“The stars of Churails — which means ‘Witches’ in Urdu — are a gang of female avengers who wield fists and hockey sticks in anger. … Thrown together by chance, the quartet run a secret agency that aims to help wronged women exact revenge. They use a clothes shop in Karachi as a front for their activities. The heroines drink, swear and take drugs. There are lesbian characters and a trans one.” – The Economist
Tag: 09.03.20
More Pay Cuts And Layoffs At Pittsburgh Symphony
“To alleviate the [lockdown-induced budget] shortfall, orchestra musicians have amended their contract to take a 25% cut in base salary in the 2020-21 season and a 50% cut in overscale pay. … Previously, musicians had accepted a cut of 10% in May and then 20% in July. … The administrative staff is changing the status of 30% of its full-time staff — 25 people — through a reduction of hours, furloughs, layoffs and position elimination through attrition.” – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
There’s One Country In The Americas Where An Indigenous Language Is Still In Constant Use
“Paraguayan Guaraní – a language descended from several indigenous tongues – remains one of the main languages of 70% of the country’s population. And unlike other widely spoken native tongues – such as Quechua, Aymara or the Mayan languages – it is overwhelmingly spoken by non-indigenous people.” – The Guardian
‘Patriotism Ain’t No One Song’ — A Classical Critic Considers America’s Anthems (Plural)
Michael Andor Brodeur looks at the NFL’s decision to add “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” to “The Star-Spangled Banner” before games, and ponders other anthems (because that’s what they are) ranging from “God Bless America” to “This Land Is Your Land” to “The Times They Are A-Changin'” to “Born in the U.S.A.” (and maybe even “Strange Fruit”). “However varied these many musical visions of patriotism may be, they share common concerns: struggle, tension, transition, uncertainty, progress. These are not songs that chant U! S! A! (although Bruce does comes close) so much as walk its roads, fight its wars, bear its burdens.” – The Washington Post
Report: Global Movie Box Office Down 66 Percent For 2020
For the U.S., the firm’s annual study projects a 65.7 percent decline from $11.4 billion in 2019 to $3.9 billion this year. The firm warned that “the whole cinema ecosystem will be dramatically affected,” with cinema revenue, comprised of box office and cinema advertising (but excluding concession sales in cinemas and movie merchandising), set to contract globally at a 2.4 percent compound annual rate from 2019 to end 2024 with $39.9 billion. – The Hollywood Reporter
Jazz Was Born As Resistance Music. It Got Institutionalized. Can It Get Its Protest Mojo Back?
“As it evolved, jazz remained a resistance music precisely because it was the sound of Black Americans building something together, in the face of repression. But at the end of the 1960s, … schools and universities across the country began welcoming jazz as America’s so-called ‘classical music,’ canonizing its older styles and effectively freezing it in place. … Partly as a result, the music has become inaccessible to, and disconnected from, many of the very people who created it: young Black Americans, poorer people and others at the societal margins.” – The New York Times
David Graeber, Author Of ‘Bullshit Jobs’ And Co-Organizer Of Occupy Wall Street, Dead At 59
“His 2011 book Debt: The First 5,000 Years was an anti-capitalist analysis that struck a chord with many readers in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Graeber’s rigorous, readable radicalism was showcased again in the 2018 book Bullshit Jobs: A Theory.” A longtime activist, he was with the Occupy movement from its very earliest stages; calling themselves, and most of the rest of us, “the 99%” was his idea. – AP
Have A Look At L.A.’s New Streetlights
“Team names and locations were not attached to the submissions when a panel of six professionals … judged them, so it was with surprise and delight that the jury discovered it had selected a design from a small, L.A.-based collective called Project Room.” – Los Angeles Times
Colorado Ballet Furloughs All Its Dancers
“Virtual rehearsals had been running for five weeks when [company members] got the news: Colorado Ballet’s PPP loan had run out, and [all] of Colorado Ballet’s dancers were being furloughed.” – Denverite
New BBC Boss Rules Out Change To Subscription Model
In the old-yet-new-again debate over the licence fee (charges to every UK household that owns a TV) that funds the national broadcaster — and appointed by a Conservative government that doesn’t much like the fee or the BBC itself — incoming director general Tim Davie rejected the option of making the network a cable-style subscription-only offering: “I do not want a subscription BBC that serves the few.” – BBC