“Beijing has sent a clear message to the filmmaking world, that filmmakers who criticize China will be punished, but that those who play ball with its censorship strictures will be rewarded,” proclaims the hard hitting “Made in Hollywood, Censored by Beijing” report. – Deadline
Tag: 08.04.20
Washington Post’s Theater Critic Ends Up With A Hairdressing Degree (What Twitter Hath Wrought, Part MMMDCLXII)
Peter Marks: “Some people warn that you enter the bilious environs of social media at your peril. But I say, power up your device and be Zen about whatever transpires. Because you just might innocently scroll down one morning and end up with an honorary doctorate in hairdressing from a large chain of salons in Ireland.” – The Washington Post
Call For More Transparency In Choosing Public Art
“There is a cultural revolution happening in the United States, and people are realizing that they have the power to be more engaged with how public art is decided,” explained Patricia Walsh, who helps run the Public Art Network, a membership group of more than a thousand public art professionals organized by the nonprofit Americans for the Arts. “Best practices need to be reinvented to become more equitable and diverse.” – ARTnews
The Forgotten Black Musician Who Helped Create Bossa Nova
João Gilberto and Antônio Carlos Jobim were just two of many Brazilian musicians who considered pianist-singer-composer Johnny Alf a genius and his “Rapaz de Bem” the first bossa nova song. So why isn’t he as famous as they are? Racism was certainly a factor, but not the only one. – The New York Times
Why ‘Norma Rae’ Is, After 41 Years, As Relevant As Ever
What remains powerful, writes Naomi Fry, is “the movie’s suggestion that no struggle can take place alone. Norma Rae is heroic, but she comes into her own, as a woman, because she is fighting for class solidarity — a struggle that, in turn, could not happen without a breaking down of long-standing ethnic and racial barriers.” – The New Yorker
Installation Art As Big Business Proposition (Think Of Kusama Infinity Rooms, But For Profit)
“Superblue, as [the venture] is called, will open a series of experiential art centers (EACs for short) that won’t sell precious objects, as conventional galleries do. They’ll present art experiences: deep dives into all-encompassing works by such artists as JR, the French photographer who focuses on issues like migration, displacement and imprisonment; and James Turrell, the celebrated Light and Space artist.” What are they selling? Tickets, of course. – The New York Times
Even The ‘Veep’ Showrunner Says Trump’s Axios Interview Outdid ‘Veep’
David Mandel: “At the end of the day, this is why we ended the show. … Sometimes I have the horrible thought of if we had filmed a show last fall that was supposed to be on right now, and between when we were done filming and began editing, the pandemic and all of this stuff happened. I think you’d have to throw the show in the garbage.” – The Washington Post
Trey McIntyre Project Is Back, But It’s Not A Dance Company Anymore
“Six years after shuttering his popular dance troupe …, its eponymous founder is relaunching the company as a conduit for digital dance films, with a project called FLTPK. … He sees his film work more of a continuation of his work as a photographer rather than as a choreographer. … ‘It’s not a company of dancers,’ McIntyre insists. ‘It’s a community of artists.'” – Dance Magazine
Princeton’s Existential Crisis
Groups of students have variously described the composition of Princeton’s faculty and its “institutional culture” as “pillars of its oppressive past,” declared that their education failed to prepare them to vanquish racism, and urged a “comprehensive transformation” of curriculum, programming, and faculty. More notable, roughly 350 faculty members and staff signed an open letter, published on July 4, that set forth nearly 50 demands. – The Atlantic
Do We Really Want Brain-To-Brain Communication?
Let’s face it: we’ve all had second thoughts about language. Hardly a day goes by when we don’t stumble for words, stagger into misunderstandings, or struggle with a double negative. It’s a frightfully cumbersome way to express ourselves. If language is such a slippery medium, perhaps it is time to replace it with something more dependable. Why not cut out the middleman and connect brains directly? – Psyche