The airy study and the quiet afternoons look awfully nice in the videos, but the life described by my correspondents was one riven by fever and fret, a life of staving off panic and the harsh voices in one’s head. Don’t believe the videos: The most famous writers in the country can’t get over their divorces and take a lot of pills.
Category: people
Raoul Coutard, 92, The Cinematographer Of The French New Wave
“In that era of portable cameras and fast film stock, his simplified approach to filming and imaginative use of natural light broke with traditional aesthetics, in particular the polished images of the 1950s cinéma de qualité in France. He was identified most with the director Jean-Luc Godard, and Coutard’s direct and unorthodox, yet highly inventive, photography became a pure expression of New Wave values.”
Alfred Hitchcock Harassed And Bullied Tippi Hedren? That’s Not What We Remember, Say Cast And Crew Of ‘The Birds’
“In her new [memoir], Hedren alleges that the director made sexual approaches to her and regarded her as his personal property. … [Two biographers] argue that Hedren’s claims are not supported by others who worked on the films, or by the shooting schedules and other documents in Hitchcock’s archive.”
The Dearly Departed, Digitally Remastered So You Can Be With Them Forever
It’s possible. We capture enough of our loved ones digitally that recreating a version of them is within reach. “A digital bereavement company has captured and analysed torrents of data about your husband to create a digital likeness. His voice, his gait, his idiosyncrasies and mannerisms, the undulations of his laugh – all are replicated with near-perfect similitude. Spending time with your digitally reborn spouse has become a part of your daily routine.”
Jean Jacques Perrey, Granddaddy Of Pop Electronica, Dead At 87
“For those who don’t realize it, Jean-Jacques first started recording electronic music in 1952, long before the Moog synthesizer was first made for sale in 1967. … “His crazy, happy music has been heard everywhere from commercials, to Sesame Street – in hip-hop songs, in dance remixes and most famously, for decades in the delightful featured music in Disneyland’s ‘Main Street Electrical Parade.'”
Pianist And Conductor Zoltán Kocsis Dead At 64
He began his solo piano career at age 18 and went on to tour the world and make award-winning recordings, most notably of Bartók and Debussy. Turning to conducting, he co-founded the Budapest Festival Orchestra with Iván Fischer and brought the Hungarian National Philharmonic to an international standard.
Cliburn Winner Kholodenko’s Wife Ruled Incompetent To Stand Trial For Children’s Deaths
“The estranged wife of renowned pianist Vadym Kholodenko has been ruled currently incompetent to stand trial for allegedly killing the couple’s two young daughters, court records show. Sofya Tsygankova will be committed to a state mental health facility for treatment for 120 days in an attempt to restore competency.”
Rick Steiner, 69, Producer Of ‘The Producers,’ ‘Jersey Boys’, And Lots Of Other Broadway Hits
“Mr. Steiner, who won five Tony Awards as a producer, was a Broadway anomaly with a colorful past in a wild assortment of businesses. He operated from his hometown, Cincinnati, and over the years assembled teams of investors that often included his childhood friends, notably Rocco Landesman.”
Lin Manuel Miranda: How Arts Education Changed (And Defined) My Life
“The impact of arts education on my career is complete, total, and it saved my life. I no longer thought of school in semesters; I thought of it as: we do a play in the fall, we do a musical in the winter, and we had a student run theater group called Brick Prison which we would do in the spring. I was a writer with a deadline because I really wanted to get a play into Brick. That was the focus of my creative efforts for as long as I can remember.”
If You Understand 21st Century London At All, It’s Probably Because Of Zadie Smith
Her books White Teeth, NW, and the new Swing Time are clear-eyed about the state of the city in this century: “diverse, vivid, at times cacophonous, stuffed full of dreams and aspirations, of fear and friction, where the houses of the wealthy abut the estates of the poor and tension simmers beneath the humour.”