That wasn’t 100 percent the plan when comedian Ali Wong and actor Randall Park wrote and starred in Always Be My Maybe, but … well. “As writers and producers they give an unprecedented array of Asian American experiences space to exist in … a film that portrays the rich diversity and texture of Bay Area life within the bounds of a modern-day rom-com.” – Los Angeles Times
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Hurray, A Popular Art Festival, And Boo, The Popular Art Festival’s Thousands Of Visitors
In the planning for New York’s Figment Arts Festival, moving from Governors Island to Roosevelt Island this year, “‘Everything was fine,’ Judith Berdy, a longtime resident said. ‘And then came the catastrophe of the cherry blossoms.'” – The New York Times
The Existential Fear Of Losing Your Online Self
The return of the paper diary may be at hand. “Contrary to what I’d like to believe, media that lives ‘on the internet’ is not actually floating above our heads in a cloud, like Mike Teavee in WonkaVision. It exists on real, physical servers that are owned by these tech companies. And, sometimes … things go wrong.” – LitHub
We’re All Stuck In ‘Corporate Stockholm Syndrome’ With Disney’s Endless Round Of Movies
Let’s look a little more deeply into Avengers: Endgame. (Yes, it’s been covered, but this is different.) “It’s a reality-bending cultural phenomenon that proudly wallows in its own mind-numbing hugeness. It’s the biggest possible participatory advertisement for two of the most powerful brands in the entertainment industry. It’s an irresistible pop-culture overload, produced and marketed by people with an almost preternatural understanding of what we find enjoyable.” – Los Angeles Review of Books
That Proposed Harvey Weinstein Settlement Is Unlikely To Last
No, a $44 million settlement is not going to satisfy everyone – or, more likely, anyone at all. “Attorneys for two of the alleged victims rejected the proposal outright; while another questioned whether this was an attempt to derail the deal and maximize their clients’ position and grab the lion’s share of compensation. Victims expressed disgust at the entire process; one called it ‘absolutely re-traumatizing.'” – Los Angeles Times
Artist Tells Facebook And Instagram To Free The Nipple
Spencer Tunick takes photos of choreographed crowds of naked people at monuments and in natural settings all over the world. He calls them “flesh architecture,” and he’d like it if Instagram would quit censoring his art. – Asbury Park Press (New Jersey)
It was the first all-African American opera. And now, ‘Treemonisha’ is getting new life
“Despite not being staged while [composer Scott] Joplin was still alive, Treemonisha has had a lasting legacy. It was first performed in its entirety in the 1970s, and in 1977 Joplin posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for music. It’s been staged again since then, but now, it’s being rewritten and expanded with an entirely new team at the helm. [The Toronto company] Volcano and … a multitude of [creators and] performers are reviving the opera for its premiere in 2020. The entire creative team — and the orchestra, once the opera goes public — is composed of Black women.” – CBC
Want A More Creative Brain? Here’s What The Neuroscientists Suggest
Since the early 1990s, we’ve come to develop a more thorough and accurate understanding of what a brain engaged in creative thought “looks like.” The key, it seems, is integration: the firing of strong, lateral networks, connecting a diverse range of brain pathways in both hemispheres. – Fast Company
America’s Most-Endangered Historic Buildings
They might not be the prettiest, or the most interesting architecturally. But significant bits of history happened there. And they’re in danger of being torn down or falling down. – CityLab
Lessons From The Naomi Wolf Affair: When Generalists Get The Expertise Wrong
“When is a writer erudite, a renaissance person, a polymath—and when are they merely trespassing superficially into areas of knowledge they haven’t mastered, imposing their own prejudices or yanking cherry-picked tidbits out of context?” – The New Republic