King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard started as a joke. It was a party band that served as a side project for a gaggle of young, aspiring musicians in Melbourne, Australia. “We would play under a different name every night, just to kind of f— with people, and, like, be annoying,” says Stu Mackenzie, the … Read more
The Walt Disney Co.’s shares closed Wednesday at their lowest price since before the House of Mouse began releasing “Star Wars” films, as a massive 2022 decline wiped away all their pandemic-era gains and a bit more. Disney DIS, -2.55% stock closed 2.6% lower Wednesday at $84.16, the second worst performance of the day for … Read more
Around 50 Pinocchio movies have been released since the classic 1940 Disney film, including, no lie, 1965’s “Pinocchio in Outer Space.” Filmmakers’ unflagging fascination with the wooden boy’s tale may explain why 2022 shaped up as the year America reached peak Pinocchio. Even die-hard fans suspect supply has outrun demand. Three Pinocchio projects have premiered … Read more
What is a book, anyway? If you have ever read a novel on your smartphone, you can’t help but ponder that question. In the 1990s, when “the history of the book” was taking off as an academic field, the scholars involved couldn’t quite decide which objects they were supposed to study. I once dined with … Read more
Justin Bieber is close to a deal to sell his music rights to Blackstone Inc. BX 3.45% -backed Hipgnosis Songs Capital in a transaction valued at around $200 million, according to people familiar with the matter. The potential deal includes the pop star’s interest in both his publishing and recorded music catalog, the people say, … Read more
Christie’s International said Monday it sold $8.4 billion in art this year, up 17% from the year before, lifted by the $1.6 billion total estate sale of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and an influx of millennial collectors globally. Christie’s said its sales broke down to $7.2 billion in auction sales this year, up 33% from … Read more
IN HIS 81 YEARS, Bob Dylan has seemingly lived 100 lives. He conquered the world in the 1960s as a singer-songwriter who defied convention, going on to sell millions of records. He’s earned countless awards, including 10 Grammys, an Oscar, although he didn’t even attend the ceremony to accept it, and even the 2016 Nobel … Read more
It wouldn’t be fair to call Shaun Tan the Hieronymus Bosch of children’s literature. There’s nothing quite so bleak or appalling in the work of this contemporary Australian illustrator to rival the hideous surreality of the late-medieval Netherlandish master in his allegorical paintings. But the two men do have certain things in common, not least … Read more
1. Whitney Chadwick’s pioneering book celebrates the women at the heart of the Surrealist revolution: “Young, beautiful and rebellious, they became an embodiment of their age and a herald of the future as they explored more fully than any group of women before them the interior sources of woman’s creative imagination.” Ms. Chadwick analyzes their … Read more
The shiny veneer of a resilient art market is starting to show some cracks. Sotheby’s said its fine art and collectible sales topped $6.8 billion this past year, down 7% from 2021, a sum that still represents the second-highest total in the 278-year-old company’s history. The house’s sales include $5.4 billion in auctioned art sales … Read more