Futurists are predicting that the pandemic has accelerated the permanent decline of everything from watching movies in traditional theaters to standing in line at theme parks. But as we approach what is looking more and more like a second lockdown, this one timed alongside a cold, dark winter here in the upper Midwest, are those in-home screens going to dominate everything again? Is Big Tech going to once again take home all the spoils? Are we all going to let that happen? – Chicago Tribune
Tag: 10.28.20
Thieves Are Stealing Nazi Artifacts From Dutch Museums
“Amid huge global demand for second world war memorabilia, museums in Ossendrecht, in north Brabant, and in Beek, Limburg, have been ransacked in recent days and months. In response, a series of Dutch institutions have removed their most valuable exhibits from display or implemented stricter security measures over fears that the thefts are being carried to order.” – The Guardian
David Toole, Pioneering Disabled Dancer, Dead At 56
“A double amputee whose combination of physical power and bewitching delicacy created arresting imagery on stage and TV around the globe,” — most famously at the opening ceremony for London’s 2012 Paralympics — “[he commanded] remarkable control, buoyancy and adept physical displays, sometimes giving the impression that his body was in flight.” – The Guardian
Alex Ross Speaks About His Wagner Quest
“You actually never know who is going to turn out to have an interest in Wagner. I think a lot are working composers and musicians [who] end up engaging with him on an extremely practical level. It’s not necessarily a question of dealing with these huge Wagner questions, but just, “Is there something to be learned from him right now?” – Van
Ethics And “The Lesser Of Two Evils” Strategy
In deciding whether to compromise your ideals, or whether to take a stand, you might ask yourself: ‘Will this compromise undermine projects that I’ve committed to, through which I’m actively trying to make the world a better place?’ (In which case: stand by your principles.) ‘Or are my ideals and principles simply idle, such that a moral compromise wouldn’t affect any projects actively in train?’ (In which case: act so as to promote the lesser of two evils.) – Psyche
Amazon Says It, Not You, Owns The Videos You Buy On Amazon Prime
“When an Amazon Prime Video user buys content on the platform, what they’re really paying for is a limited license for ‘on-demand viewing over an indefinite period of time’ and they’re warned of that in the company’s terms of use. That’s the company’s argument for why a lawsuit over hypothetical future deletions of content should be dismissed.” – The Hollywood Reporter
The Inescapable Problem With Pop-Up Opera On A Truck
Michael Andor Brodeur: “For all the power and dramatic force opera can generate, it remains a sublimely vulnerable form, its fantasy created onstage and tenuously protected from the elements by the eggshell shield of the proscenium. Here, outside among the hum and honk of afternoon traffic, it doesn’t really stand a chance.” – The Washington Post
Hollywood Finally Starts Trying To Get Nonwhite Accents Right
“Over the past five months, major film and television studios have signaled renewed efforts to depict people of color thoughtfully and authentically. It isn’t really possible to verify the sincerity of these efforts, but the changing role of dialect coaches — and how they’re allowed to work — may offer a way to judge their success.” A reporter talks with three dialect coaches, one Black and two Latina, about the new demand for their work. – The New York Times
Wole Soyinka To Publish His First Novel In 47 Years
“The Nigerian playwright and poet, who became the first African to win the Nobel prize for literature in 1986, published his widely celebrated debut novel, The Interpreters, in 1965. His second and most recent novel, Season of Anomy, was released in 1973. Chronicles of the Happiest People on Earth, which will be published in Nigeria before the end of the year [and internationally in 2021], will be his third.” – The Guardian
At Last Minute, Baltimore Museum Of Art ‘Pauses’ Controversial Sale Of Three Paintings
“The decision” — made just a few hours before the gavel was to fall at Sotheby’s — “not to move forward with the offloading of paintings by Clyfford Still and Brice Marden, plus an Andy Warhol canvas through a private sale, follows weeks of controversy, which culminated in indirect censure from the Association of Art Museum Directors.” – Artnet