Gia Kourlas: “You can’t completely banish your true self when you dance; Arthur Fleck is still somewhere inside of Mr. Phoenix, even after Arthur transforms himself into the Joker. What makes Mr. Phoenix’s performance so confusingly poignant — and not just a tale of good vs. evil — is the way in which he has essentially placed two characters within one dancing body.” – The New York Times
A Prison Production Of ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’ Goes On Tour
“The cast was strip-searched before boarding the bus to their show. The leading man was shackled so tightly that he performed with abrasions on his wrists. And the moment the men finished their bows and the house lights came up, they had to slip out of costume and back into green prison uniforms.” – The New York Times
‘My Actual Goal Is To Be The Anthony Bourdain Of Theatre’: Helen Shaw, New York Magazine’s New Critic
“I want to say to readers: You have no idea that you want to go to this weird corner and eat these spicy noodles, but trust me, you’ll love it. If I could do one millionth of that for theatre, I’d be happy.” (On the other hand: “I love theatre, but I am not a fan. I don’t feel like a fan. And I do get very, very angry at things.”) – American Theatre
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Between High Culture And Low Culture
There’s a difference between the two, for sure. But a Marvel movie is marvelous art, and high art helps us appreciate it. – The Hollywood Reporter
Robert Forster, Oscar Nominee For ‘Jackie Brown,’ Has Died At 78
Forster started strong but faded and had a hard time finding work for decades. But “the drought ended with a chance encounter with Tarantino at a West Hollywood coffee shop where Forster regularly had breakfast. Tarantino told him he was writing an adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s Rum Punch, which would become Jackie Brown, and asked Forster to read the book.” – Los Angeles Times
The Details Reflected In Our Eyes In Smartphone Photos Can Tell Everyone Where We Are, Where We Live, And More
Scary: “A Japanese man was arrested for reportedly stalking a pop star and attacking and groping her at her home, according to Japanese news organization NHK. Allegedly, this man found the woman’s home by studying photos she posted on social media, observing a train station reflected in her eyes, finding that train station using Google Street View, waiting for her at the train station, and following her home.” – The Verge
What To Read When You’re Ready To Burn It All Down
If you’re angry and you want to know what to read, remember, books can help you channel it into something less general and more focused. – The Rumpus
Your Living Room Is The Stage
Well, what the heck: “Agreeing to host an immersive show when not connected to the company is a daring step. The spaces are not – for obvious reasons – designed for it. The host is not a professional. The address may be anywhere and so guarantees of ticket sales for any given postcode may be complicated. But people came. Strangers came into my home.” – The Stage (UK)
How Did A Promise For A Less Eurocentric Nobel Prize In Literature Turn Into Two European Winners?
And that’s not even taking into account the genocide apologist stance of the man who won. This two-year award “decision fails to demonstrate the widened perspective that Olsson promised. Taking him at his word, it invites questions about how diligent their search can have been, how knowledgeable the jury, and indeed how global a literary prize the Nobel can claim to be.” – The Guardian (UK)
The Photographer Who Shot New York’s Real Garbage Fires
In this case, “That’s a trash fire!” was not a metaphor: In 1969, Puerto Rican and other Latinx activists used garbage fires to get city services to finally take them seriously, and Hiram Maristany took photos of it all. – The New York Times
How Much Should Family Members Be Able To Edit Memoir?
Dan Kois wonders if, in the age of the internet, his daughter should have the kind of editorial control she wants. “The lesson of sharing your work with a family member is that sometimes the story you wrote in private becomes less precious to you when you face the possibility of hurting someone you love with it.” – The New York Times
Is ‘Porgy’ A Stereotype? Take Two
Part of the reason we think so is Sidney Poitier’s depiction of Porgy in the Otto Preminger movie. – Joe Horowitz
A Matter of Attribution & Legacy
Why is artist Angel “LA2” Ortiz not included when we’re discussing Keith Haring’s work? – Jan Herman
WNYC Is Dropping Its ‘New Sounds’ Radio Program After 37 Years
Joining all of us, “‘Why would they do that?’ Laurie Anderson, the avant-garde composer and musician who was the first artist interviewed on the show when it began back in 1982, said by telephone.” (It’s for more news and talk.) – The New York Times
The Books That Made Nnedi Okorafor A Writer
Okorafor is already a star of the science fiction novel-writing community, and she penned some episodes of Marvel’s Shuri as well. But she’s also about to hit screens with an HBO series based on her book Who Fears Death and an Amazon Prime series that she and a co-author are adapting from Octavia Butler’s Wild Seed series. And the world can thank Michael Palin, Ben Okri, Tove Jansson, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar for inspiring her. – The Guardian (UK)
Our Languages Are Dying
Of the world’s 6000 languages, half are in linguistic collapse. A new film records their music. “The musical landscape is sometimes gentle, sometimes aggressive, but it always keeps our attention on the rich, incomprehensible, often overlapping chorus of words.” – The New York Times
A Massive Sculpture Of An African American Last Supper Was Hidden Behind Drywall Until A Theatre Moved In
The Studio Acting Conservancy was just starting demolition work at a former church that will be its new home in Washington, D.C.’s Columbia Heights when the crew boss called the theatre’s founder, Joy Zinoman, to tell her about a discovery, “an enormous frieze of the Last Supper that was hidden behind drywall for more than a decade.” And now there’s a bit of a problem: “Acting studios are supposed to be bare.” – Washingtonian
What’s The Difference Between Self-Confidence And Narcissism?
