Todd VanDerWerff: “We need cultural criticism not just to tell us which movies to go see and which ones to avoid, but to tell us things we already knew but didn’t know how to express. If reporting can explain the world to us, cultural criticism can explain us to us.” — Vox
Harpsichordist Blandine Verlet Dead At 76
Regarded as one of the best harpsichordists of her generation, with a repertoire covering four centuries, from William Byrd through Francis Poulenc, Verlet was especially known for her performances and recordings of Bach, Scarlatti, Rameau, and, above all, Couperin. (in French; for Google Translate version, click here) — Le Figaro
Pioneering Animator Don Lusk, 105
“Lusk’s passing is not just the death of a great animator, but the closing of an era in American animation history. He was the last living Disney animator who had made significant contributions to the original animated features produced by Walt Disney, starting with the company’s very first feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. ” – CartoonBrew
The Real Louis C.K. And Kevin Spacey Have Finally Emerged
Matt Zoller Seitz: “These types of guys thrive on attention, and if they can’t get the positive kind, they’ll settle for the negative. ‘Oh, sure, they’ve tried to separate us,’ Spaceywood said, inadvertently speaking for Louis C.K. as he emerged from his alt-right chrysalis and flapped his moth wings in Levittown. ‘But what we have is too strong. It’s too powerful.'” — Vulture
To Understand The Future Of Post-Advertising Media, Look To The 19th Century
Derek Thompson points us back to the age of the “party press,” when newspapers were funded by political organizations that “treated readers as a group to engage and galvanize. … It was advertising that led to the demise of the party press … [and to] the modern standards of ‘objective’ journalism.” (Mustn’t make the advertisers nervous.) “As the news business shifts back from advertisers to patrons and readers (that is to say, subscribers), journalism might escape that ‘view from nowhere’ purgatory.” — The Atlantic
Opera Star David Daniels Countersues Student Who Alleges Daniels Molested Him
“The [countertenor] filed the suit earlier this month against Andrew Lipian, who accused Daniels of groping him in 2017 in a federal lawsuit which also alleges that the University of Michigan turned a blind eye to allegations of sexual impropriety.” — New York Daily News
Venice To Charge Day-Trippers Entry Fee
Of the city’s 30 million visitors each year, fewer than a third stay overnight (and pay hotel tax). Now the other 20 million, mostly cruise-ship passengers, will also contribute to covering Venice’s ever-soaring costs for serving and cleaning up after all that tourist traffic. — The Daily Beast
Back To The Future? American News Media’s Post-Ad Model
“As the news business shifts back from advertisers to patrons and readers (that is to say, subscribers), journalism might escape that “view from nowhere” purgatory and speak straightforwardly about the world in a way that might have seemed presumptuous in a mid-century newspaper. Journalism could be more political again, but also more engaging again.” – The Atlantic
There’s No Free Will? You Can’t Possibly Believe That
Philosopher Tim Sommers makes the case that, “in general, it’s very hard to not involve yourself in some kind of ‘performative contradiction’ – where what you do contradicts what you say – when you try to disavow free will.” — 3 Quarks Daily
How Americans’ Attitudes About Life Have Changed (As Chronicled By 80 Years Of Polling)
“We looked in those archives to find a range of questions, dating as far back as 1938, that explored how earlier generations felt about everything from fashion to faith in Congress to fear of technological change. Then, in conjunction with YouGov, we asked 1,000 Americans today to respond to those same queries. – Huffington Post
The UNESCO World Heritage Label May Be Prestigious And Coveted, But Is It Effective?
A Q&A with Lucas Lixinski, a scholar of international cultural heritage and human rights law, argues that the UN body’s project to designate important pieces of cultural heritage is very effective — except for the communities whose culture the label is meant to protect. — Hyperallergic
Buyer, Not Seller, Must Pay Royalties When Artwork Is Resold, Rules France’s Supreme Court
“The decision has been welcomed by Christie’s France, which is behind the move to pass on the expense to the buyer. The auction house is ultimately responsible for paying the levy to the collecting agency, but it is now its right to ask for the money from the buyer.” — The Art Newspaper
How A Troubled Kid Went From Juvenile Detention To Being An Opera Star
Ryan Speedo Green, 32, went from a troubled home to finding a life’s passion and success as an opera singer good enough to command the stage of the Metropolitan Opera.
How Ariana Grande And Pete Davidson Perfectly Explain Our Cultural Moment
Celebrity news was intertwined with some of our culture’s most urgent issues, particularly involving mental health. Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade committed suicide in the same week. Demi Lovato, outspoken about her addiction issues, overdosed and went to rehab. The already-fractured political world was thrown into a frenzy when West, who addressed his bipolar diagnosis on his album this summer, visited the White House. – Washington Post
The Creeping Insidiousness Of Miseducation
Every person has two choices for how to cope with any aspect of society that is uncomfortable: act to change it, or surrender. Miseducation is the art of teaching people to surrender. To be miseducated, as Carter Woodson had it, is not merely to be poorly educated, although that’s often a byproduct. Miseducation is a deeper evil, one that arises whenever an intrinsic trait, such as sexuality or ethnic heritage, is treated as a flaw to be overcome, rather than a gift to be developed. – The Atlantic
Why We’re So Terrible At Predicting The Future
The thing about tech is that even if you can see it coming, you can’t be sure quite how it will arrive or what it will do when it gets here. – The Guardian
Reinventing A Theatre Commons
Howlround’s director reflects on the remaking of the theatre commons and what has been accomplished in 2018.
Imagine Starring As The Seaweed Maiden In A Scottish Celtic Ballet
It happened in the 1940s, when Erik Chisholm and Margaret Morris brought modernist dance views to bear on stories of Celtic legends that mixed traditional Scottish and modernist music. One principal: “Rehearsals were held up because the dancers had to learn Scottish folk dancing and that is all on the balls of the feet, whereas ballet you have to push your heels down; so it didn’t come naturally or easily – lots of us got blisters – but we respected it.” – The National (Scotland)
A New Law Restricts The Use Of Nondisclosure Agreements In Sexual Harassment Cases
Harvey Weinstein’s assistant wasn’t even allowed to have a copy of the NDA she signed, or talk about it with anyone at all unless they signed NDAs as well. She broke her silence because she decided it was an immoral agreement. Now, dubbed a #MeToo law, a California bill that goes into effect Jan. 1 “would ban nondisclosure provisions in settlements involving claims of sexual assault, harassment or discrimination based on sex.” – Los Angeles Times