Author: Matthew Westphal

Long Shots: Losing ‘For Your Consideration’ Nomination Campaigns And The People Who Run Them

Cara Buckley, the Times‘ Carpetbagger: “Chatting with a half-dozen or so Oscar campaigners, the Bagger learned that the reasons long-shot movies and performers are foisted into the awards fray are almost as numerous as the prizes Hollywood doles out to itself each year (though, she dares to say, publicists’ justifying their paychecks surely plays a part).”

Gathering And Streaming All The Best TV Drama That Isn’t In English

“The result of 4,000 hours of TV consumption [by the founder] is Walter Presents, an online streaming service that began in Britain in January 2016. And now, when Americans have access to more TV from around the world, [Walter] Iuzzolino is bringing Walter Presents to the United States. The service will debut in March with a catalog of 34 shows, or about 300 hours of TV, and at least two new shows will be added each month.”

Fearing Another Ghost Ship, Detroit Orders Artists’ Complex Vacated Immediately Due To Safety Violations

“One of the seven buildings of the Russell Industrial Center in Detroit, which has become known as a haven for artists and a locale for edgy events and movies, was ordered closed this week.” Said the city’s director of buildings and safety engineering, “During a recent inspection, the smell of natural gas from the multiple illegal installations was so strong, DTE had to be immediately called to correct the leak.”

Maryland High School Bans Shepard Fairey’s ‘We The People’ Posters For Being ‘Anti-Trump’ – And Students Get Clever

Teachers at Westminster High School in Carroll County, a rural area on the Pennsylvania border, put up the posters as a “show of diversity” – which is precisely their purpose. But after a staff member complained, administrators said that political material couldn’t be displayed in classrooms without “showing both sides.” Westminster students have an alternative planned (and the school board is meeting with lawyers).

New Yorker Cartoonist James Stevenson, 87

“Mr. Stevenson did not restrict himself to drawing cartoons at the magazine; he was one of the rare people there who wrote and illustrated articles, including Talk of the Town pieces. And, away from The New Yorker, he was the author or illustrator of more than 100 children’s books, as well as novels and an illustrated biography of Frank Modell, a fellow New Yorker cartoonist, who died last year.”