“Should you use exotic euphemisms or anatomical detail? Should it be comical, tender or shocking? And what if your mum reads it? Three generations of writers reveal the pitfalls – and pleasures – of writing about erotic encounters.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Aaron Sorkin Adapting ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’? Bad Idea
Scott Timberg: “Velocity is Sorkin’s great gift, but this guy’s going to slip into the cadence of small-town Depression-era Alabama? … [And] despite the centrality of Atticus, … the novel’s narrating character is not him but Scout, a woman recalling a story of her girlhood. How many of Sorkin’s best characters have been girls or women?”
Was Facebook’s Free Basics Program In India A Good Deed Or Colonialism Redux?
“It tries to solve a problem it doesn’t understand, but it doesn’t need to understand the problem because it already knows the solution. … When Zuckerberg or Andreessen face criticism, they argue that their critics are being elitist and inhumane – after all, who could be against helping India develop? The rhetoric is rich with the White Man’s Burden.”
How People Learn To Become Resilient
“One of the central elements of resilience … is perception: Do you conceptualize an event as traumatic, or as an opportunity to learn and grow? ‘Events are not traumatic until we experience them as traumatic.’ … The experience [of trauma] isn’t inherent in the event; it resides in the event’s psychological construal.”
Joel Grey Comes Of Age, And Comes Out, At 83
“Despite his successes on stage and screen – that rare Tony and Oscar for the same role, the M.C. in Cabaret – Mr. Grey has not always felt that luck was on his side. As his book reveals, the journey from child actor to teenage nightclub phenomenon (who knew?) to established Broadway name contained its share of bumps, and his personal life was no less rife with conflict and complication.”
‘Image Overload’ – It’s A Thing, And With Real Consequences
“As we snap, store and communicate with thousands of images on our phones and computers, a number of researchers and theorists are already beginning to point to some of the unintended consequences of this ‘image overload,’ which range from heightened anxiety to memory impairment.”
France’s Culture Minister Replaced – Mid-Debate – In Surprise Cabinet Reshuffle
“Audrey Azoulay, currently President François Hollande’s cultural advisor, is to replace Fleur Pellerin as France’s minister of culture. … Pellerin learned that she was no longer the minister of culture and communication in the middle of a senate debate over her proposed ‘creation, architecture and heritage’ law.”
‘English Theatre Is Dead,’ Says Playwright Edward Bond
“I think it serves no useful social, creative function. So I work mainly abroad. … What has happened to English theatre, English society, is it has become infantile. It is not dumbing down, it is actually becoming infantile. You turn on the television and it is infantile. You are patronised as if you are a little child.”
Roberto Alagna Learns New Role In Two Weeks, Saves The Met’s Bacon
“Jonas Kaufmann, one of the biggest stars in opera, had just withdrawn from a coming new production of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut. Would Mr. Alagna step in? ‘My first thought was to say no,’ [he said]. … And he would have just 16 days to nail it before opening night, which arrives this Friday.”
Facebook Takes Down Philly Museum Of Art Image For ‘Suggestive Content’
“The Philadelphia Museum of Art’s International Pop exhibition starts on February 24th. To promote it, an Art Museum staffer posted the image above – Belgian artist Evelyne Axell’s 1964 painting Ice Cream – on Facebook. … Per the Art Museum, it was removed from the site for ‘containing excessive amounts of skin or suggestive content.'”