“The long-running row between the Cannes film festival and Netflix has taken an unexpected turn as the Directors’ Fortnight, one of the key strands of the festival that runs in parallel to the official selection, has selected a Netflix film for its lineup. This is in marked contrast to the official festival, which has maintained its exclusion of films distributed by the streaming giant for the second year in a row.” – The Guardian
Tag: 04.23.19
New Research: Studying The Arts Boosts Self-Esteem (Even If You Don’t Excel)
“Initiatives to promote arts engagement in children may provide a practical and efficient way to improve children’s self-esteem,” report Hei Wan Makand Daisy Fancourt of University College London. Importantly, they found that kids didn’t have to be good at their chosen creative activity for these positive effects to blossom. – Pacific Standard
Returning Cultural Items From Museums Is Complicated. Here’s A Primer
David Shariatmadari does a good job taking his readers through the issues. – The Guardian
James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’ And The Politicians Who Love It (And Keep Telling Us So)
“In the current political environment, name-checking the writing of James Joyce may not seem like the canniest move. It’s a dog whistle, meant to appeal to refined impulses, to élite rather than populist sympathies. How shall we put it? Joyce is a snob whistle.” – The New Yorker
Medieval Monks Were A Distracted Lot. Here’s How They Focused
It occurred to historian Jamie Kreiner that the monks she studied spent a lot of their time trying to figure out how to stay focused. And maybe their advice might be useful to the present-day world full of digital distraction. – Aeon
How The Roxane Gay-Christina Hoff Sommers #Feminist Debate Tour In Australia Turned Into An Ugly Mess
If it had happened in a radio or television studio, it might have gone well. But having an audience turns out to have been a bad idea. (And some ill-advised moves by either Gay or her management didn’t help.) – New York Magazine
Rebuild Notre Dame, Of Course. But We Need More Sensitivity To What Can’t (Or Shouldn’t) Be
This story takes up the cases of several high-profile fires that have damaged cultural icons and asks: 1. why do we not seem to be more careful in taking care of them, and 2. when contemplating what was destroyed, we sometimes restore in ways that end up as garish cartoons of what they were. – ArtWatch
What Will Art, And The Art World, Look Like In 2039?
“Devon Van Houten Maldonado asks artists and curators to imagine the changes and trends that will influence the art world in the next two decades.” – BBC
Is ‘Jeopardy!’ Winning Machine James Holzhauer Breaking The Game? If So, Does That Matter?
Emily Yahr: “After all, we’re in an era where television is more fractured than ever. Big TV events are increasingly rare, and it’s refreshing to have one topic to discuss around the virtual water cooler of the Internet — especially something that you could easily catch up on in one episode.” – The Washington Post
Academy Decides Not To Bar Streaming Movies From Oscars
The board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences “left intact Rule Two, the one that established that a film” — including one produced by Netflix or Amazon — “can be eligible for Oscars if it has a minimum 7-day theatrical run in a L.A. County commercial theater.” (Sorry, Mr. Spielberg.) – Deadline