Author: ArtsJournal2

The Winners Of The LA Times Book Prizes Cover Today’s Hot Topics

And also the hot topics of 80 years ago. While Rebecca Makkai won best novel for The Great Believers, “Julia Boyd won the History prize for chronicling the Nazi party’s ascent to power in Travelers in the Third Reich: The Rise of Fascism 1919-1945, a project that relied heavily on nearly century-old pieces of paper. ‘For anyone out there who has a box of letters in their attic and is thinking of throwing it out, don’t. Please,’ Boyd said.” – Los Angeles Times

Issa Rae On Starring In A Movie With The Youngest Producer In Hollywood History

That’s right, Rae (of Insecure fame) shares the screen with a young woman who conceived of the movie when she was 10 and then executive- produced it at 14. “The bullying that the young [character] endures at school resonated with Rae, she says. ‘I really remember that moment, of being 13, and thinking: ‘How do I become someone where this doesn’t happen to me again?’'” – The Guardian (UK)

Writers Rally, Agents Dig In Over The Weekend

Writers vs. agents heated up over the weekend, and the sides don’t look any closer than they were last week. “The contract battle between the WGA and Association of Talent Agents came to a boil on Friday night, just as broadcast TV’s traditional staffing season is starting. With the broadcast network upfronts only a month away, pilot orders will be made in the coming weeks, which means showrunners will need to fill out writers rooms.” – Variety

Ignore The National Theatre’s Male-Playwright-Only Season

The reality is, the National Theatre is a leader in supporting women in theatre, at least according to one of its lighting designers. “If we want to give voices to women, then we need safe spaces to do so. This is about the direction of travel for our whole cultural sector and, while we can, and should, do better – the NT is a world leader.” – The Stage (UK)

Authors In The UK Ask For Government Help Against Ebook Piracy

Author Philip Pullman says, “Online piracy of books, music, and other expressions of the human spirit needs to be properly understood: it’s an offence against moral justice. … It’s the very opposite of freedom of speech, because it acts to prevent those who create beauty, knowledge, consolation or delight from earning even a modest living from their efforts.” – The Guardian (UK)

The Internet Seems To Have Killed Many Things, And You Can Now Add Buffets To The List

At least this one isn’t just Millennials’ fault. But seriously, buffets used to dot the landscape in the United States. No longer. “Yelp and Google Reviews and TripAdvisor and all of their ilk could be partially responsible for the demise of buffets. When things go awry — be it food poisoning or oyster crackers — a record is online instantly. There are no secrets.” – Vox

What Teaching Dance In Prisons Accomplishes

Dance to Be Free offers classes in women’s prisons in 13 states, and it even trains them to be dance teachers after they get out. But it’s not just because dance is nice or because teaching could be a career. Instead, says its founder, “Almost every single woman in prison is suffering from some sort of trauma. I knew that the physical movement would help them heal.” – Dance Magazine

Can The Berkshire Museum’s New Director Repair Some Of The Rifts?

Hm. After lawsuits and countersuits and a lot of bad publicity, the museum deaccessioned and sold 40 pieces of art from its collection, including some Norman Rockwells, to fund a “New Vision.” The new director says, “‘It didn’t scare me, obviously. I’m here. … You’ve got to find a way to pick up on the other side of that and move an institution forward.” – The Berkshire Eagle (Massachusetts)

Turns Out The World Isn’t As Random As We Thought

Crickets? Fireflies? Metronomes … and clapping: “Objects with rhythm naturally synchronize.” OK, but so what? Well, scientists are finding real-world applications of abstruse mathematical theories – for instance, “rules about how to stabilize the synchronization of power grids and more stably integrate the U.S. grid with intermittent energy sources like solar and wind.” – Quanta Magazine