Ok, Aaron Sorkin’s PR person.

Next fall, “The Zookeeper’s Wife” — made by (mostly) women, written by a woman author, and a woman screenwriter, with Niki Caro directing and Jessica Chastain starring. Shooting now in Prague and Niki’s Instagram posts are AMAZING. Hope Jezebel gives it some attention when it comes out, it took 8 years to get into…

No no no. There are mandatory sentences for assault crimes in the state of Oregon. If a person is accused, and doesn’t have money for a decent lawyer, he or she can be put away for 20 or 30 years WITH NO POSSIBILITY OF PAROLE. Several men in southern Oregon have, at different times, been falsly accused (proven when…

I’m with you, SillyMe8. I mean, maybe he’s just a chatty, not very bright fellow. Is it necessary to get out the pitchforks?

Interestingly, as I noted elsewhere, she was about to start another Sony film (‘The Rosie Project’) but dropped out days after her essay came out. But did she ‘drop out’ as they like to say? Did they ask her to go?

Curious why she suddenly dropped out of Sony’s ‘The Rosie Project’ so soon after this essay came out.

“A bit weak,” “a bit flat,” “not quite ready”...good lord, why can’t you just say it sucked?

Maybe you don’t know what the MacArthur grant is? It’s not a scholarship. It may not even be a grant in the collegiate sense of the word. It’s basically a big fat fucking check, an award with no strings attached, and it’s given to brilliant, relatively mature people (the oldest this year is 72, I believe) — because…

I understand your point, but my sense is that she was processing her own grief, not yours or mine. She was being attacked here (viciously, in fact) for asking very open questions about how to process and understand information pertaining to the Holocaust - for herself, not for you or me or anyone else. She was advised…

Beautifully put. Happy Days of Awe to you, Mama. (The perfect time for reflection, of course).

Good lord, MinkCoat, are you tone deaf? She isn’t speaking for anyone but herself.

What a stupid comment. She is obviously working through her feelings on this in a thoughtful, conscious way. Converts I know are so much more ‘Jewish’ than I am (a born Jew)! They made a choice to commit themselves to the faith, that is a profound commitment. She’s obviously speaking to her rabbi and others, she’s…

I suspect they chose him because it would make ‘good television’; ie, let’s choose the weirdo self-destructive guy and then TELL everybody he’s self-destructive so people will watch our show. I seriously doubt their choice had anything to do with merit, as claimed by Damon in his defensive of selecting yet ANOTHER…

Truth. Balanchine fell in love with the (very) young women who fit his ideal, and each became his muse for a time. That kind of love doesn’t last forever, especially as ballerinas age. He married many times. I don’t know how Farrell, who was so young, got the strength to turn him away. She actually left the company…

Apologies, I misunderstood what you meant by ‘changing look.’

twerqy, she had nothing. Do some reading.

Balanchine married Maria Tallchief but wanted her to dance like the (more willowy) Tanny Le Clercq. He eventually left Tallchief and married Le Clercq. Then Tanny became paralyzed with polio and Balanchine left her because he had fallen in love with Susanne Farrell. She wouldn’t have him though. :)

The funny thing is that Russian dancers used to be a little bit zoftig (by ballet standards). Balanchine disliked the look, he was crazy about tall, thin, American dancers. That’s what he wanted at NYCB, that’s who he choreographed for, and as a result, American ballerinas became super skinny. The Russians followed…

Balanchine’s tenure at NYCB predated the Joffrey by two decades. He was enthralled with his perception of ‘American’ bodies (that is, tall, thin and athletic: a long line). He believed the Russians (his countrywomen) were too thick, too stumpy. He became obsessed with the notion of an American ballet company made up…

George Balanchine wanted thin, athletic bodies, he changed the image of ballet single-handedly. But interestingly, I had the opportunity to observe an advanced dance class at NYCB last year (17-18 year old girls in their final year at the school), and I noticed that almost all of the dancers looked like they had…