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Chadwick Boseman Could Make Oscars History, Posthumously

He wouldn't be the first actor to have been nominated for an award after death, but if he were nominated both for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom for actor in a leading role and for Da 5 Bloods for supporting actor, that would be a first. Voting began March 5 and runs for six days; nominations will be announced March...

The Coronavirus Has Become An Inspiration For Visual Artists

Some of it might seem tasteless as the pandemic rages on, but as one artist points out, there aren't exhibitions now - and artists make art. "One online art gallery, Singulart, is featuring collections of Covid-inspired art, with 300 pieces by artists from all over the world priced at up to £21,190. Co-founder Véra Kempf says they originally received...

Inaugural Poet Amanda Gorman Followed By A Security Guard, Who Said She Looked Suspicious

The poet, who is 22, "wrote on Twitter that a security guard 'tailed' her while she was walking home Friday night. 'He demanded if I lived there because ‘you look suspicious.’ I showed my keys & buzzed myself into my building,' Gorman wrote. 'He left, no apology. This is the reality of black girls: One day you’re called an icon,...

How Do Independent Book Presses Make It?

Ask Melville House. Or perhaps don't: "We did what you would tell your children to never do. Not just having a business, but funding it the way we did: with our own money, with credit cards, we emptied out our bank accounts. I had a very small retirement fund from my life as a college professor and I emptied...

There’s No Hollywood Ending For Movie Theatres Yet

Studios are fighting with movie theatre chains; not enough people have been vaccinated yet to feel comfortable going to theatres; and, well, there's streaming. To be obvious: "'It’s going to take some time for things to settle out,' said David A. Gross, who runs Franchise Entertainment Research, a movie consultancy." - The New York Times

Melbourne Theatre Company Starts Rehearsals With Hope

The director of a play in tech rehearsal says of the theatre building, abandoned a year ago as the pandemic swept the world, "I walked in, it was very quiet and I found myself touching everything, it was hard to believe it was actually real and it was happening." - The Age (Melbourne)

French Culture Workers Occupy Odeon Theatre In Paris

The occupation began Thursday; on Saturday, Culture Minister Roselyne Bachot went to visit the out-of-work culture and tourism workers, who want to know when theatre can start up again. "Among their demands is another year of special government aid for seasonal theater workers, who often struggle to make ends meet but have been particularly crippled since the virus hit....

After Investigations, Hollywood Foreign Press Association Promises Change

Does anyone believe them? Hm. The Time's Up Organization tweeted a reaction: "On behalf of the many artists who look to us to hold the HFPA’s feet to the fire on the racism, disrespect, misogyny and alleged corrupt financial dealings of the Golden Globes, we need to see specific details, timetables for change, and firm commitments. The right words...

American Academy Of Arts And Letters, Static For More Than A Century, Makes An Attempt To Diversify Itself

Here's the deal: "Founded in 1898, the institution had capped membership at 250 since 1908; members are elected for life and pay no dues." Before this year, the only way to add a member was for another member to die - and, perhaps unsurprisingly, the Academy was made up of mostly white men. Poet Joy Harjo, one of the...

The Planned V&A Restructuring Will Take Away Most Of The National Art Library’s Librarians

The details of what appears to be an outrageously short-sighted plan: "They are guardians of some of the nation’s most valued treasures, including Dickens’s manuscripts, a Shakespeare First Folio and five Leonardo notebooks. But librarians at the National Art Library in the Victoria and Albert Museum are feeling far from valued themselves, as two-thirds of them face losing their...

Math, Music, And Moby Dick

Three great tastes that taste great together. But seriously: Literature is replete with math (and music), and here's a professor who can talk about how Melville played with math in Moby Dick - and also disprove "an 18th-century Italian musical board game that promised 'un infinito numero di minuette trio.' The object of the game: Players compose a 16-bar...

Margaret Atwood Wrote The Words For A New Song Cycle About Murdered Women

The song cycle, with music by Jake Heggie and sung by baritone Joshua Hopkins, was inspired by Hopkins' sister, who was murdered by her ex-partner on the same day that he murdered two of his other exes. When she got the request, Atwood wasn't sure she could fulfill it. But "she ended up writing the sequence in one session....

Pandemic Inspires 1200 New German Words

This truly seems to delight English speakers. "For example, Coronamutationsgebiet is an area where coronavirus mutations are widespread. A Geisterveranstaltung (ghost event) is an event with no people in attendance, usually sports. Live music is allowed, provided the audience remains in their cars, at an Autokonzert." - NPR

In Japan, ‘Disaster Art’ Is Saving People’s Lives

While dealing with emotional turmoil after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, artist Kyohei Sakaguchi made a decision to merge his art and his life. First he published his phone number as a suicide hotline, and became more and more adept at helping others. "He wrote practical self-help books and answered phone calls, he painted abstract art and...

Some Are Vaccinated, And Very Ready To See A Movie In The Theatre Again

As New York cinemas open with precautions in place, "what movies are even playing in theaters these days? For those in attendance, the film in question wasn’t the main reason they showed up at their closest multiplex on a chilly Friday afternoon. Rather, audiences were guided more by a desire to get out of the house and sit in...

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