“Japan’s largest airline, All Nippon Airways, has taken that literally, with actual kabuki performers in its newest in-flight safety video. … Kabuki actors stow their elegantly lacquered bamboo boxes in the overhead bins and under the seats (not in the aisles, thank you), fasten seat belts over their elaborate kimono and dutifully turn off electronic devices displaying scenes from classic ukiyo-e woodblock prints on their screens.” – Forbes
Blog
The Point Of Art? Not To “Save” Us (But It Can)
Christian Wiman: If there’s a poem that works for me, it’s showing me something of reality. It’s more than that, actually: it’s enabling me to participatein reality again. John Berger has a wonderful essay about looking at the paintings of Van Gogh when he’s in despair and saying that suddenly reality had been salvaged. That’s the word he uses. That’s often what I feel when I come across poetry that I love, that reality’s been salvaged for me. And reality does have to be salvaged for us, all of us, again and again. – New Criterion
Peter B. Kaplan, Panorama Photographer With Absolutely No Fear Of Heights, Dead At 79
“He persuaded architects, developers and public officials to let him immortalize their buildings and monuments on film in altitudinous detail. He would scale precarious perches with construction workers and point his lens toward the ground hundreds of feet below, or mount his camera, sometimes equipped with a fisheye lens, on poles as long as 42-feet, so that he could snap the shutter remotely and even photograph himself.” (And, actually, he did have a fear of heights.) – The New York Times
The Arts In LA Are Booming. Why? Geography, For One
One example: The LACMA, in an effort to reach underserved populations, announced plans to transform an 84,000-square-foot building in South Los Angeles into a center for a variety of community-targeted arts programming. “If you look at a map of L.A.’s public schools, the dots representing the neediest students are all through South Los Angeles,” MichaelGovan said. “You start thinking, where can the value of your collection and program be the greatest? When you’re behind a big fancy fence on Wilshire Boulevard, or out in the community?” – Inside Philanthropy
Should Batsheva Dance Company Be Held Responsible For Bibi Netanyahu’s Policies?
Protests against the Israeli government’s policies toward the West Bank and Gaza have become almost routine outside (and occasionally inside) Batsheva’s performances abroad. “But why target a dance company? What does Batsheva have to do with Israel’s geopolitical conflicts?” Brian Schaefer wonders if that isn’t like protesting Trump’s policies at a U.S. company’s tour dates. – Dance Magazine
Habits Can Make Us Better (Or Worse) But We Should Understand How They Work
The fact that the brain is plastic and changeable allows habits to inscribe themselves in our neural wiring over time by forming privileged connections between brain regions. The influence of behaviourism has enabled researchers to study habits quantitatively and rigorously. But it has also bequeathed a flattened notion of habit that overlooks the concept’s wider philosophical implications. – Aeon
When Early Newsreels Used Fake Footage To Show Real Events
When a huge earthquake killed 140,000 people in Japan in 1923, written and radio reports could get around the world quickly, but film footage couldn’t. That didn’t stop the makers of newsreels, who used special-effects tricks to recreate the event. That sort of thing was common from the earliest newsreels to the 1930s. – Gizmodo
Talking With The Choreographer Who Gave Lupita Nyong’o Those Weird Moves In ‘Us’
“To hear more about [Madeline] Hollander’s role in the film’s production, ARTnews spoke with the artist, whose background in ballet helped her supply the Nutcracker-inspired choreography in one prominent sequence. The conversation, which includes spoilers for Us, follows.” – ARTnews
What’s The Huge Fight Between The Writers Guild And The Hollywood Agents All About? Here’s An Explainer
The struggle is over how the talent agencies negotiate pay for the writers they represent and whether there’s a conflict of interest. As David Simon (The Wire, Tremé, The Deuce) put it to a notional agent, “If you can only leverage profit for yourself, but not for me, what the fuck do I need you for?” – Vulture
San Antonio Symphony’s Music Director Announces Departure, Gives Orchestra $100K
Sebastian Lang-Lessing will finish up a successful, admired (if sometimes difficult) ten-year tenure at the end of next season. But he says he means to stay involved with the orchestra in his emeritus position — and he’s backing it up with a $100,000 challenge grant. – The Rivard Report (San Antonio)