“In the first public protest by such artists in many years, well-known actors … attended a demonstration of a few hundred people outside the government offices on Victory Square on June 30 … [and] museum employees around the country took part in a one-hour strike on July 3 urging the government to reconsider the cuts.” – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Tag: 07.06.19
Does Watching Lots Of TV Make You Dumber And More Likely To Vote For Populists? New Study Says Yes
Yascha Mounk: “These claims … sound far too much like the sort of thing educated people want to believe. But a meticulous new paper published in the American Economic Review, one of the world’s most prestigious social-science journals, suggests that there might be truth to these clichés.” At least in Italy, among those who watched channels owned by Silvio Berlusconi. – The Atlantic
We Evolved To Be Successful. So Which Traits Will Dominate Going Forward?
Will our pre-wiring—together with toxic cultural forces, such as racism—lead to fiercer, meaner, better-armed tribal conflict? Or will the part of us that expands love from mates to friends to shipmates come to dominate? – Reason
Why A Prize For Books Without Violence Against Women Has Proven Controversial
On its face and despite the criticisms, the Staunch Prize succeeded in doing exactly what it set out to do, “to draw attention to the plethora of violence towards women in fiction, and make space for exciting alternatives.” But as the Staunch Prize accepts entries for 2019, it has taken an even firmer stance against thrillers with violence against women, and one inflammatory claim in particular has upset crime writers anew. – Slate
What It’s Like To Try To Drag The 92-Year-Old Academy Of Motion Pictures Into The Present
Eight years of change, controversy, criticism and occasional chaos have turned a Hollywood fixture, with all the pertinent connotations of calcification, into a roiling center of conversations about inclusivity, sexual harassment, digital disruption and globalization. – Los Angeles Times
After 67 Years, Mad Magazine Will Stop Publishing
It was subversive material at a time when there was not much out there. Early on, in the 1950s, it broke with other comic books in being satirical. And then when other comics were forced to clean up their act during the McCarthy era, Mad Magazine dodged that by becoming a magazine. That’s why it’s called a magazine instead of a comic. – NPR
Thirty Years Ago A Wave Of Black Directors Hit Hollywood. So What Happened?
“You think, ‘It’s O.K. — you’re like every other filmmaker,’ but then you realize, ‘No,’” she said. “It’s like they set us up to fail — all they wanted was to be able to pat themselves on the back like they did something.” – The New York Times
Mapping Artists And Geography The Whitney Biennial Has Included Over The Decades
The New York area still supplies the lion’s share of participants. Los Angeles still runs a distant second. This year’s exhibition has no artists located in the Great Plains or Mountain West, and only three currently working in the South. For all of the country’s regional art scenes, artists who made the cut for the most prestigious American contemporary exhibition still work in many of the same places as they did decades ago. – The New York Times
Joao Gilberto – Master Of The Bossa Nova, 88
Starting with his 1958 single “Chega de Saudade,” Mr. Gilberto in his late 20s became the quintessential transmitter of the harmonically and rhythmically complex, lyrically nuanced songs of bossa nova (slang for “new thing” or “new style”), written by Antônio Carlos Jobim, João Donato, Vinicius de Moraes and others. – The New York Times
The Vacant Former Home Of Cab Calloway In Baltimore Is Under Threat Of Demolition
Five of Cab Calloway’s family members — including two of his three living children — recently issued a statement saying they are “building a coalition of partners and friends to create a landmark and thriving destination of which all the residents of Baltimore can be proud.” – Baltimore Sun