The basic problem? A dashed line (one that violates international law as decided by a court at The Hague in 2016). “Malaysia’s censorship board initially agreed to permit Abominable to premiere on November 7, if the image of the map was removed from the version screening in their country. However, Universal Studios, which is distributing the film everywhere but China (Pearl Studio is Abominable’s Chinese distributor) has refused to make the cut.” – Vulture
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The Artistically Fruitful Friendship Of Mary Cassatt And Edgar Degas
The elegant young American artist and the surly older French Impressionist inspired each other – and, because both destroyed or left little information about their friendship, a lot of art about them. A new play claims that “they were kindred spirits lucky enough to find each other in Paris.” – The New York Times
In Europe, TV Producers Debate How To Handle Streaming
Group up? Spend more money on new, fresh content? Somehow find, and fund, top talent? Everything is up in the air with all kinds of streaming services debuting and European producers wondering what, exactly, to do. – Variety
Viet Thanh Nguyen Talks About Writing, Social Movements, And The American Dream
Nguyen, author of The Sympathizer, says that he decided not to worry about what the audience thought, or more specifically thought of Asian Americans. “I had to stop caring. Because even as conditions of narrative scarcity were true, which they are, I don’t think a writer can allow herself or himself to be shaped by those conditions. … For example, the anxiety that because there are so few stories about us, we have to write our stories to make our own community look good, whatever that community is.” – The Millions
Fiery Music Critic And Biographer Nick Tosches Has Died At 69
Tosches, who had a taste for rock and country (and their far fringes) “and his fellow music writers Richard Meltzer and Lester Bangs were labeled ‘the Noise Boys’ for their wild, energetic prose” in the 1960s and 1970s. He also wrote many biographies, including a famous, perhaps infamous, one of Dean Martin. He said of that 1992 book, “Life is a racket. … Writing is a racket. Sincerity is a racket. Everything’s a racket.” – The New York Times
Extinction Rebellion Protesters Cover Their Half-Naked Bodies In Fake Oil In London’s National Portrait Gallery
The protest was held at the end of a show sponsored by BP (British Petroleum) to protest the museum’s ties to the company. One, a 19-year-old named Eden, said, “Who will there be left to see, who will there be left to paint, if we have no earth and no people? … We cannot be artists on a dead planet. Oil means the end, but art means the beginning.” – The Guardian (UK)
Considering The Legacy Of Legendary Ballerina Alicia Alonso
Neda Ulaby on the woman who shaped the course of ballet in the US and also, famously, in Cuba: “To this day, says American Ballet Theatre’s Kevin McKenzie, young ballet dancers who want to learn extraordinary techniques should do one thing – watch videos of Alicia Alonso.” – NPR
Horror Writers See Climate Change As The Ultimate Fear
The thing about horror is that it has always been about amplifying regular fear. The genre “works against false comfort, complacency and euphemism, against attempts to repress or sanitize that which disturbs us. Inevitably, the climate crisis has given rise to a burgeoning horror subgenre: eco-horror.” – The New York Times
Activists Crashed The MoMA Party To Demand Prison Divestment
Just days before MoMA was set to reopen after its big renovation and expansion, activists crashed both the outside and inside of a preview cocktail party for VIP guests. “The protesters gathered outside the museum to call on MoMA and its board member Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, to divest themselves from private prison companies.” – Hyperallergic
Propwatch: The Pig’s Head In Mephisto [A Rhapsody]
Assuming there is a future, “when historians of the future chronicle the last days of Britain, a pig’s head may enjoy its own footnote.” – David Jays