“You take four weeks of nightly productions at the Warner Theatre, and they all have to eat dinner, park their cars, and all have their brothers and sisters and neighbors, and they go to eat at Chef Geoff’s across the street, and then there are all those bottles of wine. This is big business for the District.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
How To (Safely) Do Sarcasm Online? Well, Duh! A Typeface!
“Since the dawn of the postmodern age, ironical writers have struggled to imbue the printed word with the nuances of sarcasm.” So an enterprising typesetter has invented a special sarcasm font.
Zombies Attack Cuban Socialism In New Film
“The day after Havana is invaded by the living dead, Juan and Sara emerge from their dilapidated apartment building to find the streets filled with people roving aimlessly, their wide eyes blank. ‘It all looks the same to me,’ Sara shrugs.”
Occupy Be-Bop! Jazz Musicians Push For Pensions, Wages
“New York City’s musicians’ union has begun leafleting outside a major jazz club, the first salvo in what union leaders say is a campaign to gain pension benefits and a minimum wage for jazz artists.”
Feeding Lucian Freud
The proprietress of the cafe where the late painter had breakfast and lunch for 15 years recalls cooking for him, consulting with him and, ultimately, sitting for him.
Painting Life Models (No, We Mean Literally)
“Bringing his models onto the canvas, Ben Heine covers them in acrylic paint, turning them into living works of art. The 28-year-old spends more than three hours on each piece for his series called Flesh and Acrylic.”
Why Not Publish A Play Script As A Comic Book? (Robert Lepage Did)
“Instead of publishing the script of his recent play, The Blue Dragon, Lepage’s theatre company Ex Machina decided to take an entirely different route, commissioning Quebec City-based artist Fred Jourdain to transform it into a graphic novel.”
French Catholics Besiege Theatres Over ‘Blasphemous’ Plays
“One of Paris’s most prestigious theatres was being protected by riot police and guard-dog patrols on Thursday after it became the latest target in a wave of Catholic protests across France against so-called ‘blasphemous’ plays.”
Manet Painting Under Export Ban While Funds Are Raised To Keep It In Britain
“An outstanding, unfinished Edouard Manet portrait of a woman sitting sedately on a balcony has had a temporary export bar placed on it by the government in the hope that someone will raise £28m to keep the painting in the UK.”
More Memories Of Merce Cunningham
The company’s sound engineer remembers taking a Polaroid; a former intern recalls Merce teaching her the proper technique for pushing a pillow onstage; one dancer describes the calm way he dealt with replacing injured dancers; another dancer recounts seeing Merce in a dream shortly after he died.