Yes, in terms of numbers, “the cassette is a needle in a haystack. … Nevertheless, it is there, flag of a community of aficionados in revolt against modernity and the music industry.” – Le Monde
Blog
Skewering The Ultra-Rich While Getting The Details Of Their Mansions Right Is Next-Level Scouting
Not to mention the demands on the set dresser. No, really, this is how Succession works: “They decided it would be impractical to haul equipment and a crew to shoot in a hunting lodge near [Lake Placid], reversed course, and settled on shooting in the Otto Kahn mansion, nicknamed Oheka Castle, in Long Island. Carter drove out to take a look at Oheka in the dead of winter, and inspiration struck: ‘We’re like, This feels like Hungary, why don’t we pitch that it’s in Hungary?‘” – Vulture
Listen Closely, And You Can Hear Your Plants Talking
How close do you need to be? Well, this exhibit tells you: In May, an artist “planted a patch of corn within the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and has surrounded it with large yellow megaphones that visitors can stick their heads inside to listen to what a growing stalk sounds like. It turns out the sound is almost extra-terrestrial.” – NPR
Issa Lopez Bursts Onto The Horror Scene
López, a Mexican director and writer, defied convention and expectations to create a new horror film that addresses the real-life horrors of drug cartels (with a side dose of fantasy along with the horror). Why unexpected? Well: “Penning rom-coms for sale, or ‘wrong-coms’ as López humorously dubs them, gained her access to the big screen just as major U.S. studios started producing movies in Mexico.” – Los Angeles Times
The Irish Novelist Edna O’Brien Wants To Tell The Truth – And ‘Go Out’ Fighting
O’Brien’s new novel Girl is her 19th, and it’s different from the rest. The veteran writer is now 88, and she says it may be her last. Her first three novels, in the 1960s, “articulated what, until then, had remained relatively unspoken in staunchly Catholic Ireland: female sexual desire, active and acted upon.” – The Observer (UK)
Charles Santore, Illustrator Of Classic Children’s Books, Has Died At 84
Santore reached millions of people through his illustrations for the covers of TV Guide before he turned to classic literature for children. His TV Guide covers were legendary, and as a matter of fact, “his 1976 cover depicting Redd Foxx as the title character in Sanford and Son is in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington.” – The New York Times
Is The Political Novel Dead?
Sure, there are many political writers, and of course all writing is political in some way. “Much harder to find, however, is an example of what one might call the campaigning novel: that subset that includes classics by the likes of Charles Dickens and Émile Zola alongside fiction-cloaked manifestos, memoirs and works of reportage. What unites them is a passionate desire to use character and narrative to draw the reader’s attention to some social ill and to galvanise efforts to remedy it.” – The Guardian (UK)
The Toxic Campaign That Foreshadowed Our Cultural Moment (And Never Went Away)
The basics: “Five years ago, the ex-boyfriend of a game developer posted a bitter rant about their relationship online—and video gaming and journalism and American political life are still dealing with the fallout.” The details – about memes, swarming, doxxing, swatting, and so much more – infiltrated daily life in the U.S. for everyone from artists to politicians to the entire state of politics. – Slate
The TV Show That Incorporates Not Just Voguing But A Ton Of Modern Dance
On Pose, the actors – whose characters are fully part of New York’s ballroom scene – do a lot more than vogue and runway, though that’s essential too. “The show has an undeniable commitment to dance that is present even when the characters aren’t performing or rehearsing, just talking and laughing and crying. Pose is something of a peek into the private lives of dancers, in which the rigor is the same for all — it doesn’t matter if their work is done in a studio, on a stage or on the piers.” – The New York Times
College Bureaucrats Are (Successfully) Trying To Kill The College Newspaper
School newspapers usually aren’t independent from the schools they’re trying to cover. And that’s a big, big problem. “When professional pundits talk about dangers to free expression on campus, they typically refer to a handful of incidents in which colleges have revoked invitations for controversial speakers. This, however, is a fringe issue, confined to a small number of universities. The real crisis of campus speech lies elsewhere—in the erosion of student newspapers.” – The Atlantic