“The subversive genius of the B-52s isn’t quite acknowledged as much as it could be – even though the band invented new wave-wacky and was mindful about keeping ahead of the stylistic curve. … You can chalk up a lack of respect to the group’s kitschy veneer (and, more specifically, its penchant for making kitsch cool) unfairly superseding the music itself. That’s perhaps most galling: After all, the B-52s’ early LPs are gloriously weird without sounding forced or self-conscious.”
Tag: 07.14.17
La Scala Regulars Are Appalled By What Audiences Are Wearing This Summer
“Instead of donning jackets and evening dresses, ticket holders are turning up as if dressed for the beach, as temperatures reach 95F or more during one of Italy’s hottest summers for years. The worst culprits are normally foreign tourists but even Italians, who are normally renowned for their stylish dress, are not averse to arriving in shorts, mini-skirts and sandals.”
Is It Even Possible To Make A Movie About Eating Disorders That Doesn’t Make Things Worse?
Elizabeth King looks at the worries over the new Netflix production To the Bone and the (none-too-encouraging) previous attempts to deal with anorexia and bulimia onscreen.
Abusive Speech Really Can Damage Students (So It’s Good To Keep Milo Yiannopoulos Off Campuses)
Psychology professor Lisa Feldman Barrett does make a distinction between speech that’s abusive and bullying (Milo) and speech that’s merely offensive (Charles Murray): “The former is a danger to a civil society (and to our health); the latter is the lifeblood of democracy. By all means, we should have open conversations and vigorous debate about controversial or offensive topics. But we must also halt speech that bullies and torments. From the perspective of our brain cells, the latter is literally a form of violence.”
A New National Center For Choreography – In The Heart Of Ohio
“Enter the new National Center for Choreography at The University of Akron. Its mission: to support the research and development of new dance by providing choreographers, dance companies, arts administrators and dance writers access to [its] world-class facilities … seven dance studios, two black-box theaters and main-stage theaters of two different sizes.”
Sculptor Charles McGill Dead At 53
“[He was] best known for repurposing vintage golf bags by creating assemblages with their tempered plastic, steel, leather, vinyl, and hardware.”
How To Fix The Met Museum? Benjamin Millepied, Nico Muhly, And Cheech Marin (Among Other) Weigh In
“A range of Met-ophiles – artists and archaeologists, chefs and curators, designers and D.J.s, playwrights and performers – offer their own ideas and expectations for how a new director can rethink the world’s greatest museum for a new century. Some of these suggestions are bold, others more whimsical, but all of them come from people who want nothing more than to see the museum on solid ground.”
Blame Shakespeare For The Gender Imbalance On Canadian Stages
Dozens more men than women are acting on stage because of the continuing fascination by arts institutions and audiences with William Shakespeare’s comedies, tragedies and histories – written during a time and in a place where women were legally prohibited from acting.
What Is The Cure For A Love Of Culture? Why, More Culture, Of Course
“So what do you do when you have the fever and work in a field more or less unrelated to your love for Friedrich Nietzsche and Emily Dickinson? Naturally, you spend your off hours reading books and talking about them with others who share the fever. There are legions of us, and in truth I’m one of the more dilettantish members of the tribe.”
Experts: Social Media Is Dumbing Down Our Communication
Experts who look into such things say that while social networking has its benefits — professionally, personally, politically — it’s also dumbing down the ways people communicate with each other. Having so many channels of communication has overwhelmed our ability to thoughtfully interact online, encouraging cheap and easy forms of communication.