“Humanities Tennessee [has] created something called Chapter 16: a part-digital, part-print publication that covers literature and literary life in the state by doing what almost any other outlet would — running reviews, profiles, interviews, and essays — but also by doing what almost no other outlet could afford to do: giving away its content for free, not only to readers but to any publication of any kind that wants to reproduce it.” – The New Yorker
Tag: 11.22.20
A Musical Breakdown Of How Steve McQueen Scored His New Movies
McQueen goes through his thought process for the film Lovers Rock. “West Indian people, Black people, were not welcome into clubs. Therefore, people thought, ‘You know what? We’ll make our own.’ So front rooms used to be turned into discos. People just roll up their carpets, get their couch, and a coffee table, whatever, put it in the spare room, and make that front room a venue for a club.” – Slate
Well, 2020 Has Bested Even The Oxford English Dictionary
Language changed so quickly in response to the pandemic that the OED decided not to pick only one word or term this year. “What struck the team as most distinctive in 2020 was the sheer scale and scope of change. … This event was experienced globally and by its nature changed the way we express every other thing that happened this year.” – The New York Times
A Family Scrapbook Passed Down For Centuries Held An Artistic Surprise
“
Not bad: “Four previously unknown drawings by John Constable have been discovered hidden among a jumble of letters, poems, jokes and even dried leaves accumulated in a family scrapbook made over the course of the late 18th and 19th centuries.” – The Guardian (UK)
Finally Making A Hallmark Holiday Merry And Gay
The Hallmark Channel has delivered tens, nay, hundreds of Christmas movies over the years. They’re mostly romances, and all of those romances were heterosexual. Heck, the Hallmark Channel even removed an advertisement that had LGBT content last year. But things have changed, at least a little bit, in 2020. – Los Angeles Times
Artist Esther Mahlangu Wants African Artists To Stay The Course
Limited public funding is harming African artists, says Ndebele superstar painter Esther Mahlangu. She sees how many young people want to learn at the school she’s set up, but she adds, “there should be more support for artists from governments. They need to promote African art and culture around the world. That would be a very good thing. That way it won’t vanish.” – The Guardian (UK)
The London Home Of Verlaine And Rimbaud Was Slated To Be An Arts Center, But Now It’s Up For Sale
The owner pledged the house to a charity, but a decade after that promise, he’s put it up for sale on the open market. “The campaign for a poetry house had attracted widespread support from leading figures such as the novelists Julian Barnes and Tracy Chevalier, the poet Sir Andrew Motion and the actor Simon Callow.” The charity is now seeking legal advice. – The Observer (UK)
Hollywood Goes Full-On With Streaming
The announcement that Wonder Woman 1984 would be opening in the U.S. on Christmas Day, in some theatres but mainly on streaming via HBO Max, was Hollywood’s true acknowledgement that streaming is the thing during the uncontrolled pandemic. (But what about measurements to come?) – The New York Times
Filming ‘Lovecraft Country’ And Training The Viewer’s Eye
Michael Watson began his career in the camera department and worked his way up – and his job in HBO’s Lovecraft Country wasn’t easy. “On a visual level, [it is] a really fascinating show that offers a lot of different creative challenges. It’s a period piece. It actually takes place in many different periods, but none of them are the present day. And it’s playing around with a lot of genres … like classic horror and H.P. Lovecraft and science fiction. I mean, there’s even a role playing game style dungeon crawl in one episode.” – Slate