Or, as the paper calls it, a renovation “craze” in Britain. “Radical home makeovers are increasingly common, reflected by all the TV shows on the theme. This often results in damage and loss of wall paintings, particularly as wattle and daub panelling may be in poor condition. It is usually stripped out and replaced rather than preserved.” – The Observer (UK)
Blog
So Much Christmas Carol
This is the year when you could start now, watch a different Christmas Carol every day (streaming, obviously), and keep right on through to 2021. – American Theatre
Naomi Long Madgett, Longtime Poet Laureate Of Detroit And Champion Of Black Poets, 97
Madgett was 17 when her first book was published. “Her elegant, exacting and lyrical poems — which invited comparisons to Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson — addressed a breadth of themes: social justice, romantic love, women’s histories, religious devotion and the craft of poetry itself. Yet she was almost as well known as a publisher and editor of poetry.” – The New York Times
Hollywood Offers Up Movie Theatres As A Sacrifice To The Pandemic
Will it work? Can the industry save itself with streaming deals? Hm. “Theater chains are right to fear for their survival. And WarnerMedia’s move, which seems more motivated by panic than a desire for long-term success, is a risky bet for studios, too.” – The Atlantic
Waiting For Your Virus-Canceled Opera To Premiere, And Then Waiting More, Is So Very 2020
Composer Elaine Agnew was supposed to see her opera Paper Boats premiere in Galway. “The original plan for three performances in mid-June was lost due to the first lockdown and the December performance would have been a slimmed-down livestream. Now, like most of Music for Galway’s 2020 plans … it’s hovering, Cheshire-cat-like, in the imponderable, post-festive, pre-vaccine future most of us are contemplating for the early months of 2021.” – Irish Times
Spotify’s ‘Wrapped’ Function Is Actually About Grift
The news came up on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok; in text messages, surprised WhatsApp screenshots, and amused or horrified phone calls. But it wasn’t news at all. Spotify’s “Wrapped” function is actually a big ad for … Spotify, which “bet that its users, flattered by being designated top fans, would share their statuses on social media, spreading the gospel of not just Spotify in general but specifically the virtue of spending thousands of hours on Spotify. It’s unequivocally worked.” – Slate
Eight Miles Of Prehistoric Art Found In The Amazon
The archaeology team, composed of Colombian and British researchers, “found realistic drawings of deer, tapirs, alligators, bats, monkeys, turtles, serpents, and porcupines. There are also depictions of creatures resembling a giant sloth, camelids, horses, and three-toe ungulates with trunks” – and human interactions with the animals as well. – Hyperallergic
Can Fiction, Even If It’s Thinly Disguised Reality, Be Considered An Invasion Of Privacy?
Emmanual Carrère is a lauded French author. His latest book, Yoga, “was initially tipped as a contender for the country’s top literary prize, the Goncourt. Then came questions about gaps in the mostly autobiographical narrative, and the revelation by Carrère’s ex-wife, the freelance journalist Hélène Devynck, that Carrère is legally barred from writing about her without her consent — an agreement she alleges he broke in Yoga.” – The New York Times
The Bolshoi Attempts To Return To Holiday Season
More than 100 staff and dancers are out sick, but the financial losses were adding up. One dancer: “‘There’s this term, ‘stage therapy’ and that’s what’s happening now,’ she said of the intensive group effort that’s been required to rehearse and perform despite the restrictions. ‘We take energy from [the audience] and we give energy.'” – CBC
The Museum Of Latin American Art Is Selling Off Much Of Its Permanent Collection
The massive online sale is the second since the museum shuttered in the March wave of the pandemic. “The unprecedented bulk-removal of works from the museum’s collection, known as deaccessioning, raises the specter of serious financial stress at the Long Beach institution.” – Los Angeles Times