Toil and Trouble: The Curse of Macbeth
Source: Skeptoid
Actors have long avoided saying the title of Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy inside theaters in fear of the famed “curse of Macbeth.” What’s the evidence for such a curse, though?
Arts & Entertainment
The Forgotten Female Action Stars of the 1910s
Source: The Atlantic
Action-adventure heroes aren’t only men. Early films starred many women in action roles, even performing daring feats in ankle-length skirts! Learn about the tales told in their films.
A Masterly Emily Dickinson Movie
Source: The New Yorker
Film critic Richard Brody reviews a new biopic about poet Emily Dickisnson, who was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, and lived most of her life there.
The Silent Era of Horror Movies
Source: Horror Film History
Almost from the beginning of film, there have been movies made to frighten viewers. Learn about and watch some classics of the genre.
James Thurber Lost Most of His Eyesight to a Tragic Childhood Accident
Source: Humanities Magazine
Writer and cartoonist James Thurber was once the most popular humorist in America. To reach that peak, the author of “The Macbeth Murder Mystery” had to overcome considerable hardship.
Reel Life: The mesmerizing saga of “56 Up”
Source: CBS News
In the early 1960s, a young filmmaker named Michael Apted worked on a television documentary about how a group of seven-year-olds from different classes viewed their lives. “7 Up” was followed by “14 Up,” “21 Up,” and so on, checking in with the same group of subjects every seven years. Apted’s extraordinary look at ordinary lives continues with “56 Up.”
In Focus: The Prince and the Pauper
Source: History Today
The theme of class can be reflected in photographs as well as prose. Compare Twain’s story with the 1920 King George V incident.
How Andy Serkis is bringing holographic magic to Shakespeare’s The Tempest
Source: The Telegraph
The Royal Shakespeare Company will use sophisticated technology to re-tell The Tempest in an exciting new way in a late 2016 production.
A War of Words
Source: The New York Times
Dartmouth College professor Colleen Glenney Boggs discusses the impact of literature on the Civil War.
Van Gogh and the decision that changed art history
Source: BBC
Vincent Van Gogh turned his failure as a rural preacher into the art that makes him revered as an innovator today.