“It’s like, we worked so hard to get careers beyond it, to get to this stage, and now we’re being dragged back again. … It’s harder to do comedy now anyway: we’re older, we’ve become the Establishment we took the piss out of.”
The Wizard Of Movie Sound
“To an exclusive circle of independent filmmakers who know how much his collages of sound and musical refinement added to their movies from the late seventies to the early nineties, his name is still invoked with an affection verging on awe.”
Could ‘Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind’ Become Reality?
“Now, with 20% of 2.3 million war veterans coping with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the US, the engineering of traumatic memories now is more than a philosophical curiosity [or conceit of a film], but a medical priority. A definitive study published early this year has now claimed memory adjustment from the domain of fiction: Researchers were able to modify the distant recollections of fear in mice, opening way to novel PTSD therapeutics in the future.”
Neil LaBute: ‘Better For Me Not To Be A Mormon Than To Be A ‘Bad’ Mormon’
“I was doing things blatantly that Mormons were not supposed to do. Members of the church are asked not to see R-rated movies and here I was making R-rated movies – spending most of my days crafting them. At some point you hold up these two different ideas of yourself and choose between them.”
Syrian Refugee, Once A Movie Star, Gets Hollywood Ending
After a 30-year career in Arabic film, TV and theater, Jihad Abdo could barely go out in public in Syria without being followed by fans. Then, as civil war broke out, he fell afoul of the Assad regime and fled. He wound up as yet another out-of-work actor in L.A. – until he happened to meet (of all people) Werner Herzog.
Jane Campion: Film Industry Is Inherently Sexist
“It’s not that I resent the male filmmakers – I love all of them – but there’s something that women are doing that we don’t get to know enough about. It’s always a surprise when a woman filmmaker does come out and we get a feminine vision.”
St. Louis Aims To Have One Of The World’s Best Jazz Clubs
“Jazz St. Louis in Grand Center has announced a new expansion that it hopes will make it one of the top five jazz hubs in the world.”
Technology That Tries To Persuade You To Change Behavior Is Getting More Sophisticated
“Though it’s been around for a while, persuasive technology is becoming increasingly popular and profitable, inviting a deeper look into its ethics and efficacy.”
Competition Heats Up In America’s Spanish Language Media
“For years, the two established Spanish-language media companies — Univision Communications and NBCUniversal’s Telemundo — have dominated the space. But with more than $2.5 billion in annual advertising revenue up for grabs, Latino media has become one of the hottest and most competitive corners of the industry.”
Hawthorne: LA Motion Picture Museum Needs A Rethink
Christopher Hawthorne: “By refusing to budge on its construction timeline, the academy is doubling down on the least-promising elements of the design. Sure, some refinements might smooth out some of its more obvious wrinkles. What they won’t do is salvage the design as a whole.”
How China’s Art World Is Changing (Quickly)
Artists becoming more faithful to their galleries, dealers more committed to nurturing and developing artists’ careers, collectors better at respecting the rules, and China’s museum boom have combined to dramatically change the art landscape in the past few years.
What Live Theatre Can Learn From The Movies
“Cinema has no trouble evoking a world that exists beyond the borders of the film frame. Tom Sutcliffe, in his book Watching, describes the moment when the vast spacecraft whooshes into view during the opening shot of Star Wars as the revelation of the “unseen off-screen”. Most theatre struggles in my experience to conjure an equivalent sense of expanse.”
The Perennial Cannes Backlash Is Only Getting Worse
“The artistic director of the prestigious film festival responds to accusations that the event is insular, sexist, and stodgy.”
The Reason Why Hollywood Churns Out So Many Boring Superhero Movies
Derek Thompson: “Hollywood has become sensational at predicting what its audiences want to see. And, ironically, for that very reason, it’s become better at making relentlessly average movies.”
Colorado Symphony Makes Marijuana Concerts Invitation-Only
“The CSO on Monday stopped selling tickets to the high-profile series in response to a letter from the city of Denver warning that the events could run afoul of regulations forbidding marijuana consumption ‘openly and publicly in a manner that endangers others.’
Oscar-Winning Director Of ‘Searching For Sugar Man’ Found Dead At 36
Swedish filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul won multiple awards in 2013 for his documentary about a Mexican-American folk-rocker who unknowingly became a star in South Africa. Stockholm police say no foul play is suspected in Bendjelloul’s death.
H.R. Giger, 74, Surrealist Designer Made Famous Via Hollywood
Known for creating images melding humans and machines in a style he called “biomechanical”, Giger was primarily a painter and sculptor. Yet he reached millions of people worldwide through his designs for the films Dune, Prometheus, and Alien, for which he won an Oscar.
Vandalized Rothko Back On View At Tate Modern
“It has been a deliberately slow, painstaking process, but 18 months after Mark Rothko’s Black on Maroon was vandalised with quick drying and theoretically indelible graffiti ink, Tate Modern has revealed the successful results of one of its most difficult restoration projects.”
Why Can’t Lit In French Span The Globe as English- And Spanish-Language Books Do?
“French publishers seem to have assumed that the market in the French-speaking world [beyond the hexagon] would never develop, so they’ve done little to explore its potential. … Paris imports talent and exports books, but neither trade names nor rights.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 05.13.14
Raising the Bar: Christie’s Landmark $744.94-Million Contemporary Sale
AJBlog: CultureGrrl | Published 2014-05-14
When “a deal in Palermo isn’t a deal in Palermo”: Getty Trust’s Lawyer on Sicily’s Slipper…
AJBlog: CultureGrrl | Published 2014-05-13
Roots of a Great English Band: The Clientele
AJBlog: CultureCrash | Published 2014-05-13
Tate’s Coming Show: Is There A U.S. Counterpart?
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts | Published 2014-05-13
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Star Basketball Player Quits Team After Making The Glee Club
“Brandon Sherrod is one of 14 juniors at the school picked to become members of the Whiffenpoofs, the school’s famous male a cappella glee club.”
Paris’s Picasso Controversies
“One centers on the Paris Picasso Museum, where renovations have dragged for five years amid accusations of mismanagement, labor problems and clashes between the artist’s family and the French government. The other is about the fate of a Left Bank studio where Picasso lived and worked for 19 years, and painted his famed anti-war opus “Guernica” in 1937.”
Anonymous 4: We’re Breaking Up For Real This Time
Their 2004 break-up announcement “was sort of half-hearted”, says Marsha Genensky of medieval music’s superstar girl group. “Really what we were doing was going from over-frenetic to reasonable.” But after another decade – and what will total 30 years together when they disband for good in 2016 – the four women are ready for other things. (includes preview of new album)
How Do You Save An Ancient Dying Language?
In Brooklyn a small group celebrates and works to keep alive the ancient and official language of the Inca Empire.”
The Death Of Entrepreneurship?
It is “the age of the start-up,” and “American entrepreneurship is plummeting.” We are witnessing the Cambrian Explosion of apps and the mass extinction of apps. These are the glory days of risk, and we are taking fewer risks than ever.