Matthew Westphal – Page 812 – ArtsJournal Wayback

Arkansas’s Largest Theater Cancels Rest Of Season And Suspends Operations

“In a news release, the [Little Rock] nonprofit cited ‘inability to reach its projected goals for charitable giving and ticket sales.’ … The Rep described its future as ‘under evaluation.'”

Bob Dorough, Father Of ‘Schoolhouse Rock’, Dead At 94

He began his career as a singer/composer/arranger in the 1950s and ’60s, working with (among others) Miles Davis and Charlie Parker. “Then, in 1971, with the jazz money running thin, Dorough was asked by his boss at the advertising company where he had a day job to set the multiplication tables to music; his boss cited his children’s ability to remember Hendrix and Rolling Stones lyrics, but not their school lessons.” And so it began …

Philly’s Atwater Kent Museum In Talks To Merge With Temple University

“The Philadelphia History Museum, the city’s institutional attic of art and artifacts previously known as the Atwater Kent museum, has entered into talks with Temple University about a possible merger or partnership, according to city and museum officials.”

Keeping Chinese Opera Alive In Bangkok

The Sai Yong Hong Chinese Opera troupe and its fans “are preserving a cornerstone of culture and heritage dating to the seventh-century Tang Dynasty (618 to 907), making it one of the oldest dramatic art forms in the world. Like so much of Chinese opera throughout the world, the performances are a product of a large Chinese diaspora.”

‘S-Town’, ’60 Minutes’, Al Jazeera Win Peabody Awards

“Six news awards were bestowed, with BBC News winning for its reporting on Rohingya refugees in Myanmar and Bangladesh. Among the winners was a Vice News episode on HBO, ‘Charlottesville: Race and Terror.’ Al Jazeera won the sole public service award, for a documentary by Fatma Naib about female genital mutilation in Africa. S-Town, created by the makers of Serial and This American Life, was one of five radio or podcast winners.”

Peabody Awards For Entertainment Go To ‘Handmaid’s Tale’, ‘Last Week Tonight With John Oliver’, ‘Saturday Night Live’

“Netflix leads with three honorees – A Series of Unfortunate Events starring Neil Patrick Harris, which won for children and youth programming; mockumentary American Vandal about a high school prank; and stand-up special Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King, which touches on the comedian’s struggles as an immigrant. HBO follows with two wins for Issa Rae’s Insecure and late-night show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Rounding out the list of winners are AMC’s Better Call Saul, NBC’s Saturday Night Live, Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, and Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”

For Centuries, Humans Have Been Fighting A Battle Against Noise

“In the 1660s, the French philosopher Blaise Pascal speculated, ‘the sole cause of man’s unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.’ Pascal surely knew it was harder than it sounds. But in modern times, the problem seems to have gotten exponentially worse.” What’s more, writes professor Matthew Jordan, “legislating against noisemakers rarely satisfied our growing desire for quietness, so products and technologies emerged to meet the demand of increasingly sensitive consumers.”

Why Is Marvel Ending The Most Lucrative Movie Franchise In History?

With the Avengers movies, “the studio has breathed lucrative new life into its decades-old comic-book properties, and built a ravenous fan base for each new character it introduces at the multiplex. Now Marvel says it wants to clear the table it has spent the last 10 years arranging and make way for something new. … Audiences are about to find out what finality looks like for a motion-picture money-minting machine: Will the story actually come to a conclusion? Will characters die, and will actors leave the series?”

A Visit To The Most Turbulent Newsroom In America

“Newish LA Weekly editor Darrick Rainey and publisher Brian Calle run what is perhaps the most on-edge paper at this moment in American journalism. In December of last year, Calle – formerly the head of the libertarian op-ed pages for the Orange County Register – and a group of investors under the name Semanal Media bought the august alt-weekly, then axed 9 of 13 staff writers and editors … The layoffs prompted a furious counterattack by former staffers and freelancers, who alleged Calle heads a conservative conspiracy to turn the historically progressive LA Weekly into an alt-right rag.”

Author: Matthew Westphal