Well sure, when you’re working at the office, you think you might prefer working from home. And then a global pandemic hits. “We adjusted to being, in Laurence Scott’s phrase, ‘four-dimensional humans.’ We learned that this fourth dimension, online, bears only a deceptive resemblance to the three-dimensional world. They do things differently there. In this world of seemingly limitless connectivity, life feels both too sociable and too solitary. Online, we are constantly available to others but they remain tantalisingly unreachable to us.” – The Guardian (UK)
Author: ArtsJournal2
Yes, Houston Ballet, We’re Feeling The ‘Dancing With Myself’ Video
We’re all tired of the Netflix queue and staring out the window at life not being lived on our streets. So the smart, well-edited, fun video set to the Billy Idol classic song Dancing with Myself is just the safe dance party that we needed, six months into this pandemic, and counting. – Dance Magazine
Reality TV Is Only Now Starting To Grapple With Its Deeply Ingrained Racism
And it’s an intense reckoning, after two white stars of a Real Housewives spinoff were fired when news went public that they had “called the police on former castmate Faith Stowers in 2018 in an attempt to implicate her in a crime she did not commit.” Some of the dominos may be starting to fall – but “as is the case in many corners of the entertainment industry, the ones with greenlight power are also still overwhelmingly white.” – The Hollywood Reporter
Philippine Lawmakers Refuse To License A Broadcaster That Criticizes The Government
This is, in case it’s not clear, a dictatorial move. “The results of the vote — slammed by critics as an assault on press freedom — could potentially keep the radio, TV and internet giant from broadcasting until the end of Duterte’s term in 2022.” – Yahoo News
Marga Richter, Composer With A Career Spanning Eight Decades, 93
Richter was “a prolific composer whose determination to be heard in a male-dominated field once led her to rent Merkin Concert Hall to stage a program of her own works” – and she wrote nearly 200 in a career spanning back to the 1940s. – The New York Times
Surely, Skyscrapers Are Over Now
Rowan Moore: “It has been deemed acceptable – by the building regulations, by architects, by the professional media – to rip untold tonnes of matter from the earth and to pump similar tonnes of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, in order to produce magical architectural devices that might, if all their wizardry were to function as promised, pay back some of their carbon debt some time in the next century. By when it might be too late.” – The Observer (UK)
Will Movie Theatres Survive The Pandemic – At All?
Without new movies, it will be hard – but without any trust in safety, it will be much harder. “The vast majority of the country’s nearly 5,550 indoor theaters remain shuttered, and the recent surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in multiple states has postponed what was already expected to be a slow recovery.” – Los Angeles Times
The Star Of The First Chicken Run Was Told She’s Too Old For The Sequel
Julia Sawalha, who played Ginger in the 2000 film, writes, “Last week, I was informed out of the blue, via email, through my agent that I would not be cast as Ginger in the Chicken Run sequel. The reason they gave is that my voice now sounds ‘too old’ and they want a younger actress to reprise the role.” – The Guardian (UK)
The Woman Who Made The Best Basketball Movie Ever Just Made The Best Action Movie Of 2020
Gina Prince-Bythewood, director of Love & Basketball (don’t @ us) and the also incredible, totally different Beyond the Lights, casually became the first Black woman to direct a superhero action movie. But 2020 was supposed to be big: “There were five other female-directed blockbusters. Obviously Patty [with Wonder Woman 1984], there’s Cate Shortland doing Black Widow, Mulan with Niki Caro, The Eternals with Chloé Zhao, and Cathy Yan’s Birds of Prey. … I hope we can destroy this narrative that women don’t love action, because we do.” – The Atlantic
Advertisers Need To Follow Through On Their Facebook Ad Boycott
And here’s why: “Pulling Facebook ads in July, as they slash their ad budgets anyway, was for many a win-win of saved money and boosted image. But now? Given the response from civil rights leaders and the results of the two-year audit, how can a brand return to the platform until real, measurable change is actually made?” (Also, Zuckerberg thinks the boycott means nothing – and advertisers could change that.) – Fast Company