Yearly Archives: 2023
Tommy Smothers, 86
When “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” debuted on CBS in the fall of 1967 it was an immediate hit, to the surprise of many...
A Visit To The Hallmark-Christmas-Movie Theme Park (Oh Yes, There Is One)
In countryside near Vancouver, on the studio backlots where many of the holiday romances are filmed, a Christmas-skeptical journalist went to the cable channel's...
Mark Swed On “Maestro”
One of the reasons why “Maestro” comes across as pretty good, or maybe even a little better than that, is because it is not...
Why We Need The Arts, Especially In Times Like These
"In a world that grows increasingly dark, the ability to slip free of its grim logic and into a realm of uncharted delight, even...
Dance Has Become Cool Now. It’s Everywhere
It’s not only that dance has been everywhere recently; it’s that dance is cool. Our lives are full of words — and words and...
Author Hanif Kureishi On Life One Year After The Accident That Rendered Him Quadriplegic
"Left without the use of his arms and legs, the award-winning writer of The Buddha of Suburbia and My Beautiful Laundrette has charted his...
A Forger, A Thief, The Great Villain Of The Antiquarian Book Trade
"Certain names carry with them the whiff of brimstone. In the world of bibliophiles and booksellers, perhaps no name is more sulphurous than that...
“It’s Almost A Clone”: 3D-Printing Company Can Produce Almost Exact Replicas Of History’s Great...
"Lito Masters has partnered with several major museums to carry out detailed scans of paintings by artists including Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse and...
Macron And The Archbishop Want To Install Six Newly-Designed Stained-Glass Windows At Notre-Dame. 120,000...
The old windows in six side-chapels were designed by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc for the cathedral's 19th-century renovation and were undamaged by the 2019 fire. The...
Ruth Seymour, Who Remade SoCal’s KCRW Into One Of America’s Leading Public Radio Stations,...
When she started there in 1977, it was in a little bungalow in Santa Monica with the oldest radio transmitter west of the Mississippi....
In Dallas-Fort Worth, You’re Not Really A Serious Theater Company Until You Have Your...
"There’s a legitimacy that comes with having a space in Dallas," says the managing director of one company currently remodeling an old warehouse into...
Music Director Fired By Orchestra Management For Refusing COVID Vaccine Settles Religious Discrimination Lawsuit
Conductor David Lockington, a Christian Scientist, had been music director of the Pasadena Symphony in Los Angeles County since 2013; he was forced out...
Does AI Mean The End Of Photography?
They routinely go viral before being debunked. They even occasionally win prestigious photography prizes. All of which has reignited a two-century-old debate: What exactly qualifies as...
Alex Ross’s List Of Best Classical Recordings Of 2023
"I can’t remember a year in which so many pleasure-inducing, addiction-triggering albums crowded my desk." - The New Yorker
How Pissarro Became A Genius
An artist of impeccable character, he connected the group’s feuding factions, became an instructor and mentor to the impossible Cézanne, welcomed Georges Seurat and took...
Why Do Christmas Movies Assume That Being Single Sucks?
Christmas and holiday movies usually tend to centre around a key belief: that people need a romantic partner to live “happily ever after.” - The...
Why Oh Why — How We Orient Ourselves In The World
Among all the questions that enable us to orient ourselves in the world and in our common lives – who? what? how many? where?...
The Rocketing Career Of Nigeria’s “Viral Dancer”
Dubbed Nigeria's viral ballet dancer, 13-year-old Anthony Madu's life has changed beyond recognition over the last three years after his dance moves and internet...
“Nutcracker” Problems: How To Get 150 Pounds Of Snow Onto The Stage In Under...
At San Francisco Ballet, the snow is made of thousands of pieces of thin paper soaked in a flame-retardant salt solution, stored in 400-pound...
Kids Prefer YouTube To Netflix. Streaming Services Are Worried
Netflix’s share of U.S. streaming viewership by 2- to 11-year-olds fell to 21% in September from 25% two years earlier, according to Nielsen. Meanwhile, YouTube’s share jumped...
The Moscow Librarian Who Defied The Government’s Order To Purge LGBTQ Books
"When Vladimir Kosarevsky received orders late last year to destroy books referencing same-sex relationships, … (he) knew it was a line he wouldn’t cross....
Data: People Are Posting Less On Social Media
Billions of people access social media monthly, but users are posting less and favoring a more passive experience, surveys of users and research from...
This Indian State Is Home To The Thinking Person’s Bollywood
In recent years, the Malayalam-language cinema industry of Kerala — the state with the country's highest literacy rate and standard of living — has...
Exit Interview: Peter Marks On Leaving The Washington Post
Daily criticism, which is the heart of what we do, was a print invention. It was a form really made for print—almost uniquely for...
1,600 Years Of Nativity Scenes
The oldest surviving depictions of the baby Jesus in a manger, surrounded by animals and shepherds and parents and such, go back to 5th-century...
