Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
What I Learned From A Week Hanging Out With Mensa Members
About 1,100 Mensans journeyed to the Reno area for this year’s convention. They came because they think they are smart, they care deeply about...
Why It’s So Hard To Define Who Is A Millennial
A Pew Research Center poll from 2015 found that, regardless of the parameters, only 40 percent of millennials say they identify with their generation’s label (compared...
Henry Mancini’s Genius
What makes him such an exemplary film composer is the adroitness with which he used style as a catalyst, conspiring with directors to illuminate...
Texas’ New Book Banning Rules In Action: Bible Gets Pulled From Shelves
Forty-two books in total—including the Bible, a graphic novel adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, and Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe—were...
Why Are Paris Comedy Clubs Packed?
As a theater critic in France, I’m used to sitting in auditoriums full of all-white, older spectators. In the comedy world, the customers mirrored...
Auditions Suck: A Litany Of Indignities
“Directors are rude, look at their iPhones during the audition, run late and don’t apologise, they chat away to their casting director as if...
The Remarkable Carpenters Of Medieval Practice Rebuilding Notre Dame’s Roof
“There are people outside of here who can do it now, but I tell you they all came here to learn how. If this...
Drought Exposes Ancient Spanish StoneHenge
Experts believe the striking circle of dozens of megalithic stones has existed since 5000 BC. However, it was first discovered by German archaeologist Hugo...
Radical Rethink Needed For Australian Cultural Policy
The right of citizens to participate in, and contribute to, the cultural activities of the community is accepted in a number of the international...
What We’ve Learned From The Octopus About Kinds Of Intelligence
All these behaviors—as well as many more observed in the wild—suggest that octopuses learn, remember, know, think, consider, and act based on their intelligence. This changes...
Was Longtime Star Canadian TV News Anchor Fired Because Her Hair Went Gray?
Lisa LaFlamme, who started hosting the flagship show in 2011, was one of many women who stopped dyeing her hair during the pandemic, and allowed...
A First: Streaming Tops Cable TV For The First Time
It was only a matter of time before the milestone was reached, as streaming usage has continued to climb while traditional TV declines amid...
Should Disney Sell ESPN )And What Would It Say About American Sports-Watching?)
Fewer Americans are getting cable TV—and, by extension, ESPN—every year, but the network remains home to some of the most popular content on TV,...
How HGTV Changed The Look Of American Houses
Flipping and landlording are both seductive economic propositions—so much so that shows about successful, self-made flippers and investment-property renovators have become their own genre...
Why Pop Music Stars Are Signing Up For Extended Residencies Rather Than Touring
In a rebounding touring market, with concert-starved audiences buying tickets in record numbers — and at higher prices than ever — these bookings are deliberate choices...
Why Teachers Are Stopping Teaching
The solutions to every year’s teacher shortage makes the problem even worse. The teachers who stay wind up doing more work for less pay....
Charlotte Symphony Expands Pay, Season, Diversity
“There is more demand in Charlotte for our services than we can usually meet, so I’m very pleased we were able to raise the...
NFTs Aren’t A Scam, They’re A Story
Most NFT projects are definitely bubbles—but the NFT art-and-collectibles trading ecosystem as a whole is something more like a new form of art-themed online...
Writing Workshops (An American Invention) Aren’t Bad. They’re Just Limiting
It is not that I think we should scrap existing syllabi, but rather that we must make room for other storytelling traditions in these...
Report: Rampant Harassment In The Comedy Industry
New research from Get Off! and the University of Sunderland saw nearly 850 members of the live comedy industry (more than half of which...
More And More Libraries Are Censoring Books From Children
“This is a state-sponsored purging of ideas and identities that has no precedent in the United States of America. We’re witnessing the silencing of...
Movie Theatre Giant Says Admissions Down Due To “Limited Film Slate”
Cineworld’s liquidity and debt burden, which stood at more than $5 billion in net debt as of the end of 2021, have long been...
Department Of Ego-Mania: Mariah Carey Tries To Trademark “Queen Of Christmas”
The 53-year-old pop singer is trying to trademark that title so that she alone can sell goods — perfume, lotion, sunglasses, face masks —...
How Google Search Has Evolved, Subtlely Undermining Democracy
By adding all of these features, Google has effectively changed the experience from an explorative search environment to a platform designed around verification, replacing a process...
Composer Eva-Maria Houben On Music Structure And Listening
"I think these methods of analysis and talking about music are ideas musicologists need to explore a piece. When I listen to music, it...
