“How do you explain Hideo Kojima to someone who has never picked up a PlayStation controller? His admirers have often compared him to filmmakers: Quentin Tarantino, David Lynch, George Lucas, James Cameron. … Perhaps more notable than his resemblance to any particular film director is the fact that such a comparison would be made at all.” – The New York Times Magazine
Tag: 03.03.20
Is This Playwright ‘The American Noël Coward’?
“Noël Coward’s fantastic, but all I could think was: What’s the use of having an American one?” says Richard Greenberg. To him, writes Kurt Soller in this profile, “that comparison has always felt like false equivalency, a naïve supposition about the people he was chronicling — and the behavior he was lampooning, particularly among urban cultural elites.” – T — The New York Times Style Magazine
A Plague Of Curators
“It’s used because it sounds fashionable. It sounds like it’s for … the aesthetically conscious.” As zeitgeisty as other oddly specific and much hashtagged words like “wanderlust” or “journey” or “empower,” “curate” is spreading. The word’s overuse has left it almost devoid of meaning, and curators themselves — the traditional, museum-dwelling kind — are up in arms. – The New York Times
How Do Prop Masters Make The Best Blood And Gore For Theatres?
“From cat brains to dismembered tongues, the teams behind theatre’s bloodiest shows reveal how they made audiences shriek with horror and delight.” – The Guardian
When Presidents Write Books
In the 19th century, politicians increasingly turned out memoirs as campaign books. The writing shifted from ideas and policies to character and personality. The writings of Andrew Jackson, a colorful veteran of wars and duels, exemplified this change. – Washington Post
Everything You Always Wanted To Know (Or Have Forgotten) About The Theremin
“The story of the theremin and its inventor has it all: drama, suspense, geopolitics, and, above all, tragedy. It’s a wonder Hollywood hasn’t yet made a movie about it.” – Quartz
Why Would Anyone Open A Record Shop Now?
It’s beautiful, but then there’s the obvious question … who in their right mind would open a record store now? There is no money in it. Even on this gentrified street there are empty shops, the rents are extortionate and landlords are keen to turn properties over to property developers. What about profit? “What about artistic profit, creative profit, intellectual profit?” replies Thurston Moore. – The Guardian
Fox Trot Mit Schlag: When Viennese Composers Met The Harlem Renaissance
“While jazz-inspired music by the likes of Stravinsky and Weill has never been forgotten, the similar efforts of dozens of other composers from the same period have fallen into obscurity. Now some of those experiments are enjoying a fresh hearing.” Seth Colter Walls has a listen. – The New York Times
Pornhub Releases Its First-Ever Non-Porn Film — A High-Art Documentary, No Less
“The movie in question is the documentary Shakedown, from filmmaker and conceptual artist Leilah Weinraub. It hails from the upper echelons of the art world, where the project enjoyed a prestige rollout in exhibits at the Whitney Museum and MoMA over the last three years.” And what’s it about? Lesbian strip clubs in L.A. – Variety
How Arts Orgs In California Are Handling Coronavirus Concerns
“The common line among museums and theaters is that they are monitoring the situation and planning to operate as usual, unless told otherwise by county or state health departments, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the World Health Organization. Even though more than 3,000 have died from COVID-19 worldwide, health officials have not recommended closure of venues or the cancellation of public events in California because the immediate risk of transmission remains low.” – Los Angeles Times