“Horror films, particularly those about masked men wielding blades and taking out unsuspecting innocents one by one, often have a roster of stereotypical female victims. … Reporting for Talking Movies, Nada Tawfik talks to several women film-makers who believe that a different approach to horror is possible.” (video)
Why Do We Hate Tom Cruise, And Are We Just Deeply Wrong?
“From the beginning of his career, he’s been trying to get us to change our perception of him, but it never takes. How is the biggest movie star of the world hiding in plain sight? How do we all know his movies but we have no idea what’s happening in them? We picture them so wrong.”
Dramatists Guild Blasts Minnesota Theatre Fest For Disrespect Of Scripts
“In a letter to Daved Driscoll, artistic director of Words Players Theatre, Doug Wright, president of the Dramatists Guild, took issue with guidelines that said the theatre’s directors and casts reserved the right to change submitted playscripts in any way they chose, while offering the playwrights no money for the use of their plays.”
The Utopian Planned City (Possible?)
There have been numerous attempts to build planned cities that can be better places than cities that develop organically and haphazardly. Few have succeeded (and not for lack of trying)
India Lifts Ban On Internet Pornography After Nationwide Debate
“In the first large-scale crackdown on the internet in India, the world’s largest democracy, websites were blocked over the weekend as telecommunications companies began to implement government instructions. The Department of Communications said the aim was to prevent pornography becoming a social nuisance, but the move immediately prompted a nationwide debate about censorship and freedom.”
Italy’s Plan To Rebuild The Floor Of The Coliseum
“Foremost among the projects are an €18.5-million (~$20.1 million) plan to rebuild the floor of Rome’s Colosseum — which was removed during excavations toward the end of the 19th century — so that the ancient amphitheater might be used for reenactments of Roman spectacles and other events, and €18 million (~$19.6 million) for the so-called “Great Uffizi” project to renovate and expand the most-visited art museum in Italy.”
What I Learned About Journalism When The New Republic Fired Its “Old Journalism” Staff
“If we lament the decline of journalism, it is not because we want to remake magazines in the image of their forebears – pre-digital journalism was famously hostile to women, for one thing – it is because we want to inhabit a world where it is still possible to translate lived experience to the page with integrity. And if we didn’t find these acts of translation worthwhile, why would we bother to write articles – or plays – at all?”
How Morality Is Brokered By Attention On The Internet
“The mere act of choosing to look at something online generates real value for a company, materially helping to support its staff, its content, and the social interactions that a platform plays host to. This is why a website like Do Not Link exists: It promises a way to share a link from a website without boosting that site’s standing in search rankings.”
Universal Sets Global Box Office Record With $5.53 Billion Box Office Take
Universal’s blockbuster year consists of two movies that have crossed the billion-dollar mark: “Jurassic World” ($1.56 billion) and “Furious 7” ($1.51 billion). The “Despicable Me” prequel “Minions” has generated “$875 million in ticket sales.
How “Hamilton” Transcends Theatre To Become Great Theatre
The show breaks every rule of Broadway success. “There are no movie stars and it’s not a revival. It’s storytelling and an original piece of theater that has inspired all this excitement.”
Natalia Osipova Never Thought She’d Dance At The Royal Ballet – Here’s How She Got There
“I never associated myself with that troupe, which has its own, clearly expressed characteristic, its own style. I didn’t think of experimenting with that repertoire. I thought that I would never dance English ballets, that they don’t suit me! But two years ago Kevin O’Hara, the director of the Royal Ballet, invited me to dance Swan Lake.”
Desperate To Keep Ahead Of ISIS, Iraq’s National Library Is Digitizing Its Whole Collection
“In February, IS torched more than 8,000 rare books and manuscripts in Mosul, Iraq’s second city, which the group seized in June, 2014. … The microfilm department overseeing the digitisation in Baghdad faces significant obstacles, as many books have been ruined by fire or dampness, while others have become hardened and petrified as a result of extreme heat and dampness.”
Carol Brown Janeway, Award-Winning Translator And Editor At Knopf, Dead At 71
“Janeway joined Knopf in 1970 and eventually became a senior vice president and senior editor who worked with writers from all over the world. … [Her] uthors ranged from biologist E.O. Wilson to Nobel Prize-winning fiction writer Imre Kertesz.”
Lynn Manning, 60, Playwright, Actor, Founder Of LA’s Watts Village Theater Co.
“[He] overcame blindness from a barroom bullet to forge a 30-year career as a champion athlete, poet, actor, theater company founder and, especially, playwright inspired by his own harshest experiences and the social problems of south Los Angeles.”
Steve Jobs, The Opera, Is Coming
“The Santa Fe Opera announced Wednesday that The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, by composer Mason Bates and librettist Mark Campbell, is scheduled to debut in 2017. … The piece will explore Jobs’ complicated professional and personal lives … [and] will also delve into the touchy area of his relationship with a woman whose child he initially disowned.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 08.05.15
How have you engaged your staff to cultivate new leaders
AJBlog: Field Notes Published 2015-08-05
My Donald Trump and Yours: A Rueful Reminiscence
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-08-05
Lundgren Plays Johansson, With Strings
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-08-04
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Disney Stock Plunges, Other Media Companies Follow As Analysts Worry About Future Of TV
“Not only has subscriber and distribution revenue come under pressure as viewers choose not to pay for traditional cable and satellite service, but so, too, has ad revenue in the face of huge declines in TV ratings.”
Ai Weiwei Gets Assuances From China That He Can Return
“Ai traveled to Munich last week after having his passport returned, four years after it was confiscated, for a medical checkup and to see his young son. In an interview with the Munich-based daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung published on Wednesday, the dissident artist said Chinese authorities now have a more positive attitude toward him.”
Busted: Spain Refuses Export License For Picasso. Then France Finds It
It was declared a “historical heritage asset of exceptional importance” by the Spanish National Court and refused an export permit. An attempt to export the painting to Switzerland on Thursday “drew the attention of French officials”.
This Year’s List Of Highest-Paid Actors
No women crack the Top Ten. And “for the first time, the list also includes actors who work outside the US movie industry, meaning the top 10 includes three Bollywood stars.”
Controversial Play About ISIS Canceled In London
“Homegrown, a National Youth Theatre (NYT) production, was closed down last Thursday, with the creators saying they were given no prior warning. Director Nadia Latif and playwright Omar El-Khairy believe the production was cancelled due to external pressures, claiming both local authorities and police got involved during the development of the play.”
Alan Cheuse, Author And NPR Book Critic, Dead At 75
“[He] published his first short story just before his 40th birthday and went on to write two dozen books, but who became even better known as a longtime NPR book critic” on All Things Considered.