My latest for Open Culture is about Turner Classic Movies offering a course on film noir through the summer and links to watch your coursework online. Free films!
Month: May 2015
Twin Peaks title sequence, animated in paper
My latest for Open Culture is about animator Matthew Fuller’s paper animation version of the famous Twin Peaks title sequence. Adorbs.
29th annual I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival set to open this coming weekend
HELENA DAY BREESE/NEWS-PRESS
The black asphalt outside the Santa Barbara Mission will once again bloom with color this coming weekend when it hosts the 29th annual I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival.
Artists – from touring professionals in the street-painting scene to first-time volunteers and children – will cover the grounds outside the Mission with a patchwork of chalk paintings of their own design.
Romantic poet inspired video game? Holy Keats!
Here’s my latest post for Open Culture, on a video game that’s supposed to help people write stories. Inspired by Romantic Poets like Keats, Lord Byron, and Shelley, it looks lovely at least.
Art walk turning 50
MICHAEL MORIATIS/NEWS-PRESS
What started as the dreams of an architect wanting to replicate Mexico has turned into a staple of Santa Barbara’s beachside tourism scene.
The Santa Barbara Arts and Crafts Show, which lines Cabrillo Boulevard every weekend, celebrates its 50th anniversary Sunday.
Ellen K. Anderson’s new play returns to her beloved Detroit setting
Courtesy photo
Playwright Ellen K. Anderson has been such a part of Santa Barbara’s arts scene for decades, not just writing award-winning plays, but helping found Access Theatre, leading the arts collaborative I.V. Arts and heading Dramatic Women, that one forgets her roots are in Detroit. It’s where she grew up, it’s where she earned her B.S. and M.A. (at Wayne State University). It was the subject of her most recent play, “Bedtime for Detroit,” and now she returns tonight with a second Motor City play, “In the Forest of Detroit.”
“Detroit gave me everything,” she says. “Including the uprisings (aka Detroit race riots in 1967) when I was in junior high. It gave me a damn good college education. I was the first to go to college in my family.”
UCSB’s Launch Pad series celebrates 10 years with ‘The Talented Ones’
David Bazemore
In recognition of its 10th anniversary, UCSB’s Launch Pad series, which gives playwrights the space to create new work for the audience’s benefit, has brought in multiple award-winning playwright Yussef El Guindi, the British transplant whose plays have long documented the immigrant experience both in America and the UK.
“The Talented Ones,” which opens this Thursday for a five-show run, is a play in progress, but this is no table read. Launch Pad gives playwrights much more.
A beautiful, zoomable old timeline of history
A story I wrote for Open Culture on Sebastian C. Adams’ timeline of history.
Tips from William Zinsser RIP
On the passing of On Writing Well’s William Zinsser, I wrote this for Open Culture.
Film Comment’s Korean Special: What’s Streaming?
I just got the current issue of Film Comment (with Albert Maysles on the cover). The centerpiece of the issue is “Korea Prospects II,” edited by Goran Topalovic, an in-depth survey of current South Korean directors with short bios. Like a similar survey they did last year on Hong Kong cinema, there’s a lot of films that I now want to see. Maybe you feel the same. So I went through Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Video and have compiled this handy guide to what’s currently streaming for each director. I also indicate DVDs that you can order from Netflix, if you still get things by mail.
Note: Netflix’s search function sucks if you are trying to look for directors. I also looked into Hulu but found it unusable so fuck’em. Fandor has a few Hong Sang-soo films to fill the gaps.
Another note: I would take any “Save DVD” button on Netflix with a grain of salt.
Full list after the jump!
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