“Much like the ‘stans’ of pop figures and franchises, members of TikTok cults stream songs, buy merch, create news update accounts and fervently defend their leaders in the comment sections of posts. The biggest difference is that TikTok’s cult leaders are not independently famous. They’re upstart creators building a fan base on social media.” And the biggest cult of them all is the Step Chickens, who are devoted to their “mother hen,” techie-turned-comedian Melissa Ong, who started the cult less than three weeks ago. – The New York Times
Tag: 05.26.20
English Is Everywhere In Japan, Everyone There Studies It In School — Why Can So Few Japanese Actually Speak It?
Despite the fact that American pop culture and the ability to speak English are considered very cool in Japan, multinational companies want their employees to know the language, and the Japanese government stresses the importance of learning English and constantly rejiggers the curriculum in the subject (which is required), well under a third of the population there speaks any English at all, with the percentage of people who are fluent in the single digits. An American journalist and translator in Nagoya looks at the structural and cultural reasons for this conundrum. – Foreign Policy
COVID Upside: HUGE Increase In Consumption Of Online Arts
The huge numbers reported in watching and listening to streaming performances are in stark contrast with “decades of dire warnings and disheartening statistics about shrinking classical audiences — because of aging patrons, changing tastes, and more competition for the entertainment dollar.” – San Francisco Classical Voice
A Golden Age For Male Dancers
Why this wealth of talent has arrived right now isn’t easy to pinpoint, but they definitely spur each other on. There’s healthy competition – ballet boys can’t resist a pirouette-off; Corrales’ record is “at least 15” – but they all talk about how secure they feel because each dancer is very different. – The Guardian
Prince Charles Warns About Endangered Arts
“It is a very expensive art form, but it is crucial because it has such a worldwide impact… and so we have to find a way to make sure these marvellous people and organisations are going to survive through all this.” – BBC
Turning Point? Will The Culture World Continue To Take Money From Unsavory Sources?
Sponsors and donors’ valuation of our public culture is of an order very different from everyone else’s. For big oil, big pharmaceutical companies and the arms industry, it is not simply a case of doing good. For them, sponsorship of the arts is not charity; it is a strategic expenditure. – The New York Times
How EDM (Electronic Dance Music) Quickly Evolved Online And Reached A New Audience At Home
“What I like about streaming right now is I get excited about it … My mom’s in Guatemala. My mom and dad are retired and my mom tunes into the streams,” Nonfiction said. “My parents never really got a chance to see me DJ … but with the streaming, they can be involved. They get to see me do what I do.” – Voice of Orange County
Mark Morris’s First Created-On-Zoom Dances Are Here
“For the past two months, he has experimented with making dances using Zoom and Final Cut Pro. Four of these short works will premiere on ‘Dance On!,’ to be shown on the Mark Morris Dance Group’s website on Thursday evening. (The program is free, but registration is required.)” Marina Harss reports on how it all came together. – The New York Times
Opera Conductor Joel Revzen Dead Of COVID At 74
A staff conductor at the Met for 21 years, Revzen served as artistic director of Arizona Opera (2003-2012) and Berkshire Opera (1991-2005) and was, from 2012, the founding artistic director of the Nevada summer festival Classical Tahoe. – The Strad
Here’s What Actors’ Equity Wants To See Before It Tells Members It’s Safe To Do Shows Again
Saying “I do not think that making everything safe for the audience – although that is important – and leaving the the people on stage to be epidemiological guinea pigs is the right answer,” Equity president Kate Shindle and the union’s public health consultant released a set of four principles on which the reopening of theaters should be based. – Deadline