In the 1990s, teens were learned things that turned out not to be true. “Self-esteem would keep us from doing drugs, teachers told us; self-esteem would keep us from having premarital sex. (The first time I had sex with a confident stoner, I was very confused.)” But what is self-esteem? And how is it different from narcissism? – The Atlantic
Performance Artist Carlos Celdran Has Died In Exile At 46
Celdran was arrested and convicted in the Philippines for a dramatic performance protest, and he fled to Spain to escape his sentence. Celdran, who led walking tours all over Manila that he turned into plays, “had a charm that appealed as much to people in Manila’s glitzy hotels as to people in the slums, where his friends included cigarette vendors and drivers of the horse-drawn carts that plied the tourist neighborhoods.” – The New York Times
A Slate Of Recent Films Offers New Portrayals Of Asian, Not Tiger, Mothers
Films like Always Be my Maybe, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, The Farewell, and Searching create new images for larger mass consumption. “In these complex films, Asian American mothers are transmitters of domesticity, culture, and care, and their tragic deaths leave behind relatives who are struggling to find themselves in their absence. It’s a new and different kind of familial negotiation for Asian American families. On many shows, including All American Girl and Fresh off the Boat, Asian mothers are immigrants whose accents and domineering personalities are played for comedic relief.” – Bitch
The Hong Kong Protesters Are Making Excellent Use Of Instagram-Ready Art
What defines the protests in the public’s memory might just be the art, including statues likening protesters to the Statue of Liberty and pop-art posters of Chinese officials and the city’s leader, Carrie Lam. “Street art and graphic design are defining features of the pro-democracy demonstrations that have roiled the semiautonomous Chinese territory since June. Artists often work quickly and anonymously, and present their oeuvres either in Reddit-like internet forums or public places with heavy foot traffic.” – The New York Times
Students At A U.S. University Burn A Campus Speaker’s Book
One student recorded the burning of author Jennine Capó Crucet’s novel, which Georgia Southern had chosen as a campus read: “These people decide to burn her book because ‘it’s bad and that race is bad to talk about,'” she tweeted. Other outlets reported that “a group of apparently angry students had gathered outside” the author’s original hotel, so the college moved her to a different one. (The college’s response has been, shall we say, a bit tepid.) – Remezcla
The Messy, Textural, ‘Suitable For Ladies’ Medium Of Pastel
Hilariously to anyone who’s ever worked in, or anywhere near, pastels, “There’s one theorist who said it was better for women to use because they wouldn’t soil their fair hands the way that they would with oil paint.” – NPR
The New Movie Tech Of Making Will Smith Look Like He’s A Quarter-Century Younger
Apparently this is, or was, a new process; “Digital humans have been put into shots before, but, according to Guy Williams, a visual effects supervisor at Weta who is quoted in the film’s press notes, ‘this is the first time where one of the leading characters of the film is a totally recognizable human.'” The details are new, but the fountain of youth for established actors isn’t (think, if you will, of Samuel Jackson’s Nick Fury and Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson in the set-in-the-early-1990s Captain Marvel). Will Smith’s digitally ageless baby face might be a harbinger of many, many movies to come. – The New York Times
The Internet And Texting Are Changing Language – But Not For The Worse
IDEK why ppl think txting & emojis aren’t language. “Any concerns about what the internet is doing to our collective mental health must be set against the poetry that it has simultaneously unleashed – the sheer range of textual innovation and expression that you can find on Tumblr or Twitter or even TikTok, the way three dots, or a question without a question mark, or ‘idk lol’ can become loaded with meaning – The Guardian (UK)
A Seattle Theatre’s Existential Question: What’s The Cost Of Survival?
“Sustainable. It was one of the hot buzzwords in the funding community a few years ago, until some began questioning why it was desirable to enable artistically limp arts organizations be better able to limp along. Sometimes perhaps it’s better to declare victory and acknowledge you’ve said all you needed to say.” – Post Alley