This idea is particularly prevalent when it comes to those works of art described as “narrative”: stories, novels, TV shows, movies, comics. We assume that works that depict characters in action over time must make us empathize with them, or as the saying goes, “walk a mile in their shoes.” And we assume that this is a good thing. Why? – New York Review of Books
Artist-Endowed Foundations Are A Growing Force In The Arts World
“Although representing only a small portion of all private foundations in the U.S., by virtue of their strong focus in the arts and direct charitable activities involving their art assets, artist-endowed foundations are an increasingly influential force shaping cultural philanthropy and stewarding the country’s artistic heritage.” – Inside Philanthropy
Stories Illustrate. Stories Mutate. Stories Grow And Change The World
In many ways, stories are uncannily similar to living organisms. They seem to have their own interests. They compel us to share them and, once told, they begin to grow and change, often becoming longer and more elaborate. They compete with one another for our attention—for the opportunity to reach as many minds as possible. They find each other, intermingle, and multiply. – Harper’s
Ed Bickert, 1932-2019
One of Canada’s finest musicians, guitarist Ed Bickert, died on Thursday at 86. He was quiet and reserved, but the rich harmonies in Bickert’s playing captivated listeners and fellow musicians alike. – Doug Ramsey
Why Do We Need A Festival Of Music By Women?
“The statistics offer an eloquent answer. In the 2014-2015 season, only 1.8 percent of the music performed by the top 22 American orchestras was by women, according to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. For the coming season of 2019-2020, the Institute for Composer Diversity at the State University of New York has surveyed 40 American orchestras and seen a slightly better number of 6.5 percent — perhaps reflecting a degree of consciousness-raising in the past few years, as well as a larger pool of orchestras. Orchestras, obviously, are only one part of the classical music world, but these statistics reflect an ongoing underrepresentation of women in the field that increasingly, but slowly, some are trying to correct.” – Washington Post
Sure, Rami Malek’s Historic Oscar Win Is Great For Arab Representation In The Movie World
But a lot more needs to happen – and not just for filmmakers like Nadine Labaki, whose Capernaum (Lebanon) was up for Best Foreign Film, or Talal Derki, whose Of Fathers and Sons, filmed in Syria, was up for Best Documentary. “What is really needed is better support for Arabs working in cinema in the Middle East who are trying to make quality films.” – The New York Times
Chiwetel Ejiofor’s New Netflix Film Avoids Sensationalizing A Disaster Through Telling A Specific Tale
Ejiofor, known in the U.S. best for his starring role in 12 Years a Slave, has now directed (and is starring in) a new film for Netflix, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. He wanted to be careful to ground it, and set it, in a very specific place and time. “The way that we relate to those kind of rural African communities is very rarely within the epic storytelling tradition of cinema. … So it was important to me to look at that and to think, Okay, how do I render this truthfully, but in an epic way?” – The Atlantic
Pritzker Prize-Winning Architect Kevin Roche Has Died At 96
Roche was a “Dublin-born American architect whose modernist buildings, at once bold and refined, gave striking new identities to corporations, museums and institutions around the world,” including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. – The New York Times
Google’s Like ‘Oh, Let’s Just Go Ahead And Be Evil’
In other words, no, they’re not going to remove an app that lets Saudi men track and monitor and control their wives and domestic workers. It doesn’t violate Google’s terms of service, they say. (Apple hasn’t yet decided whether its similar app violates its TOS.) – Business Insider
The Conveyor Belts (And Minds) That Bring Books To The New York Public Library
When you have infinite possibilities but not infinite storage, you have to figure out which books to take on, and which to weed. This is the story of the New York Public Library and its acquisitions team of 16 highly trainde readers, who, “from inside a squat, brick building in Long Island City, Queens, are ‘fighting for good books,’ said Michael Santangelo, the deputy director of collection management.” – The New York Times
A Grim, Weird On-Set Accident Puts A New TV Series In Jeopardy
The series L.A.’s Finest (a Bad Boys spinoff) was shooting its first season finale. An executive producer/showrunner and his co-showrunner were watching the outdoor scene on monitors when a stunt car hit a cargo crate – which then rammed into the video tent village, leaving one showrunner with extensive injuries that required amputation. – Los Angeles Times
The Precarity And Rootlessness Of Adjunct Life Means Being A Professor With No Books
Ouch. “This one had the vague promise of turning into a tenure-track job. It’s a promise that hiring committees often make for naive reasons, knowing that they can’t keep it. I was aware of this and yet I fell for it every time. Gullibility is key to the tenure-track rat race. But stepping into the office without books in hand, I realized that this was the last leg of the trip. I felt it in the pit of my stomach where my undiagnosable, restlessly churning cramps lived. There was no point in telling myself that I was just traveling light.” – LitHub
Steven Spielberg Wants Streaming Movies Knocked Out Of Academy Contention
Sure, Netflix’s Roma won three Oscars – or maybe because the film won three Oscars – Spielberg is not OK with streaming films competing with theatrical releases. “Steven feels strongly about the difference between the streaming and theatrical situation.” – Los Angeles Times
The 20-Year-Old Who Recreates Iconic Film Scenes On His Instagram
He plans for months but sometimes has to do things as prosaic as waiting for a train with the correct color poles, or taking a coastal bus to a random Welsh beach. “In the last 18 months, Thomas estimates he’s visited 150 film locations. He posts the results to Instagram, where he’s built an audience of nearly 15,000 followers.” And so far, it’s all for fun. – BBC