Historian Nir Shafir (editor-in-chief of the Ottoman History Podcast) explains how he figured out that all these artworks were forgeries and explores how and where they were made and why they fooled so many who should have known better.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Haruki Murakami’s (Not So) Brief History Of Japanese Short Stories
“Having become a Japanese novelist (once and for all), I may have something of a problem on my hands in saying that I know hardly anything about Japanese fiction.” Considering that Murakami is writing this in his introduction to the English-language Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories, that may indeed be something of a problem. In fact, he maintains here that this makes him an excellent guide to this collection.
Has China’s Most Famous Actress Been Made A Non-Person?
Fan Bingbing has made dozens of movies in China, played roles in Hollywood’s X-Men and Iron Man franchises, appeared in ads all over the globe, and has 62 million followers on Weibo (China’s Twitter). It has now been more than three months since she’s been seen in public. Her name has disappeared from posters for her next film (whose release date was pushed back), and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences just released a list of 100 celebrities ranked by “social responsibility” on which Fan was dead last. Rumors are flying, and reporter Steven Lee Myers looks at what might be behind them.
4,000-Year-Old Egyptian Tomb Opens To Public For First Time
“The Tomb of Mehu, in the Saqqara necropolis near Giza, features dozens of vibrant paintings from Egypt’s sixth dynasty, dating back approximately four millennia. … [It] was first discovered by Egyptologist Zaki Saad in 1940, but remained off-limits to the public until this month.”
Boy Band Appears On Chinese TV And Get Denounced As “Sissy Pants,’ Launching National Debate On Manliness And Metrosexuality
A show that’s mandatory viewing for school pupils and parents had an opening number by the group New F4, who star in a Taiwanese teen soap opera. Detractors called the quartet “pretty girls that cannot have babies”; the state news agency declared them “slender and weak” and fretted about the effect these “not men but not women” would have on the youth of the People’s Republic. Then defenders started speaking up, among them (believe it or not) the military newspaper People’s Liberation Daily.
The Entire Staff Of This Public Radio Organization Asked Its Board To Fire The CEO (And They Did)
A 16-page letter from the staff to the board of the Association of Independents in Radio described a “toxic work environment” and detailed then-CEO Sue Schardt’s “unchecked gaslighting of staff,” “inability to collaborate” and micromanaging style, and “sexist and racist comments.” In sum, said the letter, “Sue’s leadership of AIR and treatment of staff directly contradict the organization’s mission of supporting and creating conditions for independent producers to thrive.”
Performing Lucinda Childs’s Masterpiece ‘DANCE’ For The Final Time
Katie Dorn: “The Lucinda Childs Dance Company just gave its final performance of her 1979 masterpiece, DANCE, at The Performing Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi. … DANCE is the first piece of Lucinda’s choreography I learned and it was the first piece that her newly-formed company performed. … For close to ten years, I was fortunate to dance this evening-length work all over the world. I’m not entirely sure I’m ready to say good-bye.”
Marin Mazzie, Beloved Broadway Star, Dead At 57
“Mazzie’s broad career went from screwball comedy — in Kiss Me, Kate and Monty Python’s Spamalot on Broadway and the West End — to riveting, dysfunctional moms in Next to Normal and Carrie. She earned other Broadway roles in Man of La Mancha, Bullets Over Broadway, Enron and Into the Woods.” She was nominated for a Tony Award three times, for Kiss Me, Kate, Ragtime, and Passion.
Simon Rattle And London Symphony Launch Music Academy For Minority Teens In East London
“The LSO East London Academy will open in spring 2019 and will aim to identify and develop the potential of talented people between the age of 11-18. It will be a bridge between secondary schools and conservatoires. Crucially it will be free, offering training that can normally cost as much as £3,000 a year.”
EU Passes Controversial Copyright Law With ‘Link Tax’ And ‘Upload Filter’
“The reform is called the Copyright Directive and it was first proposed in 2016. On Wednesday, members of European Parliament voted 438-226 in favor of adopting the directive. The law is meant to be an overhaul of copyright rules, aimed at making sure publishers and artists are compensated by platforms like Google or Facebook. … The controversial directive contains two articles” — known as the “link tax” and the “upload filter” — “that open internet and free speech advocates believe could fundamentally alter the way the internet works. Here’s what they mean.”