“As a director you’re literally making 2,000 decisions a day, and no one else is going to make those same decisions. So it’s definitely going to be your movie, in the sense that everything filters through your nervous system and your sensibility, and you don’t have to worry about it beyond that. Whether it’s obviously what people think of as a Cronenberg movie or not is irrelevant.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Why Does Dennis Cooper Write Such Violent, Kinky Novels? Disneyland
“On the spectrum of extreme literature, Dennis Cooper lies somewhere between the Marquis de Sade and the Old Testament.” Yet, says the author, “I’m interested in how Disney flattens fairy tales. Disneyland just fascinates me. I grew up in Disneyland, went there a few times a year every year, so it’s in my blood. I still think it’s the happiest place on earth.”
Cosima Wagner’s Only Defender Is Bookslut (They Look Alike)
Jessa Crispin: “It’s difficult for me to write out Cosima’s crimes without immediately coming to her defense. … I loved Cosima. I was appalled by her. I had arguments with her in my head. And yes, I horribly identified with her, with some of those thoughts you are ashamed even to think, let alone ever express on paper.”
Miami Art Museum Gets $35M Gift – And New Name
“Miami developer Jorge Pérez has agreed to donate $35 million in cash and art from his collection to the Miami Art Museum in a deal that will see the museum renamed the Jorge M. Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County.”
Sculptures Made From Shredded Books Haunt Edinburgh
“As symbols of love for libraries go, cutting up books wouldn’t be most readers’ first thought. But the delicate paper sculptures that have been left anonymously in recent months around Edinburgh’s cultural institutions have been enchanting.”
Christa Wolf, One Of East Germany’s Top Authors, Dead At 82
“[She] was, with Günter Grass, Germany’s best known contemporary author. Before the end of communism she was revered on both sides of the Iron Curtain as a literary figure and a moral icon; afterwards, however, her reputation suffered a dramatic reverse.”
The Nutcracker-Industrial Complex Churns Out Ever More (And Odder) Variations
“There’s a burlesque version in Seattle, a sports-themed twist in Salt Lake City (a Brigham Young University-University of Utah football game replaces the toy-soldier war) and a puppet adaptation in Glen Echo, Md. A dog version in the Chicago suburbs last year was an instant sell-out.”
YouTube, With New Site Design And Content, Could Begin Replacing TV
“Google rolled out an ambitious new look for YouTube on Thursday … But the ultimate goal is much more ambitious than just making the video-sharing site look less cluttered: Google wants YouTube to be so wonderful that people will use it the way they use TV – surfing channels when they’re bored and want to be entertained rather than when they’re looking for something specific.”
When We Store Data In ‘The Cloud,’ Whose Laws Protect Us (Or Don’t)?
“[A] message sent between a computer in Hamburg to one in Dusseldorf could wind up on a server in California, while its response might end up in Mumbai. This is why the cloud confounds the issue of data sovereignty – it’s hard to say which nation or jurisdiction rules over data at any one time.”
Wikileaks, The Play
“A play about Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will have its European premiere in London next year. First seen … in Sydney last summer, when it was originally titled Stainless Steel Rat, Ron Elisha’s play will open … in January. Renamed Man in the Middle, the play has been reworked over the past three months to guarantee its topicality in light of recent events.”