“Gay characters are being woven into the stories of games, and production companies are increasingly reaching out to LGBT gamers in their marketing. Even though The Last of Us‘ Bill suggests that romance ‘is good for one thing: getting you killed,’ video-gaming companies are starting to realize that it might also be good for business.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
What It’s Like To Watch Your Life Story Onstage: Alison Bechdel On Fun Home
“I can’t put that into language yet. It’s very strange and surreal. It also feels like a tremendous gift, because they got so much so right.” That said, “So far, my viewings of the play have been fraught. … I know the people involved in the production are anxious to know my response. So, it’s hard for me to have my own direct response.”
“J. Alfred Prufrock” Becomes A Comic Book, Er, Graphic Poem
“Artist and illustrator Julian Peters posted the first nine pages of a comic-book adaptation of T.S. Eliot’s poem ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ on his website some time ago. A recent wave of attention for the project [has] convinced him to resume work on it.”
How The Brain Creates Personality: A New Theory
“Are you a mover, a perceiver, a stimulator, or an adapter? Modes of thinking can be understood in terms of how the top and bottom – rather than right and left – parts of the brain interact.”
The Universal Word: Huh?
According to a recently published study encompassing 31 languages – from Russian to Spanish to Siwu to Icelandic to Lao – the interjection “huh?” seems to be pronounced roughly the same, and to serve the same purpose, in every tongue.
Composer John Tavener Dead At 69
He first drew notice for his clangorous scores The Whale and Celtic Requiem (recorded on the Beatles’ Apple label); earned broad popularity with works, such as the cello concerto The Protecting Veil and the voices-and-strings miniature The Bridegroom, infused with Eastern Orthdox Christian mysticism; went universalist with his seven-hour The Veil of the Temple. He gained worldwide fame when his simple Song for Athene was sung at Princess Diana’s funeral.
John Tavener’s Final Interview
“‘You know, my consultant keeps telling me sudden death could come at any moment,’ says [he] with a sudden, mischievous laugh. It’s a surprise because until that moment he’d seemed a picture of crumpled fragility, voice almost inaudible, his long mottled hands curled in his lap.”
Montreal Symphony Keeps Kent Nagano Until 2020
“The OSM silenced speculation Monday by announcing a four-year extension of Kent Nagano’s contract as music director. The American conductor will be at the helm of the orchestra – and a fixture in the Montreal arts landscape – until Aug. 31, 2020, at which point he will be 68.”
How Mark Morris Wants To Be Remembered
“I want to be preserved in a speed bump. Everyone will be driving along the interstate at 75 miles an hour and then there’ll be a warning sign for the Mark Morris Memorial Speed Bump, and they’ll have to slow down, to like, zero. Everyday people will be driving to work and saying, ‘Fuck Mark Morris.’ When I die I want to be an irritation, not a religion.”
Germany To Form Task Force On Looted Art
“After an avalanche of criticism at home and abroad, the German government announced late Monday it will establish a task force to investigate, ‘as quickly and as transparently as possible,’ the provenance of a cache of more than 1,400 artworks that are suspected of being traded or looted during the Nazis’ reign and that are now in the hands of authorities in Bavaria.”