He’s supposed to be in it for a week, with just enough room to sit up. “People seem to be very touched. They come and talk into the crack, read poetry to me, or tell me about their nightmares or their dreams,” he said.
Archives for February 2017
How Little Golden Books Revolutionized Children’s Literature
As Little Golden Books like The Poky Little Puppy turn 75, it’s clear that they did exactly what their creators intended: “The printers, publishers, writers and artists who brought Golden Books to the market had a lofty goal — they wanted to ‘democratize children’s books,’ making them both affordable and accessible. To that end, they were sold in department stores, train stations, drugstores and supermarkets.”
The Arts Might Be Great In Canada, But The Ecosystem Of Art Will Fall Without Government Support
The problem is that globalization is pulverizing local content. Everything is like Netflix, and “everyone watches the same 50 titles on Netflix. Does anyone seriously believe that the other several hundred titles are truly inferior?”
The Secrets Of An Oscar Engraver
Wait, what? “We wouldn’t have time to engrave each Oscar on the spot, so we pre-engrave the name of every nominee on to plaques beforehand.”
Oxford Dictionary Adds New Words (And Boy Are They Ugly)
“Additions including “clicktivism” (a pejorative word for armchair activists on social media), “haterade” (excessive negativity, criticism, or resentment), “otherize” (view or treat – a person or group of people – as intrinsically different from and alien to oneself) and “herd mentality” (the tendency for people’s behaviour or beliefs to conform to those of the group to which they belong) all emerged during the 2016 battle for the White House.”
Claim: The Oscars Are More Important Than Ever This Year
“Ever since 2015, when the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag called out the industry’s woeful inclusivity, the show has been transformed—possibly against its will—from a sporadically #woke statuette dispensary to something bigger. The entire show is now political: The nominees, the winners, and the things they say (or don’t say) on stage. And at time when everyone’s mad as hell, and deservedly so, this year’s Oscars offer a rare chance for everybody to make a statement—even the viewers playing along at home.”
Toronto International Film Festival Downsizes
“The Toronto International Film Festival is reducing the overall number of films it will screen for this year’s edition by 20 per cent and getting rid of two programs.”
Mayor Of London: Cutting Arts Education Is False Savings
“When you speak to successful people in science or tech, they say one of the things that leads to lateral thinking is people doing arts. Not only does it lead to future artists, people in the cultural and creative sectors, but it helps people in different sectors.”
Philosophers Debate How To Respond To The 21st Century’s Rise In Violence
With a nod to Hannah Arendt for her phrase “dark times,” the New York Times online column “The Stone” recaps the columns of 11 contributors who have addressed the issue over the past year.
Arts Council England Will Spend £2.7 Million Implementing “Quality” Standards For Arts
Arts Council England is “pressing ahead with the system despite serious concerns raised following a pilot project last year to test such a system among 150 NPOs. An independent review of the pilot found that arts organisations wanted a more flexible system that would align with their individual artistic objectives, and ACE’s announcement that the system was going to be rolled out provoked anger and disbelief on social media. Using the system will be mandatory for around 300 of ACE’s largest NPOs, and a further 600 will be encouraged to use it.”
Here’s Why Standard Measures Of Arts Experiences Are A Bad Idea
“Setting aside the insurmountable logistical challenges that will face some of the organisations having to conduct the fieldwork for the Quality Metrics scheme, there are two fatal flaws with the research framework that will render the findings meaningless.”
Isabelle Huppert Has Become A Style Icon
In the States, until recently she’s been familiar mostly to art-cinema fans. But with this year’s Hollywood awards season, her cool, ambiguous, insouciant je-ne-sais-quoi has caught the fancy of the fashion press. Says Simon Doonan, “She has what the French used to call chien.” Ruth La Perla explores the mystique with the actress herself.
Interesting? How Meaningless Is That?
“Calling something interesting is the height of sloppy thinking. Interesting is not descriptive, not objective, and not even meaningful. Interesting is a kind of linguistic connective tissue.”
The Art Of Money: The Secret History Of The Images On Currency
Jennifer Schuessler talks to Mark Tomasko, a collector who doesn’t just study the artwork on old and new bills – he tracks the originals down.
