He died Friday morning. “By the afternoon, newspapers in Latin America and Spain teemed with tributes. In his native Santiago, hundreds gathered for his funeral on Saturday, and celebrities and politicians competed to offer the most extravagant praise. … This is a surreal end for a writer who called himself a ‘queen’ (una loca) and ‘a poor old faggot’ (un marica pobre y viejo).”
Is Suburban Theatre Mounting A Comeback?
“The suburban musical houses are fighting tooth and nail for the rights to major hits, and I suspect the publishing houses are finding it hard to choose. They’re very competitive with one another, and with any theater in the country.”
A ‘Pay What You Decide’ Trial Works So Well That A Theatre Decides To Use It For 6 Months
“Turpin explained that although the scheme would encourage bigger audiences through potentially lower prices, it is more important to remove the gamble involved in seeing new work at the theatre.”
“American Sniper”, War, Fiction, And Real-World Politics
“These films strip away almost all of the moral and political ambiguities of international conflict, in its place giving us a singular tale of physical and mental heroics dripping in red, white, and blue. It’s hard as an American to not be affected at some level. Although an unintended consequence of such powerful patriotic storytelling could be its political ramifications.”
What Moviegoers In Baghdad Think Of “American Sniper”
“Mohammed says one of the film’s opening scenes, when Kyle spots a woman and child who appear to be preparing to attack US troops during the initial invasion of Iraq, had the entire audience on the edge of their seats. ‘When the sniper was hesitating to shoot [the child holding the RPG] everyone was yelling ‘Just shoot him!” he said.”
Yes, Artists Need Funding – But We Shouldn’t Take It From Oil Companies
Playwright Mark Ravenhill: “For some 30 years now, many of us in the arts have prided ourselves on our skills as conmen. We can find the money, wherever it may be. And we can take it. And run. … But after all this time, aren’t we now starting to wonder who’s been fooling who?”
At Long Last, Peru Is Getting A National Museum
“Strangely enough, despite its rich cultural and artistic history, the country hasn’t had a large-scale national museum until now. … The new museum will make its home at the storied Pachacamac, an archaeological site southeast of Lima that’s passed through many hands since the Early Intermediate period.”
These Filmmakers Staged A Canine Rebellion With 200 Real Dogs
“In the upcoming movie White God, … the canine actor Bodie plays Hagen, a mutt that – after he is separated from his owner – leads an uprising of hundreds of dogs against the men who mistreat and abuse them.” The director, the animal trainer, and Bodie tell us how they pulled it off. (video)
Bring back The 8-Track! Why Physicality Matters In Music
“It’s not about toggling between tabs, one for streaming music, one for chatting with coworkers, and another for checking bank statements. It’s about experiencing music as an artifact, and really listening.”
That “Public Radio Voice” – Is It A Cultural Problem?
“The voices on podcasts and public radio are informed, interesting, gentle friends. They keep me company as they share important, entertaining, and sometimes tragic stories. But the timbre, accent, inflections, rhythm, metaphors, and references of these voices reflect class, region, ethnicity, gender, and other components of identity.”
One Of This Year’s Best Sundance Festival Movies Was Shot On An iPhone
“Plenty of amateur films have been shot using iPhones, but by all reports, this is the first movie at the Sundance Film Festival to be shot almost entirely on an Apple device. It was a decision that indie writer and director Sean Baker made to accommodate the film’s small budget. But you’d never guess the camera, to look at it.”
Woman Steals Artist’s Identity. Artist Makes Art Out Of Woman’s Life
“Sanctioned stalking” … interesting. I could see how someone would see it that way. And I think anyone outside — anyone who is not me or my PI — I could see that perspective. But I do not consider it to be that at all.”
The Problems With Obsessing About Measuring Impact Of Art
“If we are constantly debating what “good” or “quality” looks like, we’re wasting time we could be using honing our work to better deliver on the social impact we’ve all agreed is important. I’d love to work for an organization that clearly knows that the impact it wants to have is X–so we can focus on doing X.”
