Tag: 05.30.20

How Awful Was It To Work For Akron Art Museum’s Ex-Director? Let His Former Employees Tell You

“Carol Murphy, whom [former director Mark] Masuoka fired in 2015 as director of external affairs, painted him as a boss who was ‘quiet,’ ‘strange’ and ‘extremely introverted’ yet also paranoid and retaliatory.” Another ex-employee says, “I was told by coworkers that Mark would sit in empty cubes and listen to the staff talk throughout the day.” By early 2019, things had gotten so bad that a basement room had become the designated place for employees to go and cry. – Akron Beacon Journal

Hey, At Least We’re Not In Tudor England

At that time, says Hilary Mantel, we would have been quarantining more seriously. “Speaking at the Hay literary festival, which is entirely online this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Wolf Hall author said the Tudors ‘were very good at quarantine in those days. They took it very seriously. I think he would have locked us down for a bit longer” – The Guardian (UK)

Dealing With A Streaming Film Release During The Pandemic Isn’t Ideal For Cast Or Crew

When directors, cast, and crew make decisions about a movie like High Note, they’re aimed at the big screen. So this weekend’s on-demand streaming release is a bit of a technical let-down, even if the content offers some lighter fare than reality right now. Director Nisha Ganatra:”The movie was shot anamorphic and widescreen, so it’s really a big-screen experience. All of the sound engineers made the concert scenes to feel like you’re right there. … I definitely need people to turn up the sound system and not just watch it on the iPad!” – Los Angeles Times

Unions Have A Say In Hollywood’s Potential Return To Work

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced more than a week ago that counties could set reopening plans for the entertainment industry. That hasn’t happened because Hollywood’s various unions are pretty clear that the industry won’t get to shortchange safety. But “the high-wire act for the unions is that while they have a great deal of power, they also have members who’ve been idle for months and are itching to get back to work.” – Los Angeles Times

The Yeats Test

How bleak is it out there? Well, how many politicians are quoting Yeats’s “The Second Coming”? And the poet made it that way deliberately: “Early drafts of the poem illustrate Yeats’s dedication to universalising his message, as he deletes specific references to the French Revolution and the first world war and replaces terrestrial images of judges and tyrants with figures from dreams and myths.” – The Guardian (UK)

Little Free Libraries’ Significance Grows With Every Day The Public Libraries Are Locked

Some have become a combination book exchange and pantry. One is cat-focused; another (at a church) has mostly Christian texts. Says one LFL caretaker, “People have been adopting and donating books at an astonishing rate, as well as exchanging other items like art, pet toys and shelf-stable food.” And Little Free Libraries give a map, or some markers, for those long Covid-19 walks everyone seems to be taking. – Seattle Times

A New British Task Force Is Missing Everything Important About British Music

Well, perhaps not orchestral music in Britain, but with club music of all kinds, “We transcend this realm. It is a secular spiritual experience. The energy with which Britain has pursued that escape has made it one of the global centres of music culture.” So why does a cultural renewal taskforce have no representatives from live music venues? – The Guardian (UK)

Eliza Dorfman, Cambridge Artist Famous For Her Giant Polaroids, 83

Dorfman began with the giant Polaroids in a pushcart in Harvard Square. When the police tried to chase her away, she won a civil rights case against them. “Her work is widely praised for showing people unguarded, and many times joyful. It wasn’t unusual for her ‘sitters,’ as she called them, to say they enjoyed the posing as much as the portrait. Those sittings would include lots of banter and Dorfman’s infectious laughter.” – WBUR