“Michael [Collins] has too much talent to succeed as a crime writer,” wrote William O’Rourke. “He doesn’t possess the fatal lack of talent required. America really doesn’t possess enough of a literary culture anymore to maintain a writer like Michael.”
Tag: 03.20.17
“Beauty And The Beast” Smashes Opening Weekend Box Office Records
This feat would make it the first $100-million opener of 2017 (beating out the $88-million opening of “Logan” as the year’s best so far), as well as the highest March opener ever, edging just past the $166 million grossed by “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” last year. It would also shatter the $135-million record held by “Finding Dory” for the largest opening of a PG-rated movie.
Exploring The Powers That Writers Have
“Paying attention is the only thing that guarantees insight. It is the only real weapon we have against power, too. You can’t fight things you can’t actually see. The power a writer has is the power to make things visible, and they are the things that we don’t typically look at or think about. Telling a story about someone has enormous power. People forget a headline. They remember a story.”
How To Save The NEA? Speak Up In Numbers
Barry Hessenius: “If we really want to maximize our effectiveness and increase our chances of saving the NEA, we need to use social media and any other tool we have to enlist the support of neighbors, friends, co-workers, local media and businesses to join the effort in communicating with Congress. Every single person in the arts ought to enlist the support of one person outside the arts to make that phone call or write that letter or email.”
Why We Love That Truck Driver Lawsuit Story That Hinged On A Comma
“The case of the dairy-truck drivers’ comma has got several things going for it. It’s got David and Goliath in the story of the little guy sticking it to a corporate boss. It’s got men driving around in trucks with copies of Strunk & White in the glove compartment. And you know what else it’s got? Of course you do. It’s got milk. For all the backlash against the dairy industry—the ascendance of soy milk, almond milk, hemp milk (note the asyndeton), none of which, by the way, are really milk, because you can’t milk a hazelnut—there is something imperishably wholesome about cows and milk.”
Choreographer Trisha Brown, 80
“Few dance inventors have so combined the cerebral and sensuous sides of dance as Ms. Brown did, and few have been as influential. Her choreography, showcased primarily in New York, helped shape generations of modern dance creators into the 21st century.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 03.16.17
NEA Funding: Beyond Votes, We Must Grow the Applause
The President’s budget proposal to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts is merely an “opening argument.” A very long legislative process now begins which will, hopefully, culminate in a budget that reflects moderation … read more
AJBlog: Audience Wanted Published 2017-03-16
It’s A Matter of Taste-And Touch And…
If three, as the old saying goes, makes a trend, the museum world is past that and into institutionalizing the idea of multi-sensory exhibitions. I still would call it a “mini-trend,” though … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-03-16
Phantasmic Freaks and Geeks in ABT’s Scrumptious “Whipped Cream”
No one in their right mind thinks the ballet stage needs any more dancing sweets, yet there was something irresistible about the announcement that American Ballet Theatre Artist-in-Residence Alexei Ratmansky planned to resurrect Richard Strauss’ … read more
AJBlog: Fresh Pencil Published 2017-03-16
Read ‘The I.O.U.’ – F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Never-Before-Published Story
“The above is not my real name – the fellow it belongs to gave me his permission to sign it to this story. My real name I shall not divulge. …”
Just How Do You Define Culture?
“In 1952, the anthropologists Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn wrote a famous article, “Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions,” in which they specified no fewer than 164 definitions of culture. Culture can, of course, refer to whole civilizations, such as Western culture or Asian culture; it can refer to national, ethnic, or social-class cultures, such as Israeli culture or Irish-Catholic culture, or working-class culture. In all these senses it refers to the overarching aspirations and assumptions that underlay the ways that different peoples and groups have of understanding and dealing with the world.”