Ivo van Hove at the Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, Stéphane Braunschweig at the Odéon in Paris, Thomas Ostermeier at the Schaubühne in Berlin, Kajsa Giertz at the Helsingborg (Sweden) City Theatre, and Saheem Ali and Shanta Thake at the Public Theater in New York talk about government support, programming while their buildings are closed, and reopening plans. – The Observer (UK)
Netflix And Amazon Want To Make Lots More Programming In India, But Hindu Nationalists Aren’t Making It Easy
“U.S. video streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video are looking to the Indian market to power their global growth. But their shows are facing the wrath of Hindu nationalists, often linked to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP, which wields increasing clout over what is acceptable entertainment. Now, the government has stepped in, raising fears about shrinking space for creative freedom.” – The Washington Post
Flory Jagoda, Keeper Of Sephardic Music Traditions, 97
Jagoda sang and wrote songs that connected her to her grandmother in Yugoslavia. “They were songs of home and family, of love and Hanukkah, many of them in the diasporic language — Ladino, a form of Castilian Spanish mixed with Hebrew, Arabic and Turkish — spoken by the Sephardic Jews who were expelled from Spain by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in 1492. Some eventually settled in Vlasenica, where Mrs. Jagoda spent part of her childhood, among her beloved grandparents and extended family.” – The New York Times
Even The Grammys, Which Are Awarded Primarily For Sound, Had Major Sound Issues
Can there be hope for regular humans when the Grammy Awards can’t get the sound right on Zoom? “The multiple acceptance speeches during the Premiere Ceremony that suffered from echoing, distortion or absent volume felt like a big miss for a show of its stature.” – Variety
Fiction Isn’t Memoir, And Yet
“The belief that every novel is a self-accounting is timeworn: Some early readers of Lolita suspected that only someone with the mentality of a child predator could have conjured the depraved Humbert Humbert. Publishers, meanwhile, often appear to want readers to see books as thinly veiled autobiography, and their publicity campaigns typically emphasize authors’ personal connections to their work.” – The New York Times
Why Woody Allen Defenders Are So Upset By The New Documentary
Perhaps they’re not used to the world of 2021. “The truth underlying their emotional, often highly personal defenses of Allen is that he’s become subject to the forces of change that have finally begun to challenge the old world order, when a girl’s place was tantalizing Allen or other actors on screen, no matter how nerdy or neurotic those men might be, or how young the woman.” – Los Angeles Times
If You’re Watching K-Dramas Or Other Korean TV, You’re Probably Seeing A Lot Of Subway Content
That is, the fast food chain, not underground trains. The reason: “Product placement in TV shows is a reality the world over. But South Korea’s terrestrial stations are prevented from inserting commercial breaks during programming, meaning many Korean companies must be creative about getting their wares in front of viewers.” – The New York Times
Will Disney Break Netflix’s Record Numbers For Streaming?
That’s what it’s poised to do in 2024, or so the predictions say (on the other hand, who could have predicted that every family with children would be stuck at home needing some Disney to stream when Disney+ debuted in 2019?). – The Guardian (UK)
Carmel Quinn, Irish Singer And Storyteller Who Performed For JFK At The White House, 95
But more people would know her as the “blue-eyed, flame-haired Irish singer and storyteller who packed Carnegie Hall on St. Patrick’s Day for a quarter-century and regaled her audiences with tunes and tales from the Old Country.” – The New York Times
The Swag Continues, Even For The Virtual Oscars
Good: “Some film insiders are privately asking an uncomfortable question: How do you tastefully campaign for trophies when more than 1,000 Americans a day are still dying from the coronavirus?” Not as good: “Calling off the campaigns is not an option for Hollywood, where jockeying for awards has become an industry unto itself.” – The New York Times