“As long as Hollywood doesn’t see Hamilton as ‘what gimmick can we glean to slap on other projects for money’ … but takes risks for the audience to enjoy, then we could start to see movie musicals marching back toward their live action origins. Book of Mormon, Next to Normal, and many other musicals not even created yet could be the revitalization of the genre – but Hamilton is the linchpin.” (Lin-Manuel Miranda may beg to differ.)
Tag: 05.30.16
Art Historian Goes Inside ISIS’s Trade In Looted Antiquities
“Everyone seems to agree that ISIS is digging up and selling archaeological artifacts to make money. But no one seems to agree on how much money it’s actually making from its illegal antiquities trade: amounts have ranged from US$4 million to $7 billion.” The University of Chicago’s Fiona Rose-Greenland has formed a research team – called MANTIS – to find out.
Afghans Begin Rebuilding Old Royal Palace In Kabul
“The majestic [Darul Aman palace] was built in the 1920s on a hilltop overlooking the city by King Amanullah, who defeated the British to gain full Afghan independence. It was gutted by fire, then restored and served as the defence ministry in the 1970s and 1980s. When civil war broke out, it was used as a base by militias and suffered heavy shelling.”
How Shakespeare’s Globe Pulled Off Its 197-Country Tour Of ‘Hamlet’
“Talking to company stage manager Becky Austin in the cafe at the Globe – a building that she refers to as the ‘mothership’ – I began to realise that the whole idea and execution of the tour was not just an amazing logistical exercise, but an extraordinary journey for audiences and performers alike.”
Is That Tomb Discovered Last Week Aristotle’s Or Not?
At a conference in Thessaloniki last week celebrating Aristotle’s 2400th birthday, a Greek archaeologist announced with “almost certainty” that he had discovered the philosopher’s burial complex. Considering the oh-so-convenient timing, along with how premature high-profile announcements have embarrassed the profession in the past, other archaeologists have reacted skeptically. John Timpane lays out the pros and cons.
A New Canon: The 50 Greatest Films By Black Directors
“It’s time to fight the canons that be. Slate asked more than 20 prominent filmmakers, critics, and scholars – including Ava DuVernay, Robert Townsend, Charles Burnett, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Wesley Morris, and Henry Louis Gates Jr. – for their favorite movies by filmmakers of color and used their picks to shape our list of the 50 greatest films by black directors.”
Americans For The Arts’ Statement On Equity – And What It Means?
The attempt to address equity as a large, systemic ecosystem in and of itself, and not zeroing in on a sub-strata of that system (e.g., structural racism, or funding inequities) makes the AFTA statement both a useful tool and starting point for discussion and consideration by individuals and organizations (a good thing), and a simultaneous failure to advance actually doing something as just that much more “talk”, with little emphasis on action – especially action now, not later.
David Mitchell Just Finished A Novel That Will Be Locked Away For 98 Years
Mitchell is the second contributor to the Scottish artist Katie Paterson’s Future Library project … Starting with Margaret Atwood, who last year handed over the manuscript of a text called Scribbler Moon, each year for the next 100 years an author will deliver a piece of writing which will only be read in 2114.”
What Film Was Stanley Kubrick Planning When He Died? ‘Pinocchio’
“Emilio D’Alessandro, Kubrick’s trusted personal assistant and friend for more than 30 years, told the Guardian that the director wanted to tell the story of Pinocchio and to shoot a movie about Monte Cassino, one of the most bitter and bloody battles of the second world war.”
Japan’s Vagina Kayak Artist Does An Autobiography In Manga Cartoons
“In simple, childlike cartoons, she illustrates the origins of her art practice – her realization, at a young age, that ‘Japan’s view of pussy is really weird.'”