That Sounds So Familiar (But Does That Mean I’ve Just Plagiarized Tom Petty?)
“Come to think of it, Petty is more like a musical Mark Rothko, in that he usually paints with only a few big splotches of solid color. Just because he’s famous for doing it, does that really mean nobody else is allowed to?”
The New Lands Of Opportunity: Buffalo, Detroit
If moving to New York City is like dating the most popular kid in your high school only to discover “all the blemishes that aren’t visible when gazed upon from a distance,” then Buffalonians will tell you that moving to their city is like dating the girl next door who’s undergoing a She’s All That-style transformation.
Is The English National Opera Losing Audiences And Money? ENO Responds
“The unequivocal fact is that in the last eight financial years the ENO has run an unrestricted surplus of £2.4 million. Our total audience for 2013/14 was up by 11% and audience numbers for the 2014/15 season to date remain stable.”
One Of The Most Infamous Behavioral Experiments, Rethought 50 Years Later
Under the watch of the experimenter, the volunteer—dubbed “the teacher”—would read out strings of words to his partner, “the learner,” who was hooked up to an electric-shock machine in the other room. Each time the learner made a mistake in repeating the words, the teacher was to deliver a shock of increasing intensity, starting at 15 volts (labeled “slight shock” on the machine) and going all the way up to 450 volts (“Danger: severe shock”).
Snowpocalypse, The American Media, And Lewis Carroll’s White Queen
Adam Gopnik: “The ruling deity of this form of panic and pensive regret is Lewis Carroll’s White Queen, from Through the Looking-Glass. The White Queen, in some Joseph Campbell realm of archetypes, is indeed surely a variant of Hans Christian Andersen’s Snow Queen, and so perhaps it’s no wonder that in Carroll’s rendering she governs the Kingdom of the Snow That Fell Before It Started Falling.”
Jaipur Isn’t Even India’s Biggest Book Bash – Or Most Bookish City
That would be Calcutta Kolkata, where “roadside tea shack owners will talk at length on important writers of the day and rickshaw pullers adorn the backs of their vehicles with the names of writers” – and where the world’s largest non-trade (i.e., for the public) book fair, the Boi Mela, attracts 1½ million people.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 01.28.15
Orchestras, engage your audience!
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2015-01-28
The P Word
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2015-01-28
The Meaning of The Clash
AJBlog: CultureCrashPublished 2015-01-28
Just Because: Lester Young
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-01-28
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What Does An Orchestra Engaging With Its Audience Look Like?
“No more music stands. No more physical barrier between musicians and audience. Musicians free to look at the audience, to make eye contact (if the lighting allows them to see anyone’s eyes). To smile. To show how much they love the music, and love playing it. (And if they don’t love it, or love playing…that’s another long discussion of orchestra culture.)”
Carnegie Hall Will Commission 125 New Works
“Carnegie Hall will celebrate its 125th anniversary next season not only with its customary assortment of the world’s leading orchestras and performers playing long-cherished masterpieces but also by starting a new project to commission some 125 new works over the next five years.”
London’s National Gallery Workers Plan Strike To Protest Privatization
According to the union, the National Gallery plans “to privatise almost all staff, including those who look after the paintings and help the gallery’s six million annual visitors”.
Surely Self-Censoring Art Is Not An Acceptable Answer
“While we desperately need an open debate about free speech and the freedom to offend in our society, the obsessive focus on Muslims, religion, and blasphemy has diverted attention away from the bigger question of how we handle offending and being offended as part of a big, broad society where not everyone is going to agree.”
How The Meaning Of Movies Changes Depending On When You See Them
“Whatever impact a film might have on those who see it, the reality is that events, attitudes and present-day understandings affect and shape how we view movies as much, if not more. This cultural exchange doesn’t apply only to new films.”