Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Cultural Phenomenon: “Inside Out 2” Overtakes “Barbie” Box Office
The film, which follows the first film’s heroine as she hits puberty, has just overtaken Barbie in terms of global ticket sales, as well as becoming...
The Culture-War Math On Attacks On Libraries
Though book bans have been a familiar tactic in culture wars, today we’re witnessing an attack on libraries themselves as social institutions. There’s a...
Why Kids Aren’t Reading Books
In the first half of 2024, print sales of middle reader books, intended for children ages 9 to 12, dropped by 5 percent from...
Perusing Editor Robert Gottleib’s Books
When Mr. Gottlieb, who died last June at 92, wasn’t heartlessly lancing thousands of words out of Robert Caro’s biographical volumes or marking up...
A Short History Of Olympics Opening Ceremonies
It took decades for Olympic opening ceremonies to reach this scale. At the first modern Olympics in 1896, in Athens, athletes simply entered the stadium...
San Francisco Symphony’s Ongoing Turmoil
Salonen’s anticipated departure casts a long shadow over the Symphony amidst a furor of concerns about leadership, transparency and board decisions. - San Francisco Chronicle...
What Truths Break Through: How Do You Know?
It is unclear how ordinary citizens can reliably evaluate the ideas circulating within the public sphere. Figuring out the truth about complex political issues is highly...
Streaming Companies Cut Back Production Spending
Disney, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery are all cutting back to reduce their streaming losses. Amazon has the resources to compete with Netflix, but is still figuring...
Claim: The UK’s Arts Funder Is A Mess
There’s something profoundly cynical in the way ACE used the last government’s ineptitude as cover for its own anti-classical agenda: its cack-handed assault on...
The UK Publishing World Is Overwhelmingly Run By Women. Why?
The publishing industry is suffering from a damaging gender imbalance. According to a recent UK publishers’ survey, 83 per cent of marketing, 92 per...
The 80s Literary Establishment Fades Into History
They were famous for round-robin letters to newspapers commenting on world affairs, for clogging up prize shortlists and, as their books declined in quality...
A Conductor Who Worked To Define Music History
According to the Boston Symphony, the orchestra gave 146 world premieres during his tenure, as well as another 86 U.S. premieres and many, many...
Meet The Olympics Opening Ceremony’s Artistic Director
More than a billion people are expected to watch the July 26 opening ceremony. But Thomas Jolly, 42, is no stranger to outsized projects in...
At London’s “Slave Play”: Restricted Audiences Work For Those Who Attend
In London, the mood on the theater steps was upbeat and there seemed little concern that when this “Slave Play” transfer — including two...
The Internet Memes Defining Kamala Harris
It helps that the Harris memes booted up shortly after Biden’s disastrous debate. It makes it feel as if the internet manifested her candidacy....
Paris Art Galleries Abruptly Shut Down For Olympics Security
Many galleries in Paris’s Saint Germain des Près area, one of the city’s major art hubs, were unexpectedly forced to close on Thursday, due...
An Immersive Show That Takes Away Your Sight
Although virtually "taking away" one of their five senses, the show banks on spectators' reliance on their four other forms of perception: the venue...
Top Editor Quit Struggling LA Magazine
For months, the outlet has faced complaints from freelancers who say that the new owners, prominent L.A.-based trial lawyers Mark Geragos and Ben Meiselas,...
Why Do Tourists Act So Badly?
In the last few months, there have been protests against overtourism and "bad" tourist behaviour around the globe, and both issues seem to be coming under greater scrutiny....
Like Literature: Classical Music’s Revolutionary Turn To Narrative Realism
I want to suggest some parallels between this 18th-century musical lingua franca and a familiar device from another medium: modern realist prose, which emerged through...
South Coast Repertory Theatre Chooses New Managing Director
At Vineyard Theatre, her home for the last seven years, Suzanne Appel successfully managed the theater’s finances during the pandemic, keeping the entire full-time...
Is Travel Really Worth It?
Travel is one of those things one generally doesn’t attack in polite company, the world of letters excepted. Its wholesomeness is assumed. It broadens...
“Barbie” Was Supposed To Change How Hollywood Worked. Why Didn’t It?
In the 12 months since the movie’s release, little has changed in Hollywood. Buffeted by dual labor strikes that went on for months and...
The World Is Changing Fast For Artists. Here Are Some Ideas To Keep Up
The very fun of being a creative is solving problems people don't even know to exist. Eventually, if you are creative and curious enough,...
Why Can AI Write Poetry But Struggle With Math?
Chatbots like Open AI’s ChatGPT can write poetry, summarize books and answer questions, often with human-level fluency. These systems can do math, based on what they...
