It’s easy to understand why awards shows would rather praise the art of making entertainment than risk alienating viewers who are tired of reality. Hollywood is an escapism factory at its core. But the impulse to look away from the ugly parts, to conveniently ignore certain elements and focus instead on the glamour and the ratings (ratings being inextricably associated with money), is what allowed Cosby and Weinstein and so many others to get away with so egregiously abusing their power for so long.
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In Search Of The Pigment Described In The Bible As The Most Perfect Blue
“Forty-nine times the Bible mentions a perfect, pure blue, a color so magnificent and transcendent that it was all but impossible to describe. Yet, for most of the last 2,000 years, nobody has known exactly what ‘biblical blue’ — called tekhelet in Hebrew — actually looked like or how it could be re-created.” Writer Noga Tarnopolsky tells the story of the team who figured it out.
Head Of The BBC Says The Broadcaster Faces An Existential Crisis
Shan Tianfang, Master Traditional Storyteller And Chinese Radio Superstar, Dead At 83
“Bothered by what he felt were the many historical inaccuracies and superstitious fantasies found in the classical epics [of the pingshu storytelling artform], Mr. Shan, who had studied history, soon began performing his own interpretations based on his meticulous historical research,” for which he became celebrated. In the years after the Cultural Revolution, he brought pingshu to the radio waves, where hundreds of millions listened.
Vulture’s ‘Premature Attempt’ At A 21st-Century Literary Canon
“A couple of months ago, we reached out to dozens of critics and authors — well-established voices (Michiko Kakutani, Luc Sante), more radical thinkers (Eileen Myles), younger reviewers for outlets like n+1, and some of our best-read contributors, too. We asked each of them to name several books that belong among the most important 100 works of fiction, memoir, poetry, and essays since 2000 and tallied the results. The purpose was not to build a fixed library but to take a blurry selfie of a cultural moment.”
‘Mr. Balanchine’s Stage Is Now Filled With Rot’, Writes Former New York City Ballet Dancer In New York Times Op-Ed
Toni Bentley: “The company has now formally hit its nadir after 35 years under the direction of Peter Martins, who succeeded Mr. Balanchine. As a lead dancer for Mr. Balanchine, Mr. Martins embodied a singular purity that made him one of the great male dancers of the 20th century. But the company, under his guidance, is now proffering vulgarity, narcissism and amorality … [and] this descent into moral vacuity has been in the works for decades.”
Audiences And Donors Should Insist On Answers For The Scandals At New York City Ballet: Sarah Kaufman
“With the company’s fall season at New York’s Lincoln Center starting Tuesday, audiences must decide whether buying a ballet ticket means checking their consciences at the door. This is because [Alexandra] Waterbury’s lawsuit goes beyond blaming specific dancers — it accuses the entire institution.”
Responses From All Over To The New York City Ballet Firings
Jennifer Stahl reports on the statements released by the two fired dancers, how the dancers’ union is handling the dismissals, reactions on social media, and one way in which this scandal is affecting City Ballet’s search for a new artistic director.
Baltimore Symphony’s Principal Oboist Files Harassment Complaint Against Orchestra
“In an interview with The Washington Post, principal oboe player Katherine Needleman said that Jonathan Carney, the orchestra’s concertmaster, approached her for sex when the orchestra was on tour in 2005 and, since she rejected him, has engaged in a consistent pattern of retaliation: ‘daily hostility and efforts to undermine [my] work and authority,’ she said, ‘combined with physical intimidation and threats.'”
‘Green Book’ Takes Top Prize At Toronto Int’l Film Festival
“Peter Farrelly’s Green Book, starring Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali, has joined the search for the next Oscar frontrunner out of the Toronto International Film Festival after picking up the top People’s Choice honor on Sunday. … The first runner-up for the top audience prize was Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk; the second runner-up was Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma.”