lemonwade

Movies: Charlize Theron shines in “Atomic Blonde.” Environmentalist Al Gore gives us “An Inconvenient Sequel.” TV/Streaming: Could the themes of “The Great British Baking Show” get any more twee? On Friday, it’s “Tudor Week.” I finally caught up with “Happy Valley” on Netflix: what took me so long? Music: The recent suicide of a Linkin Park band member reminds us that death is good for business: number one on Amazon. Summertime is the right time for Lil Green’s “Romance in the Dark.” Books: Ayobami Adebayo’s debut novel, “Stay with Me,” about the breakdown of a Nigerian marriage, is terrific. Sports: Nothing but baseball for the next month (sigh). Finally: “If your neighbor doesn’t go to heaven, you probably won’t, either.” (G.K. Chesterton)

An 18-week exhibition dedicated to Dana Schutz’s recent work opened this week at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in Boston, and the 2015 work “Shaking Out the Bed” (pictured) is included. The show won’t be without controversy. Protestors released an open letter yesterday expressing their disappointment that the museum is honoring an artist they believe should instead be held accountable for her portrait of Emmett Till, “Open Casket” (2016), which many see not only as an insult to Till’s memory but also as a white woman’s violent vision of a history that isn’t hers. The splotchy painting of a 14-year-old Till — which sparked a protest earlier this year while on display at the Whitney Biennial as well as furious debate over censorship, race and representation, and white privilege in the art world — is not on view at the ICA. But the letter writers argue that the museum’s support of Schutz, which marks an institutional continuation of the Whitney’s own backing, will ultimately benefit both itself and an artist they believe should reap no rewards for delivering trauma.

“‘Wag’ was in the area of satirical absurdism and now we are living in absurdism,” says the 1997 movie’s director, Barry Levinson. More of his thoughts here.

A piece of the RMS Titanic will next year return to Britain for the first time since it sailed from Southampton on its doomed maiden voyage in 1912. A fragment of the carved wooden overdoors in the first-class lounge—the largest surviving relic of the ship—will be the last object on show in a 2018 exhibition at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, Ocean Liners: Speed and Style (3 February-10 June). The rare loan from the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Canada, comes “from where the liner split apart”, said the museum’s director, Tristram Hunt, at a press briefing yesterday. (Pictured is the Normandie.) The exhibition will Read more »

Pitchfork proclaims: ‘After freeing himself from the feuds and narrative that dragged him down, Meek Mill’s third studio album, called “Wins and Losses,” is a comeback by any measure, honest and gripping.’

Frank Ocean will take the stage in New York City Friday for the first time since 2012. Five years after he stopped here on the tour behind his debut album “Channel Orange,” the enigmatic R&B artist will headline the second annual Panorama Music Festival at Randall’s Island. This time Frank will come armed with another full-length record under his belt, “Blond.” Many New Yorkers have never heard these songs live before. Granted, Frank’s setup is pretty involved. The singer keeps a pair of Vic Firth headphones on during his entire show, as a cameraman captures images of him that are then distorted and displayed on the giant screen behind him.