Though Tyler Perry movies aren’t popular overseas, three movies from this year of U.S. cinema have shown that it’s time for a Hollywood industry shift on actors of color. Check the numbers for Black Panther, Crazy Rich Asians, and BlackKlansman, and it’s all too obvious that “conventional wisdom” is about as unwise as you can get. – The New York Times
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Facing Campus Protests, ‘Hamilton’ In Puerto Rico Moves Into The City Of San Juan
Lin-Manuel Miranda is set to return to the stage in this version, which abruptly moved to a theatre in the capital city after producer Jeffrey Seller determined that there wouldn’t be enough police protection on campus. Seller “said he welcomed activism — noting that Hamilton, a show about the American Revolution, is essentially a celebration of protest.” – The New York Times
As Advertisers Flee, Will Tucker Carlson’s Show Survive?
The Fox News host has lost advertisers en masse after “recent on-air comments that described mass immigration as making the country ‘poorer and dirtier and more divided.'” – Los Angeles Times
Classical Ballet Is Rooted In One Russian’s Sexist Assumptions, But Is That A Problem?
Marius Petipa’s 19th century choreography for Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and many more classical ballets is focused on how a ballerina becomes a sculpture in male hands. “The woman goes on point; the man does the partnering. The positions may not be reversed. What’s going on here? Is he serving her or controlling her? He subordinates himself to making her all the more spectacular, but which one is in charge? We can say that such behavior glorifies women — or that it falsifies them.” – The New York Times
Catrin Finch And Seckou Keita – The Two Harps Are Back For The Holidays
Kora and concert harp, played together, are “so beautiful that almost anything that Catrin and Seckou play will seduce the ear.” – Michal Shapiro
A Literary Cry Of Grief For The Ending Of ‘Tin House’
Sure, the site, and its books and workshops, will continue, but losing the literary magazine is a real blow. Karen Russell: “Tin House was so inviting, so beautiful and so playful. … You sort of felt like readers all are welcome here, and these are your people. These are the lovers of language, the super weirdos, the poets and the wizards that you want to be with.” – NPR
The Tell-Tale Horror Of Christmas
In Britain, ghost stories – not only in Christmas Carol – are a vital part of the holiday season. – Paul Levy
Three Recent Shows All Depict Drag Queens In Positive Ways – But Also As Inspirational Props
And that’s really not OK. “Because all of these projects are about straight women, the way they depict drag queens feels little more progressive than the convention of the gay best friend, popular in 1990s romantic comedies like My Best Friend’s Wedding.” – The New York Times
A Comics Creator Says The Genre Is (Finally) Opening Up To Everyone
Creator and editor Tameka Stotts won an Eisner Award for her anthology Elements: Fire — A Comic Anthology by Creators of Color, and she’s making plans for a lot more. “We’re the main characters, we’re not the token characters, and we’re taking our adventures on a completely different level where our narration is no longer whitewashed and it’s no longer controlled by a medium that would like to see us palatable for a national audience.” – NPR
The Art Project With Its Roots In An S&M Magazine That Failed
Recent art history for the long holiday weekend: “For the late photographer Steve Kahn, ‘The Hollywood Suites,’ a series of images that chronicled, in conceptual ways, the interiors of a dilapidated no-tell hotel on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood, all started with a bondage magazine.” – Los Angeles Times