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Female Filmmakers Are Rethinking And Reworking The Western

"These female-made Westerns are really tackling toxic masculinity and the ways in which men's attempts to prove themselves as men can backfire, rather than glorifying the myth of the cowboy as the older, traditional Western did." - BBC

The Rise Of The Media “Comfort Creator”

“With the terror of a global pandemic sending anxiety sky high and rendering TV one of the few safe entertainment outlets, the desire for comfort has become particularly noticeable.” - The New York Times

“The Russian Proust”, Who Died At Auschwitz, Will Have A Novel Published In English For The First Time

Yuri Felsen (né Nikolai Freudenstein), born in St. Petersburg in 1894, fled to Paris after the Revolution and was considered by Russian émigrés to be a near-equal of Nabokov. His first novel, Deceit, published in Russian in 1930; will see print in English next spring. - The Guardian

It’s Been Ten Years Since Robert Battle Took Over Leading Alvin Ailey Company

“The knee-jerk thing is to overcorrect,” he continued. “But sometimes you need to double down in your mission. Sometimes you have to think about what doesn’t change, what shouldn’t change.” - The New York Times

Dominique Morisseau On Why She Pulled Her Play “Paradise Blue” From The Geffen Playhouse

"I felt in this situation that everybody's wellness was not considered. The theater makers that were causing the harm were being centered over the people who were being harmed — and those who were reporting harm were told to wait it out and endure it." - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)

After 31 Years, A New Hint In The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Theft

A retired Boston jeweler says that, shortly after the 1990 heist, an acquaintance brought in a gilded bronze eagle for him to appraise — a piece that he recognized as stolen from the museum. - MSN (The Boston Globe)

Hashing It Out: Is “West Side Story” Worth Doing In 2021, Or Is It An Outdated Basket Of Harmful Caricatures?

As the Steven Spielberg/Tony Kushner film arrives, New York Times critics Jesse Green and Isabelia Herrera, playwright Matthew López, theater historian Misha Berson (author of a history of the show), and writer Carina del Valle Schorske (emphatically not a fan) have at the question. - The New York Times

Alvin Lucier, Pathbreaking Avant-Garde Composer, Dead At 90

"During a career spanning six decades, Mr. Lucier moved from a respectable position as a traditional composer … to the near-personification of experimentalism in music, … writing pieces for brain waves, birdcalls, electronic devices, resonant bowls and, every so often, standard classical instruments." - MSN (The Washington Post)

Turner Prize 2021 Goes To A Mockup Of A Belfast Bar

Array Collective has become the first Northern Irish artist(s) ever to receive the award. The winning work, titled The Druithaib's Ball, is a full-size replica of a shebeen (that's Irish for speakeasy) festooned with protest flags and slogans. - Artnet

If Boris Won’t Make British Audience Members Mask Up, Then Venues Will

When performances started up again in the UK over the summer, masks weren't made mandatory (much to the alarm of some visitors from abroad). But with Delta and Omicron coronaviruses continuing to sicken people, venues are starting to insist that patrons wear face coverings. - The New York Times

After 30 Years, Director Of Australia’s Flagship Indigenous Dance Company Is Stepping Down

Stephen Page became artistic director of Bangarra Dance Theatre in 1991, two years after its founding, and has led it to awards and acclaim throughout Australia and overseas. The 56-year-old Page will depart at the end of 2022, succeeded by company member Frances Rings. - The Guardian

Author Alice Sebold Apologizes To Man Cleared Of Her 1981 Rape Featured In Her Book

“My goal in 1982 was justice – not to perpetuate injustice,” she said. “And certainly not to forever, and irreparably, alter a young man’s life by the very crime that had altered mine.”- The Guardian

Man Buys Lucian Freud Painting. Freud Gets Mad And Disowns It. That’s A Problem…

Or it was. Now the buyer has had the painting authenticated by three experts who confirm the authorship... - The Guardian

Ten Best Performances Of 2021 (Yeah, We Know, ’21 Isn’t Done, But…)

The list is utterly subjective and non-comprehensive—no matter how much you watch, there’s somehow much more you’ve missed—but it includes ten people (or groups of people) who burst through the excess of amusements, onscreen or onstage, and did something extraordinary. - The New Yorker

What Ails Us: Our Search For Cures

Adam Phillips tells us again and again, the quest for self-improvement is itself the problem. What we suffer from “are our self-cures”, otherwise known as “symptoms”; what we need to be cured of are our cures, and our hankering for them. “There is no cure.” - New Statesman

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