“While there’s much to process from his past, Wilson is living in the present, touring with a band for the 50th anniversary of The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds. … We reached him in Portland, Ore., as he prepared for a sound check. He seemed courteous, but wary: a man who prefers to express himself in song.” (audio)
How To Build A Film Career In Oregon, Montana, And Other Non-California States
“There’s a little cottage that I rent in Portland behind my friend’s place. It has a feeling of being in the country, but it’s actually on the other side of the fence from a Subway sandwich shop. There’s a little garden and it’s just close enough to be able to, when I’m stuck on something in a script, take a walk up to Mount Tabor or get some dinner with friends. But it’s also secluded enough that there are no interruptions. I find it’s really hard to write in New York. There are too many distractions. “
One Thing Big Data Could Do: Help Reduce Gun Violence
“When the Chicago mayor’s office analyzed the sources of those recovered firearms, with help from the University of Chicago Crime Lab, it found that many had been first sold by just a small number of gun dealers in the suburbs of the city. One gun dealer in Lyons, Illinois, alone accounted for 659 guns recovered between 2009 and 2013.”
The (Faint Hint Of) Scandal Surrounding Shostakovich’s Opera ‘The Nose’
“He wrote The Nose from the unguarded standpoint of a young composer using his entire box of tricks at a time when the liberated Russian intelligentsia had free rein to experiment and revel in the avant garde. The first Stalinist crackdown was still around the corner. The result is almost a catalogue of all the devices and gestures that would become standard practice for mid-to‑late 20th-century modernist iconoclasm.”
A Show Where No Cellphone Can Ring Or Beep Or Do One Damn Thing Because It’s In A Locked Pouch
“Fans are required to place their cellphones into Yondr’s form-fitting lockable pouch when entering the show, and a disk mechanism unlocks it on the way out. Fans keep the pouch with them, but it is impossible for them to snap pictures, shoot videos or send text messages during the performance while the pouch is locked.”
The Chinese Artist Who Set The Art World Aflame
“I’m also a little timid, so I needed a medium to get rid of the rigidity in myself for the art. In my hometown [Quanzhou, China], there were so many firecracker factories, so I had easy access to gunpowder. Using gunpowder as a medium became a way to liberate myself.”
Critics Are So Over High Frame Rates
“Critics are now grappling with the particular ‘hyper real’ look of [Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk], a visual experience that apparently gives both clarity and immediacy to the film’s battlefield scenes, and an odd stiltedness to the everyday life. (And that’s not even getting into their thoughts about poor Steve Martin’s face.)”
The Great French Slapstick Actor And Director Who Faced Down Decades Of Legal Obstacles To Showing His Films
“Mr. Étaix (pronounced ay-TEX), an actor as well as a director, specialized in a deadpan visual comedy, animated by sight gags, funny sound effects and fantasy sequences that harked back to the silent films of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Max Linder as well as his own background as a circus performer.”
The Triple Threat: A Ballet Dancer Who’s Also A Singer And A Drag Queen
“‘I became very aware of the hetero-normative standard in ballet very early,’ said Mr. Whiteside, who realized he would mainly play straight men onstage. ‘And that made me sad. I will never get to express myself as my true self.'”
The Black Panthers’ Art Still Resonates – And Feels Sadly Topical – Fifty Years Later
“One of the most potent weapons in its outreach to African-Americans in cities across the country was its artwork. In posters, pamphlets and its popular newspaper, The Black Panther, the party’s imagery was guided by the vision of Emory Douglas, its minister of culture.”