‘He Had A Ringside Seat For Many Of The Towering Works Of Postwar American Cinema’: Cinematographer Michael Chapman Dead At 84

He started as a camera operator for such landmarks as Klute, The Godfather, and Jaws; he went on to be cinematographer on movies ranging from Invasion of the Body Snatchers to Personal Best to Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid to All the Right Moves (one of three titles he directed) to the big-screen remake of The Fugitive (his second Oscar nomination). His most admired work, perhaps, was in four films by Martin Scorsese: American Boy, The Last Waltz, Taxi Driver, and (his first Oscar nomination) Raging Bull. – The Guardian

Break Zoom (Theatrically)

Even “live” is up for debate or redefinition. Does “live” mean in person, breathing the same air? Or does it mean, like, live TV news, that it’s happening now, simultaneously? We’re also learning to define online spaces. Are you and I in the same space now? We’re in the same Zoom room. – Howlround

Mellon Foundation Gives $250 Million To Reimagine Monuments

The Monuments Project, the largest initiative in the foundation’s 50-year history, will support the creation of new monuments, as well as the relocation or rethinking of existing ones. And it defines “monument” broadly to include not just memorials, statues and markers but also “storytelling spaces,” as the foundation puts it, like museums and art installations. – The New York Times

Tom Stoppard’s Charmed Life

Stoppard sails through customs: his charm – not the calculated sort – fuels his success. Friends and acquaintances are almost comically diverse: Harold Pinter, Mick Jagger, Samuel Beckett, Princess Margaret, Kenneth Tynan, Steven Spielberg … No one is charm-proof (including Lee), although the charm is impermeable, making her task harder. The great man continues not to see himself as one. He is happiest drifting into a writing day. And once a play goes into rehearsal, he is not stuck up about practical details. – The Guardian

Why Do We Let Social Media Control Us?

Jill Lepore: “Things are briefly upended by new technologies before finding a new equilibrium. With social media, that equilibrium has not happened. The question is how do you repair the fabric of democracy when the technology is itself built to polarise us? It is like we have built a perfect trap for ourselves. That is what leaves me so frankly terrified.” – The Guardian