Will This Be The First Art Museum On The Moon?
The museum purchased a plot on the moon through a website that issues deeds for property. The territory spreads over 20 acres in area D6, Quadrant Charlie, Lot Number 1/0581-0600, located 001 squares south and 001 squares east of the extreme northwest corner of what the deed terms “the recognized Lunar Chart.”
Sex Ed Book For Children Causes National Freak-Out In Indonesia
The author and publisher of I Dare to Sleep Alone and I Learn to Control Myself insist that the book’s purpose is to teach young children about feelings they experience and how to protect themselves from abuse. But images of particular pages got circulated on social media and pushed some national buttons pretty hard.
Seeing Noise: How Art And Design Transformed Popular Music
“Why then, when we think of music, do we think of Chuck Berry’s Gibson 335, Mick Jagger’s lips, the cover of Revolver, Michael Jackson’s zombies, Blue Note’s stark photography, and Madonna’s breasts?” As one music historian points out, “It just didn’t occur to people that you could correspond the music to some kind of visual image. Someone had to think of that.” Scott Timberg looks at the history of what happened after someone did think of it.
Long Shots: Losing ‘For Your Consideration’ Nomination Campaigns And The People Who Run Them
Cara Buckley, the Times‘ Carpetbagger: “Chatting with a half-dozen or so Oscar campaigners, the Bagger learned that the reasons long-shot movies and performers are foisted into the awards fray are almost as numerous as the prizes Hollywood doles out to itself each year (though, she dares to say, publicists’ justifying their paychecks surely plays a part).”
Gathering And Streaming All The Best TV Drama That Isn’t In English
“The result of 4,000 hours of TV consumption [by the founder] is Walter Presents, an online streaming service that began in Britain in January 2016. And now, when Americans have access to more TV from around the world, [Walter] Iuzzolino is bringing Walter Presents to the United States. The service will debut in March with a catalog of 34 shows, or about 300 hours of TV, and at least two new shows will be added each month.”
Publisher Shuts Down Magazine In Istanbul Over Cartoon Of Moses
“After the office of President Erdoğan condemned the cartoon, the publisher of Gırgır closed the magazine and threatened to file criminal complaints against staffers.”
Fearing Another Ghost Ship, Detroit Orders Artists’ Complex Vacated Immediately Due To Safety Violations
“One of the seven buildings of the Russell Industrial Center in Detroit, which has become known as a haven for artists and a locale for edgy events and movies, was ordered closed this week.” Said the city’s director of buildings and safety engineering, “During a recent inspection, the smell of natural gas from the multiple illegal installations was so strong, DTE had to be immediately called to correct the leak.”
Lessons From The NYT Firing Of Charles Isherwood By An Organizational Psychologist
“But first, it’s important to highlight the one thing we can’t learn: What really got him fired. … That said, there are plenty of important takeaways from the narrative about Isherwood’s firing.” Liane Davey offers four of them – and they may seem obvious, but people forget them all the time.
The Painful Truth About Isamu Noguchi’s Design For Martha Graham
Sarah Kaufman is not kidding about the “painful” part: as former and current Graham Dance Company performers tell her, dancing on those things hurts.
Maryland High School Bans Shepard Fairey’s ‘We The People’ Posters For Being ‘Anti-Trump’ – And Students Get Clever
Teachers at Westminster High School in Carroll County, a rural area on the Pennsylvania border, put up the posters as a “show of diversity” – which is precisely their purpose. But after a staff member complained, administrators said that political material couldn’t be displayed in classrooms without “showing both sides.” Westminster students have an alternative planned (and the school board is meeting with lawyers).
New Yorker Cartoonist James Stevenson, 87
“Mr. Stevenson did not restrict himself to drawing cartoons at the magazine; he was one of the rare people there who wrote and illustrated articles, including Talk of the Town pieces. And, away from The New Yorker, he was the author or illustrator of more than 100 children’s books, as well as novels and an illustrated biography of Frank Modell, a fellow New Yorker cartoonist, who died last year.”