“Art flourishes in interesting times, they say, and a combination of political upheaval, cheap rents and plentiful space has created the conditions for the kind of vibrant underground music and art scene that took hold in Berlin in the 1990s.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Top Posts From AJBlogs 06.18.18
Propwatch: the blender in Julie
The talk around us was all about the dishwashers. ‘Look, there’s two of them,’ murmured the woman in front of us. ‘Three dishwashers,’ gasped a guy in the row behind. By the end, … read more
AJBlog: Performance Monkey Published 2018-06-18
Visconti’s Four-Hour Ludwig — A Momentous Wagnerian Film
The Film Society of Lincoln Center’s current Luchino Visconti retrospective climaxes with more than a week of screenings (June 16 and 22-28) featuring the restored, four-hour version of Ludwig (1973) — a rare opportunity to properly encounter a magnificent Wagnerian film. … read more
AJBlog: Unanswered Question Published 2018-06-16
Monday Surprise: Seeing Bix
For many aficionados of Bix Beiderbecke the surprise is not that there is so little film of the great cornetist, but that there is any. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2018-06-18
Khipu, The Mysterious Knotted-Cord ‘Writing’ Of The Incas
“The khipus might seem bizarre to us, but the Inkas, who were the inheritors of a long tradition of weaving with cotton and camelid yarns, were unique and highly creative – not underdeveloped – in their approach to documenting language. Pencil and paper is not the only road to progress.”
‘One Step Ahead Of Pokémon Go’: Snapchat Lets Users Add ‘Augmented Reality’ Animation To Their Images
The app’s feature “uses augmented reality to drop cartoon characters — dancing hot dogs, twerking chipmunks, Ed Sheeran — and other digital objects [called 3D Bitmoji] into a camera lens’s field of view.”
Why Gossip Is Actually Good For You
“A significant body of research suggests that gossip may in fact be healthy. It’s a good thing, too, since gossip is pretty pervasive. Children tend to be seasoned gossips by the age of 5, and gossip as most researchers understand it — talk between at least two people about absent others — accounts for about two-thirds of conversation.”
Molissa Fenley On Dancing And Choreographing In Her 60s
“It’s an inevitability to keep dancing — a continuance of never questioning the passion and love for the art. What I do question is how to get the work out to others as the sharing of the work has become increasingly difficult.”
In The Arguments Over Our Personal Data Online, It’s Not Privacy That’s At Stake – It’s Liberty
Louis Menand: “‘Privacy’ is an odd name for the good that is being threatened by commercial exploitation and state surveillance. Privacy implies ‘It’s nobody’s business,’ and that is not really what Roe v. Wade is about, or what the E.U. regulations are about … The real issue is … liberty. This means the freedom to choose what to do with your body, or who can see your personal information, or who can monitor your movements and record your calls — who gets to surveil your life and on what grounds.”
Are Publishers Right To Hold Their Writers To Morality Clauses?
“Such high profile cases [as those of Sherman Alexie and Junot Díaz] are far from rare as the #MeToo movement spreads across the creative industries. They come at a time when writers are facing increasingly draconian attempts by publishers to police their behaviour, calling into question centuries old assumptions about the desirability – or even the possibility in today’s networked world – of separating writers’ lives from their work.”
Investigative Journalism Nonprofit Moves Into Theatre
“The Bureau of Investigative Journalism is moving into theatre producing with a touring show about cuts to domestic violence funding. Refuge Women is a collaboration between journalists and performers, and is inspired by real stories uncovered through investigations into the state of government-funded services for women fleeing domestic violence.”
Blockbuster Podcast ‘S-Town’ To Be Adapted Into Feature Film (Is This A Good Idea?)
The hit seven-episode audio documentary by the producers of Serial and This American Life will be adapted for the screen and directed by Tom McCarthy, who won two Oscars in 2015 for Spotlight, about the Boston Globe investigation into sexual abuse by Catholic priests. But will S-Town translate? Hannah Verdier considers the potential pitfalls and pluses.