What ’60s science fiction did do was establish one of the wildest, widest, most stylistically and conceptually various commercial spaces for writing (and reading) fiction in the history of fictional genres. Each book is unpredictable in so many ways as to almost constitute its own genre. – The New Republic
America’s First Racially Integrated All-Girl Swing Band
“The International Sweethearts broke attendance records at places such as Washington DC’s Howard Theatre, Harlem’s Apollo Theater, Cincinnati’s Cotton Club and the Riviera in St Louis. They played in the same venues as Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie, were considered some of the most talented musicians of their day and toured France and Germany as a USO act in 1945. Unfortunately, racism and sexism largely swept them from the public record; they became footnotes in other people’s stories.” – The Guardian
Paris Bets On Ambitious New Contemporary Art Complex To Activate Suburbs
Collectively, the dealers hope, Komunuma’s mix of programs will make it a destination, especially as the greater Paris region seeks to shore up activity in the capital’s suburbs. They foresee “a plurality of centers with multiple, distinct identities. The development of Grand Paris will lead to a redistribution of the geography of contemporary art.” – Artsy
Museums Ponder Virtual Reality As An Art Experience
Virtual reality and augmented reality (AR)—which overlays digital elements on the real world rather than creating a fully immersive alternative—are “unbelievably promising” for the future of communication, says Daniel Birnbaum, who left his post as the director of the Moderna Museet in Stockholm to lead the London-based VR and AR production startup Acute Art early this year. But he points out that major museums such as the Louvre have concentrated on the educational uses of the technology, neglecting its own potential as an artistic medium. – The Art Newspaper
How The Hallmark Channel Conquered Christmas TV And Became A Cable Powerhouse
“Since 2011, from late October to January, Hallmark has broadcast Christmas movies nearly twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. … During this year’s holiday season, the programming, called Countdown to Christmas, has made Hallmark the No. 1 cable network among women between the ages of twenty-five and fifty-four, and, in some prime-time slots, No. 1 in households and total viewers. Last year, seventy-two million people watched Countdown to Christmas.” Sarah Larson looks into the secrets of Hallmark’s success. – The New Yorker
How Toni Morrison Took Her Place In History
With Playing in the Dark, Morrison changed the rules of the game, effectively recasting what we see when we look back to figures like Woolf and to writers of the present and future like Colson Whitehead, Jesmyn Ward, and Angela Flournoy. “All of us are bereft,” Morrison writes, “when criticism remains too polite or too fearful to notice a disrupting darkness before its eyes.” – The Nation
Books Today Are Filled With Obscenity. How Did We Get Here?
She didn’t sound offended. She sounded bored. Ninety years ago, “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” was banned in the United States. Today, a popular literary novel can contain so many oral sex acts that readers yawn. This is progress, mostly. But how did we get here? – Washington Post
Satirical Christmas Special Showing Jesus With A Boyfriend Sparks Backlash In Brazil
The satirical group Porta dos Fundos (“Back Door”) has made irreverent holiday satires about Jesus Christ before (2018’s was The Last Hangover), but this year’s Netflix special, The First Temptation of Christ, shows a pot-smoking Mary with a very visible (and lustful) God for a boyfriend and a haplessly jealous Joseph. But what’s angered the nearly 2 million people who’ve signed a petition is that Jesus comes home from 40 days in the desert with a new “close friend,” Orlando. – Variety
France Agrees To Timetable To Return 26 Artifacts To Benin
The news could signal a major shift in how France deals with repatriation, which has been a major focus for its president, Emmanuel Macron. Its government had previously resisted such efforts, and today’s move could still be scuttled by existing legislation. – Artnews
A Pittsburgh Symphony European Tour Costs $2.5 Million — What Does Pittsburgh Get For That Money?
