Matthew Westphal – Page 1702 – ArtsJournal Wayback

The Worst Best Picture Decade: How ‘Crash’ Capped Off The Strange Crossover Years When The Academy Lost Its Collective Mind

Scott Timberg: “The Oscars have never had a perfect batting average, but go back 20 years to the 1995 Oscars and work your way up through 2005 – the era in which the independent film movement crossed over into the mainstream – and time and again, the Academy it failed to acknowledge the best films and tended to fall for faux-profound piety. (Okay, it’s not the only time it’s done that.)”

Bayreuth Festival Starts Loosening Up (A Bit)

Yes, the programming is still restricted to ten operas, the theater seats are still hot and uncomfortable, you can still wait years for the privilege of buying tickets, and a Wagner descendant is still in charge, public funding or no. But the Richard Wagner museum is now far more forthcoming about the unsavory parts of the family history, production styles are about as Regiefied as anywhere in Germany, and (a huge change) about a quarter of the tickets are now available for purchase – by anyone – straight from the box office.

Columbia House, The Eight-Records-For-A-Penny Mail-Order Club, Goes Bankrupt (Wait, Columbia House Still Exists?)

“Since peaking in 1996 at about $1.4 billion, revenue has declined almost every year since.” Now the company has $2 million in assets, $63 million in liabilities, and no employees.

Russian Publisher Puts Western Authors’ Names On Books They Say They Never Wrote

“Journalists Luke Harding and Edward Lucas and U.S.-based Russia expert Donald Jensen confirmed to The Moscow Times that they did not know anything about Russian-language books allegedly written by them and produced by Moscow publishing house Algoritm.”

Reverse Graffiti? Making A Public Artwork By (Selectively) Washing Off Grime

“Poland’s Solina dam, completed in 1969 and the tallest dam in Poland, has been collecting dirt and grime on its walls for decades. But when it came time for the 269-foot dam to get a good powerwash, the energy company Polska Grupa Energetyczna had an idea.”

Morris Dancers In Mass Bar Brawl With Blind Soccer Team

“The footballers were enjoying a match on the village green at Rattlesden, near Stowmarket, using a ball with a bell in it so they could keep up with play. … A player kicked the ball off the pitch towards the Brewers Arms, and then mistook the morris dancers’ uniform bells for the one in the ball. He promptly kicked one of the dancers in the shin” – and so it began. – Hugh Dunnett?

It Can Pay For Itself : Arts Council England Defends Decision Not To Fund Comedy

“An open letter written by the producers of the London Sketch Comedy Festival criticised ACE’s policy not to financially support the art form, claiming it is ‘negligent and dismissive’. A spokeswoman for ACE said the main reason it does not fund comedy directly is that it ‘tends to be a commercially self-sustaining performance form’.”

The Street Dance Of The Favelas Becomes A Hit – And Reclaims Brazil’s African Heritage

“The spirit of danças da rua (street dances) – whose fusion of hip-hop, samba and the Afro-Brazilian martial art of capoeira are most at home in gritty neighbourhoods – led to the formation of Balé de Rua, which now dazzles audiences in 13 countries.”

Finally, A Non-Embarrassing Classical-Music Scene In A Blockbuster Movie! Sighs Alex Ross

“The tendency to associate classical music with murderous insanity is a curious neurosis of the American pop-cultural psyche. … Given all that history, I was happily shocked by an extended opera scene in the new Tom Cruise thriller, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.”

Author: Matthew Westphal