“Unlike the near universal acclaim the first two movies enjoy, Part III is remembered as the Fredo of its family — the one that doesn’t really measure up. … For a new theatrical and home-video release this month, Coppola has rechristened the film as Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. … The director has changed its beginning and ending and made alterations throughout to excavate and clarify the narrative that he always believed it contained about mortality and redemption.” – The New York Times
Blog
Reconsidering The Diversity Of Classical Music
“Classical music is diversifying not just on account of contemporary composers, but thanks to increased awareness of figures who were famous in their day but have since been forgotten, covered up or sidelined. The history of classical music is much more complex and diverse than the impression given by the canon as we know it now.” – The Guardian
A Makeshift Movie On Zoom Became The Year’s Sleeper Hit Horror Film
Just a year ago, a movie like Host was barely imaginable; now it seems almost inevitable. Director Rob Savage’s thriller — about a group of teens marooned at home during lockdown, who decide, just for kicks, to gather on Zoom and conduct a séance — inventively plays on our new anxieties, using face filters, software glitches and connection problems as plot devices. Host drew hundreds of thousands of new subscribers to the streaming platform that commissioned it, got Savage three new directing gigs, and is even about to get a theatrical run. – BBC
New York’s Jazz Standard Club Closes
It is the first major jazz club in the city to close permanently due to the coronavirus pandemic. – NPR
‘In The Land Of Bittersweet’: ‘Nutcracker’ And The Christmas Of COVID
Reporter Cory Stieg looks at how various companies are adapting the ballet for this very unusual Christmas, from going online completely (most East Coast troupes) to in-person performances with smaller, socially-distanced casts and audiences (Ballet West in Utah), and why Nutcracker is so important even beyond its status as a revenue generator. – Dance Magazine
If You’re Showing An Old ‘Nutcracker’ Online, What Do You Do About The Dances That Now Seem Racist?
Phil Chan, co-founder of Final Bow for Yellowface, has given advice to a number of companies on how to handle (in live performance) the ethnic-stereotype set pieces in the ballet’s second act. Here he offers three suggestions for providing access to the seasonal favorite for your community when the portrayals in your old production don’t look so good today. – Dance Magazine
Mysterious ‘Con Queen Of Hollywood’ (Who’s A Man) Arrested In England
Hargobind Tahilramani, a 41-year-old Indonesian man now in custody in Manchester, is believed to be the perpetrator of a years-long scam in which he impersonated major Hollywood executives such as Amy Pascal, Sherry Lansing, Kathleen Kennedy, and Wendi Deng Murdoch and swindled hopeful actors, stunt performers, makeup artists and others out of thousands of dollars each. – The Hollywood Reporter
The ‘Digital Magna Carta’: Section 230, The Law That Made Social Media And E-Commerce Possible
“Much of the modern internet exists thanks to a short section of a 1996 US law dedicated to moderating online porn.” That’s Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996: it protects websites with user-generated content — and that’s everything from Twitter and YouTube to Amazon and Wikipedia — from legal liability for that content. (It’s the creator that gets prosecuted or sued.) But Section 230 has been under attack from several sides, and the lawmakers that back them, for years — and the latest of those assaults is tied up with, yes, Donald Trump’s attempts to undo the outcome of the 2020 election. – Quartz
Plans For ‘The Black Version Of Lincoln Center’ On Chicago’s South Side
“[Actor Harry Lennix] intends to build both a two-theater complex to house (among others) the Congo Square Theatre Company and a new, nationally focused museum dedicated to Black contributions to the performing arts. Everything from dance to film to music to theater.” – Yahoo! (Chicago Tribune)
Florence’s Soccer Stadium Is A Modernist Masterpiece But Badly Outdated. Preservationists And The Team Are At War.
The Artemio Franchi stadium, designed by Pier Luigi Nervi in 1930, is regularly featured in architecture textbooks and is even on a page in Italy’s passport. But the seats are uncomfortable, some of them are exposed to rain, and there’s no place for revenue-generating shops or eateries. The team’s owner, with the fans on his side, wants to tear it down and build a new one; preservationists are aghast; the culture ministry in Rome will be the referee. – The New York Times