“The reputation of the orchestra lifts the reputation of the whole region,” says the orchestra’s CEO, and several business figures say that that reputation has led overseas companies and workers to locate in and around Pittsburgh. – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Developers Propose £3.5 Billion London-Themed Fantasy Park… In London
Working in partnership with Paramount Pictures, BBC and ITV, on behalf of a Kuwaiti developer, the team have concocted a perfect vision of little Britain that will bring a tear to even the most steely of Corbynite eyes. After being drawn into the great union jack glass tent, visitors will be funnelled into High Street, a place “full of shops and restaurants” – like actual British high streets used to be. Maybe there’ll be an empty library and an interactive food bank experience, too. – The Guardian
This 1875 Family Picture Might Be The Earliest At Stonehenge
English Heritage is now asking people to get in touch if they know of an earlier family snap at Stonehenge. The earliest known photograph of Stonehenge, not featuring a family, is thought to date from 1853 – 22 years earlier. – BBC
Andrew Clements, Author Of ‘Frindle’ And Other Children’s Novels, Dead At 70
“Mr. Clements wrote more than 80 children’s books, including the text of picture books about a pampered Egyptian cat, an unbecoming fish, a Christmas in which Mrs. Claus stands in for Santa and a young girl who can’t stop using compound words such as nitwit, higgledy-piggledy and itty-bitty. That rib-tickling book was appropriately called Double Trouble in Walla Walla (1997).” – The Washington Post
Don’t Mess With Opera Fans, Episode 396
Matthew Feargrieve was found guilty in London of punching Ulrich Engler at least once while attending a performance of Wagner at the Royal Opera House on 7 October last year. Feargrieve, 43, attacked Ulrich Engler, who had climbed into an empty seat next to him and moved Feargrieve’s partner’s coat at the Royal Opera House in central London. – The Guardian
Dance Magazine’s 25 To Watch For 2020
“Breakout stars, paradigm shifters, game changers. Our annual list of the dancers, choreographers and companies that are on the verge of skyrocketing has a knack for illuminating where the dance world is headed. Here they are: the 25 up-and-coming artists we believe are ready to take our field by storm.” – Dance Magazine
How Banksy And I Got Away With Amazing Pranks
Steve Lazarides has now self-published a book of his photographs from the time he travelled the world tasked with making sure Banksy didn’t get arrested or duffed up and didn’t run out of spray paint. “I had the time of my life,” he says as he sits on the roof of his London office, talking about the man he calls Matey Boy. “We were lawless and did just what we wanted. Matey Boy had a political agenda that you can see very clearly in everything he does, but I just had a fucking blast.” – The Guardian
New Giant Movie Theatre Chain: UK’s Cineworld Buys Canada’s Cineplex, Will Merge It With Regal
Cineworld previously paid $3.6 billion for Regal Entertainment Group, its entry into the U.S. market last year. The company plans to combine the operations of Cineplex and Regal to create the largest exhibitor in North America. Following completion, the enlarged group would have 11,204 screens globally and a combined 8,906 screens across the U.S. and Canada. – Variety
Scary Times For Producing TV
“When I got into producing television, the business model had been the same for about 70 years and, suddenly, in the last five years it’s completely different. And it looks like over the next five years it’s going to be completely different again. And nobody really knows.” – Toronto Star (CP)
Peter Schjeldahl On The Art Of Being Peter Schjeldahl
When I started writing criticism, in 1965, in almost pristine ignorance, I discovered that I was the world’s leading expert in one thing: my experience. Most of what I know in a scholarly way about art I learned on deadlines, to sound as if I knew what I was talking about—as, little by little, I did. Educating yourself in public is painful, but the lessons stick. – The New Yorker
In Retrospect “Cats” Was A Brilliant Idea. At The Time? Not So Much
The idea proved anything but irresistible. No one wanted to finance the project: the show’s producer, Cameron Mackintosh, had to solicit small-fry investors through newspaper ads; Lloyd Webber took out a second mortgage to make up the ultimate shortfall. He had composed an epic, genre-spanning score, using a Moog synthesizer to imitate meowing, but, when he played it for Twyla Tharp, hoping that she would choreograph what would have to be a very dance-heavy musical—Valerie would permit the production only if they relied entirely on Eliot’s material, which left little room for plot or spoken dialogue—Tharp said no. – The New Yorker
Illusions,Realities, And Metaphors For What’s Real
“When I interact with the computer, I have limited access to the events occurring within it. Thanks to the schemes of presentation devised by the programmers, I am treated to an elaborate audiovisual metaphor, an interactive drama acted out on the stage of keyboard, mouse, and screen. I, the User, am subjected to a series of benign illusions: I seem to be able to move the cursor (a powerful and visible servant) to the very place in the computer where I keep my file, and once that I see that the cursor has arrived ‘there’, by pressing a key I get it to retrieve the file, spreading it out on a long scroll that unrolls in front of a window (the screen) at my command.” – Aeon
If The Art World Wants To Reach Underserved Populations, It Should Partner With Experts
Not experts in art – experts in serving those populations. – Hyperallergic
It’s The Perfect Opportunity To Bring The Internet To Rural And Tribal Lands
But will the U.S. take that opportunity? With more than a quarter of rural lands and nearly a third of tribal lands unable to get internet access, the public sale of the spectrum could make it all possible. (Emphasis on could.) – Slate