Two years since Mr. Macron pledged in a speech in Burkina Faso to enable “the temporary or permanent restitution of African heritage to Africa,” little additional progress has been made. – The New York Times
Survey: Three-Quarters Of UK Youth Have Never Heard Of Mozart
Three quarters of young people in Britain have never heard of Mozart, a survey reveals. One in five think composer Johann Bach – who died in 1750 – is still alive. – The Daily Mail
George Eliot Was A Translator As Well As A Novelist – And That Profoundly Affected Her Fiction
Eliot’s work on Spinoza’s Ethics, one scholar says, “was the last thing she did before she wrote her stories and became George Eliot. A large part of Spinoza’s Ethics gives this insightful analysis of human emotion, and I think that’s something she obviously learned from, because she has this really amazing understanding of human emotions and how they work.” – The Guardian (UK)
This Is Gross: Severe Flooding Is Now A Tourist Attraction In Venice
The deal is this: “It’s picturesque. You have a very old city flooded with water. Visually, it’s beautiful. For tourists, it’s another attraction. Tourists don’t realize what a disaster it can be for local people. If you find a beautiful city with water, you just enjoy it.” – Slate
In Italy, Voice Actors Can Win Dubbing Oscars
Americans deride dubbing, but for much of the world, it’s a lot more pleasant than subtitles. They’re extra good at it in Italy, and thus there are awards: “The dozen-odd categories recognized excellence in voice dubbing, but also sound mixing, and story and dialogue adaptations. Capturing nuances like jokes and figures of speech are key elements of successfully transposing an audiovisual product, whether it’s a film, a TV series, a cartoon or even a video game, from one language to another.” – The New York Times
The Gutting Of Local Newsrooms Is Leading To A Civic Crisis
Suburban communities lose their coverage; attitudes about national outlets taint how people feel about their hometown newspapers; reporters cover way too many beats at a time; and other very serious issues occur when places lose their local newspapers or see them massively retrenched. – Nieman Lab
Gahan Wilson, Cartoonist Of The Macabre, Dies At 89
Wilson’s “outlandish, often ghoulish cartoons added a bizarrely humorous touch to Playboy, The New Yorker, National Lampoon and other publications in the era when magazines propelled the cultural conversation.” – The New York Times
The Philadelphia Orchestra Is Expanding Its Relationship With China Despite U.S.-China Tensions
There are many, many tensions between the two countries, but “the orchestra’s rock-star status in China offers it unique possibilities for bridge-building. Even youngsters are aware that, in 1973, it was the first Western orchestra to play in the People’s Republic of China. It has made 11 full visits since then, the most recent one in May.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer
MacArthur ‘Genius’ Lynda Barry Is Using Her Grant To Explore Brain Creativity
She says it’s with the purest of pure artists: Preschoolers. “Barry is pushing the envelope on understanding how the brain creates and responds to words and pictures — a scholarly envelope that, in her mind, should be positively covered with illuminating doodles.” – The Washington Post
Origami Makes A Small, Crinkly Return
And it’s bigger than mountain folds, valley folds, and damp-paper shaping: “A few years ago, NASA engineers were able to create foldable telescopes and a flower-shaped shade to block out light from distant stars by using paper-folding techniques.” – The New York Times
As Arya Learned In Game Of Thrones, Swordplay Is A Lot Like Choreography
And that’s true in weapons and swordfighting theatre classes as well. Ask one student-turned-devotee: “In theatrical swordfighting, you’re following choreography and working with your partner and trying to avoid contact unless it’s part of the routine. It’s just like dance. Except there are more pointy objects.” – San Diego Union-Tribune
A Conversation Between Lynn Nottage, Pulitzer Prize-Winner For ‘Sweat,’ And Jeremy Harris, Who Wrote ‘Slave Play’
Nottage: “Yes, I have to go sometimes to where my audience is, rather than being confined by the proscenium—which forces us to have a certain level of engagement, which means I have to sit very quietly in the dark while these people speak at me. There isn’t always a conversation.” – Vogue
Two UK Treasure Hunters Found A Huge Viking Hoard – And Stole It
The metal detectorists found a hoard, didn’t report it, and sold most of it – and now they’re jailed for a very long time. “The hoard — much of which is still missing — could shed new light on a period when Saxons were battling the Vikings for control of England. The trove is thought to have been buried in the late 9th century by a member of a Viking army that was being pushed east across England by an alliance of Saxon forces.” – The Washington Post (AP)
Apple Pulls ‘The Banker’ From Theatrical Release As Allegations About Producer Emerge
The movie was supposed to be Apple’s big first narrative film release, a movie that would enter the awards discussion. Instead, the film – which stars Samuel L. Jackson and Anthony Mackie – is on indefinite hold “as the company investigates sexual abuse allegations concerning one of the movie’s co-producers.” – Los Angeles Times
Walls And Barricades Are Going Up Fast, But Just As Quickly, Artists Are Making Them Into Huge Canvases
Walls can be psychic wounds to those who suffer on either side, but artists try to make them “sites of exploration and evolution.” – Hyperallergic
Anne Midgette: National Symphony Is On The Brink Of…
There is an “arc the NSO has traversed over my 11 years in Washington, from the disaffected, sloppy ensemble that Leonard Slatkin left when he departed in 2008 to the group that’s starting to taste real international demand under Noseda. Those in-between years have seen ups and downs.” – Washington Post
Is Los Angeles’ Community Of Musicians A Vision Of Orchestra 2.0?
What we need are larger communities of musicians who take on a variety of musical tasks throughout their towns, playing early music, new music, movie music, chamber music, whatever is wanted. – Los Angeles Times
LA MoCA Employees Give Notice They’re Unionizing
The workers come from nearly every department at MOCA, including visitor engagement, education, exhibitions, communications, retail and audio-visual, but not curatorial. Among their motivations to unionize: pay, working conditions, and quality of internal communications or “lack of transparency” between management and employees. – Los Angeles Times
Who Was The World’s First Movie Star? (And Why Haven’t We Heard Of Him Before?)
Until now, the honor had been thought to belong to Florence Lawrence (“the Biograph Girl”), who became famous under her own name following an outrageous publicity stunt by her new studio in 1910. But new research has found that a French slapstick comedian called Max Linder was marketed as “Max” by 1907 and under his full name by 1909. He became famous in both Europe and Hollywood, and Charlie Chaplin considered him a major influence — yet he was forgotten after his bloody death in 1925. – The Guardian
Do Trigger Warnings Work? Research Says…
As you might have noticed, the use of trigger warnings has since spread beyond US universities to educational institutions around the world, and further: into theatres, festivals and even news stories. The warnings have become another battlefield in the culture wars, with many seeing them as threatening free speech and the latest sign of ‘political correctness’ gone mad. – Aeon
Arguments For Returning The Parthenon Marbles To Greece Are Compelling
Maybe it’s true that if Lord Elgin had not taken the sculptures they would have been destroyed, by the Turks or the Venetians or the pollution in Athens. And it is true that, as stated in the Times article, the Parthenon sculptures are accessible, and free to six million visitors a year. But Athens gets visitors, too, and Greece is no longer under the Ottoman Empire—in 2021, it will celebrate two hundred years since the beginning of its war of independence—and it can take care of its heritage. – The New Yorker