“There’s a long and noble tradition of literary critics misunderstanding Joseph Conrad. … Far more words have been written about him than he ever wrote himself – and not everyone can get it right all the time. Especially when you throw combustible postcolonial issues into the mix. Time has a cruel habit of amplifying those mistakes. A century after he was writing, any negative predictions about Conrad’s long-term durability, for instance, seem hilariously misguided.”
Yes, There’s Going To Be An 80-Part Telenovela Exploring The Life Of Celia Cruz
“The only thing more unforgettable than the rich, sonorous voice of the Queen of Salsa was arguably her big, brilliantly-colored stage ensembles, set off with Vegas-proportioned headwear.”
Tania Bruguera Vows To Return To Cuba Despite Eight-Month Ordeal
“After she was detained by the Cuban authorities and had her passport confiscated, [the artist and activist] suffered harassment, surveillance and physical abuse. Her ‘crime’ was proposing to restage Tatlin’s Whisper #6, a performance piece about free speech, in Havana’s Revolution Square.” She was granted an exit visa to go to London for this year’s Frieze, but warned that she might not be allowed back.
Why We So Often Fail To Predict What Will Improve Our Future Happiness
Miswanting. “It’s the name for the scrambled logic behind our wants, and our tendency to poorly align those wants with what we’ll actually enjoy.”
Why The Art World Hates Renoir
“His beliefs are disappointing, of course, if maybe not the right frame for understanding Renoir’s paintings. But if God does in fact hate Renoir, at least he has a decent moral reason to do so. For the rest of us, his insipid, chintzy, gauzy paintings will simply have to do.”
Is Cultural Appropriation Bad?
“At a time of heightened racial tensions across the world, with police shootings of black men in the United States and Islamophobia (and phobias of all kinds) seemingly on the rise, this rage against cultural appropriation is understandable: no right-minded liberal wants to cause unnecessary offence, least of all to minorities. Yet simply to point out instances of appropriation in the assumption that the process is by its nature corrosive seems to me a counterproductive, even reactionary pursuit; it serves no end but to essentialise race as the ultimate component of human identity.”
Village Voice Sold To Man Who Wants To Boost Arts Coverage
“I realize that The Voice has had a unique journalistic role in New York and the country as a whole,” Mr. Barbey, 58, said. “That deserves to survive and prosper.” The paper, he said, was once an essential “voice of the arts and cultural community in New York.” While he will not take over full control of the paper until February, Mr. Barbey said he would focus first on bolstering its arts coverage — mainly by attracting top writers.
The Decline Of America’s Alt-Weeklies (And Why It Matters)
“The top 20 alternative weeklies in the nation have seen their annual print circulation, which is still responsible for the great majority of revenues, drop every year since the Great Recession. In 2013 they fell by six percent, and then another six percent in 2014. But it’s not so grim everywhere. In mid-level markets like Denver, Boise, and Charleston, alternative weeklies are often the only publications left with the infrastructure to support in-depth investigative reporting.”
Yes The Art Market Has Become More Globalized. But It Consolidates In London And New York
“Putting down roots in tried-and-tested cities is partly a reflection of the fragile economic and political environment elsewhere. Trading is already a challenge in many developing countries, and recent economic turmoil has increased the risks for overseas businesses.”
Playboy To Stop Publishing Pictures Of Naked Ladies
As of next March, the rest of us really can read Playboy for the articles – which the editors plan to beef up, harking back to the glory days of the 1960s and ’70s, when the magazine published stories by the likes of Gore Vidal and Margaret Atwood and interviews with Martin Luther King Jr., Jimmy Carter, and John and Yoko. Says company CEO Scott Flanders, “The difference between us and Vice is that we’re going after the guy with a job.”
Playboy In Popular Culture (A Brief History)
The Times business section takes “look back at what made the publication and its lifestyle so prominent.”
Why Do We Keep Making And Consuming Movies And Books About Steve Jobs?
Laura Miller: “When people feel compelled to tell each other the same story over and over again, there’s usually something about it they can’t quite work out. Each iteration promises, yet fails, to finally make sense of it. The life and work of Steve Jobs is that kind of story, and our preoccupation with telling and retelling it points to some sizable cracks in the American psyche.”
Aaron Sorkin’s Movies Make Waves, But Do They Make Money?
“Very few writers are Aaron Sorkin. Very few writers have worked as both TV showrunners and Oscar-nominated screenwriters while consistently maintaining a lively presence in the press. … One might’ve expected Sorkin to have reached peak cultural relevance in 2010 [the year of The Social Network]. But no: Aaron Sorkin does not peak, he just has increasingly brief plateaus.”
After Uncertain Period, Milwaukee Ballet Is Back On Solid Ground
There’s a new executive director after nearly two years without one, artistic director Michael Pink has extended his contract for another five years, and donors have given a $300,000 challenge grant to launch a fund dedicated to new work.
The Openly Gay Black Avant-Garde Composer Who Taught With Morton Feldman And Enraged John Cage
Julius Eastman studied piano with the great Mieczyslaw Horszowski at Curtis, got denied tenure at Buffalo, improvised an aria during Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, frequented S&M clubs, drove away his friends – and wrote extraordinary music with unorthodox notation and titles so provocative that they couldn’t be printed in programs.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 10.13.15
The Communal High of Twyla Tharp in Los Angeles
In advance of Twyla Tharp’s 4-day run at the Wallis Theater in Beverly Hills … a call went out for public volunteers to participate in a staging … read more
AJBlog: Fresh Pencil Published 2015-10-13
Ethan Hawke As “Chet Baker”
This seems to be the season for a new round of films based, more or less, on the lives of jazz trumpet players. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2015-10-13
Little Miss Wolfsbane
Dawn Powell and I go back a long way. I wrote about her in the New York Times Book Review in 1995, asking the same question that everybody asks: why isn’t so deliciously witty a writer more popular? … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2015-10-13
“Overwhelmed by Art”: My WSJ Article on Wadsworth Atheneum’s Dazzling Transformation
Can the Wadsworth Atheneum regain its former reputation as a midsized museum with outsized importance? … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2015-10-13
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Jamaican Writer Marlon James Wins Man Booker Prize
He is the first Jamaican author to win the Man Booker Prize. Receiving the award, he said a huge part of the novel had been inspired by reggae music.
Earthquake: Conde Nast Buys Pitchfork Media
The internet predictably exploded when this news broke. While most of the initial responses on social media was some variation of “whoa,” a significant number fixated on a quote in the Times report uttered by Fred Santarpia, Condé Nast’s chief digital officer, who led the acquisition.
Vinyl Record Sales Are Up But Prices For Them Are Soaring Too
So many British major labels use a plant in the Czech Republic, GZ Vinyl, that there’s a six-month queue of orders. Sales director Michal Nemec says: “Don’t forget that everything is manually operated, and then there’s the cost of transportation. And there are licences and rights, which have to be counted into the merchant price.”
Shepard Fairey Trial Set In Detroit
The 45-year-old Fairey is charged with malicious destruction of property, including buildings and a railroad bridge. The damage is estimated at $30,000.
Philadelphia Orchestra Musicians Accept New Contract – For One Year
“Musicians of the negotiating committee did not formally recommend the proposal to the rank-and-file membership, and … released a statement warning that unless Philadelphia’s contract keeps pace with those at other top orchestras, the talent will go elsewhere.” Orchestra management expects a $5.8 million deficit for this season.