“I have learned to adore the midnight show as a moviegoing experience. It has become the one lure that draws me unhesitatingly back to the theater. It’s not just a raucous party to be endured. It’s the one way in which movie theaters can still reliably fulfill their most sacred function.”
Month: May 2012
Turkey Called. It Wants Its Cultural Hegemony Back – Now
Turkey is building new museums and throwing a lot of money toward visual art and archaeology. “Turkey’s cultural plans at home are coupled with an unprecedentedly bold campaign to bring back treasures that it believes were stolen, which now sit in Western museums. These plans enjoy political support across the spectrum and the backing of all Turkey’s museum directors. The campaign targets many more objects and museums than the government has so far let on.”
If Your Writing Life Was About Drugs, And You Stop Doing Them, Then What?
“Fun, of course, is something [Jay McInerney has] long been interested in. He had lots of it upon arriving in New York in the early 80s, when he spent his time going to gritty night clubs, snorting coke and squiring various models. These experiences formed the basis for his scabrous debut, Bright Lights, Big City, which was an immediate success when it appeared in 1984, making him both rich and famous. He was soon a member of the literary ‘brat pack’ – its two other chief members were Bret Easton Ellis and Tama Janowitz – and continued moving in glamorously debauched circles, plundering his life in his fiction.”
Losing What Makes Philadelphia Itself – Yes, We’re Still Talking About The Barnes
Sure, more people will come to Philly to see the new Barnes. But “the repackaging of the Barnes may also be seen as the latest in a string of changes to Philadelphia that dilute its special character — advancements that bring Philadelphia into conformity with what visitors from other places may expect, but that also render the city more generic.”
Adam & Eve + Milton + Global Warming = Jonathan Dove’s New Opera
Jonathan Dove’s new “church opera” came about because he took a trip to the Arctic – and decided to make art out of climate change. “I thought Adam and Eve could make a journey down the nave of Salisbury Cathedral that lasted 45 minutes. … It would cover the time between them being banished from the Garden of Eden and actually walking out of the gate. It would go through their different emotions, remembering how wonderful Eden was and the things they’d lost, but also offering some hope for the future.”
European Union Making Life Harder On Hollywood?
“The European Union has drafted film funding rules which, if approved, will cut coin for Hollywood productions shooting in Europe and create potential impediments for all co-productions in its member states.”
Machine Makes A Twitter Symphony, Or At Least A Soundtrack
“The machine is a piece of software that monitors the Twitter activity of 500 people selected from eight different fields — arts, business, education, health, politics, science, sport and technology. Whenever these people post an update, the properties of the tweet are analyzed in terms of the sound and meaning of the words, and generates music based on it.”
Young, Smart, And Rising Fast In The Theatre World
Matthew Gardiner, associate artistic director at Arlington’s Signature Theatre, likes contrasts. “Gardiner’s current follow-up to the grim Really Really is the cotton-candy Xanadu, the theatrical version of the Olivia Newton-John-on-roller-skates musical with Electric Light Orchestra songs. Camp city. ‘Totally makes no sense,’ Gardiner acknowledges of this back-to-back effort, smiling broadly.”
Thanks (Partly) To Social Media And The Internet, Battle Over Women’s Rights In Saudi Arabia
“Dissent over women’s status in society will remain at the heart of competing visions for the country for a long time to come. As facts on the ground evolve – with women making up the majority of college graduates, young generations connected in an unprecedented fashion to the internet and social media, and the need for a more competitive economy to support its burgeoning population – it will become increasingly untenable for Saudi Arabia to straddle both the 7th century and the 21st century.”
Haitian Dance Company Suffering After Earthquake
“What we do here has a social and economic impact,” Jeanguy Saintus says. “Now everyone is talking about tourism, about projecting a different image of Haiti overseas. This is what we’ve been doing for years. And yet all the money goes to people who are feeding children, to the [nongovernmental aid organizations], not to the arts or what we do.”