Yearly Archives: 2023
Sorry, But London Is No Longer A Classical Music Capital
London achieved its musical status in the 1930s, during the Great Depression, adding two new symphony orchestras and drawing a surprised endorsement from Arturo...
Paul Reubens, Actor Who Played More Than Pee-Wee Harman, Is Dead At 70
He first developed the Pee-wee character in the 1970s as a member of the Groundlings, then went on to a popular stage show, two...
Inflamed. Impertinent. Insightful: How D.H. Lawrence Read Literature
Lawrence’s bristling, inflamed, impertinent language provides a reminder that criticism is not just the work of the brain, but of the gut and the...
The Rise Of AI-Generated “Adjacent” Culture
There’s a lot of talk of “innovation” in Silicon Valley, a term that usually means destroying things that work in favor of things that...
How Translated Books Have Found A New Generation Of Readers
There seems to be a transgressive quality to some translated fiction. Is that appealing? “That genre of ‘messed-up’ books has just exploded on TikTok.”...
Classical Music And The Streaming Wars
"I can’t put myself in the unisex Crocs of a young person exploring classical music for the first time, but Apple Classical strikes me...
Why Hollywood Is At The Precipice
Hollywood has a history of treating evolving consumer habits first as a threat to theatrical dollars and then as a tool to be co-opted...
His Left Foot On The French Horn
Felix Klieser, who was born without arms, at the Proms: "When I see myself it looks very interesting and very spectacular. But when I...
Electric Cars Seem To Be Killing AM Radio
But Congress might come through for the AM waves. "One in three Americans tune in to the band every month, according to Nielsen data....
Will Spotify’s Rise In Price Mean More Money For Musicians?
It should, right? Well, that depends. "The wider concern is that any price rise will benefit record labels and services, with platforms such as...
A Federal Judge Blocks Arkansas From Going After Librarians For ‘Harmful’ Books
It's a temporary injunction, but still, "the executive director of Central Arkansas Library System, Nate Coulter, said the judge's 49-page decision recognized the law...
Can Hollywood Learn Anything From Barbenheimer?
Seems unlikely. "More films that skew to female audiences? The success of Twilight and 50 Shades of Grey already told them that. don’t...
SAG-AFTRA Waivers Are Scrutinized As Viola Davis Says Filming Now Isn’t Appropriate
"More than 40 productions have been granted waivers to continue shooting during the mass work stoppage. But whether actors are crossing a picket line...
What Lies Beneath A Magritte?
Beneath La Cinquième Saison lies another Magritte, this one probably a portrait of his wife - though of course he said, "When one sees...
When Watching Full-Length Ballets On YouTube Becomes A Survival Strategy
"My ballet may not be 'good.' But I know it’s not bad, either. And even if it was, well, who is to be the...
Russian Propaganda, But Make It Minecraft
Not surprisingly, "games and adjacent discussion sites like Discord and Steam are becoming online platforms for Russian agitprop, circulating to new, mostly younger audiences...
A Novel’s Draft Leaks, And A Small Town Freaks Out
After the leaks, "certain incidents began occurring that resembled the fictional action. ... A fight broke out during the mixed doubles tennis tournament. ......
Twitter Is Now A Full-On Zombie
But, just like the shambling husks in movies, it's ambling on until someone can fire the right shot. "Twitter was a go-to source for...
The US Says It Has Good Deals With AI Companies, But Artists Say That’s...
Let's be clear: "How hard will these AI companies work at ‘voluntarily’ building these difficult systems? What we need is real regulation with well-defined,...
There’s A New Streaming Service In This Galaxy
It's free, and its name is ... NASA Plus. It "will bring the on-demand non-sci-fi space content you crave to TVs and mobile devices...
What Should Authors Do After They Say Goodbye To Twitter?
Charlie Jane Anders, formerly an active Twitter user, has some thoughts. "I wish we had a more robust book-o-sphere generally. The lifeblood of book culture...
Edward Sexton, Tailor To The Beatles, 80
"Mr. Sexton learned his craft under the exacting standards of Savile Row traditions and never lost his attention to detail. ... His mark on...
Please Stop Filming Concerts
Why? Well ... "Your videos are terribly lit. The room you are in is very, very dark. ... That’s before we even get into...
Italy’s Steamy Melodrama Has Fans Diving Off Piers To Swim To The Set
One of the producers of Mare Fuori says, "We have realized that these stories of young lovers, people like a lot. ... In the...
A British Town Has Two Iconic Towers ,But Can’t Decide Which Is Which
"The towers have been a source of local pride for almost 100 years, but now a debate has ignited over which structure is which...
