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France’s Anonymous Street Artist Fills The Cracks With Colorful Mosaics

Ememem "has made a speciality of filling divots and potholes with multicoloured mosaics made from tiles of different sizes and different hues, arranged in striking geometric patterns. Some bear his signature, often in the form of an image of a trowel underscored by his name." - The Observer (UK)

YouTube’s Chaos Led To Its Massive Rise

Why doesn't its history with a content provider who had zillions of subscribers - but was a favorite of the neo-Nazis - get the same blowback as other social media? (Transcript of this podcast here.) - Slate

Peak TV Is Making The Emmys A Lot Weirder

There are so, so many series out there - 500 or more, and "the crush of programming means that even worthy shows struggle for recognition." - Seattle Times (AP)

Judging The Sometimes Violent Art Of Video Games

MoMA makes a case for including games in the permanent collection - and a case that says humans respond the same way to video game art as they do to sculptures, paintings, and prints. - Wired

Why Did Instagram Ban This Livestreamed French Play?

No one (associated with the play) knows. "In early 2021, a few months into the production’s run, Instagram started cutting off these live streams, citing 'nudity or sexual acts.' Then the account tied to the play disappeared from the platform’s search results." (There was no nudity.) - The New York Times

Why So Many Book Bans? Facebook

"It’s absolutely beyond creepy—and therefore totally in keeping with Facebook’s general vibe—that adults are spending time avidly thumbing through children’s books to look for anything they might consider vaguely 'pornographic' (or, you know, vaguely affirming of non-white or queer identities)." - LitHub

The Flamenco Singer Who Defies Tradition To Reinvent The Music

Rosália won Latin Grammys for her album El Mal Querer - a flamenco-pop fusion that also became her thesis project at the Catalonia School of Music in Barcelona. Now she says her new flamenco fusion album is based on "the fragmented chaos of the internet." - Los Angeles Times

Some Teenage Girls In Afghanistan Meet In Secret To Read The Diary Of Anne Frank

One 17-year-old in the secret book club: "Anne Frank is, like, as a friend for me. ... I mean, Anne Frank is suffering from war, and I am, too. And Anne Frank cannot go to school, cannot, like, go out very freely. And I have the same situation." - NPR

What It’s Like To Chair The National Endowment For The Humanities During A Pandemic

Shelly Lowe, the first Native American chair of the NEH, wants to make some changes: "More small organizations that haven’t had NEH funding will be applying and will be announced as receiving grants. This will bring more attention to ... untold stories of our country." - Inside Higher Ed

Russia’s War On Wikipedia Editors Ramps Up

Editors have been doxxed, threatened, and arrested. "Doronina of the Wikimedia Foundation’s board of trustees said that Russia’s state agencies could target one of those editors any day. 'You cannot predict who is going to attack. It’s not a bear, it’s a pack of bears,' she said." - Nieman Lab

When ABT Tried To Break Ballet Out Of The 18th Century

"Audience members generally rustle their programs and shift in their seats when performers are onstage. But on that late October evening inside Lincoln Center in 2021, 'it was so quiet,' remembers. 'Absolute silence.'" - Mother Jones

Marsha Hunt, Who Confronted The Blacklist And Paid For It, Has Died At 104

The actress spent the seven decades after her Hollywood career ended as a result of the 1950s-era hysterical anti-Communism as an impassioned activist for human rights. - Washington Post

Will British Audiences Ever Fall Back In Love With Going To The Cinema?

"Pandemic-induced production delays, jittery Hollywood studios continuing to postpone blockbuster release dates, and a wider lack of mid-budget fare – from rom-coms and buddy movies to dramas – will push back the timeline on a full recovery for cinema owners until possibly 2024." - The Observer (UK)

A Town In Nepal Wants Its Stolen God Back

"This particular sculpture ... was stolen on the night of June 16, 1999, from the house of its caretaker in Thalkhu Tole. The community was heartbroken: 'When it was lost, we felt as if we lost our history, we lost everything.'" It's been found, at a museum in Singapore. - Hyperallergic

The Art, And Popularity, Of Retelling Old Tales

"Sometimes writers draw from older stories—myths, histories, ancient epics—when crafting new ones. One might find in that rewriting an opportunity to recast a celebrated figure." Obvious. but many new (or popular on BookTok) works are strong on the retelling right now. - The Atlantic

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