weekend links: Connie Converse, Don Hertzfeldt, PrintAustin
Still from Don Hertzfeldt's short film
World of Tomorrow
(2015).
Image appears courtesy of Vimeo.
Connie Converse’s life is the stuff of folk song: She dropped out of college in the 1950s to pursue a music career in New York, but gave up and left in 1961. Thirteen years later, she disappeared. Though Converse—who’s considered one of the first performers in the singer-songwriter genre—didn’t release an album during her career, her home recordings have resurfaced and been released to great acclaim as How Sad, How Lovely (available on vinyl and Spotify!). [Priceonomics] What a week. With the losses of David Bowie and Alan Rickman, you may have missed the unexpected death of beloved poet C.D. Wright. [NPR]
It’s mid-January, which means award season is upon us. And now, the nominees you’ve been waiting for: the American Society of Magazine Editors announced the finalists for its 50th annual National Magazine Awards for Print and Digital Media. Good stuff! [ASME]
In particular, Jenny Zhang’s nominated essay “How It Feels” (on depression, art, and vulnerability) is really good stuff. It’s from 2015, but let’s revisit. [Poetry]
Apparently, ASME wasn’t the only organization to announce nominees this week. Weird, right? Anyway, the Oscar nominees are, as usual, both yawn- and outrage-inducing. Critics Manohla Dargis, A.O. Scott, and Wesley Morris discussed the latter with regard to #OscarsSoWhite. [New York Times]
Austin-based “director of things/Oscar loser” Don Hertzfeldt is once again up for the Academy Award for Animated Short Film, this time for 2015’s much-lauded, 16-minute sci-fi short World of Tomorrow. Given the buzz around the film, Hertzfeldt may need to change his Twitter bio. [Film School Rejects]
PrintAustin, a month-long, multi-venue celebration of independent fine art printmaking, kicks off this weekend. MyStatesman has a roundup of recommended events, while the Chronicle brings us an interview with its co-producers. [MyStatesman, Austin Chronicle]
Local legend Paul Ray—musician, scholar, and longtime host of KUTX’s weekly blues show “Twine Time”—died yesterday. KUT and KUTX will air a tribute to Ray at 7 p.m. next Saturday. [Austin Chronicle, KUTX]
–Alyssa G. Ramirez