“Photographer Richard Ross has documented the U.S. juvenile justice system for the better part of a decade. In tonight’s ‘Brief But Spectacular’, Ross shares what it feels like to honor the voices of children behind bars.” – PBS NewsHour
Emily Nussbaum’s Case For Taking TV Seriously
Many people today take television seriously. Instead, Nussbaum’s contribution has been to argue for what precisely about television merits our serious attention. – Los Angeles Review of Books
Malcolm Gladwell’s Impending Tipping Point
Nearly 20 years and millions of sales after his nonfiction debut, Mr. Gladwell is at something of a professional tipping point. He elicits from readers the kind of polarized reactions usually reserved for talk-radio hosts. To one camp, he is a master storyteller, pithily translating business concepts and behavioral science to a lay audience. To others, he is a faux intellectual, dressing up ordinary truths (such as an “Outliers” argument that success results from a combination of hard work and opportunity) as counterintuitive genius. How “Talking to Strangers” is received could cement Mr. Gladwell in one of those camps for good. – The New York Times
This Taiwanese Comedian Takes On The One Topic Others On The Island Won’t Go Near
His weekly satire program, The Night Night Show, has been on television for not quite 18 months, and already Brian Tseng has become a big star. Why? Likely because he’ll talk and joke openly about mainland China, a subject most Taiwanese avoid. – 1843 Magazine
New Understanding Of The Brain Argues For Lifelong Plasticity
It’s no longer a question of our brains being a product of either nature or nurture but realizing how entangled the “nature” of our brains is with the brain-changing “nurture” provided by our life experiences.” – Literary Hub
Fox News Commentators Ridicule GMA Apology For Dance Comments
In comparing Lara Spencer’s apology to a politician apologizing to an ethnic group, Arroyo is saying that he finds that practice laughable as well. But the most blatant example is Ingraham’s comment that the ballet class looks like “tai chi people.” – Dance Magazine
When Joshua Met Michael
Joshua Robison and Michael Tilson Thomas met in their junior high orchestra in North Hollywood when they were 11 and 12 years old (Robison is a year and a half younger). “I played cello, and across the room playing the oboe was this Jewish, nerdy looking guy,” says Robison of his first memory of Thomas. “I really remember him because at recess I’d hang around and he’d play piano. I never heard piano playing like that.” – San Francisco Chronicle
Staff At Science Museums Across England Declare One-Day Strike Over Low Pay
“The action comes after [Science Museum Group’s] directors refused to increase a below-inflation 1.5% pay rise offered to more than 75% of staff this year. … Prospect, the union representing striking Science Museum Group staff, said a series a of below-inflation pay rises had left workers with a 13% real-terms pay cut since 2010” and that SMG had a profit of more than £4 million last year. – The Guardian
National Museum Of Brazil, Destroyed By Fire Last Year, Sets Date For Partial Reopening (And There’s Good News About The Collection)
“Our intention is to inaugurate a part of the reconstructed palace in 2022 with expositions that let us celebrate the bicentennial of Brazil’s independence,” said an official. And while early reports last year said that 90% of the museum’s collection had been lost in the fire, that figure turns out to be only 46%. – Artnet
$8 Billion Was Spent On New Cultural Venues Worldwide In 2018: Report
That figure, high as it seems, is down from $9.9 billion in 2017, the year that saw the completion of the Louvre Abu Dhabi. There were 148 such buildings — museums, performing arts centers, and other cultural hubs — completed in 2018, with the largest number of projects in North America but the three most expensive all in China. – Hyperallergic
Chattanooga Symphony Sued By Its Concertmaster For Breach Of Contract
Holly Mulcahy, who has been the orchestra’s concertmaster since the fall of 2013 (and who takes up a second concertmaster position at the Wichita Symphony this month), is seeking damages “for breach of contract, misrepresentation, tortious interference with business relationship and intentional reckless acts related to the same … related to Plaintiff’s confirmed solo performance contract on October 6, 2019.” (The orchestra’s printed season brochure had listed the program for that date as music of Haydn and Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto No. 2, with Mulcahy as soloist; the orchestra’s website now lists it as an all-Haydn program.) – WTVC NewsChannel 9 (Chattanooga, Tenn.)
Filmmaker Who Spent 12 Years Shooting ‘Boyhood’ Will Spend 20 Years Shooting Sondheim Musical
Richard Linklater’s new long-term project is a silm adaptation of Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, which traces, in reverse, the gradual, bitter estrangement of three longtime friends. Starring are Blake Jenner, Ben Platt, and Beanie Feldstein, the latter two themselves close friends since high school. – Los Angeles Times
Actor Valerie Harper, 80
“[She] amassed four Emmys during her time as Rhoda [Morgenstern] — three for her sidekick role on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977, and one as the lead character in the spinoff Rhoda, which ran from 1974 to 1978 on the same network. She continued to act on television and in the theater for more than three decades, her stage roles ranging from the flamboyant actress Tallulah Bankhead to former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir. But she was forever known as Rhoda — a reflection of the preservative power of reruns, and the enduring appeal of her signature character.” – The Washington Post
Art Dealer Who Kicked, Choked, And Banged Head Of His Girlfriend Sentenced To 20 Days In Rehab
London dealer Joseph Nahmad, 31 and part of a powerful multibillion-dollar family network of art dealers, got a suspended sentence of 14 weeks along with the rehab order from Judge Jeffrey Pegden, who told Nahmad, “There are mitigating factors. You are of good character and have taken steps to address your offending behaviour.” As compensation for her injuries, Pegden also ordered Nahmad to pay his victim £750 ($906). – The Daily Mail (UK)
What Does The Kennedy Center’s New “Reach” Want To Be?
Phil Kennicott: “When the Kennedy Center was built, it was designed to fulfill a specific sets of needs and functions. Now it is has been expanded to enfold an unknown number of new functions and needs, in spaces that are flexible and multipurpose. On any given evening, the old building hums with activity, despite its dated interiors and problematic furnishings. In five years, let’s put the new building to the same test. If the majority of its new spaces are active and throwing off sparks, it will be a success. If not, the problem will almost certainly be a lack of institutional foresight rather than architectural planning.” – Washington Post
The New Urban Crisis And How US Cities Rank
The original urban crisis of the 1960s and 1970s was a crisis of economic failure, spurred on by the movement of people, jobs, and industry to the suburbs; the hollowing out of city economics; and the concentration of poverty and economic disadvantage in urban centers. The New Urban Crisis is a crisis of success, brought on by the movement of affluent and educated people, and of knowledge and tech jobs, back to the urban center. – CityLab
How Stage Actors Make Their (Now-Mandatory) Audition Videos
The days of the in-person first audition (and maybe even second) are over, writes Melissa Errico: even well-established performers like herself and Raúl Esparza have to send in videos of themselves reading any part they’re trying out for. “How does an actor knock on the door when there is no door anymore?” – The New York Times
Soprano Slams Critic Who Body-Shamed Her. Critic Makes Snotty Reply. Bad Idea.
Kathryn Lewek just finished a run as Eurydice in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld at the Salzburg Festival, one of her first performances since giving birth earlier this year. After a few German and Austrian critics, as she puts it, “[wrote about] postpartum mom-bod instead of reviewing the show,” Lewek took to Twitter to call them out (not by name). Manuel Brug of Die Welt (who had described Lewek and her colleagues as “fat women in tight corsets spreading their legs”) responded to Lewek’s complaint by writing, “If she is so sensitive why is she showing herself the whole time in this corset?” And the just wrath of the Twitterverse rained down upon him. – BBC