“Beyond his impact on other artists, Mr. Bergman had a vast influence on the way we see movies. One of the three horsemen of the art-house movement, Mr. Bergman, along with Federico Fellini and Akira Kurosawa, prompted the opening of art theaters from Boston to Bombay during the 1950s and 1960s, drawing audiences to more challenging fare than the latest Hollywood blockbuster.”
Tag: 07.31.07
A Movie Unites Pakistan
A new movie released in Pakistan is being hailed as a remarkable look at the central conflict in the Islamic world – that of moderates versus jihadists – and Pakistanis of all backgrounds are lining up by the thousands to see it. “The story of two musician brothers – one studies music in Chicago and the other becomes a Taliban fighter in Afghanistan following the American invasion – is a fantastical tale that warns its audience of the threat of Islamic radicalism to Pakistanis.”
Director Michelangelo Antonioni, 94
“Tall, cerebral and resolutely serious, Mr. Antonioni harkened back to a time in the middle of the last century when cinema-going was an intellectual pursuit, when purposely opaque passages in famously difficult films spurred long nights of smoky argument at sidewalk cafes, and when fashionable directors like Mr. Antonioni, Alain Resnais and Jean-Luc Godard were chased down the Cannes waterfront by camera-wielding cinephiles demanding to know what on earth they meant by their latest outrage.”
Argentina’s Legendary Teatro Colon Gets A Makeover
It’s a delicate process, and the opera house has been closed for a year. “The team has brought in physicists, engineers, architects and other experts to preserve the delicacy of the horseshoe-shaped auditorium’s sound, preventing even slight modifications to seat structure during storage. Artists will test the sound quality when the theater reopens for its 100th anniversary in May next year, which will be celebrated with a performance of Verdi’s ‘Aida,’ the same opera that opened the venue in 1908.”
Judge: Author Must Pay For Lit Hoax
“Author Laura Albert must pay nearly $350,000 in legal fees, triple the amount a jury said she owes a production company for duping it with a novel supposedly based on the life of a prostitute named JT LeRoy, a judge has ruled.”
Can We Please Forget About College Rankings?
“Why did the ranking notion get such a firm grip on the American college-going population in the first place? Blaming U.S. News for discovering a niche vacuum in the market and filling it with a plausible offering is popular, but doesn’t really answer the underlying question.”
What Dance In New York Looks Like
New York is America’s largest dance center, with 4000-5000 dancers in the city and 1,200 “dance entities”. So what does the New York dance scene look like from the ground? Bob Yesselman, director of Dance/NYC gives a peek…
Spinning Good News – Oregon’s Okay For Arts
“Whenever the Oregon Cultural Trust is covered in the news, and this round is no exception, boilerplate is included about early failure to meet too-lofty fundraising goals. Maybe it’s time to let that history lie, because even taking into account inevitable press-release spin, and even though there is still not enough money in the Oregon arts-funding pot, dear reader: The news is good.”
Why Culture No Longer Counts In History
“The vast majority of American historians no longer regard American culture — whether high culture or mainstream popular culture — as an essential area of study. The much-vaunted cultural turn in the humanities has run its course in one of the first disciplines it influenced.”
Buy Music Over Your Cellphone
An online music seller plans to offer downloadable tracks to cellphones. “Nearly all of the 2.7 million tracks eMusic has the rights to sell will be available through the service, which will work on several handsets by Samsung and Nokia.”