The writer/director of the hit indie, which played to surprisingly robust crowds this summer, says that it was a difficult process to get her film made – no one could figure out where to categorize it. For the Academy Awards, suddenly there’s the same issue: “Should the movie be categorized as a comedy or drama? And with its mixture of Mandarin and English, should it be defined as a foreign-language film or an American indie?” And can the actor who played the grandmother please get nominated? – The New York Times
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The Trans-Siberian Orchestra Tours For Seven Weeks A Year, And Pulls In $60 Million
It’s a holiday miracle: People willing to part with their money for a classical music-prog rock mashup, especially at the holidays. But how did we get to this elaborate two-band tour setup that begins in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and extends around the entire continental U.S.? The founder, Paul O’Neill. “In the early ‘90s, O’Neill began to plot a holiday-themed live spectacle that combined progressive rock, heavy metal and classical music with elaborate stage productions” ever more elaborate by the year. – Billboard
This Woman Had More Than 70,000 Shows That News Stations Lost, Deleted, And Recorded Over
Marion Stokes, a former Communist activist who turned into a recluse, recorded MSNBC, CNN, FOX News and many other news programs, more than 70,000 of them, on Betamax and VHS tapes. “Stokes began recording around the birth of the 24-hour news cycle. She felt it was an important influence on public opinion and wanted to capture this lens through which people view current events,” according to her son. – WBUR
In The Wake Of Apparent Hostility Toward Black Guest Curator, The Guggenheim Hires Its First Full-Time Black Woman Curator
Art historian Chaédria LaBouvier, who was the first solo Black woman curator in the museum’s 80-year history, said that she was cut out of her own show, “Basquiat’s ‘Defacement’: The Untold Story.” Now the Guggenheim, without directly addressing LaBouvier’s claims, has hired the Brooklyn Museum’s Ashley James. James’s work “‘complements the Guggenheim’s mission to present the art of today,’ Nancy Spector, the Guggenheim’s artistic director and chief curator, said.” – The New York Times
The 1920s Secret Society Of Women Writers At Oxford
Spearheaded, and named, by Dorothy L. Sayers, the name of Mutual Admiration Society “both captures the spirit of the group and misrepresents it. They supported each other boldly and emphatically: no false modesty or feminine shame here. They were willing to be relentless and did not insist on being liked. … They were critical, and they were at odds. They fell apart and came together again, over the course of decades and remarkable careers that ranged from birth control advocacy to genre fiction, from classrooms to the stage.” – Literary Hub
GoFundMe Isn’t Just For Health Care Or Funerals In The U.S., But Also For Ballet Costumes
That’s right, the Colorado Ballet has turned to crowdfunding to get new Nutcracker costumes; the old ones were created for the San Francisco Ballet in 1986, and Colorado Ballet bought them in 2005. “For years, the team has done what it can to try to maintain the set and costumes, using vodka to try to extract the sweat from the costumes and glue and tape to keep some of the props together.” – Denver7
Egypt Officially Criminalizes Climbing The Pyramids
The new laws also criminalize all kinds of antiquities theft. “Earlier this year, an Egyptian man climbed to the top of the Great Pyramid of Giza, removing parts of a 19th-century wooden mast that was installed to measure the height of the pyramid, and throwing stones at security forces.” Then there was the Danish couple that claimed to have, er, peaked on one of the peaks. – Hyperallergic
Laid-Off Marciano Foundation Workers Target LAXart Board Member
A small art nonprofit, LAXart’s mission includes social consciousness. The protesting workers were laid off after they unionized and the Marciano Art Foundation abruptly closed. They asked LAXart to tell board member Olivia Marciano, who had been the artistic director at the Marciano Art Foundation, either to explain or get off the board. – Los Angeles Times
Hong Kong Music Festival Canceled Because Of Protests
The Clockenflap festival was supposed to run Nov. 22-24, but after yet another death in the protests (and no signs of that stopping), the organizers canceled one of the most high-profile music festivals in Asia. – The Guardian (UK)
Music For The Birds
Or actually, from the birds. Composer Diane Moser: “My goal was to become a member of their band, so to speak. I listened deeply to their singing, and carefully infiltrated their ensemble.” – New Music Box