Author Archive for Ted Scheinman

Arts Roundup: ‘Is Rikers Island the Mount Helicon of Hip-Hop?’ Edition

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Morning, readers.
*Above: Witness one of the more awkward moments in the annals of Chevy Chase. Or of Paul Simon. Or, more generally, of Caucasian afropop.
*Seeking to resurrect its hip-hop cred, the Washington Post hosts a poll. The question: Which currently incarcerated rapper will produce [...]

Hacking IMDB: A Sneak Peek at Tim Burton’s Forthcoming Wizard of Oz

You’ve seen his Roald Dahl. You’ve seen his Lewis Carroll. Now see his L. Frank Baum!
Next year, Tim Burton will release The Wizard of Oz: Dorothy’s Relapse. Though the film’s still in preproduction, Arts Desk has obtained a rough version of its IMDB page.
The Wizard of Oz: Dorothy’s Relapse
Director: Tim Burton
Writers: Tim Burton; Henry Selick
Release [...]

Reviewed: Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland
Directed by Tim Burton
Before the London premiere, before the posters of a washed-out Anne Hathaway, before the teasers in Variety, and, for that matter, before Sweeney Todd, you knew this was coming. You probably could've cast it too. Helena Bonham Carter, predictably freakified as the Red Queen; Johnny Depp as a curiously layered [...]

A.I., the Simulated Annealing Search, and The Lost Books of the Odyssey: An Interview with Zachary Mason

Sure, Zachary Mason may have written his first novel as a mind-warping Homeric pastiche, and yes, his second novel takes a related approach to Ovid's Metamorphoses, and maybe he had a little obsession with Alexander the Great back in middle school. But he doesn't want to be known as "that Classics guy." And if you [...]

The D.C. Independent Film Festival Tightens Its Belt, but Not Its Approach

A scene from the film Ghosts Don't Exist.
For Carol Bidault, the founder and executive director of the D.C. Independent Film Festival, the last few years have been rough. Miramax and Warner Independent, major pipelines between small filmmakers and the mainstream, have been shut down by their corporate parents. They were both sponsors of her festival, [...]

Arts Roundup: “Ikebe Shakedown, Gorillaz, and Zombies” Edition

Morning, readers.
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*Above, please find your morning Afrobeat fix: Ikebe Shakedown on "Don't Contradict." [Full disclosure: That guy on the congas? That's Dave Bourla, college associate of mine. Further disclosure: Ikebe is a dirty, dirty band. Bourla says they'll hit Bossa Bistro, right around the [...]

If You Write to Your Congressperson About Climate Change Legislation, Dave Matthews Will Send You Free Bonnaroo Music. If You Don’t Write Your Congressperson, You Can Still Download Free Bonnaroo Music, but You Will Be a Bad Person.

Before John Mayer was pissing people off with tone-deaf racial pronouncements, he was writing bullshit songs about complacent optimism. To wit, his "People Get Ready"-once-removed album cut of "Waiting on the World to Change," which appeared on the radio this morning. And I thought, not for the first time, "Yeah, not exactly what Curtis Mayfield [...]

Arts Roundup: ‘Pimp My Biography’ Edition

Morning, readers.
*Don't tell Beaujon! The Times previews forthcoming Obama bio by New Yorker editor David Remnick, makes goofy little gaffe. To wit, the correx:
An earlier version of this post misquoted Mr. Remnick on his comparison between the book and a New Yorker article he had previously written. He said the book would not be a [...]

Arts Roundup: ‘Whither Abbey Road?’ Edition

*Henry Sutton picks the top 10 most unreliable narrators of all time. Number One? Humbert Humbert. Number eight? James Frey. (Just kidding!)
*Sliding deeper into debt, EMI makes moves to sell Abbey Road studios. (Last business year, the company sustained losses of £1.75 billion—which, I believe, is even more in dollars.) Paul McCartney, meanwhile, may back [...]

Arena Announces Inaugural Season for Brand-Spanking New Mead Center

This morning, Arena Stage announced an ambitious season to inaugurate its new three-theater "campus," the Mead Center for American Theater. Highlights of the 2010-11 program include Oklahoma, Ruined (Lynn Nottage's 2009 Pulitzer-winner), The Arabian Nights, and a crammed Edward Albee festival. (The latter will include two mounted productions and 28 public readings.)
"The moment we have [...]