J. Hoberman writes about the newly-rediscovered “comic strip” drawings, featuring a lead character called the Biped, that Richter drew in 1962, shortly after escaping from East to West Germany.
Tag: 02.05.17
Linguist Explains Why ‘Poetry Slam Voice’ Drives People Crazy
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that if you’ve ever attended a poetry slam, you probably already hate ‘slam voice.’ … As an outsider, it’s an easy thing to make fun of, but unfortunately for our cold, dead hearts, it’s always been hard to articulate exactly why it annoys us.
Until now.”
The New Yorker Picks This Year’s Best And Worst Super Bowl Ads
Ian Crouch: “In other times, the [Anheuser-Busch] commercial – a cinematic, and partly fictionalized, depiction of the journey that the company’s co-founder, Adolphus Busch, made from Germany to St. Louis in the mid-nineteenth century – would not have drawn much attention.
But these are not other times.”
Unknown Bob Marley Tapes Found And Restored After 40 Years In A Wet Basement
When the reels were discovered in the cellar of a seedy London hotel, “there was literally plasticised gunk oozing from every inch and, in truth, saving the sound quality of the recordings looked like it was going to be a hopeless task.”
Race, Opera, And A Historical “Nixon In China”
“Opera remains far too white-dominated an art form. And operatic stereotypes and conventions are valid subjects for ongoing re-evaluations. Opera companies everywhere are wrestling with shifting expectations. We all have our personal and racial hot buttons and blind spots. But we should be wary of letting them distort our perceptions of historic works of art—and a 30-year-old opera about events 45 years ago is now a product of history.”
IMDb, The Go-To Movie Info Website, Is Shutting Down Its Discussion Boards
In a statement posted to its website, the company said that the decision was made “only after careful consideration and was based on data and traffic.” It added, “We have concluded that IMDb’s message boards are no longer providing a positive, useful experience.”
The Touring Ballerina Who Left It All To Build A Theatre In The Desert
“When Marta Becket died on Monday at 92, her only survivor was the theater, the walls and ceiling she painted depicting a colorful audience that would never leave: Renaissance royalty, nuns and monks, clowns and jousters, revelers and cherubs — and Clive Barnes, the longtime drama critic of The New York Times, a playful nod to her theatrical past.”
Utah Legislature Considers Making The Iconic “Spiral Jetty” To Be State’s Official Artwork
“I think elevating something as iconic, in some circles, as the Spiral Jetty to be our official state work of art could bring it more into the mainstream consciousness of all Utahns,” Rep. Mike Winder, R-West Valley City, said.
Playwright Robert Schenkkan, Furious At Trump, Spits Out A Response Play In One Week
Five theaters across the country have already agreed to produce “Building the Wall,” starting next month. “We no longer live in a world that is business as usual — Trump has made that very clear — and if theater is going to remain relevant, we must become faster to respond. … We cannot hope to be useful if we can’t respond until 18 months after the fact.”
When The Sitcom Went Urban, Starting With Mary Tyler Moore
Basically, the MTM Show was about – and a harbinger of – gentrification.