Tag: 02.11.19

Ben Hecht Hated Hollywood. He Also Helped Create Two Of Its Most Important Genres

“The best screenwriter in Hollywood was contemptuous of movies as an art form (‘an outhouse on the Parnassus,’ Hecht declared), and had little trust in the wisdom of studio bosses and producers (‘nitwits on a par with the lower run of politicians I had known’).” Nevertheless, Jean-Luc Godard said in 1968, “he invented eighty per cent of what is used in Hollywood movies today.” — The New Yorker

The Mad Scientist Of Vocal Ensembles, Roomful Of Teeth

“Roomful of Teeth is a kind of lab experiment for the human voice. Its eight singers cover a five-octave range, from grunting lows to dog-whistle highs. Three have perfect pitch, all have classical training, and [director Brad] Wells has brought in a succession of experts to teach them a bewildering range of other techniques: alpine yodeling, Bulgarian belting, Persian Tahrir, and Inuit and Tuvan throat singing, among others. Because the group writes or commissions almost all of its pieces, it can create vocal effects that most singers would never attempt.” — The New Yorker

The Bizarre Deceptions Of A Writer Who Seemed To Have It All

Nobody has accused Dan Mallory of breaking the law, or of lying under oath, but his behavior has struck many as calculated and extreme. The former colleague said that Mallory was “clever and careful” in his “ruthless” deceptions: “If there was something that he wanted and there was a way he could position himself to get it, he would. If there was a story to tell that would help him, he would tell it.” This doesn’t look like poetic license, ordinary cockiness, or Nabokovian game-playing; nor is it behavior associated with bipolar II disorder. – The New Yorker