Stories

This author thinks so: “When you stop making middle-class movies — movies with a moderate budget, as opposed to ones made on a shoestring or ones that cost $200 million — you’re hollowing out a middle class of people who make them.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

Alexey Brodovitch’s Ballet gets an 80th anniversary reprint. He "intended to foreground shape, blur, contrast, gesture and motion — the atmosphere of dance — in the photographs. ‘The photograph is not only a pictorial report,’ Brodovitch said. ‘It is also a psychological report.’” - The New York Times

"Earlier this month, a group of protesters gathered outside the London headquarters of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. They were demonstrating over the company’s use of millions of pirated books and research papers to feed their family of generative AI models.” - The Guardian (UK)

“The continued fight over Van Gogh’s tree roots has cast a pall over what is usually a celebratory season in Auvers, population 7,000, where art tourism is a big business that heats up in the spring.” - The New York Times

It’s the food trucks. Their owners or renters are gone, or in hiding, never opening their doors. In this version of the Big Apple, “the usual recourse to a quick, tasty and cheap snack is now an endangered option.” - El País

Then the Academy, apparently not fearless, censored the lecture. "I did not want to cause them trouble. I did, however, feel it was essential to make the point that the pursuit of wisdom is impossible without engaging with (and challenging) uncomfortable ideas.” - The New York Times

Despite the decades of neglect, when a new “Chicago museum’s leadership was pursuing oral histories of public housing, they found other narratives as well — of community, empowerment and self-sufficiency.” - Washington Post (MSN)

“Theme always comes last. I never say, I want to write about capitalism or women. What gets me into writing is always this tiny moment of someone saying something that’s stuck with me.” - The Guardian (UK)

As jury selection begins in the newest trial, here’s a timeline of all of the trials and appeals so far. - NPR

“During the pandemic, when I was watching a lot of old movies, it occurred to me that every person who worked on this movie is dead now. The director, the producers, the actors — they’re all dead, and I’m watching their ghosts.” - The New York Times

It’s easier to make a profit when the people of the country where you film underwrite the whole thing, no? At least it’s transparent: “Studios set up separate companies for movies made in the UK to show more than 10% of the total cost was spent here.” - The Guardian (UK)

And here’s how to do it again. - The Conversation

For instance, this TV series about the life of Jesus is doing numbers, as in, big numbers. - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

Even if you’re not a believer, the answer is probably a yes. “Gaudí’s mission was to find spiritual meaning in a world transformed by industry and machines.” - The Observer (UK)

In the Ireland of a thousand years ago, monks fleeing the Vikings spread their beautifully decorated version of Christianity to Europe. Some of those manuscripts survived an intensely brutal, violent millennium. - The Guardian (UK)