany.” - The Guardian (UK)

The Woman Who Negotiated For Management During The 2023 Hollywood Strikes Is Stepping Down

“She was a lightning rod for criticism by Hollywood workers, particularly during last year’s walkouts. A parody account portraying Lombardini as a cartoonish corporate shill went viral on X.” - Los Angeles Times (AOL)

Where, Oh Where, Is Clint Eastwood’s Latest, And Probably Last, Movie?

"Eastwood fans in the UK will have no problem seeing Juror #2, where it’s enjoying a wide release in more than 300 cinemas nationwide. Across the whole of the US, however, it’s screening in fewer than 50 cinemas” with no plans for a wider rollout or awards campaign. - The Guardian (UK)

Philly Gets A Golden Statue Of Trump Making A Grab ‘Em By The Genitalia Gesture

Is this effigy, with a plaque that reads, “In honor of a lifetime of sexual assault,” by the same artist who commemorated the dump one January 6 attempted coup member left on Nancy Pelosi’s desk? - Hyperallergic

What Should You Do If You Make Money From A Film Whose Topic You Find Fairly Gross?

Looks like Anna Kendrick, director and star of the Netflix film Woman of the Hour, which is about a serial abuser and killer, thinks the best thing to do is donate the money. - Los Angeles Times

Good Night, Sweet Bay Area Theatres

“After the loss of so many theatres here, the closure of Cutting Ball and Cal Shakes, both leaders in their respective genres, feels like a sacrifice too great to bear. Their impact on the region was enormous—and so is their loss.” - American Theatre

British Police Send Russell Brand’s File To Prosecutors

More than a year after allegations of abuse emerged, the Metropolitan Police are sending their evidence out. "The allegations against Brand come from a seven-year period when he was at the height of his fame - hosting national television and radio programmes, and starring in Hollywood films." - BBC

Why Choreographer Oona Doherty Has Grabbed The Contemporary Dance World’s Attention

Her "refusal to compromise­ with movement that felt inauthentic (and) her instinctive­ pull towards the extreme and the subversive" were channeled into her first major piece, Hope Hunt and the Ascension Into Lazarus, which premiered in 2015 and has been touring off-and-on ever since. - Dance Magazine

The Internet Has Fractured Culture So Much, The Cultural References Don’t Work For Everyone

Considering the way that many recent novels reference recent, niche cultural fragments most relevant to an incestuous class of urban media professionals, future generations would need a comically thick companion book. - The Walrus

What Made Dorothy Parker So Potent:

For such a self-professed grump, she never left a reader hanging after a seemingly desultory setup. There was always a reward. And the jokes still work. - The New Yorker

International Protests At Restructuring Of Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery

More than 200 Russian curators and art historians, both in the country and in exile, have written an open letter claiming that Moscow’s State Tretyakov Gallery has “liquidated” its contemporary art department, following a restructure. - The Art Newspaper

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