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After Three Years With No Hosts, This Year’s Oscars Will Have Three Of Them

Regina Hall, Amy Schumer, and Wanda Sykes — "an all-female team with broad appeal and comedic chops" — are in final talks to serve as emcees for the 2022 ceremonies, several sources have indicated. - Variety

The Theatre Wisdom Of Stephen Sondheim

I learned all of these compositional principles from Babbitt. What it amounts to is, music exists in time, so how do you make it cohere? And that’s just as true with a three-minute song as it is with an hour-and-a-half opera, you know? - The New Yorker

Nothing But Guests: A Lineup Of Potential Music Directors For The NY Philharmonic

For the next six weeks, the Philharmonic’s calendar is filled with nothing but guests. - The New York Times

What Does Your Musical Taste Say About You?

Most half-serious music fans would consider their tastes eclectic. Which seems more feasible than a distinct personality type exclusively cleaving to one genre, and this being faithfully replicated across the globe. - The Guardian

Why Is Canada’s CBC Moving Away From Classical Music?

The orchestras and concerts have disappeared and so has most of the critical commentary associated with them. To be blunt about it, from a musical point of view, CBC English-language radio has dumbed down. - Toronto Star

How “Infodemics” Of Conspiracies Spread

The current infodemic isn’t just familiar because of this history. Culture constantly recycles materials: stories are re-told, revised and re-told again. - The Conversation

Ghostbusters Director Ivan Reitman, 75

Born in Czechoslovakia and raised in Canada (where he first met such young comics as his later stars Dan Aykroyd and Rick Moranis), Reitman made his first major impression as the producer of “National Lampoon’s Animal House” (1978). - Variety

Mexico Passed A Cultural Appropriation Law. It Doesn’t Seem To Be Working

To fight back against the plagiarism and dispossession of Indigenous art, Mexico has approved a law meant to protect and safeguard the cultural heritage of Indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples and communities. Whether the law actually works is another question. - The Verge

St. Valentine Had Nothing To Do With Romance. So Why A Day?

The name was so popular that over 30 Valentines, not to mention “a few Valentinas,” ultimately achieved sainthood. However, no matter which Valentine you look at, their traditions and texts have nothing to do with love or courtship. - LitHub

When The Olympics Had Arts Competitions

Between the 1912 Stockholm Olympics and the 1948 London Olympics, artistic competition was a vibrant part of the summer Olympic games. There were five categories in which individuals could compete, with architecture, literature, painting, and sculpture joining music. - Classical WCRB

The Spotify Backlash Offers A Rare Glimpse Into The Struggles Of Working Musicians

When the Joe Rogan controversy broke with Neil Young removing his music from Spotify, other musicians decided that enough was enough: They didn't want Spotify's incredibly meager paychecks anyway. But most musicians, unlike Young, don't own and can't remove their own music. - Washington Post

Romance Isn’t Only For Twenty-Somethings

Let filmmaker Nancy Myers show Hollywood the way: "Rom-coms typically suggest that thrilling courtship is for people in their 20s and 30s." They fall in love and get married; the end. "In these films by Meyers, though, both protagonists delight in their divorced lives." - The Atlantic

American Films Don’t Really Matter Much To China Anymore

Hollywood is not pleased; China let in no Marvel movies at all last year. "There's routinely Chinese comedies, Chinese dramas, Chinese science-fiction epics topping the box office." - CBC

This Year’s Super Bowl Ad Theme Is Certainly Not Joy

The bad, the good, and the deeply joyless — or, ad agencies have all of these creative people, and this is what they came up with? - Washington Post

The French Director Who’s Relieved That Netflix Asked Him For A Movie

Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the director of Amélie who wouldn't bow to Harvey Weinstein, loathes the pressure of theatrical openings. But "with Netflix, half a billion people can see it. ... Even if just 1 percent of those people watch Bigbug, it would be huge." - The New York Times

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