He (and Theo) had three. From reading a book that includes some newly translated letters, we can learn that "Lies was frustrated that women didn’t have more professional options that were socially acceptable. We learn about how Wil often copied Vincent’s drawings and was his favorite model, and that the two wrote to each other about art and...
Raphan's "genius" films - about people with unusual minds and talents - weren't quite documentary; they were that, but more. "Up From Astonishment (2020), her most recent film, is about Emily Dickinson. In it, ink blooms on a page; butterflies pinwheel; there are empty bird nests, an abacus and various inscrutable shapes. Susan Howe, a poet, and Marta Werner, a Dickinson scholar,...
They might sound like yet another fun thing for young people to have done back in the day, but no. They were even deadly, with reports of at least two dancers dying near the dance floor as others simply passed out. "Dance marathons, also called walkathons to avoid legal and moral scrutiny, were essentially the Netflix dating show of...
Though the bowl will be limited to 4,000 in a venue that seats 17,500, the excitement is real. "The organization is still ramping up to tackle the complexities of reopening, but Smith said the L.A. Phil is planning 45 to 60 concerts." - Los Angeles Times
In the 1980s, Colalucci led the team that restored the Sistine Chapel. "To paint the Sistine ceiling, Michelangelo labored atop a towering scaffolding, his neck craned skyward and paint dripping onto his face. In an enterprise that captivated the international art world, Mr. Colalucci assumed the same position for the delicate task of cleansing the chapel of the layers...
The 1991 project was believed to be lost. "But after Tolkien fan clubs urged the broadcaster to scour the archives of its Soviet predecessor, Leningrad Television, workers for Channel Five managed to find the footage last year" - and to put it online for all of us to enjoy in late March. - The New York Times
For the performing arts community, the closure of Cape Town's Fugard Theatre was something of a last straw. "In just a decade of existence the theatre, named after world-renowned playwright Athol Fugard, had become a much-loved venue that put on work by local writers as well as internationally known plays and musicals." Artists are asking their government to do...
Chloé Zhao won another directing award for Nomadland, which also won best film on the second night of the mostly online awards. Anthony Hopkins was a surprising win for The Father; at 83, he's the oldest male actor to win a BAFTA. Promising Young Woman and Emerald Fennell also came in for surprising wins, and Youn Yuh-jung's win for...
Hawking was no Newton. He said so himself. At a White House event in 1998, First Lady Hillary Clinton read a question from the Internet: “How does it feel to be compared to Einstein and Newton?” He replied, “I think to compare me to Newton and Einstein is media hype.” Then again, as Charles Seife demonstrates in Hawking Hawking,...
Real talk: "Kathleen Tiernan, a trainee at Ballet Austin, fears that the pandemic will financially stunt the ballet industry for years to come. 'I don’t know that I would wanna risk going to one of those small companies that could be very close to shutting down,' said Tiernan, who is still in auditions season. 'And I don't know how...
Why did the media not come out and treat it as the truly awful (and unacceptable) fact that it was? "Unlike past stories, The Hollywood Reporter’s offers, for the first time in Rudin’s almost 40 years as a producer, an unromanticized affirmation of the seemingly endless anecdotes about him as a manager. It details his alleged misbehavior as well as his...
Zhao, director of Nomadland, is the first woman of color and only the second woman ever to win the DGA award. Though director David Fincher didn't win for Mank, he had a great line: "Directing ... is a bit like trying to paint a watercolor from four blocks away through a telescope, over a walkie-talkie, and 85 people are...
To keep actors safe - and, of course, to cover their own liability - some productions are now employing intimacy coordinators. But contracts can go farther, and the #TimesUp group has suggested that "a so-called 'nudity rider' or 'simulated sex waiver' should be in place before filming begins." - BBC
Lucky statues! "Without themselves needing to organise, these historically neglected members of the inanimate community have within the last few months secured privileges, protections and high-level advocacy that, in addition to their existing plinth status, falls only narrowly short of full suffrage – and even that cannot confidently be ruled out." - The Guardian (UK)
The easiest part of being an extra, ahem, a background artist, is that you just have to be there. "Being an extra requires no experience, no acting talent and no talking." - Los Angeles Times
