Who votes for these things? The members, currently totaling a scant 87 compared to the nearly 10,000 eligible Oscar voters, of the LA-based group of entertainment writers and photographers, working for media outlets overseas, known as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. THe HFPA currently has no Black members, and hasn’t for 20 years. – Chicago Tribune
Vienna Philharmonic Sends Letter In Support Of Met Opera Orchestra
“The world is watching. 30% of the members of the MET Orchestra can no longer sustain a living in New York City due to being faced with no salary from the Metropolitan Opera since April 1, 2020. This number will likely climb higher as the crisis continues.” – Gramilano
The ‘Versailles Of Wales’ Is Falling Into Ruin
Can anyone force the Kimmel House’s offshore corporation owners to save it? – The Observer (UK)
A 127-Year-Old Spanish Sports Venue Would Like To Become A Heritage Site
Of course, the venue itself likely has no feelings on the matter. But Madrid’s Frontón Beti-Jai, built when the Basque game pelota was all the rage in the city, was recently restored, and is now sitting idle. – The Observer (UK)
Carmen Esposito’s Memoir Called ‘Save Yourself’ Came Out Just As Pandemic Lockdowns Hit
The standup comedian, who produced a special called Rape Jokes in response to her own experience of assault and Donald Trump’s Access Hollywood tape (among other things), says that it was extra ironic to be promoting her memoir that first month. “It’s about growing up Catholic and figuring out that I was queer. There are no helpful tips for what to do when we run out of toilet paper.” – Washington Post
How To Smell A Dutch Still Life, Virtually
Perhaps this was an idea that could have gotten, shall we say, misplaced during various shutdowns? But no. What does Dutch art of the 17th century smell like? An exhibit “will shortly be available as a virtual tour with a four-scent fragrance box. It doesn’t just descant on the theme, although there is plenty of historical narrative about plagues, sewage, spices, tobacco and perfume in the Dutch golden age. It actually attempts to recreate the smells invoked by golden age art.” – The Observer (UK)
The Lie At The Heart Of The Western – And How Contemporary Novelists Are Fixing It
The first novel to be considered a “Western” came out in 1902, and the tropes it established have lasted for more than a century – white men shooting each other and Indigenous people, and women, if they exist at all, serving those men. But newer novels set in the West “preserve some aspects of the old Westerns: the parched vistas, the isolation, the high-stakes emotion of characters running afoul of the law. But they also call into question the genre’s basic premise: the idea of the frontier as a place to be mastered and overcome. Instead, the Western becomes a way of thinking about humans’ relationship to land, the past, and the idea of home.” – The Atlantic
All Of The Updates And Winners From The Golden Globes
If you want to watch the text updates, here you go (as we post this, Best Supporting Actor has already been awarded – and muted). – The New York Times
TikTok Fame Remakes A Young Artist’s Narrative
A young Australian potter thought she’d always be known to other people as “the cancer girl.” But her popularity on TikTok has changed that understanding – and her life – dramatically. “Sherritt has gained half a million followers on TikTok by hosting a wildly successful series from her Ballarat art shed, where every week she makes a new piece from a giant pile of mystery slip casting moulds.” – The Guardian (UK)