Culture

“The concerns that have been raised, including the question of who gets to tell which stories, are valid ones in relation to literature and we welcome the conversation,” it said. According to the publisher, the novel asks, “How far will a mother go to protect her son?” and provokes empathy with people “struggling to find safety in our unsafe world. This is the lens through which we have viewed American Dirt as the publisher, and the way in which we hope it can be appreciated by readers.” … [Read more...] about Publishers defend American Dirt as claims of cultural appropriation grow

This is why some are worried by suggestions of “cultural appropriation” when it comes to cooking. In Britain, the issue has boiled over after the discovery of a string of offensive posts and videos from a white chef who makes Thai food. He exchanged the letters L and R to mock Asian accents, made vile remarks about Thai people and others, and told people to “go down to the jungle and ask the monkey for a coconut” over a still of Brixton market. He has since been fired by the restaurant Som Saa, and its co-founder (who had praised one of the videos) has also apologised. … [Read more...] about The Guardian view on food cultures: sharing, not snatching

But the opportunity to train interpreters is being taken away. Since 1978, the CDS has advanced the study of deafhood – that is, the culture of deaf people, as described in the work of Dr Paddy Ladd, reader in deaf studies at the CDS. Its undergraduate course has provided a vocational foundation for those who wish to become BSL interpreters. In 2010, the university decided to close that course – because, it claimed at the time, of the "current economic climate". This academic year will be the last cohort to graduate from the CDS. The educational base for many of the UK's BSL interpreters has been closed off. … [Read more...] about Deaf people’s linguistic culture is being allowed to disintegrate

PULLING OUR LEGS Great news for fans of slightly twisted, gleefully brutal cringe-comedy: seven years after the end of Pulling, Sharon Horgan and Dennis Kelly are making a new sitcom. Their pilot, The Circuit, deals with a dinner party gone hideously wrong. … [Read more...] about The populist: items of interest this week

What's different about this new breed of audio-visual entertainer is that what they offer are "custom-branded visuals predesigned to fit specific songs". So says Drew Best, a prime mover in the US dubstep scene with his Los Angeles club/label Smog, but also the motion-graphics designer behind the fledgling company Pattern & Noise. In the old days, Best explains, what a VJ (video jockey) or lighting director did was provide improvised accompaniment to the DJ's set. But nowadays Deadmau5 will get a designer such as Best, who worked on the former's recent tour, to create "Pacman-type ghosts" to go with the track Ghosts 'N' Stuff or a "Tron-style" factory with clanking pistons to accompany Professional Griefers. The leading performers on the EDM scene are engaged in fierce competition to out-dazzle each other. Skrillex's Skrill Cell combined projection mapping and motion capture. "Skrillex wore a suit and he had CG characters rigged to it, these 20 foot monsters on a giant wall behind … [Read more...] about How rave music conquered America