Not that he hated it. “I’m not ungrateful. I loved the money, of course, and I’m proud of a lot of those films. But if someone said to me, ‘Do you have any talent as an actor?’ I’d say, ‘Well, only in regard to character acting.'” – Los Angeles Times
Author: ArtsJournal2
Sarah Bryan Miller, Longtime Classical Music Critic In St. Louis, Has Died At 68
Miller was the first woman to be the Post-Dispatch‘s classical music critic, but as that role shrank (as at so many papers), she filled many other spots as well. Originally, “she got into journalism because she wanted to make a difference. In 2001, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra found itself in a financial crisis that threatened its existence. Ms. Miller covered the situation and explained to readers the options for keeping the SLSO alive, from maintaining it as an international-class ensemble to downgrading it to a regional orchestra.” Her articles inspired donors. – St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Is That Mysterious Monolith In Utah Actually By Artist John McCracken?
McCracken’s son says maybe. “He was inspired by the idea of alien visitors leaving objects that resembled his work, or that his work resembled. This discovery of a monolith piece — that’s very much in line with his artistic vision.” – The New York Times
Where Did The Banksy Bike Go?
Someone stole half of the artwork in Nottingham, even though the bike was not rideable and seemingly not an attractive target. It’s not the first time the art was hit: “The council had protected the mural with clear plastic sheeting, but it was also targeted with spray paint at least twice.” – The Guardian (UK)
With An Uncertain Future Bearing Down On Us, We’ve All Become Storytellers
What will happen next? We don’t fully know. (Of course, we never know, but the pandemic makes it worse.) Novelist Nancy Star: “Aren’t we all lost now, in the pandemic, trying to see what’s going to happen next, unable to catch more than a glimpse of a few feet ahead? Plans have been of questionable use. I still don’t know what made me buy so many frozen vegetables. … I know this feeling. This is how it feels to write a first draft of a novel.” – LitHub
Actor Wes Studi Revisits ‘Dances With Wolves,’ And How Native Depictions Have Changed On TV And Movies
Some things have improved – and others have far to go. Studi: “We’re getting to see Natives in contemporary situations and still bringing it as skins — as Indians. It’s never enough, and never soon enough, but we’ve got to live with the world we have.” – Yahoo! Entertainment
A Musical Breakdown Of How Steve McQueen Scored His New Movies
McQueen goes through his thought process for the film Lovers Rock. “West Indian people, Black people, were not welcome into clubs. Therefore, people thought, ‘You know what? We’ll make our own.’ So front rooms used to be turned into discos. People just roll up their carpets, get their couch, and a coffee table, whatever, put it in the spare room, and make that front room a venue for a club.” – Slate
Well, 2020 Has Bested Even The Oxford English Dictionary
Language changed so quickly in response to the pandemic that the OED decided not to pick only one word or term this year. “What struck the team as most distinctive in 2020 was the sheer scale and scope of change. … This event was experienced globally and by its nature changed the way we express every other thing that happened this year.” – The New York Times
A Family Scrapbook Passed Down For Centuries Held An Artistic Surprise
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Not bad: “Four previously unknown drawings by John Constable have been discovered hidden among a jumble of letters, poems, jokes and even dried leaves accumulated in a family scrapbook made over the course of the late 18th and 19th centuries.” – The Guardian (UK)
Black Theatre Needs More Than Just Different Playwrights
The form must also meet the content, say critics and scholars. They discuss “an under-theorized element of the discussion on Black theatre: its form. Oftentimes, Black theatre is relegated to conversations that focus solely on its content, obscuring the ways that Black artists have revolutionized the way theatre is written, devised and performed.” Artists like Adrienne Kennedy, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Tarell Alvin McCraney show the possibilities and the joy. – HowlRound