“It’s an insulting term. Most flies I know aren’t conscious at all, and I like to think I’m at least 2% conscious. … I come across this thing as a matter of chance, and maybe occasionally good judgment. I take the risk of shooting it because I think it might be interesting – then my job as an editor is to decide what it is saying, whether I want to use it, in what form, and where I’m going to place it.”
Month: July 2018
In 2018, What Makes Someone A ‘Southern Writer’?
“Far more urban, far more ethnically and culturally and politically diverse, the South is no longer a place defined by sweet tea and slamming screen doors, and its literature is changing, too. ‘It is damn hard to put a pipe-smoking granny or a pet possum into a novel these days and get away with it,’ the novelist Lee Smith once said.” Even so, Margaret Renkl has a answer to the question – one that’s paradoxical and somewhat painful.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: ‘I Want To Tell The Truth’
“That’s where my storytelling comes from. My feminism comes from somewhere else: acute dissatisfaction. … I don’t remember a time when I didn’t want to tell stories. Sadly, I also don’t remember a time when I wasn’t telling people what I think about the world.”
Meet The Man Who Got A Best Choreography Tony Nomination For A Straight Play (‘Harry Potter And The Cursed Child’)
“[Steven] Hoggett … did not win the Tony. (That went to Justin Peck for the more traditionally dance-heavy Carousel.) But the recognition was well deserved: His choreography and movement direction for the two-part Cursed Child is no less meticulous and detailed than any dance number, and as important to the theatrical language of the play as the writing, by Jack Thorne, and the direction, by John Tiffany.”
D.C. City Council Passes New Sales Tax To Fund The Arts
“In late June, members of the Council of District Columbia approved a new sales tax to subsidize the arts in D.C.; advocates estimate that the new tax will infuse $30 million dollars per year into the D.C. arts scene.”
YouTube Pledges $25 Million To Support News Organizations
“YouTube said it will provide funding in about 20 global markets to support news organizations in ‘building sustainable video operations.’ The grants will let new orgs build out video capabilities, train staff on video best practices, and enhance production facilities. YouTube says it also will expand its team focused on supporting news publishers … and also detailed new features intended to flag misinformation and highlight authoritative news sources.”
California Museum Named After Dalí Gets Sued For Infringing On Artist’s Name And Image
“The Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí in Figueres, Spain has sued the museum Dalí17 in Monterey, California over its use of the artist’s name and imagery. The museum’s logo, which features a sketch of Dali’s face complete with upturned moustache, and its ‘unauthorised’ use of the artist’s work on its website, social media accounts and merchandise ‘unfairly and unlawfully wrest from the Foundation control over its DALÍ marks and its reputation,’ … according to the complaint. “
Oldest Known Excerpt Of Homer’s ‘Odyssey’ Unearthed In Greece
“A team of … researchers found it on an engraved clay plaque in Ancient Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic Games in the Peloponnese peninsula … Preliminary estimates date the finding to the Roman era, probably before the 3rd century AD.”
The Story Of The Nag Hammadi Codices – Is It Total Bunk?
News of the discovery of these Gnostic manuscripts in 1940s Egypt – manuscripts that ultimately upended everything scholars had thought they knew about early Christianity – came with an all-too-colorful story: precious ancient books lying unnoticed in the desert for generations, exotic peasants engaged in blood feuds stumbling upon the volumes, a last-minute rescue from fire. Nicola Denzey Lewis points out just how improbable (and Orientalizing) it all is, looks at what we know for sure about how the codices were found, and works out a more likely, and more unsavory, story.
Alan Johnson, 81, Choreographer For Broadway And Mel Brooks Movies
“A wiry, calming presence backstage, Mr. Johnson choreographed solo shows and revues for performers including Ann-Margret, Bernadette Peters, Tommy Tune and Shirley MacLaine, who once christened him the ‘heir apparent’ to acclaimed choreographers Michael F. Bennet and Bob Fosse. Yet Mr. Johnson remained best known for his work with Brooks” – the dancing in “Springtime for Hitler” in The Producers, the “Puttin’ on the Ritz” tap dance in Young Frankenstein, Madeline Kahn’s burlesque number in Blazing Saddles, the Busby Berkeley-style monks and nuns in History of the World: Part I.