That would be 1994, when The Piano and Schindler's List were up against each other for various things, and the directors were neck and neck for months. - The New York Times
"The voice is the oldest musical instrument of all – and the most complicated. At root it is just an exhaled breath, the noise made when the air rising up from the lungs vibrates against the glottis." The noise paused by COVID, and perhaps, cautiously, resuming. - The Guardian (UK)
The letter reads, "Treating certain categories differently from others has struck a nerve within our community, with the overwhelming majority of our membership feeling unheard, disrespected and abandoned by the very same Academy which so many of us have supported for decades." - Variety
The cinematographer was shot and killed as she filmed the movie Rust. Her widower "Matt Hutchins said in a tweet that his late wife's family remains in Kyiv as attacks on the country's capital continue in areas that had been designated as safe passages." - NPR
Then you're in luck with Oscar nominee Drive My Car. The three-hour Japanese film is "an impeccably textured elucidation of a group of strangers joining up to animate the written word, and of the ways a great play remains eternally relevant." - Washington Post
Maybe because people love them so much. No, seriously, what's up with all of the lobbying against state legislatures trying to give libraries what they need? Follow the (large amounts of) money. - Sludge
Ingrid Pollard, a British photographer known for her portraits and landscapes, says, "Everything about is fabricated for industrial rural use. The barbed wire, the telegraph pole, the tarmac. Stereotypes about Black people are constructed in exactly the same way." - The Observer (UK)
Matt Belloni: "The leading minds at media companies (and the consulting firms that nudge them) have convinced the C-suite trigger-pullers that if you spend enough money streaming ... the riches of global scale and pricing power await." Why? "It’s true, because everyone says it’s true." - Puck News
Yes, Mrs. Maisel is ending soon, but there's always reality. "One of Midge Maisel's primary foils on the show — Sophie Lennon, played with over-the-top bravura by the great Jane Lynch —seems to have been inspired by two real-world figures ... Phyllis Diller and Totie Fields." - Salon
Sure, some people are making midlife career changes, but for others, it's social media - and the coronavirus, as with a young potter whose "unexpected lockdown hobby turned into a small business." - The Guardian (UK)
Amazon is trying to figure out how to take on Disney and WarnerMedia, probably with Rocky and James Bond spinoffs. The result, says one entertainment finance professor, means "We like the brands we know, but it's going to be harder for new ideas to shine through." - NPR
The murder of George Floyd, and the protests, prompted her to rethink her own responsibilities. She says, "There are generations of freedom fighters who have been doing this work without the internet, without being spotlighted." - The Guardian (UK)
Ideas and ways of shopping "fall by the wayside and then return at a later date in new guises or with new names. They often have every appearance of being newly invented. Take fast fashion, for instance" - and its origins in 18th century London. - Fast Company
Just a multiple Oscar nominee and multiple other award-winning movie about grief and love, that is. "The last Japanese film-maker to be nominated for best director was the revered Akira Kurosawa, for Ran, 36 years ago." - The Observer (UK)
