Author: Matthew Westphal

‘She Walks Like A Bird, But That Bird Is A Duck’ — Loie Fuller, The Unlikely Dance Superstar Of Fin-De-Siècle Paris

Offstage, she was a dumpy little frump of a Midwestern girl who lived openly with her mother and her female lover. Onstage, she was “la fée éléctricité,” who manipulated with sewn-in rods a gown made of massive lengths of white silk to create natural images and fantastical shapes under rotating colored spotlights — an act that made her a huge celebrity for decades. – The Public Domain Review

After One Week Of Freedom, Turkish Author Ahmet Altan Is Re-Arrested

The court that had sentenced Altan, along with his brother and one colleague, to ten years in prison (on a charge of assisting the attempted 2016 coup that many believe was trumped-up) ordered them released under supervision last week. But the chief prosecutor appealed that decision, and police promptly went to detain Altan again. – Yahoo! (AFP)

‘Setting Us Up To Fail’: More Than One-Quarter Of Australia’s Arts Organizations To Lose Federal Funding

This week is the application deadline for the next four-year round (2021-24) of Australia Council for the Arts funding for small-to-medium organizations, a category which includes all groups but the largest (such as Opera Australia, the Australian Ballet, and the state capitals’ major symphony orchestras and theatre companies). Hundreds of those organizations have already been eliminated, and of those remaining, the Council says that up to 60% will be unsuccessful. Project-to-project finding will still be available, but it has been slashed in recent years. – The Guardian

Using Aroma As A Stage Effect

“From at least the late 19th century, when David Belasco had actors cook and brew coffee on stage to heighten the realism of domestic scenes, to recent efforts to evoke a piney forest or the tang of gunpowder, directors have tried to involve an audience’s olfactory sense to intensify their experience. In his screen-to-stage adaptation of John Cassavetes’s 1977 film, Opening Night, Cyril Teste — the French director known for his ‘filmic performance’ technique that uses real-time video, live acting, music, and some audience participation — has added scent to the storytelling of this play within a play.” – Hyperallergic

Urban Dictionary Has Become A Research Tool, A Legal Resource, And Sometimes Even A Style Arbiter

Writer Christine Ro gives an overview of the ways the crowdsourced slang dictionary, now 20 years old (ancient in internet terms), is being used by (among others) linguists and sociologists, state DMVs, and attorneys and judges. (Then there was the time IBM tried using Urban Dictionary as a data set to feed the famous AI computer Watson.) – JSTOR Daily

Mo’Nique Sues Netflix For Gender And Racial Discrimination Over Lowball Pay Offer

The Oscar-winning actress and comedienne alleges in her court filing that, in offering her $500,000 as a talent fee for a stand-up comedy special, the company “offered or paid [Chris] Rock, [Dave] Chappelle, [Ellen] DeGeneres, and [Ricky] Gervais forty (40) times more per show … and it offered [Amy] Schumer twenty-six (26) times more per show than Mo’Nique. In short, Netflix’s offer to Mo’Nique perpetuates the drastic wage gap forced upon Black women in America’s workforce.” – NBC

Detroit Symphony To Give Free Instrument And Lessons To Any Detroit Child Who Wants Them

“Detroit Harmony, as the project is called, represents a bid to dramatically expand music education throughout the city, one that hopefully will generate demand for an entirely new workforce of music teachers and craftsmen to repair and refurbish used instruments. … [The program] will be open to any K-12 student in public, private and charter schools throughout the city.” – The Detroit News