Categories, basically: “It’s an odd quirk of the NBCC Awards, a wonkier cousin to the National Book Awards (where Coates won in November), that arbitrarily divided categories — ‘criticism,’ ‘biography,’ ‘nonfiction’ — actually encourage a blurring of boundaries.”
Author: ArtsJournal2
Dear Hollywood, Can You Not (With The Sequels And Remakes And Sequel-Remakes)
“There are three things we know about the movies. One: Hollywood will franchise anything if it made money. Two: Hollywood does not like new things. New is scary—new writers, female directors, black directors, scripts, ad infinitum. Three (and this is possibly the most important): Remakes and sequels are never very good.”
Why Are Documentaries So Hot Right Now?
“In 1979, HBO hired her to launch its documentaries division. Ms. Nevins remembers having to look up what ‘cable television’ meant (HBO had started just seven years earlier). And, she adds, ‘I didn’t even know what documentary was. I thought documentary was about Hitler.'”
South Africa Is Struggling, Like The US, With Diversity Issues In Film And TV
“Discontent has been growing, and South Africa has faced an unprecedented moral reckoning in the past year. Triggered by a wave of student protests that have often mirrored — and been inspired by — the Black Lives Matter movement in the U.S., the country is in the midst of a roiling debate over race and privilege that has put to the test the enduring myth of a ‘Rainbow Nation.'”
Federal Raids On Manhattan Galleries Just Keep Piling Up
“This is a transnational crime but also a boutique crime, and that makes for very complex investigations.”
Making Radio’s Sound Effects Was Weird, Inventive, And Vital
“The creation of live sound effects is often referred to as Foley, after the Hollywood sound recordist who pioneered the techniques in the 1920s. Without it, the clean audio of voices would be a boring world for the listener, and Foley devices continue to be used in radio drama today.”
As Spanish Officially Evolves, It’s More Latin American – And More English
“The last time the Diccionario was published, it contained more than 28,000 words of American origin — double the amount it contained in the previous edition.”
The Violin Thief Who Stole A Strad And Got Away With It
“The fact that Johnson could play the instrument publicly is less a show of daring than a symbol of how far he had fallen. The hotshot violinist, once a standout, was so anonymous that he could play a stolen Stradivarius – and no one noticed.”
This Is Uber-Stereotypical, But Apparently It Works For Boys And Ballet
“Instead of classes based on the classical repertoire, with its emphasis on fairytales, princesses, tiaras and tutus – seen as more appealing to little girls than their male counterparts – the boys are encouraged to adopt the personae of superheroes and characters from films and video games such as Angry Birds, Optimus Prime, Minecraft, Star Wars, Lego and Toy Story.”
How Do You Dance When We’re Running Out Of Time?
“The first dance, focused on water conservation, will be performed by our junior company, who will make their own costumes out of recycled materials. The audience will visit a second site under a tree and our company dancers will give them a vision of what life might look like without water, using imagery of dehydration, cracked earth and disappearing plants.”