Author: Matthew Westphal

How Amazon Is Remaking The Half-Hour TV Show

“At most studios and networks, [Joe] Lewis would be thought of as the head of comedy. At Amazon, he’s in charge of what the streamer more vaguely characterizes as half-hour programs – perhaps a more accurate descriptor, given how blurred the lines are between comedy and dramas these days. … Vulture recently spoke with Lewis for nearly an hour about how he approaches series development … and why the definition of an Amazon half-hour is likely to evolve over the next year.”

When Her Best Friend Was Killed, She Had AI Engineers Create A Bot Of Him

“It had been three months since Roman Mazurenko, [Eugenia] Kuyda’s closest friend, had died. Kuyda had spent that time gathering up his old text messages, setting aside the ones that felt too personal, and feeding the rest into a neural network built by developers at her artificial intelligence startup. She had struggled with whether she was doing the right thing by bringing him back this way. At times it had even given her nightmares. But ever since Mazurenko’s death, Kuyda had wanted one more chance to speak with him.”

Can Audiences Enjoy New Dance Pieces More If They Know *Nothing* About Them In Advance?

“The idea goes against the grain in arts marketing, as venues increasingly provide preview trailers, rehearsal clips and artist interviews for audiences to watch in advance.” But London’s Dance Umbrella festival is giving it a try. “A lack of knowledge about the art form can stop audiences from coming to dance, so [festival director Emma] Gladstone wanted to free them from worrying about what they didn’t know.”

Taj Mahal’s Dome, Long Yellowing, To Get A Mud-Pack Beauty Mask

“Scaffolding will cover the Taj Mahal’s main dome next year while a ‘mud pack’ is applied to its yellowing marble, authorities said Thursday as they battle the effects of smog on the country’s top tourist attraction. The famed monument to love, which attracts millions of visitors, has for years been acquiring a yellow tinge despite a ban on coal-powered industries in the area.”

How Donald Trump Is Like Jay Gatsby

Political scientist Amanda Friesen: “[He] is always flying around in his private jet. That must seem like a dream come true for some folks! By jetting off to Vegas, he’s doing things people are familiar with  –  things they might do if they had the money. In some respects, Donald Trump is Jay Gatsby, throwing the party and drawing people in with his excess and opulence. He’s Gatsby without the earnestness.”

Lady Jane: Oscar Wilde Totally Took After His Mother

“Jane was a living, writing, talking paradox. She was an elitist who championed the undergo, a lover of ceremony and ritual who wanted to destroy the status quo, a republican who relished her peerage, a rebel at home in the realm, the barricades and the drawing-room were her natural habitats. … Oscar revered his mother and father, but his resemblance to his mother goes to the core of what made both of them remarkable, and prone to calamity.”

In Praise Of Shorter Performances – And Even Abridging The Text

“Terence Rattigan, England’s master of the well-made play, predicted back in the ’50s that younger playgoers conditioned by movies and TV would eventually start to chafe at the three-hour-two-intermission running time that was then the theatrical norm.” Terry Teachout praises the trend toward shorter, no-intermission plays, and suggests that we should feel free to make cuts in longer works by the likes of Eugene O’Neill and Richard Wagner.

Is Michael Grandage About To Become The Next Julie Taymor?

“From 2002 to 2012, director Michael Grandage was the head of London’s Donmar Warehouse. The position he inherited from Sam Mendes was long on prestige, artistic achievement, and honors. But money? Not so much. But now the director, who long labored in the not-for-profit world, stands to enter the big money as the newly-tapped director of the forthcoming Broadway stage adaptation of the Disney film Frozen.”