Tag: 07.25.20

Think TikTok Is Ultimately Too Silly To Matter? Think Again

“The ubiquitous app built on short video clips seems frivolous at first, with its lip-synching, dance challenges and goofball celebrities. But this is how a rising generation communicates across the globe.” (It is also, writes Daniel Malloy, “the uncut heroin of social media apps.”) “And the app — thanks to its obscenely valuable Chinese parent company — now is at the heart of geopolitical strife between the world’s biggest powers. Today’s [OZY] Sunday magazine explores TikTok’s rise, its addictive joys, its challenges and what will replace it if it crumbles.” – OZY

For Most Of The 20th Century, To Be Chinese In Hollywood Meant Your Name Didn’t Matter

Victor Sen Yung started in Hollywood as a “Chinese peasant boy” in The Good Earth, and his last role was 43 years later, in The Man With Bogart’s Face. He was credited as Sen Yung, Sen Young, Victor Sen Yung, and Victor Young. And then there was Bonanza. “Between 1959 and 1973, Yung played the easygoing cook, Hop Sing, in more than 100 episodes of the long-running TV series, Bonanza. This, of course, is all a Chinaman can do on television: hop, sing, spout gnomic bits of wisdom, and die.” – Hyperallergic

That Time Civil Rights Hero John Lewis Ended Up Guest-Starring On The Animated Series ‘Arthur’

Just as some of the Boomers and Gen-Xers first encountered opera on Tom and Jerry, and just as some Millennials first found memorized U.S. presidents or learned the nations of the world from Animaniacs, younger generations have Arthur, and that’s why it was important for Rep. John Lewis, civil rights icon, to appear on the animated show. “Arthur decides to organize a cafeteria sit-in to force the school to hire an assistant for Mrs. MacGrady, and Lewis joins in the demonstration.” Of course he did. – Los Angeles Times

An Open Letter To Congress About The Arts

The argument to Congress: “We are over 675,000 small businesses and organizations in every town, city, and state, employing 5.1 million hard-working Americans who are now desperately struggling to stay above water. Our influence reaches across every sector, because the arts economy is a jobs multiplier. … If you lose us, we lose the economy. We need your help.” – American Theatre

Almost A Decade Of Abuse Allegations At The Ailey School

The school’s recently fired artistic director, students say, “abused his position of power, touching them inappropriately or making sexual overtures that include inviting one student to a sex party and sending another an unsolicited photo of his genitals. Three of the students said that after they rebuffed Powell’s advances, they were cut from performances or rejected during auditions, which they believed may have been a form of retaliation.” – CNN

Time Is Running Out For Arts Advocacy

The Paycheck Protection Program is drying up, unemployment checks are about to stop (without a miracle from Congress), and 12,000 arts organizations in the U.S. say they may not survive at all. We need a figurehead. “Almost all our celebrities are artists, and though they have been generous in joining fundraisers, the benefiting organizations can only disburse small grants. You don’t save 5 million jobs that way. Where are their demands? Fancy people, the country’s op-ed pages await you.” – Vulture

True Crime Podcasts Are Wildly Popular, And Some (But Not All) Address Race With Care And Intelligence

Podcasts were hot before the virus killed the commute, but even as their popularity takes a perhaps momentary break, true crime remains popular among listeners (yes, yes, Serial, but there are so many others). Many of them have focused on white men, but a few award-winners meet the standards for diversity in hosts and subjects. – The New York Times