A contingent of science fiction writers – that is, novelists, to be clear – are being hired by companies to predict the future. Yes, really. “Mega consulting firm Price Waterhouse Cooper published a guide on how to use sci-fi to ‘explore innovation.’ The New Yorker has touted ‘better business through sci-fi.’ As writer Brian Merchant put it, ‘Welcome to the Sci-Fi industrial complex.'” – Wired
Blog
As Playwright Luis Alfaro Adapts Immigration Stories, He Says Greek Dramas Are The Primal, Perfect Canvas
Alfaro met a 13-year-old promising playwright in 1999, but she was in a program for felons: She had killed her mother, who had put a hit out on her father. Then he started re-reading Electra, by Sophocles, and it hit him – he could retell Greek tragedies, but set in Chicanx and Latinx communities in Los Angeles. “‘The Greeks are so primal,’ Mr. Alfaro said. ‘They get to the essence: why we hurt each other, this inability to forgive.'” – The New York Times
The New Bookstore In Chicago That’s Also Showcasing Original Art
In her new bookstore in Chicago – the only one owned by a Black woman – owner and curator DL Mullen has more than books. “What might be most visually striking about the space is the art itself, like the mural which dominates the shop’s north wall. Street artist Ahmad Lee painted it in one 11-hour stretch, vividly depicting two of Mullen’s favorite artists: Frida Kahlo and Jean-Michel Basquiat.” There’s more art upstairs, and the books are also curated in a grand book and art experiment. – Chicago Magazine
The Uber Driver Whose Opera Singing Videos Went Viral
Actually, he’s an opera singer by training and design and only an Uber driver – in Durban, South Africa – by economic necessity. Still, though, the viral videos taken by a passenger were a welcome surprise. “The exposure has rocketed Mngoma to semi-stardom. He has since been interviewed by radio and TV stations across the country and auditioned for the Cape Town Opera. He has even been invited to participate in iPop, an international talent contest in L.A. this December — a step toward his dream of international stardom.” – NPR
Opera Is Tasked With Saving This Small Town In ‘Empty Spain’
Between Madrid and Barcelona, there’s now little but empty space where towns used to be – except for the 700-person town of Medinaceli, where “in August, [the town] becomes a stage for high art, due to one man’s eccentric vision of bringing elite opera to the slumbering central town in Soria, the least populated of Spain’s 50 provinces.” – BBC
Writing About Theatre In St. Louis
The critic for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “The way I look at it, there are people who just wanna see a show, and there are theatre people. There’s some overlap between those two groups, but not a lot. Some people want to see a big, bombastic play, an Aladdin, and they’re not looking to see No Exit.” – American Theatre
Bob Ross Was A Famous (Infamous?) Painter, So Where Are All Of His Paintings? [VIDEO]
The mystery lasted a long time, and criss-crossed the internet – partly because everyone wanted to buy a Bob Ross original. Good luck with that. (Also, come for the mystery, but stay for the tongue-in-cheek score to this short video.) – The New York Times
Producers Of ‘Big Little Lies’ Promised A Woman Director Complete Creative Control – And Then Yanked It Back
Showrunner David E. Kelley had a plan, but he didn’t share it with British filmmaker Andrea Arnold before shooting began … or finished. “There was a dramatic shift in late 2018 as the show was yanked away from Arnold, and creative control was handed over to executive producer and Season 1 director Jean-Marc Vallée. The goal was to unify the visual style of Season 1 and 2. In other words, after all the episodes had been shot, take Arnold’s work and make it look and feel like the familiar style Vallée brought to the hit first season.” – IndieWire
The Author Of ‘How To Train Your Dragon’ Says Books Are Better For The Brain Than Movies
Cressida Cowell, laureate for children’s literature and a writer whose fame has greatly benefitted from film and TV, says, “Books are a kind of transformative magic that offer magical things that films aren’t as good at creating in children: empathy, creativity and intelligence.” – The Guardian (UK)
The Mystery Mural At L.A.’s Coliseum – And The Teen Who Solve It
The kid who solved the mystery was simply obsessed – and lucky, thanks to a tweet, to find the right timeline. “‘The entire time I was trying to figure out who painted it, I thought it was from 1932,’ said Gordon, now 19 and a student at Amherst College in Massachusetts. ‘All my research was in that time period.'” Understandable … but wrong, as research showed. – Los Angeles Times