Real surprise here, but his designs were, mostly, uh, “too avant-garde” for the company. – Open Culture
Author: ArtsJournal2
Barack Obama Releases The List Of His Favorite Books Of 2019
As usual, it’s “an eclectic mix of fiction and nonfiction,” and the former president included the collected works of Toni Morrison, who died in August. – Los Angeles Times
How Are Two Small Canadian Films Making A Splash In Hollywood?
Partly it’s by letting Canada be Canada. “While movies and TV series are shot across the country, the Canadian locations rarely stand in for themselves. Toronto might be New York. Or Vancouver is meant to be L.A. It’s less common to have uniquely Canadian stories — and cities — stand on their own.” – CBC
Broadway Remembers Jerry Herman
Everyone from Harvey Fierstein to Chita Rivera has something to say about the man who deeply understood his craft. Betty Buckley, who played Dolly Levi in the 2018-19 national revival tour of Hello, Dolly!, said, “The lesson for me in doing the show — and I owe him a debt of appreciation — was that joy is a choice. It’s not something you wait to happen to you. You choose it, and you work really hard to sustain that commitment.” – The New York Times
Vampires Are ‘So Over’ Right Now, But Their Return May Be Imminent
They’re so early 2010s, basically. But culture is cyclical, or so it appears in tastemakers’ plans, and – according to a vampire literature scholar – “updated versions of these monsters cycle in when we don’t know how to confront something as a society or when we need to find a metaphor to help us understand a situation.” – HuffPost
The French Government Has Offered Concessions To The Paris Opera Dancers Who Have Been On Strike
The massive strike, in its 24th day and spread throughout the country, went viral last week when dancers and the orchestra performed selections from Swan Lake in front of the Paris Opèra. “The special retirement plan for the Paris Opera, which allows dancers to bow out at age 42, was introduced in 1698 by king Louis XIV — making it among the oldest in France.” – France24
Kelly Fraser, Singer Who Gained Fame For An Inuit-Language Cover Of A Rihanna Song, Has Died At 26
Fraser “wrote or translated songs into Inuktitut, an Inuit language, [and] a key aim was to ‘use pop music as a platform to strengthen her language,'” her producer said. “She also wanted to make the music as accessible to as many people as possible, he said, so she mixed English and Inuktitut in her recordings and blended traditional Inuit sounds and themes with contemporary pop.” – Seattle Times (AP)
A Powerful Professional Organization For Writers Seems To Be Imploding
Or is it self-immolating? In any case, when the RWA suspended writer Courtney Milan, who had spent years on its ethics committee and pushing for more inclusion and equity, for calling a book “a racist mess,” a boulder of anger, past racist treatment, secret committees, and a board exodus started rolling down the RWA’s hill of money and influence. Will the organization – 40 years old and at the forefront of a billion dollar industry – survive? (For more, here’s a complete timeline of what’s been happening.) – Houston Chronicle
Distilling The Essence Of Princess Margaret
When Helena Bonham Carter got the call to play Princess Margaret in Season 3 of The Crown, she wasn’t sure she could follow the tall Vanessa Kirby, who had just won a BAFTA for the role. Then she began her (nearly endless) research. – Los Angeles Times
Trump’s Trade War With China Is Harming American Authors
In a country not exactly known for the free flow of ideas, delays and freezes in publishing have changed what’s available in China. “Publishing industry insiders describe a near freeze of regulatory approvals, one that could make the publishing industry reluctant to buy the rights to sell American books in China.” That freeze may be thawing, or may not be – but in the meantime, U.S. authors and publishers have lost a major group of readers. – The New York Times