“The 54-year-old Los Angeles-born writer won for The Sellout, a laugh-out-loud novel whose main character wants to assert his African American identity by, outrageously and transgressively, bringing back slavery and segregation.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
A Brief History Of The Ouija Board
Boomers will remember the board as either a popular sort-of-board-game or the means by which the demon possessed Regan in The Exorcist. But its history goes all the way back to 19th-century Spiritualism; it was condemned by a Pope and denounced by a professor as “a serious national menace.”
‘Don Giovanni,’ Don Trump, And Rape Culture
“In the end the [opera’s] message is that even a rich charismatic guy can not get away with predatory behavior, groping, serial rape, and, I’m sure, the occasional pussy-grab. The Don ends up dragged to hell.”
How Police Pressure Shaped The Ways Hollywood Depicts Law Enforcement In America
“This is not a straightforward story about how police departments are bad and Hollywood is good, or vice versa. Nor is it a simple morality tale about how creative freedom made it possible for a liberal industry to critique a conservative profession. … But driven by the need for drama and excitement, Hollywood used genres such as action movies and reality shows to glamorize the very ideas about policing that have generated such division in the United States today.”
Amidst Chaos, Looted Antiquities Are ‘Gushing Out’ Of Libya
“One of the hardest-hit areas is the country’s eastern coastal region, which is rich in archaeological treasures from sites such as the ancient Greek and Roman city of Cyrene. International and Libyan specialists say that ‘random digging’ here is proceeding unchecked.”
Is Casting Screen Stars In Broadway Plays Good For Theater?
Alexis Soloski: “Well, that depends on your criteria. Certainly, it brings people in who otherwise might not attend and gives Broadway a welcome shot of the glamour it can sometimes lack, making the lights of the Great White Way glow more brightly. But too often celebrity casting seems a cheap ploy to increase box office totals and keep the publicity machine churning. These actors drum up excitement for new plays and goose otherwise bland-seeming revivals.”
The Super-High Frame Rate In ‘Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk’ Looks Great – And It’s Still Unwatchable
Ang Lee’s latest film “is the first ever to be shot in super-high-resolution 3-D at 120 frames per second. Lee knew its novel look—unrelenting clarity, abundant blooms of fine detail – might come off as more disturbing than impressive. ‘This is not just a new technology, but a new habit in watching movies,’ he warned the crowd. ‘I hope you keep an open mind.’ This was, perhaps, too much to ask.” Daniel Engber explains why.
Rarely-Seen, Never-Sold Clyfford Still Painting Coming To Market
“Estimated to make between $12m-$18m, the untitled painting from 1948-49 was acquired from the artist by the painter Edward Dugmore, his student at the California School of Fine Arts, and also passed through the hands of the Texas collector Edward Kitchen, before entering an East Coast collection about 20 years ago.”
Board Of Shakespeare’s Globe Decides To Jettison Controversial New Artistic Director
“Shakespeare’s Globe artistic director Emma Rice is to leave the theatre in 2018 after its board decided her methods are not authentic enough. Rice took charge of the London theatre in January but has come in for fierce criticism, including for her use of sound and lighting technology.”
Texas Couple Gives $380M Art Collection To Musée d’Orsay In Paris
Marlene and Spencer Hays’s collection of roughly 600 works from late-19th- and early-20th-century France includes works by, among others, Matisse, Modigliani, Bonnard, and Degas.