Just after the new movie’s British release, Sony UK tweeted a promo making the film look like a heterosexual teen romance. (After a proper roasting on social media, it was deleted.) “The tweet served as a reminder of an awkwardness that lingers in mainstream spaces. In trying to position the film as a romance intended for a wide audience, Sony believed that fooling straight viewers was the way to go.” And this was hardly the first time.
Blog
How Philly Became A Hotbed Of Experimental Music
Yes, staid old Philadelphia – where just 12 years ago poor Michael Hersch had a major premiere booed; where, as recently as 1986, fully half the audience walked out of Pelléas et Mélisande, for Pete’s sake – has started embracing contemporary classical. There’s Opera Philly’s O17 festival, the new October Revolution fest, a daring series at the Barnes Foundation, plus now-established outfits like The Crossing and FringeArts; next spring there’s even going to be Stockhausen’s 14-hour chamber-music cycle Klang. There are four serious new-music events in just the next week. David Patrick Stearns explains how the change happened and talks to some of the key players involved.
World’s Greatest Collection Of Soviet Dissident Art Gets New Home In New Jersey
Well over 17,000 works from the USSR’s artistic underground, collected by the late economist Norton Dodge and his wife, Nancy, are going to the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University. The trove, worth an estimated $34 million and accompanied by $10 million to support maintenance, is the largest gift of any kind in the university’s history.
Court Orders Release Of Art Collection ‘Held Hostage’ By Storage Company
“Mana Fine Arts, an art storage complex in New Jersey, has been ordered by a New York judge to turn over the Mugrabi family’s entire 1,400-piece art collection, including works by Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Tom Wesselmann and Damien Hirst.” The Mugrabis say Mana “is holding the collection hostage over disputed back storage fees, bringing their business to a standstill and preventing them from either selling or showing the art.”
Louis C.K. Accused By Five Women Of Sexual Misbehavior Unfit For Headlines (Ick)
“Now, after years of unsubstantiated rumors about [the star comedian]masturbating in front of associates, women are coming forward to describe what they experienced. Even amid the current burst of sexual misconduct accusations against powerful men, the stories about Louis C.K. stand out because he has so few equals in comedy. … And [he] built a reputation as the unlikely conscience of the comedy scene, by making audiences laugh about hypocrisy – especially male hypocrisy.”
Ballet Company Director In France Sentenced To Prison For Job Discrimination And Harassment
Yorgos Loukos, artistic director of the Ballet de l’Opéra de Lyon was given six months in prison and ordered to pay €25,000 in damages for refusing to renew the contract of a dancer returning from maternity leave. (in French; Google Translate version here)
On Tour With The Muslim World’s Number-One Teen Idol Pop Star
From Lebanon to Sweden to England to Indonesia to Turkey (President Erdoğan is a fan), 36-year-old Maher Zain draws enormous, cheering crowds and 100 million YouTube views every month. All this with music that’s as wholesome, in its Muslim way, as Donny Osmond or Amy Grant. “I don’t want to live this life, basically. I really don’t,” he says. “I believe I’m on a mission and you cannot turn it down, you know what I mean? I’ve been chosen.”
China’s Terracotta Warrior Museum Takes A U.S. Partner
The Emperor Qin Shihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum in Xi’an has signed a formal partnership agreement with the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, where an exhibition of the terracotta figures is currently running. The director of the Xi’an museum and colleagues were especially impressed with the Institute’s educational programs and its focus on culture and technology.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 11.09.17
Arts Funding, US vs. UK, and Chamber Music
One of the key issues which underlies this blog and the book which inspired it is the role of public funding in the arts. I hate to give the end away, but … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2017-11-09
Who is the greatest living publisher of cookery books? Read on
As I am a regular contributor to The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,and still earn a bit of my keep by writing obituaries for the British national newspapers, it is a rare delight to … read more
AJBlog: Plain English Published 2017-11-09
Lin Manuel Miranda To Return To His “Hamilton” Role
“Bringing [Hamilton] to Puerto Rico is a dream that I’ve had since we first opened at The Public Theater in 2015,” said Miranda in a statement. “When I last visited the island, a few weeks before Hurricane Maria, I had made a commitment to not only bring the show to Puerto Rico, but also return again to the title role. In the aftermath of Maria we decided to expedite the announcement of the project to send a bold message that Puerto Rico will recover and be back in business, stronger than ever.”