“The biggest issue [in the vinyl industry] is the broken supply chain,” said the Vinyl Alliance, a trade industry group in April 2020. Increasing shipping costs, a lack of live concerts at which to sell merchandise, and a slow down in new vinyl requests from musicians had record production and sales declining. But the demand for vinyl records was too strong to keep the industry down. Manufacturing quickly got back to normal, and, in the US, 2020 unit sales are up over 17% from 2019. The appeal of the record, with its tangibility, beauty and history, just keeps on growing. – Quartz
Religious Justice Warriors Smash Up Statue Of Mary Magdalene Because It Is A Nude
“A statue of Mary Magdalene housed in the chapel of Saint Pilon in the Var, in southeast France, has been destroyed by vandals apparently unhappy with her lack of clothing. The perpetrators left a note at the scene saying they ‘did not accept that a great saint like Mary Magdalene [should] be represented in such a way’.” – The Art Newspaper
Complexity Science: Not As Simple As You Think
In complex systems, the last thing that happened is almost never informative about what’s coming next. The world is always changing – partly due to factors outside our control and partly due to our own interventions. – Aeon
Nina Popova, Dancer Who Fled Both Bolsheviks And Nazis, 97
Popova, who died of Covid-19, lived a dramatic early life and found stability, if not joy, on Broadway and TV before becoming a ballet teacher. – The New York Times
What It’s Like For A Woman Writer Try To Ghost Write A Virulent Misogynist’s Memoir
Heidi Pitlor: “Ghostwriting is a form of acting, method acting really, as well as improvisation. You must become your subject, whether they are a Kennedy, a congresswoman, or a guy who espouses anarcho-primitivism and might frequent urbandictionary.com.” – LitHub
How To Make A Four-Part Rom-Com During Hollywood’s Lockdown
It wasn’t easy to film Love in the Time of Corona. But it was doable, with a lot of care – and a lot of house-cleaning for the actors whose homes hosted the shoots. Some of the details: “Filming over two-plus weeks in July, Johnson worked with a crew of seven who were tested before spending three days at each location. The showrunner monitored scenes from a van parked outside the actors’ homes, and gave direction via walkie-talkie.” – Vulture
Netflix Screws Up The Advertising For A Movie About The Problems With Sexualizing Young Girls
So here we have a movie, Cuties, that “has been praised for questioning how society and social media pressure young children into acting in sexually explicit ways.” Best way to advertise it, Netflix, probably isn’t with ” a picture of four young girls posed provocatively, some twerking while wearing hot pants.” (The streaming service learned that quickly, and changed things.) – The New York Times
It’s Definitely Time To Go Back To Absolutely Safe Movie Theatres, Say Multiplex Owners
Reassuring: “The theaters are pushing hard the argument that moviegoing is safe more broadly, or at least as safe as going to a restaurant, flying on an airplane or worshiping in a church.” – Los Angeles Times
Social Media Companies Must Flatten The Spread Of Dangerous Disinformation
Can they? Yes. Will they? Hm. – Slate
A Six-Part Play, Delivered By Postcard
Shutdown theatre cool idea number 458: “A postcard slips through the letterbox and lands lightly. While rural touring can’t take place, Nottingham-based company New Perspectives have created Love from Cleethorpes, a six-part postcard drama delivered to audiences’ homes.” – The Guardian (UK)
Ai WeiWei Directed, From Europe, A Film About Wuhan’s Drastic Shutdown
His team sprang into action and got censor-free footage that seems impossible. “The hardest footage to shoot was inside the I.C.U., Ai said, but he could not divulge how it was filmed. He said much of it was done with hand-held video cameras about the size of a smartphone that are able to stabilize images. It helped, he said, that many people were wearing masks: That made them feel less nervous about getting in trouble for speaking on camera.” – The New York Times
British Women Artists Are Still Massively Underrepresented On UK Radio
It’s bad from the singer side – 51 percent of the top 100 songs were by solo male acts, and only 19 percent were by solo female acts – but it’s shockingly horrible from behind the scenes, where 80 percent of the songwriters were male. One songwriter: “To see that women feature so low across the board in this industry is devastating and something I feel every day working in music.” – The Guardian (UK)
Are Suburbs Inherently Scary?
Horror movies sure seem to think so. A lot of them seem to exhibit “this idea that if you have enough free time, you’re going to just start rounding people up and killing them.” – Wired
The LA Phil Tries The Online Route
The Hollywood Bowl couldn’t have audiences – but the musicians could be there, distanced, and the orchestra took advantage of its city’s geographical advantages. The concerts were only “possible in the age of the novel coronavirus because the [Hollywood Bowl] stage is about 5,700 square feet— more than twice the size of the Walt Disney Concert Hall stage — and completely outdoors, but for the partial cover of the shell. All participants, including artists and tech crews, were tested for COVID-19 prior to filming and stayed at least 6 feet apart onstage.” – Los Angeles Times
Nothing, Absolutely Nothing, Can Beat Live Music
The first concert since lockdown is definitely special (not that it’s weird to be masked and distant anymore; it’s simply exciting to be there). “It’s been difficult but clarifying to see how mightily classical music struggles in an online-only format. Experiencing sound in person, among others, turns out to be even more essential than I’d assumed. This art form has long been devoted to recordings — but always as a counter, an implied (or screamed) comparison, to real performances.” – The New York Times
A Brief History Of Boredom
Those who bore easily are more likely to be depressed and anxious, have a tendency to be aggressive, and perceive life as less meaningful. Yet, psychology uncovered also a much brighter side of boredom. Researchers found that boredom encourages a search for meaning in life, propels exploration, and inspires novelty seeking. – The Conversation
Tony Awards Will Go Ahead This Fall, Online
“It was not immediately clear how many shows would be eligible for consideration. Twenty plays and musicals opened during the abbreviated 2019-20 season, but a few might be deemed ineligible because they were open for such a short period of time that not enough Tony nominators or voters got a chance to see them.” – The New York Times