Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Meet Esa-Pekka: “I’m Just Getting Started”
"It is not to say that there wouldn’t be room for improvement, and that’s the fun part actually, because I’m nearing an age where...
Critic Takes His 30-Year-Old Daughter To “Lion King” 25 Years After They First Saw...
I thought about the astonishing durability of the show, how many others in attendance like them were not even born when Lizzie and I...
Ukraine Issues Stamp Commemorating The Crimean Bridge Attack On Russia’s “Unity Day”
Designed by the Ukrainian artist Yuriy Shapoval, the stamp shows the bridge behind clouds of dark grey smoke. In the forefront is the famous...
How To Talk To Someone You Love About Their Conspiracy Theories (And Not Get...
A big mistake we make in confronting conspiracy theories is assuming they provide nothing but harm to those who hold them. In fact, a...
Activists Who Attacked Vermeer Painting Get Jail Time
A Dutch court sentenced the protestors to two months, with one month suspended, and the third activist who was involved will appear in court...
An Artifact Repatriation Deal… Or Not?
After 10 years from the signing of the deal, some of the antiquities will periodically travel to Greece to be exhibited at the Goulandris...
“The World Doesn’t Need Another Foundation.” This Super-Wealthy Heiress Calls For Structural Change
Philanthropy to her only replicates the same power dynamics that have created the systemic inequalities she wants to see dismantled, with new tax policies...
Micro-Mobility: Why The Golf Cart Might Be The Next Cultural Disrupter
While few people embarking on a long journey would choose an e-bike or a golf cart over a car, many Americans might do so...
“Santa” Copyright Case Dropped Against Mariah Carey
Songwriter Andy Stone sued the popstar in June, claiming he co-wrote a song with the same name five years earlier. He told the court he...
The End Of Facebook?
Mark Zuckerberg is obsessed with a virtual world no one wants, the company’s stock is down 70 percent from its peak, and it has...
Taiwan National Museum Admits To Breakage Of Artifacts Worth $77 Million
The items – a bowl, a teacup and a plate – were broken in three separate incidents during the past 18 months but the damage came...
What, Me Worry? Report Suggests Record Import/Exports In Art In 2022
In the coming year, 77% of collectors say they plan to attend more overseas fairs, exhibitions and events—good for trade but not the environment. - The...
Alarming! Holiday Movie Plots As Analyzed And Pitched By AI
An Artificial Intelligence (DALL-E) was tasked with imagining from their official synopses and titles what these movies, with their mix-and-match tropes and grab bag...
John Garfield’s Seminal Role In Figuring Out Acting In The Movies
It’s tempting to see Garfield as a footnote. But he was far better than his contemporaries at solving the puzzle of how to take...
The Multiverse: Where New Ideas And Originality Go To Die
All these multiverses might add up to nothing good. If all potential endings come to pass, what are the consequences of anything? What matters?...
No Wall Between Fiction And Reality. Our Brains Exchange Notions Between The Two
We suggest that fiction and reality interact through some sort of trade exchange with all its dark sides and complexities. Some transactions occur in...
Five Things Science Has Discovered About King Tut
Recently, studies using x-rays, CT scans and DNA testing showed Tutankhamun had malaria, along with some other medical conditions such as a cleft palate. He also...
The Fertile Creative Mind Of Freeman Dyson
From spaceships powered by exploding nuclear bombs to the eponymous “Dyson spheres” that could be used by advanced alien civilizations to capture energy from...
Taylor Swift Announces Tour. TicketMaster Crashes. Fans Are… Upset
“I have now been ‘in line’ on @Ticketmaster for over 4 hours just for the privilege of registering to buy @taylorswift13 tickets. Not even...
Adam Gopnik: Learning To Embrace An Upside Down Mondrian
Uncertainty about an artist’s intentions—including, but not limited to, which way she intended the picture to be top and which bottom—is not a sign...
No Regrets – Putting Off That Creative Career
We spoke to a total of 33 people in the UK, all of whom had felt “called” to music in early life but then...
A Sudden Shift In Culture Of Twitter Users
As a lot of the current people leave and a lot of new people who are there because of what they think Elon is...
Messy As It Is, A Case For Translation
One ongoing effort to pin down the instable entity that is translation involves finding metaphors or analogies for it. This epistemological parlor game has...
Hotly Contested: The Purpose Of Studying History?
Should we study the distant past to explore its strangeness—and jolt ourselves out of easy assumptions that the world we know is the only...
HBO Grew Out Of Journalistic Impulse (Then Turned On It)
To pull in viewers, HBO’s early executives dreamed up a network that ended up reflecting contemporary culture — its policing and crime, politics and...
