Aamir Khan’s new television show, Satyamev Jayate (“Truth Alone Prevails”), “takes elements of the female empowerment talk show associated with Oprah Winfrey, journalism, public service announcements and reality TV interactivity and throws them all together.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
The Maurice Sendak Illustrations We May Have Forgotten About
“Before he began writing his own tales, he illustrated children’s book written by others. When he began illustrating his own stories, he created a world unlike any other. ‘Children’s books were always very pretty,’ [said curator] Barbara Gilbert. … ‘But Sendak wanted them to be honest.'”
What Maurice Sendak Understood About Children: They Want To Be Scared
“[He] wasn’t afraid of writing very dark and disturbing children’s books. In fact, he understood that what children really want is to be disturbed, ruffled, terrified. He wasn’t interested in writing sweet or charming books for children like Angelina Ballerina, or Olivia. ‘I refuse to lie to children,’ he said. ‘I refuse to cater to the bullshit of innocence.'”
The Gauguin Painting That Terrified Its Creator (It Depicts A Severed Head)
Arii Matamoe (known in English as The Chief Is Asleep or The Royal End) is “the sort of painting Gauguin had in mind when he wrote to a painter friend … from Papeete, ‘My canvases terrify me – the public will never accept them. They’re ugly in every respect …” Phyllis Tuchman thinks the work is still pretty scary.
Indonesian Muslim Group Says Lady Gaga Promotes Devil-Worship
The Islamic Defenders’ Front (FPI) says that the singer is not welcome in their nation, where she is scheduled to give a stadium concert in Jakarta on June 3. Says an FPI spokesman, “Lady Gaga insults all religions. Even Christians in Korea opposed her. She is promoting the worship of Satan
Alabama Arts Executive Pleads Guilty To Embezzlement Charges
“Laura Harris Phillips embezzled $98,000 from the Carnegie [Visual Arts] Center. She also took $41,000 from the Alabama Museum Association, where she served as treasurer.”
Tribeca Film Festival Sets Up Outpost In Florence
“Tribeca Enterprises, the parent company of Robert DeNiro’s Gotham-based festival, has partnered with IMG Artists to bring film premieres to the Tuscan Sun Festival, which runs June 11 to 18 in the historic Italian municipality.”
Marina Abramovic Plans Her New Center
“‘I say to them, I would like to make a levitation room, I would like to have a digital temple,’ Ms. Abramovic said of her conversations with the architects. ‘There will be a room for drinking water and drinking water in slow motion.'”
A Passion Play At The Louisiana State Prison
The Life of Jesus Christ, a 3½-hour production with a cast of 70, “featured men from Angola and women from the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women, who traveled an hour and 40 minutes by bus each morning from St. Gabriel to this 18,000-acre prison farm on the Mississippi River. Much of the cast was in rehearsal on and off for two years.”
Embattled Charleston Ballet Theater Forms New Board To Begin Turnaround
The strife-torn company, which in February saw seven board members resign at once (leaving the board without a quorum), has assembled a new slate of directors and hired an interim director of artistic operations to begin a four-year plan aimed at stabilizing the company – financially and otherwise.