For several years in the 1950s, starting in 1952, Oscar night featured simultaneous gatherings in Los Angeles and New York. One can imagine something similar happening this year — maybe even including cities outside of the U.S. like London, Paris and Seoul, since the Academy's membership is now truly international — to spare people from having to undertake long-distance...
"The story of breaking's meteoric rise to the Olympic stage — it's set to make its debut at the Paris Summer Games in 2024 — involved an unlikely and reluctant partnership between street-savvy breakers and traditional ballroom dancers, an evolution of an urban art form into a competitive endeavor and a lightning-fast education campaign to sell Olympic officials and...
In a category that has historically overlooked female directors, this feels like progress. After all, only five women have ever been nominated for the best-director Oscar, and if Zhao, King, and Fennell all make it in, that number would nearly double in a single year. But look a little closer, and there’s still a pernicious double standard at play....
The ancient conch shell was discovered at the site of some cave art in the French Pyrenees back in 1931, when archaeologists figured it must have been some sort of ceremonial cup. Now researchers using CT scans have determined that the shell was decorated and that its two holes had to have been man-made, most likely to accommodate a...
"Almost nine years ago, two thieves carried out a near-perfect heist at the National Gallery in Athens, taking two works by modern masters Pablo Picasso and Piet Mondrian, as well as a a sketch by Italian Mannerist artist Guglielmo Caccia. … The case remains unsolved, but a new investigation suggests at least one work — Picasso's Head of a...
Some of the recommendations are both obvious and overdue: no more yellowface/brownface/blackface, hire more diverse choreographers (but classical choreographers, not contemporary or hip-hop as is the past), tights that match skintones, etc. Other measures will face more resistance, especially the suggested changes in the way the company recruits dancers and students. - Pointe Magazine
"Veteran producers Bruce Hendricks and Galen Walker have optioned the rights to the late Stanley Kubrick's unmade film Lunatic At Large, and have plans to bring the film-noir storyline to the big screen. … The project was one of three film stories found in Kubrick's archives after his passing." Production is expected to start this fall. - The Hollywood...
The 41-year-old Austrian-born maestro, who recently completed his term as chief conductor of the Zagreb Philharmonic in Croatia, takes up the baton in Portland this fall. He succeeds Carlos Kalmar, whose 18th and final season was cancelled due to the pandemic. (Meanwhile, Danzmayr has also extended his contract as music director of the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra in Columbus, Ohio.)...
"Many private Polish TV channels and radio stations fell silent and online sites and newspapers ran black front pages on Wednesday in a concerted protest over a planned tax that critics fear will weaken or destroy some media." The ruling Law & Justice party says the tax is a "solidarity fee" to fund healthcare and COVID relief for arts...
The money was to go toward developing a Carpathian "heritage" trail" in Poland's Podkarpackie region. After a local activist brought to funders' attention a resolution passed by the regional government "expressing opposition to the promotion and affirmation of the ideology of the so-called LGBT movements," the grant was withdrawn. - Thomson Reuters
Even though it has a little more flair, I hope we can accept the Turkish monolith as a normal part of life in 2021. It is not a mystery — even though we don’t know who exactly put it there, we know human beings did it, and we know that they were undoubtedly inspired by the 100-plus other monoliths...
The immense force of Western institutions – capitalism, democracy, Christianity – stamped itself on other parts of the globe, creating independent democratic nations committed to freedom, end of story. Or is it the end of the story? If 21st-century world trends are any indication, we might have badly overstated Westernisation’s influence and achievement. - Aeon
“We are thinking that we will have a slate of work with both digital and in-person opportunities. Because digital is not going away. We’re in a digital space. There’s a lot to figure out from a union standpoint, an actors’ standpoint from all sorts of things about how we stay in the space, but I believe that it’s here...
"My name is Leo and I am 8 years old. I listen to All Things Considered in the car with mom. I listen a lot. I never hear much about nature or dinosaurs or things like that. Maybe you should call your show Newsy things Considered, since I don't get to hear about all the things. Or please talk...
“If we artists had a basic income, that stress and fear over basic necessities would no longer weigh over our heads and we could be much more productive. It would help grow the economy, because when people have the means to do more than just get by, they put more back into the economy.” - The Tyee
