“When no one – from politicians to pundits – says what he actually means, irony becomes a logical self-inoculation. Similarly, snark, irony’s brat, flourishes in an age of doublespeak and idiocy that’s too rarely called out elsewhere. Snark is not a honk of blasé detachment; it’s a clarion call of frustrated outrage.”
Tag: 12.28.08
’40s B-Movie Star Ann Savage, 87
“Ann Savage, who earned a cult following as a femme fatale in such 1940s pulp-fiction movies as Detour, has died at 87. […] Her Hollywood career had largely been over since the mid-1950s, but she had a resurgence over the past year with a starring role in Canadian cult filmmaker Guy Maddin’s My Winnipeg.”
Art Theft As Minor Catharsis: Madoff Sculpture Stolen
“Swindler extraordinaire Bernard Madoff got a taste of his own medicine last weekend when a burglar stole a $10,000 statue from his posh, $9.4 million Palm Beach estate, according to a police report.”
Badly Needed In Publishing: Some Robert Giroux Types
At editor Robert Giroux’s memorial service this month, editor Paul Elie cautioned the assembled, “It is tempting to float an analogy between his death and the death of a certain kind of publishing. But the fact is that his kind of publishing was rare in his own time, and so was he.” The legendary Giroux died in September, just as publishing was entering a particularly rough patch.
Now That MOCA’s Bought Some Time, How To Spend It?
“To get the house in order, start with the reason MOCA — or, for that matter, any art museum — exists: Start with the permanent collection,” Christopher Knight counsels. “MOCA’s commitment to building a collection … has not been matched by a commitment to showing it.”
In Baltimore Arts, Women Call The Shots
“With Debbie Chinn’s arrival in the fall to become Center Stage’s managing director, for the first time in history, the city’s three largest arts groups are being headed entirely by women.” That is, Center Stage (artistic director: Irene Lewis), the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (music director: Marin Alsop), and the Baltimore Museum of Art (director: Doreen Bolger). “Never before have women in Baltimore’s art scene held so much power.”
The Soap Opera That Is Canada’s National Gallery
It’s got it all: charges, dismissals, rehirings… “the museum is immersed in a controversy that has more in common with television comedies like The Office than debates about expenditures on paintings.”
The Big Storytellers Return In 2009
“In 2009, it won’t be works of non-fiction, but novels that command the majority of attention. This is because an unusual number of high-profile (and therefore newsworthy) novelists publish new books – and lots of those books are going to be unusually interesting.”
Ballet BC Asks Its Patrons For $15
“Last month the company was forced to lay off all 38 staff and dancers, saying survival would depend on its run of The Nutcracker, performed by the Moscow Classical Ballet. Strong ticket sales (more than 12,000) for the event averted immediate closure.”
Rap Music Originated In… Scotland?
“According to the theory, Scottish slave owners took the tradition with them to the United States, where it was adopted and developed by slaves, emerging many years later as rap.”