You knew it had to happen eventually. Now that “American Idol,” “America’s Next Top Model,” “Project Runway” and “Top Chef” have all wrapped up for the season, it’s finally time for serious art to take its turn on the Reality TV Tilt-A-Whirl of Fame. “‘Artstar’ is an eight-week reality-TV series in which eight artists, age 22 to 67, vie for an exhibition at a popular New York gallery. All involved should be ashamed of themselves, but, hey, dude, it’s, like, a new age and, basically, here’s something amazing that will resonate, totally and absolutely.”
Tag: 06.01.06
Philip Roth, Misogynist?
Philip Roth is one of America’s greatest living writers – some would say the greatest. But Julia Keller says that despite the undeniable genius of his words, there is a discomfort in reading Roth, and it stems from the fact that “his women have no souls. [They] are mere mirrors to men. Echoes and shadows. Pale parallels… the fact that Roth gives short shrift to half the human race is crushingly sad. Were Roth a lesser writer, it wouldn’t matter; his greatness, however, transforms that lack from a simple failing into a reverberating anguish.”
Chicago Theatre Cancels Season, But Keeps The Money
Just a few weeks after delaying its opening performance of the 2006-07 season, Chicago Jewish Theatre has canceled the entire season, and may be closing its doors permanently in the near future. The company is not offering refunds on season subscriptions (but says it will honor them if it can raise the funds for a 2007-08 season,) a decision which has the theatre’s few supporters up in arms.
Say Hello To BatLesbian
DC Comics is resurrecting an old character in a very public way. Batwoman, who had her own regular comic book from 1956 to 1979, is coming back, and coming out of the closet as well. It’s part of a wave of new comic book heroes with something more than the average super-being’s pedigree.
The Greening Of Hollywood
Lately, it seems like Hollywood and the environmental movement can’t get enough of each other. The wave of eco-friendly films seems to have been sparked by the success of last year’s March of the Penguins. “Whether this trend speaks to mere copycatting or a shared morality isn’t clear. Either way, Hollywood has sensed an opportunity to capitalize on high-profile debates about mounting planetary issues: oil, land-hogging McMansions, oil, frequent natural disasters, oil, melting glaciers, oil.”
Damning Photographic Evidence At True Trial
“Prosecutors at the conspiracy trial of [Marion True,] a former curator at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, presented on Wednesday photographs of a pair of ancient marble griffins — one of the glories of the Getty’s collection — lying in a car trunk, encrusted with grime and loosely wrapped in newspaper… Prosecutors said that the photographs, seized in a raid on a Swiss warehouse in 1995, show that the griffins were illegally dug up and removed from Italy.”
Tony’s No-Campaign Rule
“This year the Tony Awards Administration Committee adopted a new rule about campaigning for the awards that forbids producers of nominated shows to send any campaign or promotional materials to voters, other than a souvenir book, a script or an audio cast recording.”
What Mona Lisa Sounded Like
A Japanese acoustics expert says he’s been able to recreate Mona Lisa’s voice. “Dr Matsumi Suzuki, who generally uses his skills to help with criminal investigations, measured the face and hands of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous 16th century portrait to estimate her height at 168cm and create a model of her skull. Once we have that, we can create a voice very similar to that of the person concerned.”