Noah Charney: “There is an element of illusionism to a good forger’s craft, but also a mischievous Loki quality to them, a sense that they are ‘more prankster than gangster,’ and that it is okay to admire them, even cheer for them against the authorities. The tabloid media, in particular, likes to dress up art forgers as working class heroes who are ‘sticking it’ to the elites, showing the emperors that they wear no clothes.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Why Are So Many Adaptations Of ‘Swan Lake’ So Dark?
Black Swan isn’t even the half of it. John Neumeier’s version features Mad King Ludwig; James Kudelka’s includes gang rape; Michael Keegan-Dolan’s centers on abuse by Irish priests. There’s even another film coming out about a ballerina in the lead role losing her sanity. David Jays talks to dancemakers about the darkness they find at the heart of the story.
Enough Already With The Wildly Overrated George Orwell
Ben Judah: “There is a simplicity and a clarity to Orwell’s prose. It flows nicely. But there is also nothing special about it other than the fact it has been canonised as the ultimate in English authorial excellence. This is still very much a surprise to me, because there is just so much wrong with it.”
Listen To This Year’s Grawemeyer Award Winner, Bent Sørensen’s ‘L’Isola Della Città’
“Written for the Danish ensemble Trio con Brio and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, which gave its premiere last year, L’Isola della Città (‘The Island in the City’) unfolds over nearly half an hour in five continuous movements. Stealthy and subtle, its central threesome of soloists – piano, violin and cello, as in Beethoven’s Triple Concerto – finds oases of calm amid flares of intensity from the orchestra.”
Daniel Day-Lewis Finally Explains (Sort Of) Why He’s Quitting Acting
“I haven’t figured it out. But it’s settled on me, and it’s just there. … All my life, I’ve mouthed off about how I should stop acting, and I don’t know why it was different this time, but the impulse to quit took root in me, and that became a compulsion. It was something I had to do.”
Front Porches – New Houses Are Getting Them, And People Are Using Them Again
“In the 20th century, porches couldn’t compete with TV and air conditioning. Now this classic feature of American homes is staging a comeback as something more stylish and image-conscious than ever before.”
TV Comedies Were Taking On Sexual Harassment Months Before ‘The Weinstein Effect’
“Just as Louis C.K. used his stand-up specials and FX show, Louie, to recast his own sexual misconduct as transgressive comedy, his peers – multi-hyphenate TV stars like [Aziz] Ansari, Tig Notaro and Lena Dunham – have used their own platforms to mine the experience of working with guys like him, and dig into issues like how to act on intractable rumors, the social discomfort of taking a stand, and the problem with well-meaning male allies.”
Big Foundations Stepping Up To Protect Arts Orgs From San Francisco Real Estate Market
“Think the Bay Area’s arts ecosystem is in trouble now? Imagine what it would be like without the Rainin and Hewlett foundations.”
#GrammysNotSoWhite: Pool Of Major Nominees May Be Most Diverse Ever
“This year’s increased number of artists of color and women may be a response to the current political climate in which many in those groups feel both threatened and moved to speak out. It most certainly reflects the academy’s attempt to address criticism that it is out of touch with notable artists and trends shaping pop music.” (For a complete list of nominees, click here.)
Classical Grammy Nominees Are *Not* The Usual Suspects
Two of the five opera nominees are by Alban Berg, and the closest thing to a warhorse is The Pearl Fishers. (Unless Wozzeck counts.) All of the nominated orchestras are American, but none are from the old “Big Five.” Three nominations went to the South Dakota Chorale. There’s one likely shoo-in, though: the late Dmitri Hvorostovsky, for Sviridov’s Russia Cast Adrift. (For a complete list of nominees, click here and scroll way down for classical.)