“Relatives and former students of the late Mexican artist Frida Kahlo have dismissed claims that a recently discovered recording could be the only surviving trace of her voice.” – The Guardian
Blog
David Mamet’s Harvey Weinstein Play Is Getting Really, Really Bad Reviews
Despite the praise that critics (try to) give John Malkovich in the horndog-movie-mogul role, their verdicts are clear. “Bitter Wheat is a bitter disappointment.” “Mamet’s monstrous misfire.” “[Its] most shocking quality is its laziness.” “Bad, weird, and pointless.” – Los Angeles Times
China Has Hundreds Of Ultra-Modern Museums With Nothing In Them
“As part of a broad central government initiative, thousands of museums have been built across the country over the past decade, with a staggering 451 being opened in 2012 alone. … [But] the obsessive drive to build more and more cultural facilities has resulted in a conspicuous dearth of exhibits, let alone demand from people wanting to visit them — leaving hundreds of massive, often opulent, and architecturally iconic buildings sitting underused or even completely empty today.” – Forbes
Brazilian President’s New Theatre Boss Calls On Conservative Artists To Create ‘Cultural War Machine’
Roberto Alvim announced last week that he was closing his São Paulo troupe because he was the target of criticism and boycotts for his conservative political views. President Bolsonaro promptly appointed him head of theatre at the National Foundation of the Arts — and from that perch, Alvim has called for right-leaning arts professionals to submit resumes for a database that can be consulted when awarding federal funding. – The Art Newspaper
Without Warning, Britain’s NHS Closes Its Sole Dance Injury Clinic
“The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in north London, where it was based, … said it had planned to close the centre in 2020 as part of a wider plan to concentrate specialist services in fewer centres, but had accelerated the process following the resignation of the centre’s sole consultant.” – The Stage
Berlin Philharmonic Inaugurates New 650-Seat Concert Hall In Swiss Mountain Village
The little town of Andermatt had been in decline because of the gradual closure of an army base. But an Egyptian developer who fell in love with the area has begun creating a large ski resort, with “hotels, apartments and chalets, restaurants, new infrastructure, a golf course – and a concert hall good enough to attract the world’s best players.” – The Guardian
Too Soon? David Mamet Wrote A Play About Harvey Weinstein. It Doesn’t Work
“Is there anything, anything at all, to be said for a character whose name all too obviously part-rhymes with Harvey Weinstein? Well, he continues to have sympathy for illegal immigrants, despite or perhaps because of his mother’s murder. But Mamet can find no good word for his films.” – The Daily Beast
The Country Music Stereotype Is Redneck. But It Grew Out Of Progressive Roots
These kinds of negative projections of the people who have made country music, and have listened to it, linger even unto today. The stereotype is that they all harbour conservative political and social beliefs, setting them as sexist, racist, jingoistic and fundamentalist Christian by nature. But this image is a lie. For, right from the start, country music spoke up with a progressive voice. – Aeon
Warning: US Tariffs On Chinese Book Publishing Would Be Catastrophic For US Publishers
“The US publishing industry invests in literature, children’s books, educational materials, religious and historical texts, Bibles, scientific expression, and numerous other works of fiction and nonfiction that support and celebrate American voices but are printed in China. There are no viable alternatives either inside or outside of the United States at this time, meaning that the impact of the tariffs—if applied to books—would be swift and devastating to both American publishers and the important works they disseminate.” – Publishing Perspectives
If Ideas Drive History, What If They’re Really Bad Ideas?
“If ideas drive history and most ideas are bad, as Felipe Fernández-Armesto believes, what follows for politics? A sceptical sort of anti-utopianism, perhaps, which regards any large scheme for human improvement with suspicion.” – New Statesman