In the Russian Federation’s Sakha Republic — whose capital, Yakutsk, is considered the coldest big city on Earth — locally-made movies, many in the local Yakut language, often outsell international blockbusters. In an article titled “Arctic zombie apocalypse,” a correspondent looks at the challenge of making films in Sakha, from harrowing temperatures (down to 50 below) to horrifying mosquitoes (“When one buzzes in front of the lens, it looks like a horse is galloping across the frame”). – The Economist
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Recent Listening In Brief
Bob Sheppard, The Fine Line (Challenge)
The veteran saxophonist/flutist’s career as a collaborator and L.A. film and TV musicians may account for his not having achieved greater fan recognition. This album could change that. – Doug Ramsey
Hollywood Is Making Fewer Comedies. Should We Care?
Call-out and outrage culture make it harder for comedies to pass muster with the vigilantes of social media. – Philadelphia Inquirer
Are Dancers Today So Versatile That They’re Losing Their Individuality?
Nancy Wozny: “We used to be able to tell a dancer’s ancestry — be it Graham, Cunningham or Balanchine — by their movement.” No more: “I’ve always felt my gift to the field is being able to put into words how an artist moves differently than the person next to them. … I am finding it harder these days to define a dancer’s kinetic signature, which is my signature as a dance writer.” – Dance Magazine
PBS Launches Native Alaskan Kids Show
The show that the producers dreamed up, called “Molly of Denali,” ended up becoming a PBS cartoon about a 10-year-old Athabascan girl with a video blog about life in rural Alaska. PBS says it is the first nationally distributed children’s series with a Native American lead. – The New York Times
In Praise Of The Most Underrated Punctuation Mark In The Language
New Yorker Comma Queen Mary Norris welcomes a new book about the semicolon and gives a quick overview of the mark’s history (which goes back to 1494) and looks to some of the uses to which it has been put, from Melville to Chandler to Wittgenstein to Henry James to Martin Luther King, Jr. – The New Yorker
National Film Board Of Canada Delays Strategic Plan As Critics Look For More Oversight
Critics have alleged the film board’s production funding has decreased since 2002, and that spending on non-filmmaker salaries and institutional, legal and human resources services has increased. – Toronto Star
Just Moving Mona Lisa From One Room At The Louvre To Another Is A Tricky Matter
It’s really no more difficult than moving any other painting its size, but even so, the process involves careful scheduling and a dry run with a dummy painting. – BBC
Winners And Losers In This Year’s Emmy Nominations
It looks like HBO’s back, piling up a whopping 137 nominations to Netflix’s 117, with Game of Thrones, Chernobyl and Barry among the big leaders (but with Veep rather far down the list with only nine nominations, including comedy series). – Hollywood Reporter
Yeah, Lots Of Us Love To Point And Laugh At ‘Florida Man’ — But Is That Really The Right Thing To Do?
“At its most comical, the Florida Man phenomenon encapsulates the wildness of both America and the Internet. At its most salacious, it’s a social-media update on the true-crime TV of America’s Dumbest Criminals and the gallows humor of tabloid headlines. At its most insensitive, Florida Man profits by punching down at the homeless, drug-addicted or mentally ill.” Reporter Logan Hill travels to a Florida prison to meet an actual subject of a Florida Man story — and he talks with the guy who started the Florida Man Twitter feed about the moral qualms he began to feel. – The Washington Post Magazine