“Occasionally American-English does that; serves up a word or phrase that is so direct, so baldly descriptive that at once it destroys the elegance of the language while adding admirable elemental clarity. ‘Want ads’ is a good example of the form. It’s a vulgar expression but, like a drunk on a train, beguiles more than repulses. I wrote it down.”
Tag: 06.02.10
Bookstores, Libraries, And The Comfort Factor
“As homey as a bookstore or local library branch might feel to you or me, they can make other people feel insecure, out-of-place and clueless. This is, of course, assuming that poor families have bookstores and libraries in their neighborhoods, and that it’s safe and easy for a child to walk to them alone.”
Founders To Leave Christie’s Contemporary Gallery
Haunch of Venison’s Harry Blain and Graham Southern “founded the original London gallery,” which is now owned by Christie’s and “has locations in New York, London and Berlin. Their departures–in a market where dealers can have as much cachet as artists–raise questions about the direction of the gallery amid a possible expansion.”
Emerson College Alters Boston’s Theatrical Landscape
“ArtsEmerson’s inaugural season, which kicks off in September, features an ambitious slate of 17 productions,” and while its “$5 million annual operating budget won’t approach those of the Huntington Theatre Company ($11 million) and ART (nearly $10 million),” presenting is not all it will do. Developing new work is in the mix, too.
3-D TV Obstacle: Glasses Are Tied To Brand Of TV
“But as early as this month, next-generation 3-D glasses will be hitting stores. The new specs are designed to work with any TV or computer monitor capable of playing movies or shows in 3-D. Manufacturers hope the new universal glasses, which will cost more than $100 each, will help expand the niche 3-D market.”
Evolution Or Devolution? Disney’s Facebook Ticket App
“The application, called Disney Tickets Together, could transform how Hollywood sells movie tickets by combining purchases with the powerful forces of social networking. When you buy a ticket through Disney’s application, for instance, it alerts your Facebook friends and prompts you to invite them to buy tickets of their own.”
Musicians, Visual Artists Join Debate Over Arizona Law
“[I]n what is partially a sign of the growing clout of U.S. Latinos both as voters and cultural consumers, a number of prominent artists, both Latino and non-Latino, are urging fans to protest Arizona’s controversial new statute that requires law enforcement officials to determine the status of people they suspect are illegal immigrants.”
Kazuo Ohno, A Founder Of Butoh, Dies At 103
Among the inspirations for Ohno’s work were “the wartime horrors he witnessed firsthand after being drafted in 1938 into the Japanese Army, in which he served for nine years, one of them as a prisoner of war in New Guinea. The rawness of Butoh has often been attributed to the experience of living through Hiroshima.”
Great Actors, Abominable Performances
“Think Laurence Olivier was immune from awful? You’ve obviously never seen him in ‘The Betsy,’ where his auto tycoon sports an accent that’s equal parts Southern, Midwestern and Martian. Or what about his rabbi in the Neil Diamond remake of ‘The Jazz Singer’? Oy.” And Olivier has company — lots of it.
New York’s Newest Artists’ Colony: Governors Island
“[S]ince March, 24 visual artists and 4 performing groups have been making art in a former munitions storehouse there, rising early to catch one of the first ferries from Manhattan for workers on the island (they start running at 6:45 a.m.) and then rushing at the end of the day to catch the last boat, at 5 p.m.”