J. Hoberman writes about the newly-rediscovered “comic strip” drawings, featuring a lead character called the Biped, that Richter drew in 1962, shortly after escaping from East to West Germany.
Linguist Explains Why ‘Poetry Slam Voice’ Drives People Crazy
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that if you’ve ever attended a poetry slam, you probably already hate ‘slam voice.’ … As an outsider, it’s an easy thing to make fun of, but unfortunately for our cold, dead hearts, it’s always been hard to articulate exactly why it annoys us.
Until now.”
The New Yorker Picks This Year’s Best And Worst Super Bowl Ads
Ian Crouch: “In other times, the [Anheuser-Busch] commercial – a cinematic, and partly fictionalized, depiction of the journey that the company’s co-founder, Adolphus Busch, made from Germany to St. Louis in the mid-nineteenth century – would not have drawn much attention.
But these are not other times.”
Unknown Bob Marley Tapes Found And Restored After 40 Years In A Wet Basement
When the reels were discovered in the cellar of a seedy London hotel, “there was literally plasticised gunk oozing from every inch and, in truth, saving the sound quality of the recordings looked like it was going to be a hopeless task.”
Race, Opera, And A Historical “Nixon In China”
“Opera remains far too white-dominated an art form. And operatic stereotypes and conventions are valid subjects for ongoing re-evaluations. Opera companies everywhere are wrestling with shifting expectations. We all have our personal and racial hot buttons and blind spots. But we should be wary of letting them distort our perceptions of historic works of art—and a 30-year-old opera about events 45 years ago is now a product of history.”
IMDb, The Go-To Movie Info Website, Is Shutting Down Its Discussion Boards
In a statement posted to its website, the company said that the decision was made “only after careful consideration and was based on data and traffic.” It added, “We have concluded that IMDb’s message boards are no longer providing a positive, useful experience.”
The Touring Ballerina Who Left It All To Build A Theatre In The Desert
“When Marta Becket died on Monday at 92, her only survivor was the theater, the walls and ceiling she painted depicting a colorful audience that would never leave: Renaissance royalty, nuns and monks, clowns and jousters, revelers and cherubs — and Clive Barnes, the longtime drama critic of The New York Times, a playful nod to her theatrical past.”
Utah Legislature Considers Making The Iconic “Spiral Jetty” To Be State’s Official Artwork
“I think elevating something as iconic, in some circles, as the Spiral Jetty to be our official state work of art could bring it more into the mainstream consciousness of all Utahns,” Rep. Mike Winder, R-West Valley City, said.
Playwright Robert Schenkkan, Furious At Trump, Spits Out A Response Play In One Week
Five theaters across the country have already agreed to produce “Building the Wall,” starting next month. “We no longer live in a world that is business as usual — Trump has made that very clear — and if theater is going to remain relevant, we must become faster to respond. … We cannot hope to be useful if we can’t respond until 18 months after the fact.”
When The Sitcom Went Urban, Starting With Mary Tyler Moore
Basically, the MTM Show was about – and a harbinger of – gentrification.
Broadway Fave Cherry Jones Is Enjoying Being In London While The U.S. Starts Life Under The New President
Jones, starring in Glass Menagerie on the West End, is also famous for her turn on the show 24. “Jones played President Taylor in two series of 24, from 2009 to 2010. Many saw a distinct suggestion of Hillary Clinton in her appearance and characterisation.”
Three Years After A Car Bomb Damaged It, A Cairo Museum Reopens
The museum houses more than 9500 pieces of Islamic art from all over the Islamic world. One professor of Islamic art history: “‘I think the reopening of the museum is extremely important because there’s been so much negative propaganda’ about Islam, she says. ‘I think it will show people that this was one of the most advanced cultures — and how better to see it than through art?'”
Annette Bening’s Mix Of Public And Very, Very Private
According to her latest director, Bening hates self-promotion. Mike Mills: “She doesn’t want to talk about herself, her work or anything – it all makes her queasy. She wants the work to be its own mystery so you have your own relationship with it.”
Theatre – Like Most Of The Arts – Is Struggling With This Sudden Shift In Political Climate
Theatres usually plan seasons at least a year and sometimes several ahead, but they’re starting to reshuffle and change the lineups, partly because “artistic directors and theater producers — positioning themselves as first responders in a time of political and humanitarian upheaval — grapple with how to jump-start a current-events conversation with audiences.”
The Playwright Of ‘Moonlight’ Explains Why The Story Had To Be Told
In grad school at Yale, after finding out his mother had died, Tarell Alvin McCraney “wrote the script not in anger, he says, or only in grief or guilt, though he felt both of those emotions. He wrote it in panic.”
When A Maori Painter Was Accused Of Terrorism
Tame Iti, a member of the Tūhoe Nation, returned from prison and shifted his focus to art: “Art is an intricate part of activism. To be an active participant, to try and provoke people’s thinking, to capture your audience. People that come and look at art, they’re looking for something. They’re looking for the moments, looking for the magic.”
Top AJBlogs From The Weekend Of 02.05.17
Political Dispatches
Caught the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) exhibition Dispatches this weekend. Dispatches was mounted just before the 2016 election; in its own words it “includes a survey of works from 2010 – present and … read more
AJBlog: Infinite Curves Published 2017-02-05
When the Last is not the Last
Batsheva Dance Company, live and on film, performs in New York. Or Meir Schraiber (L) and William Barry of Batsheva Dance Company in Ohad Naharin’s Last Work. At back: Rani Lebzelter. Photo: Yi-Chun Wu The … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2017-02-05
Weekend Extra: Louis Stewart Wailing In Wales
A Rifftides reader who requests anonymity has made us aware of a video featuring the remarkable Irish guitarist Louis Stewart. Stewart died at 72 in a London hospice last August following a short … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-02-04
What The Saga Of Avocados Reveals About Politics – And Human Interactions
It may be true that nothing unites the U.S. like avocados: “In the early 2000s, the low-carb craze gave avocados a boost, with fat suddenly deemed more acceptable. But it was nothing compared to the looming beast on the horizon, the monster trend no one could predict: avocado toast.”
The James Bond Movie Director Who Actually Was A Spy
Well, this is even more dramatic than a Bond flick: “For nearly a month Hamilton managed to avoid detection before escaping back to safety in England. Ten days later the escape route used by the Resistance was uncovered by the Nazis.”