“But like its 86-year-old leader” – outgoing Librarian James Billington – “the James Madison Council is a throwback to a different time. Although its mission is outreach, the group is insular and exclusive. Membership is by invitation and individual donations go undisclosed. … Although they’ve raised millions, they’ve spent almost half of their recorded contributions on private parties, exhibition receptions, travel and employees and consultants, financial statements from the council and the library show.”
Tag: 08.12.15
The Poetry Of Being An Art Museum Phone Operator
“There was a Rodin
at another museum.
So what was its name?”
The Actor And Director Who Wants To ‘Start A Feminist Revolution’ In Hollywood
“The difficulties women have had navigating Hollywood permeate every part of the business, from writers rooms to directors’ chairs to below-the-line production jobs — and, of course, to acting, which can be rife with the most corrosively age-obsessed, looks-conscious, and sexualized aspects of film and television.”
Ann McGovern, Author Of ‘Stone Soup’ And Other Children’s Books, Dead At 85
“For decades, Ms. McGovern’s books were mainstays of public libraries, classroom book nooks, bedroom shelves and children’s treasure piles.”
The Worst Best Picture Decade: How ‘Crash’ Capped Off The Strange Crossover Years When The Academy Lost Its Collective Mind
Scott Timberg: “The Oscars have never had a perfect batting average, but go back 20 years to the 1995 Oscars and work your way up through 2005 – the era in which the independent film movement crossed over into the mainstream – and time and again, the Academy it failed to acknowledge the best films and tended to fall for faux-profound piety. (Okay, it’s not the only time it’s done that.)”
Morris Dancers In Mass Bar Brawl With Blind Soccer Team
“The footballers were enjoying a match on the village green at Rattlesden, near Stowmarket, using a ball with a bell in it so they could keep up with play. … A player kicked the ball off the pitch towards the Brewers Arms, and then mistook the morris dancers’ uniform bells for the one in the ball. He promptly kicked one of the dancers in the shin” – and so it began. – Hugh Dunnett?
Has The Glut Of TV Saturated The Market?
Have we reached Peak TV? Is the much-applauded (second) Golden Age of TV coming to an end? And will it possibly be replaced with, as the critic Emily Nussbaum half-jokingly called it, “The Caramel Epoch”—an age of shows that are “perfect for a binge” and “suggestively diverse,” and that allow for “equal celebration of comedy, melodrama & varying genres”)?
Why We’re So Fascinated By Whether Shakespeare Smoked Weed
“It’s no wonder then that new claims about Shakespeare’s life draw so much attention. Take, for instance, the alleged discovery of Shakespeare’s dictionary by two New York booksellers, which prompted a piece in The New Yorker questioning the collective hunger for relics tied to the playwright. Articles from earlier this year reported on the claim that a likeness of Shakespeare had been discovered in a late-16th-century botanical book, and still others puzzled over several different portraits purported to depict the “real” Shakespeare. And that’s without even delving into articles about whether Shakespeare was a secret Catholic, or gay, or hey, did he even write any of those plays?”
Buenos Aries’ Storied Teatro Colon Ballet Company Banks On A New Direction
“Argentina’s political and financial troubles over the last four decades have inevitably left their mark on cultural institutions. The ballet season has shrunk from about 15 ballets per season in the 1960s to just five now. At times directors have come and gone at a disquieting pace.”
Why Reading To Children Is Better Than Just Talking To Them (In Building Language Skills)
“Across the entire sample, there were 1.72 times as many unique words in picture books than in conversations. Part of picture books’ greater diversity, the authors note, stems from the fact that each one tells a different story about a different topic.”