Over the past five years, ticket sales for Glastonbudget, Tribfest and The Big Fake Festival have seen a healthy increase, according to The Entertainment Agents’ Association, and there are now more than 30 outdoor music festivals in the UK showcasing tribute acts, such as Coldplace, Antarctic Monkeys, Guns2Roses, Stereotonics and Blondied. – BBC
Tag: 06.12.19
By The Numbers: Picture Books In 2018 Were Less Diverse
Male characters continue to dominate the most popular picture books: a child is 1.6 times more likely to read one with a male rather than a female lead, and seven times more likely to read a story that has a male villain in it than a female baddie. Male characters outnumbered female characters in more than half the books, while females outnumber males less than a fifth of the time. – The Guardian
NYT’s Decision To Discontinue Political Cartoons Is Part Of Wider Trend
Some observers ascribe the paper’s apparent aversion to the reigning Sulzberger family’s alleged attitude that political cartoons, with their in-your-face messages and harsh caricatures of public officials, are “not Timesian” and “too middlebrow.” – The Daily Beast
Thirty Years Ago, The Corcoran Canceled A Mapplethorpe Exhibit, Setting Off Washington’s First Big Battle In The Culture Wars. Now The Corcoran Has A Show About That Cancellation
Few of the people involved in the controversy at the time imagined that the culture wars would still be raging three decades later. Kriston Capps reconsiders that battle and the way museums have addressed the wider issues, then and now. – The Washington Post
JFK’s TWA Terminal Is One Of The Great Buildings Of The 20th Century. Here’s What It’s Like Now As A Hotel
Saarinen’s TWA terminal, like the great cathedrals of Europe, the giant domes of the Renaissance and the miraculous infrastructure of the 20th century, asserts a truth far deeper than its original purpose: If man can build miraculous buildings, he can remake the world itself into something more equal, more fair, and more decent. – Washington Post
‘Little Fresh Meat’ — A New, Androgynous Style Of Masculinity Arises In China’s Pop Culture
“[The phrase is] a nickname, coined by fans, for young, delicate-featured, makeup-clad male entertainers.” (The Chinese Communist authorities, it seems, prefers to call them niangpao — “sissypants.”) “These well-groomed celebrities star in blockbuster movies, and advertise for cosmetic brands and top music charts. Their rise has been one of the biggest cultural trends of the past decade.” – The New York Times
New York City Landmarks Strand Bookstore Building Over Owner’s Objections
The decision came despite strong opposition from the owner of the Strand, Nancy Bass Wyden, who argued that the designation would mire the bookstore “in a lifetime of needless red tape.” – Publishers Weekly
TV Academy Disqualifies Actors For Conspiring To Vote Emmys Together
According to a Wednesday memo sent to the group and obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, a few members were found to have engaged in or advocated for block voting. That is to say, they discussed voting with other members of the group with the intention of all voting for one or more specific projects. – The Hollywood Reporter
Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon — Femme Fatale, Enterprising Escapee From Poverty, Victim Of The Patriarchy? All Of The Above?
In the 18th-century source, a novel by the Abbé Prévost, Manon Lescaut was an archetypal siren, luring a helpless young nobleman to his doom; later operatic adaptations may have had more sympathy for her but weren’t so different. Yet MacMillan found in her one of his most powerful, and controversial, heroines, one that great ballerinas love to play. Alastair Macaulay looks at how their portrayals of the character have shifted over the years. – The New York Times
How Disney Has Been Redirecting The Fairy-Tale Notions Of Love It Did So Much To Spread
“The happy ending of our most-watched childhood stories is no longer a kiss. Today, Disney films end with two siblings reconciled despite their differences, as in Frozen (2013); or a mother and a daughter making amends, as in Brave (2012) and Inside Out (2015); or a child reunited with long-lost parents, as in Tangled (2010), Finding Dory (2016) and Coco (2011). Love remains the all-important linchpin of these stories … but over the past 10 years, we have been told to love a new kind of love.” – Aeon